Pastor’s Blog (Page 19)

We are a divided people. About politics, economics, ethics, or the environment——you name it. Can you remember a time when our nation was more polarized? And everyone feels compelled to speak his mind. Seems we’ll fight at the drop of a hat. Rage lurks just beneath the surface, looking for just about any occasion to erupt. We are an unwell…

My people have abandoned Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and murdered Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they’re trying to kill me, too. 1 Kings 19:14 Do you groan with Elijah as you survey the spiritual landscape of our day? I do. For our countrymen have not only abandoned the Lord, they rage against Him. We who are devoted to…

This is not who we are! How many times in the last 12 months have you heard people say about the rage-filled protests, violence, arson, and killings, “This is not who we are”? They seem to imply that such behaviors are extraordinarily rare and in no way characteristic of us. But do you know something? The more I hear that statement, the more it has struck me:…

Let’s give some thought to that last phrase: He will save His people from their sins. Often the Bible mentions our “sin” in a singular, collective sense, gathering them all into one giant mass. But here the angel uses that great plural “sins.” Every variety, every kind, yes, every single sin is included: thoughts, words, deeds,…

Let this be a sign among you . . . Joshua 4:6 Whose idea was it for 12 men to take 12 stones from the middle of the Jordan River and set them up in the camp as a memorial? God’s, of course. He wanted His people and their successive generations to have a tangible reminder of the miraculous dry-ground crossing of the flood-stage Jordan. And this wasn’t unique.…

Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you…Joshua 5:9 How often have you just needed a fresh start? A clean break from the past? Like when your middle school peers wouldn’t let you forget that mortifyingly embarrassing incident. Or that boss who could never see you as management material after the shenanigan you pulled that time. Maybe,…