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
Finding Jesus: Can We Recognize Real Christianity?
It’s true, there’s as much counterfeit Christianity in the world as anything else—fake money, fake love, fake promises, fake smiles, or whatever else you could name. So how can we tell when we’re dealing with the real thing? Even though it’s not possible to know for sure in every case (we aren’t the final judges of such things), nevertheless there are some telltale signs that usually make things clear if you get close enough. A little careful inspection can make all
Living in Hope
via C.S. Lewis Institute The three virtues that Paul sets forth as being of greatest importance in the believer’s life are faith, hope, and love (1 Corinthians 13:13). Although in our day faith and love are spoken of far more often than hope, it remains true that hope plays a vital role in faithfully following Jesus Christ. The importance of hope is highlighted by C.S. Lewis in his book, Mere Christianity, when he says— Hope is one of the Theological virtues. This means
From the Pastor: The Antidote to a Very Bad Day
We give Jesus our sins to bear and he credits us with his righteousness. So God looks upon us as he would his own Son. Believers get full credit for Jesus’ perfection even though they’re anything but perfect. But there’s more.
From the Pastor: Pentecost – Faith, Evangelism, and the Holy Spirit
Paradoxically faith, like love, increases the more it’s given away. Rather than waiting for it to reach a peak high enough to communicate to others (as most believers do), it grows and expands as we do so from the very beginning. Also, once the nature of true faith becomes clear, the character of true evangelism comes to light as well. What the church goes to such great lengths to reinterpret or avoid altogether, and what so many Christians dread so
