Pastor's Blog (Page 32)

On a day that seemed like any other… 239 people in Kuala Lumpur boarded a plane for Beijing. Since more than 93,000 commercial flights take off and land every single day of the year without incident, these passengers had little reason to think their plane would not arrive. Just a few days later… 176 now unaccounted-for people in Oso, Washington were going…

In the opening two verses of the book of Ruth we read that Elimelech and Naomi were Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah.  Why did the writer tell us this and what is an Ephrathite? Before it was called Bethlehem it was the ancient city of Ephrath. The Ephrathites, then, were the people of that ancient and noble lineage. To be born an Ephrathite meant being one of the more…

For our final gleanings on weakness and its benefits we turn to the Apostle Paul — one who was keenly aware of his weakness and inadequacy.  He used words like “always” and “constantly” when referring to the hardships he encountered. And then there was the constant plague of that debilitating thorn in his flesh.  His summary is telling: …

When you hear the word offering any number of images or associations may flash through your mind: an offering plate an animal on an altar a gift appeasement guilt I think the truest depiction of offering comes to us from the magi who came to see the One born King of the Jews: After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground…

When my boys were young I noticed they copied a lot of the things I did. If my hand was on my hip, so was theirs. If I was using a power drill, they’d use their toy power drill. When I’d crawl under my truck to work on it, they’d want to, too. They wanted to identify with me in as many ways as possible. Identification. It’s that fundamental part of…

In recent weeks I’ve been discussing with you the matter of weakness and looking to the Scriptures for the why of it all. So far we’ve covered these principles: 1. Weakness helps you realize your need for God’s strength. (read here) 2. Weakness is the canvas that best displays God’s strength. (read here) 3. Weakness may be a messenger from Satan to…