Archives for February 2020

God's saving promises of his presence and our inheritance fuel a life of faith-filled loyalty to God. In Exodus 23, God manifested his presence through an angel who would go before the Israelites and whom the people were to obey. The inheritance that God gives is a blessed land; a place for his people to come and worship him. Throughout the Old Testament, the people of Isr...

2020 has come! And it is the year we have looked forward to for so long. We're back in Ethiopia to start a new church but we're not alone. You've come with us, and when we look to either side we find you with your hands on the plow - pushing with us. By the grace of God let's do this! When it Ra...

In this past Sunday's sermon on Exodus 21:1-23:19, C.J noted the confusion we can experience when we read about slavery in the OT. Numerous resources exist to help us understand this topic, both in its original setting as well as how it functions in the storyline of Scripture. If you're interested in exploring this further, here are some resources we would recommend: Is...

...

"Truly, this was exciting. The Book of the Covenant showed the Israelites how the law applied to daily life. Regulations about livestock grazing in a field may seem mundane. However, this is where most of us live most of the time-at the level of ordinary existence. Thankfully, God is as interested in this part of our lives as he is in anything else that happens in his worl...

Sermon Summary: Jesus, the Master of masters teaches us how to pray. In this sermon, C.J. shows us that the structure and substance of the Lord's Prayer influences and showcases our priorities in prayer. The first three petitions are God-centered and stand as a reminder that His glory takes precedence before our needs. The last three petitions remind us that God is not in...

"How we pray is as important a question as we can ever face. This prayer is a pattern for all Christian praying. Jesus is teaching that prayer will be acceptable when, and only when, the attitudes, thoughts, and desires expressed fit the pattern. That is to say: every prayer of ours should be a praying of the Lord's Prayer in some shape or formWe never get beyond this pray...

We seldom consider our own mortality, but occasionally we are confronted with the reality of death. The author of Ecclesiastes insists that we make eye contact with the inevitability of death in order to experience its transforming effects for the present. Death demands that we properly prepare for God's appointed judgement of our sin by examining our hearts and considerin...

"We admit that we shall die, but not so soon as to make it a pressing matter. We imagine that we are not within measurable distance of the tomb. Brethren, in this we are not wise. Death will not spare us because we avoid him." Charles Spurgeon "In the dusty communities of Biblical times, scented oils and other fragrances were valuable commodities. Yet having a name that p...