Pastor's Blog (Page 9)

In 1873 the Colt Peacemaker revolver was developed for the US Cavalry to help tame the Wild West. Unfortunately, outlaws wielded them also. In 1948 the US Air Force put the Convair B36 bomber into service. It, too, was called the Peacemaker. It had sixteen 20mm cannons and carried 86,000 pounds of bombs… in the name of peace. What an irony that weapons of…

In Acts 3 Peter made it clear six ways from Sunday that the lame man was healed in Jesus’ name. No surprise, then, that the name of Jesus dominates the book of Acts, not to mention the rest of the New Testament. That is why in the name of Jesus we preach and pray and baptize, we serve and suffer, we ask God to do miracles, and so much more! I’ve…

During our February Retreat we met the theme of mercy over and over in the book of Jonah. When we come to the New Testament gospels we find them reverberating with the mercy of the Lord: In the epistles we are taught the theological underpinnings of God’s mercy: But what about in the book of Acts, where the word mercy is entirely absent? Did God pause His mercy…

Have you ever noticed how often the word “new” is used in advertising and promotional material? It’s a hands-down favorite of marketing professionals. And it works! It gets our attention! There is something about new that appeals to us. I think the Lord must have wired us that way. This Sunday we begin a new series at 9:30am called Experiencing God.…

It’s 2023 and we’re thinking, “How can I be a better me in 23?” Perhaps we should give attention to some of the graces of life. Like tact. The original meaning of tact, says J. Oswald Sanders, referred to the sense of touch (as in “tactile”), and came to mean skill in dealing with persons or sensitive situations. Tact is that intuitive perception—and especially a…

Have you ever wondered why Moses allotted more space in Genesis for the Joseph story than for anyone else’s story? More than Abraham, of all people! Not what I’d have expected. Is it because Moses saw in Joseph the early fulfillment of God’s covenant promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? (Promises such as: “A very great and numerous nation will descend from you; all the…