The Pastors' Blog

Preparing for the Lord's Day In our text, this Sunday, the prophet Balaam journeys to Moab in order to deliver to King Balak the message from The LORD concerning cursing or blessing Israel. We will see a clear clash between the vision and purposes of King Balak and the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This text reminds us that our ultimate allegiance in life is directed t...

Preparing for the Lord's day What you see is what you get, but what you see isn't all that's there. That's especially true in Balaam's life as we look at Numbers 22:22-35 in a sermon entitled, "Donkey See, Donkey Do." While Balaam has prophetic powers, he is unable to see his own sin as well as his salvation (which comes from a donkey). Not much has changed for us as we a...

Preparing for the Lord's Day At this point in the Israelites journey to the Promised Land, it may be easy to think that God should give up on Israel. From the outset, the complaining, rebellion, and doubt have been a constant theme. In our passage for this week, the Israelites face a devious enemy that wants to bring a curse upon them and defeat them. Enemies that want to...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Last week, we saw that the second generation of Israelites were making progress where their fathers had failed. They were willing to enter the conflict of advancing the kingdom and to obey the word of God in faith. However, in our passage for this week, we see that even as there are differences between the two generations, there are also many ...

Preparing for the Lord's Day In many respects, the book of Numbers is the story of two generations. The first generation was called out of Egypt, given the Law at Mt. Sinai, and brought to the edge of the land of Canaan. But they refused to enter the land that the Lord was giving them. Therefore, this first generation had to wander in the wilderness for forty years until ...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Spring is always full of college and high school graduations. It is a time when we celebrate the accomplishment of a task but also mourn the loss of a stage of life. Once school is completed, never again will you interact with your classmates in the same manner. You will each go off to your own life and future. Graduations mark an end. Yet the...

Preparing for the Lord's Day On May 27, 1564, Reformation leader, John Calvin died. Throughout his life-time, Calvin had grown in renown. His systematic theology, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, his commentaries, his letters and his lectures were all known throughout the European continent. However, his desire was never to bring attention to his own name. It was...

Preparing for the Lord's Day St. Augustine (b. 354) described the relationship between the Old and New Testament in these words, "The new is in the old concealed; the old is in the new revealed." As we continue through the book of Numbers we repeatedly see how the message of Christ is concealed within the text. This week we come to chapter 19 of Numbers, in which the Lord...

Preparing for the Lord's Day In verse 5 of Numbers 17, the Lord makes very clear His intentions. He says, "I will make to cease from me the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against you." (ESV). The people of Israel continue to pursue the path of grumbling against the Lord. They have rebelled against His commands and they have sought to cast off His ...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Envy is at the heart of the sin in our passage for this coming Sunday. Envy is the emotion that we feel when we desire what someone else owns. It is when we break the tenth commandment, "Thou shalt not covet." Korah was Moses and Aaron's cousin. He and his family had been given the most prestigious religious duties in Israel aside from the pri...