Pastor's Blog (Page 9)

Some say the intensity of a Hurricane Ian is God’s judgment upon a sinful people. In fact, the Bible states clearly that God did bring judgment on wicked humanity at the Flood and also upon Sodom and Gomorrah. That He brought the storm against Jonah (Jonah 1). And that at certain times He has called for the locust, famine, and drought (Amos 7:1; 2 Kings 8:1;…

A couple Sundays ago Jacob’s sons gave us a crash course on how not to respond to injustice and evil. Their sister had been raped by the young man Shechem, so in a rage-filled fury over one man’s wrong they slaughtered every man in the town, captured the women and children as slaves, seized their goods as plunder, and hamstrung their oxen…

This week I found it both sobering and instructive… that Asher Velilla took his first breath… while Dave Johnson and Queen Elizabeth took their last. Today is Richard Peters’ eighty-seventh birthday. Way to go, Richard! Yet the Queen, Dave, and Richard all came into the world just like Asher: as a child. This Sunday we begin a new 9:30 Bible Study series: Notable…

Have you heard? In the span of 17 years, 114 people died in weight-lifting accidents at the gym. But in those same 17 years only one man died while eating a donut. The obvious lesson here is that we should avoid the dangerous gym and stay safe at the donut shop! Specious reasoning, indeed, though worthy of a chuckle. We know full well there’s much more to the story! But…

In Genesis 20 we read that Abraham and Sarah moved to Gerar, where Abraham said of her, “She is my sister.” (Yes, your memory is correct—Abraham has done this once before back in chapter 12, and things got really messy… but here we go again—same song, second verse.) So Abimelech, the king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and had her brought to his palace. The wedding was…

You are probably familiar with the Hebrew word chesed, which is often translated “lovingkindness,” or “steadfast love.” Four times in Genesis we come across chesed in the same sentence with emmeth, which is usually translated as “faithfulness.” Separately, these two words occur many times in the Bible. Each is powerful and packed with meaning in its own right. But when…