Preparing for the Lord's Day It took twenty-five years for the Lord to fulfill His promise to Abraham. As a seventy-five year-old man, the Lord promised to make him a father and I am sure Abraham thought that it would be soon. Yet, year after year the promise did not come to pass. His wife Sarah remained barren and the hope of a child was tested. The Lord was gracious to ...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Is the world an open or a closed system? Is material existence the only reality or are there unseen spiritual forces at work in this world that have true effects on nature, history, and humanity? In the premodern world it was very difficult to conceive of a closed existence. Spiritual realities played a central role in everything from family l...

Preparing for the Lord's Day "Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity" (Psalm 133:1)! Thinking of the blessings of peace and fellowship, we are bound together in life through innumerable ways. We often enjoy ties of relationship or friendship, common tastes, personal likings, and occupation. At times, we come together to live above the world and ...

Preparing for the Lord's Day:The Everlasting Kingdom of Jesus Christ With unsurpassed poetry, the Psalms guide us through the full range of human experience. With various themes as thanksgiving, praise, enthronement, pilgrimage, lament, and wisdom, the Psalms consistently point us to Christ in worship and praise! This Sunday, we continue our Journey through the Psalms for...

Preparing for the Lord's Day We live in a world that is all about strength and that tries to extend our days on this earth as long as possible. Yet Scripture, as usual, paints a different picture of humanity and we are told that we are dusty people. We are just a chronic disease, a tragic accident, or an injury away from being reminded of the reality of our frailty. The b...

Preparing for the Lord's Day When we are in a place of need we tend to grasp for anything in which to trust. This week I heard a public service announcement warning people about debt consolidation schemes. While there are legitimate debt consolidators, there are also many who see an opportunity to take advantage of those in need. A promise that all your financial struggle...

Preparing for the Lord's Day "That is not fair!" I am not sure how children learn the concept of fairness so quickly but almost instinctively they have a desire and a hope for equity. They want to make sure that they get their fair share of the good things in life. Siblings will fight over having a just division of screen time. Children all over the world say things like,...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Longing for Peace Advent is a season of anticipation. As a people we are directed to look forward to the coming of Christ. We look first to the birth of Christ into the world to bring peace (Luke 2:14) and then to the return of Christ to establish his eternal kingdom of peace. Yet while we wait, we must feel the deprivation of what is absen...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Longing for Christ: "Longing for Restoration" Giving thanks to God for His goodness to us in all things is always appropriate for Thanksgiving. Pastor Mike will be taking up the theme of "Yet Will I Rejoice in the LORD" from Habakkuk 3:17-19 for the Thanksgiving Day worship service at 10:00am. Come join us as we look to the Lord with thank...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Spiritual Training:Missions We conclude our sermon series on Spiritual Training by looking at missions. So often we think of missions as something that only the spiritually elite are engaged in, or we think of missions as only being a department or ministry of the church...something that only those interested in missions do. Looking at miss...