Said the Puritan, Ralph Venning, the truly sinful thing about sin is its utter, unquenchable, and relentless desire to be opposed to God.  What God calls good, sin calls evil.  What God calls wrong, sin calls right.  What God says “do,” sin says “ignore.”  What makes it sin is its…

Treasured Friends, With the Presidential election now decided, we are likely to hear over the coming weeks and months about the new administration’s “mandate.”  Our system of government affords each presidential administration a certain degree of latitude – a “mandate” – to cast a vision for the nation’s near-term direction…

Treasured Friends, On All Hallow’s Eve (Halloween) in 1517, when an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther posted his “95 Theses” on the door of the local castle in Wittenberg, Germany, he merely hoped for the opportunity to engage in a debate.  What he could not have fathomed was the far…

Treasured Friends, It is notable both in Scripture and in life how often calamity, crisis, and uncertainty are the result of our unwillingness to accept limits and boundaries. Adam and Eve were handed all the lush beauty and bounty of Eden, but immediately sought to have the one part of…

“All Scripture is God-breathed, and is therefore useful for teaching, correcting, rebuking, and training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:16-17 There is no shortage of passages in Scripture that will make us wonder, “why on earth…

Treasured Friends, “He who is the glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind; for He is not a human being, that He should change His mind.”  So go the words of 1 Samuel 15:29.  King Saul has put the final nail in the coffin of his kingship,…

Treasured Friends, Have you ever thought about how different things might be if you didn’t know the date of your birth?  Imagine how many forms we fill out that require a birth date.  Would you know with certainty you are old enough to drive, or vote, or if you had…

Treasured Friends, One question all of us Christians need to be able to answer is: “What is the gospel?”, which is another way of asking: “What is the good news?” As Christians, we talk about the good news which we have received, which we believe, and which we are called…

Treasured Friends, As always, I’m eager to gather with you this Sunday at our Lord’s Table, as we share together His gift of Holy Communion. You’ve heard me before refer to the sacraments – especially Communion – as “God’s Show and Tell.” What God tells us in His written Word…

Treasured Friends, In a recent Sunday School class, one participant said: “Maybe I shouldn’t ask so many questions about why God does this or why He did that, but I should just trust.” I suspect we’ve all had a similar thought at some point. “Can I be a Christian, and…