Preparing for the Lord's Day Kingdoms in Conflict Hubert Zafke was 95 years old when he went on trial for a crime that he committed 72 years earlier. On the surface, it seems harsh to punish a 95-year-old for a crime he committed when he was 23 years old. Why not let this crime go? Why seek vengeance for a crime committed seven decades earlier? Yet the people of Germany,...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Kingdoms in Conflict It is a life or death situation! Imagine that you find yourself lost in the middle of a vast desert. The sun is beating down on you, the sand is burning, and the wind is making you feel as though you were inside a convection oven. Would you know what to do to survive? One myth that has been propagated through Hollywood mo...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Kingdoms in Conflict Several years ago, a small town in Maine was slated to become the sight of a new reservoir. Knowing that their town would soon sit at the bottom of a lake the citizens stopped taking care of their town. Lawns stopped being mowed, burnt-out streetlamps weren't replaced, potholes weren't filled, and litter was never cleaned...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Kingdoms in Conflict Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister during World War II once remarked, "It was thanks to ULTRA that we won the war." ULTRA was a top-secret operation to decode German communications encrypted on the Enigma machine. While the war for ground, air, and the sea raged on, there was another war occurring, the war for inf...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Kingdoms in Conflict Casablanca is one of the most famous movies of all time. For those of you who have not seen the movie, it takes place at the start of World War II. The plot centers on Rick Blaine who runs a nightclub in Casablanca, Morocco. One night his past love, Ilsa, unexpectedly shows up with her husband Victor. As the movie develop...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Kingdoms in Conflict I am not sure why I do this. I guess that I am just lazy, or that I think that I have more skill with a paintbrush than I have. Either way, I have the habit of not changing my shirt prior to beginning a painting project. There is something within me that believes this time I will be able to control the flow of paint to su...

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 Kingdoms in Conflict Norman Buwalda was the chairman of the Canadian Exotic Animal Owner's Association. As the chairman, he fought tirelessly for the right of individuals to keep exotic animals in their homes. He personally owned a 600 lbs. Siberian tiger. I believe this is a terrible idea. Eventually, wild animals show their wild side. Ownin...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Kingdoms in Conflict Sadhu Sundar Singh is not your typical image of a Christian. He was born in 1889 to a Sikh family in Punjab, India. Sikhism is a monotheistic form of Hinduism that rejects the caste system. Growing up Sundar was extremely hostile to the Christian faith. This hostility came to a head when he was fourteen and his mother die...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Kingdoms in Conflict Mark Twain once quipped, "History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme." In our passage for this Sunday, we will hear a distinct rhyme of Biblical history. As the prophet, Elijah is running from Jezebel, and Ahab the Lord directs his path to Mt. Horeb. There Elijah meets with the Lord and is commissioned for the next...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Kingdoms in Conflict The Exxon Valdez oil spill changed the environment in Prince William Sound for years to come. An oil tanker hit a reef in the sound and proceeded to spill more than 38 million gallons of crude oil into the water. The isolated location of the spill made it almost impossible to respond to the crisis in a timely manner. As ...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Deepfake technology uses artificial intelligence to transform an imposter into an almost undetectable duplicate of another person. Earlier this year footage was released of a deepfake of the Queen of England delivering a Christmas message. Those who did not know better would have been deceived by the digital rendering of the Queen. Other deepf...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Kingdoms in Conflict In our passage for this week, we continue to learn about Elijah's time with the Sidonian widow. As you remember from last week the Lord provided unending provision for her and her son as Elijah stayed in their home. However, in this week's passage tragedy strikes her home; her son grows ill and dies. Being raised in a ...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Kingdoms in Conflict This week's passage is about the Lord's provision during times of hardship. In response to Ahab's apostasy, the Lord sends a drought upon Israel. This drought was designed for two purposes. The first was discipline for false worship. The second was grace to teach Israel that the Lord alone provides. Baal was the Canaanite...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Kingdoms in Conflict Growing up during the Cold War era it felt as though the conflict with the Soviet empire was an unchanging reality. The evil of the atheistic communist government was so entrenched that its continuation seemed inevitable. However, almost overnight the empire crumbled, and Soviet rule was ended. What seemed to be an unconq...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Kingdoms in Conflict This Sunday we begin a new sermon series on Elijah and Elisha in the books of 12 Kings. Many of us are familiar with the stories surrounding the miraculous and powerful ministries of these two prophets. However, we often overlook the context of their ministry. Sin had brought division among God's people. In the south, the...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Thy Kingdom Come Throughout the Fall our attention has been given to the teachings of Jesus on the Kingdom of God. We have seen that the Kingdom is like a seed that is planted. We have reflected upon the promise that the Kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field. We have been encouraged by the hope that the Kingdom is like a wedding feast ...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Thy Kingdom Come Waiting for the cousins to arrive has become an annual tradition in our home each Christmas season. My sister's family lives in Atlanta, Georgia and each year they drive up to Lynchburg to spend a few days following Christmas. Bringing five extra people into our home means that we must prepare. We must switch around rooms, ge...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Thy Kingdom Come This time of year is truly the season for parties and gatherings. As April and I began to fill-out our monthly calendar the number of Christmas events was overwhelming. We have tree-lightings, music at the church, music for the schools. We have classroom parties. We have team parties. We have office parties. We have family ge...

For this book review, Pastor David discusses the book "Knowing God" by J.I. Packer. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, "this is the eternal life that you may know the one true God in Jesus Christ."...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Thy Kingdom Come Sin and righteousness can be complicated matters. We tend to see the sins of others very clearly and demand their repentance. Nevertheless, we fail to see the severity of our own sin and demand grace when we give in or slip up. On the other hand, in matters of righteousness, we are very quick to see the mixed motives of oth...