Wait for God
Dear Friends, Many of us went to sleep last night or woke up this morning to the horrific news of another terror attack. This time in Nice, our hearts and prayers are with the people there—for those who have lost their loved ones, those injured, and for the people of Nice and France. This Sunday’s sermon will be Wait for God, and the Scriptures we’ll be considering are 1 Samuel 16:1; 10-13. If ever there was some tough advice to swallow, it is:
Can You Be a Wicked Christian?
In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus was addressing the super-religious people of his day—those convinced that they were “in” with God, while others outside their circles were “out.” We find the same situation with many Christians today, those who give no real evidence of a changed life. Often we find behavior in the church far more putrid and consistently repugnant than that of the world. Those of us who’ve been among Christians for many years can cite too many examples
What Is A Christian? — The Bible Study
Introduction: In so many ways and in so many places the church has lost its way, lost its identity, and has ruptured badly—not by external forces, but by internal strife and disagreement on the basics of faith. We may well wonder how much longer it will stay around. Entire denominations that have been here for generations are abandoning their historic confessions and tossing overboard the theological and moral guidance systems that have kept them going forward since their founding. All the fundamental
From the Pastor: Would You Want To Do That?
Would you like to spend eternity with a group of dour, self-righteous, ritual-bound, judgmental people? Would you even want to be around them? Probably not! Then why would God? Often so much of what we can know and love about God seems absent in the religious people who end up doing more to harm our perception of him than reflecting his true character. Even in our information-saturated, hi-tech culture, we know alarmingly little about God’s personality and his true character. Above
Cast All Your Anxiety On Him
Dear Friends, We awoke early this morning to the shocking news of one of the deadliest attacks in Paris. It is claimed to be the worst attack since World War II. All we can do right now is to pray for the families of the victims and the people of Paris. This horrific attack brings to our family’s mind the terrorism of 9/11. We were living in New York then, and it was after Stephanie and I had dropped Shirin and Sarah
When Trouble Comes
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. -1 Peter 1:6-7 Peter was writing to believers who were suffering in all kinds of ways. They lived in the midst of some of the
In Christ Jesus
Dear Friends, It is good to be back! As a quick update, I was able to get the necessary documentation, and was also in the States in time to take care of my dad. I had just arrived in California, when Shirin called to let me know that my dad had fallen and hurt his back and shoulder. Apparently, Dad got dizzy while in the garage and fell backwards. As I was still several hours away from him, I persuaded the local
