Preparing for the Lord's Day Kingdoms in Conflict What would Thanksgiving be like if we celebrated it in the Spring? How would that change the holiday? First, it would change the food that we eat from the robust flavors of Fall to the delicate flavors of Spring. Second, it would change the direction of the meal. Thanksgiving in the Fall looks back in gratitude. But if we...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Kingdoms in Conflict When April and I were engaged she decided to make a special dinner. She thought everything was going as planned. But the oil was overheated and when she dropped the chicken into the pan it instantly burned. Smoke filled the kitchen and the fire alarm started blaring. In an attempt to air out her apartment April opened the...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Kingdoms in Conflict The boll weevil arrived in Alabama in 1910, traveling north from Mexico. This insect wreaked havoc on the cotton fields of Alabama. As these pests multiplied across the state they destroyed millions of dollars in crops. Small farmers who were already in debt could not afford this loss. What were the farmers to do amid suc...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Kingdoms in Conflict It may be the most famous plot twist in science fiction, if not in all films. Luke Skywalker has been battling Darth Vader's evil plots for three films now. At the end of the third film, the two Jedis finally fight it out. Back and forth the battle goes. It is good versus evil. Then in a dramatic moment, Darth Vader revea...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Kingdoms In Conflict It is difficult to imagine a more hopeless situation than that of our Christian brothers and sisters in Ukraine today. Valery Zadorozhnyy is a pastor and a New Testament lecturer at the Evangelical Reformed seminary in Kyiv. In an article for Table Talk magazine, he wrote of the reality of life for Ukrainian pastors in th...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Kingdoms in Conflict The movie Glory follows the first regiment of black soldiers in the Union army during the Civil War. Along with all the horrors of war this company also had to deal with all the prejudices of their enemy and their own fellow soldiers. At the conclusion of the movie, this regiment is ordered to take Fort Wagner, a Confeder...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Kingdoms in Conflict In the summer of 2015, my extended family went on a Caribbean cruise to celebrate my grandmother's eightieth birthday. About halfway through our cruise, I had an accident. I was walking down a flight of steps on the outer deck of the ship when my foot slipped. I was holding my two-year-old daughter Eva, so I did everythin...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Kingdoms in Conflict When I was in college, we called it being "the heavy". The heavy was the person who was willing to take a light conversation and turn it into a more serious topic. The heavy was the guy who pointed out that we needed to pray before we ate our takeout pizza. The heavy was the guy who shared a word of Scripture when we were...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Kingdoms in Conflict When the Lord delivered his people from slavery in Egypt, He purposely ordered Israelite society to protect their freedom. There were laws instituted by God to be bulwarks against the encroachment of tyrannical and enslaving forces. These laws included the Sabbath that free God's people from slavery to work (Deut 5:15). A...

Preparing for the Lord's Day The Psalms comprise the prayerbook of the Bible. Thepsalms provide us with prayers breathed out by the Holy Spirit. John Calvin commented that the psalms are "an anatomy of all the parts of the soul," in which the whole range of human emotion is expressed to God in prayer. This Sunday, the sermon will be based on Psalm 13. In it, you may hear ...