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

Last week I offered some of my favorite psalms from Book 2 of the Psalms. This week, in light of looking at Psalm 89 this past Sunday, I am offering some of my favorite psalms from Book 3, which includes Psalms 73-89. Beside each one, there is a description of the main theme of that psalm. I hope you enjoy these as much as I have:1. Psalm 73: corporate gathering with the people of God creates wisd...  Read More

This past Sunday we took a deep dive into Psalm 72, the final chapter in Book 2 of the Psalms, which includes Psalms 42-72. Below I have listed some of my other favorite psalms from Book 2, particularly ones that may be fitting for this season of Advent. Alongside each one I have written a brief description of that psalm’s predominant theme. I hope they are just as encouraging for you as they have...  Read More

Preconceptions have the ability to significantly alter how we think about things. This past semester in our Middle School youth group gatherings we studied several Old Testament characters, many of whom are very familiar. As I began to dive into the idea of taking an entire semester to solely focus on Old Testament characters, these preconceptions began to drift in. My mind quickly shifted to thou...  Read More