​The angels told the shepherds that they bring good news of great joy when they announced the birth of Jesus. This term "good news" is the same notion as "gospel". When we say we are to be "gospel" people, it means we are to be "good news" people. Christmas time reminds us that the birth of Jesus is good news to all people. But why?Our passage in Isaiah 61:1-4 this week gives us four reasons why the coming of King Jesus is good news for everyone on the planet. I hope you'll join us this we [...]

​Our Christmas tree in our home is a little different. It's not decorated with lots of glass balls or sparkly tinsel. Our tree is a mishmash of ornaments collected over the years either given to us by dear friends or ones that we picked up on vacation. So, we have ornaments from Disney World and our other travels, ones with Korean words and ones the boys have made in school. But one ornament is always saved for last and it goes on the lowest branch in the back of the tree.The Christmas nai [...]

Growing up, I was never one of the cool kids (shocker, I know) and I wasn't a jock nor a band geek (again, surprising, no?). I was an outcast. I had my small group of friends, but I wasn't part of the bigger groups like athletics or music. Not that I was picked on, mind you. For the most part, I was ignored. I just shuffled through high school trying to keep under the radar. To be fair, I don't know that I've outgrown that. I still feel like an outcast when I'm around others that I don't know. B [...]

​This week we begin our celebration of Advent. Advent is something that is far too mysterious for many of us, especially for those of us who haven't grown up with this a part of our church life. But Advent is a time of preparation for Christians. We prepare for Christmas every year with shopping, decorating, caroling and the like. But Advent invites us to slow down from the hustle of the season and prepare our hearts and souls for the coming of Christ. The prophet Isaiah had a lot to [...]

This week, we pause to give thanks. And with Thanksgiving, I think of pie. Pumpkin is my favorite, but apple or chocolate will work. Pecan is also good. Regardless of what kind of pie you like, we always want the best pie for Christmas. CS Lewis had something to say about pies and it deals with Thanksgiving as well: “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy [...]

Increasingly, we see in our culture an attempt to redefine religious liberty. Our country has, traditionally, held that this liberty means you can not only believe what you like but you may express it, let it influence how you behave and contend for it in the public square as long as it didn't harm someone else. Now, culture seeks to redefine harm and with it how we can contend for the faith in the public arena.   There is a great temptation, then, to do what culture says. In fact, the [...]

​In 1993, rock singer Meatloaf had a smash hit with the song "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)". Meatloaf said that the question he is most often asked after the release of the song is "What is that?" In other words, what is the limit of what he would do for the love of his life? What is one step too far?Time and time again, we see that God will go to extraordinary lengths to remind people of His love and the hope of the Gospel. Unlike Meatloaf, God did do everything for love [...]

​Last week at our cookout, we needed to plug in a crock pot. So, we grabbed an extension cord from the basement and plugged it in. But that wasn't enough to keep the crock pot warm. The cord needed to be plugged into an outlet, that was connected to a breaker box that was connected to a power line that was connected to a power plant ... you get the picture. The power didn't come from the extension cord, it was merely the vehicle bringing another power source to the crock pot.It is the same [...]

A recent editorial in the New York Times commented how our culture has lost it's common "language" when it comes to religious matters. Words that most people understood in previous generations like salvation and grace have lost their meaning. "Some words, like 'sin,'" the author Jonathan Merritt points out, "now felt so negative that they lodged in my throat."Sin and punishment are words that many in both culture and in church would like to have eliminated. I even find myself speaking of sin in [...]

​There is an old story about a chicken and a pig who decided to make breakfast for the old farmer. The chicken mentioned that they should make bacon and eggs to which the pig refused. When asked why, the pig replied, "For you, giving some eggs is generous. For me, bacon means I'm all in!"When we read the Bible, we see a generosity that seems more like the pig than the chicken. Does that mean we need to be as generous? How are we to be generous? This week, we will look at "A Generous Gospel [...]