Despair: Bleached Bones in the Desert
O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath. 2 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled. 3 My soul also is greatly troubled. But you, O Lord—how long? 4 Turn, O Lord, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love. 5 For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise? 6 I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my
Hope for the New Year
Charles Dickens said in A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times….” I think I can speak for our family in saying that 2021 was both the worst year of our lives, and the best. It was a year of challenges, but it was crowned with the love and care of God's family all around the world and with a Christmas miracle. We turn our eyes to the only One who
From the Pastor: Resurrection — The Game Changer
A few years ago, I mentioned the Methuselah tree, grown from date plant seeds, found in an archeological site at Masada in Israel from around the time of Jesus. They were the extinct remnants of the kind of Palm trees probably used on Palm Sunday to herald the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1-11). The seeds, excavated about 40 years ago, lay locked up until Sarah Sallon, director of the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center at the Hadassah
Come to Me
By Brian Rogers “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” -Matthew 11:28-30 It’s awkward for me to speak about the above verses. Part of the passage I know, have experienced and can talk about. The other part
Depression and the Holidays
by Dr. Ryan Noel Fraser, author of Overcoming the Blues: Finding Christ-Centered Hope and Joy through Serving Others It was the Sunday before Thanksgiving week. Henry, a caring minister, had just closed out the morning service and was standing at the church door greeting and shaking worshipers’ hands as they left. Standing in line was a 44-year-old, divorced mother of two teenagers. She was attempting to smile, but her sad eyes told a different story. “Hi, Jeanette, how have you been getting
Jesus Our Refuge: Grace in Fearful Times
by Brian Rogers For many of us, the stress of the pandemic has exposed deep-seated fears, sin, and failure in our personal lives. The list can be oppressive: fear of death, fear for our children, fear of financial ruin, fear of personal disaster, etc. What can be done about these fears? What can we do with anxiety, guilt, shame? Let us explore finding grace and freedom through the Friend of Sinners. Father, we ask for your Spirit. Please speak to our hearts
From the Pastor: Live Beyond Your Means
This might sound like reckless, insane advice during the worst global economic crisis many of us have ever witnessed. But I’m not talking here about disregarding your family budget, irrational spending, or overreaching in your personal finances. Instead, my challenge is to those who decide how much they can afford to give, and then plan their mission according to that allowance and never going beyond that. Like people, we have churches like this. These churches never take a risk. They never dream
From the Pastor: The Logic of the Resurrection: What It Is and What It Does
The central features of the New Testament message are Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection. Jesus’ resurrection was the announcement that death no longer reigns over us—the very worst thing that can happen to us has been defeated and overruled. And that same power that operated to raise Jesus’ physical body from the tomb on Easter morning is operating this very day to bring dead things back to life: dead dreams, dead careers, dead marriages, and dead hopes. And we’re not going
You matter to God.
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Why Do We Need Religion?
There are many variations of passages of Lorem Ipsum available, but the majority have suffered alteration in some form, by injected humour, or randomised words which don't look even slightly believable. If you are going to use a passage of Lorem Ipsum, you need to be sure there isn't anything embarrassing hidden in the middle of text.There are many variations of passages of Lorem Ipsum available, but the majority have suffered alteration in some form, by injected humour, or randomised
