“So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” – Hebr...  Read More

I recently watched the old movie Honey, I Shrunk the Kids with my kids. In case you’ve never seen it, the kids in the movie have a wacky scientist dad whose latest invention accidentally shrinks them down to microscopic size. When they are unintentionally thrown out with the trash and must navigate their way across the yard, they encounter all sorts of “trials of various kinds” (cf. James 1:2), fr...  Read More

When it comes to fasting I find myself intimidated. I don’t enjoy the thought of being hungry. I fear the potential of experiencing low energy or being easily irritated because I don’t have any food on my stomach. Perhaps this is the case for you as well. If so, then it may be tempting to think that the way to be successful in fasting is to simply assert greater strength and willpower. However, th...  Read More

One of my favorite kinds of books are those written by pastors about being a pastor. In one of them that I read over the holidays, the author said that after a few years of being a pastor he made Matthew 28:10 his theme verse for everything he did as a pastor: “Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me’.” Jesus says this to his...  Read More

At the end of his book Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God, Tim Keller provides a simple template for practicing daily prayer. His template is based on a broad study of how Christians have generally approached personal prayer throughout church history. Remember, this template is just one option for practicing daily prayer and can be tweaked, adjusted, reduced, added to, etc. An importan...  Read More

Our sermon this past Sunday came from Psalm 98. This psalm is part of a group of psalms, beginning with Psalm 93 and ending with Psalm 100, that focus on celebrating God’s kingdom and call all nations to recognize and worship him. They are a highly joyful group of psalms that should produce much encouragement to your faith as you read them. Below are some brief descriptions of each:1. Psalm 93: th...  Read More