The Lord of the Harvest has the absolute right to assign to His workers their unique places of labor in His field.  In many ways, I seem to have been a “planter.”  That is not always according to my preference.  There are more joyful duties on the farm, but all are necessary in the harvest cycle.  Most of the feasts in the Old Testament were joyous harvest feasts.  But someone had to plant.  It certainly is necessary to be possessed of  a living hope if one would be a sower of seed.      A planter needs to remember the...

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     The following comments are sermon notes from Sunday, May 16th concerning the manner in which the Apostle Paul was honestly known by the churches in Galatia  as a minister of the Gospel.      Christianity is the most personal of religions, but most people do not want to be known personally.   They want to be famous, to have a recognized reputation, yes, but not really to be honestly known.      Christianity stands in radical opposition to that.  Its central truth is that even God Himself, wanted to be known among men “in the flesh.”   Hence, the Incarnation.      We live...

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   A Case of Identity Theft, Part One    As most of you are aware, and I hope not by personal experience, the crime of Identity Theft is a burgeoning problem for American households.  As grievous as it must be to have your "personal identity" stolen by some greedy and unscrupulous other, unknown identity, it seems to me that the church is a victim of the same crime, and many of us do not even realize what has happened.    I am convinced that if church fathers 100 years from now are able to look back at our generation of...

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  Some Thoughts on the Health Care Debate There are numerous elements in the current health care debate that should be alarming to the American citizen.  They concern not only what is said, but what is not said.  Some ‘facts’ are disseminated that are challenged as downright lies.  Economic predictions are made that could be predicated on false ‘models.’  Most of the ‘data’ is open to varied interpretations.  Some vital studies are undoubtedly hidden from view if perceived to be unfavorable to one political side or the other.  The result is that the ‘Wages of Spin’ (to use Carl Trueman’s...

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To our Members and Friends,             When time comes to send out the monthly calendar, I pray, “Lord, what shall I say this time?”  Since I am in the process this morning of preparing for our small group study of 1 Thessalonians for tonight’s meeting, let me pass on some of the thoughts for that discussion.  The topic is very relevant to the Christian life, that of “Suffering.”  We tend to think in the West that since we have not been outwardly persecuted for our faith, we have not suffered suffering.  That is not true.  If you are walking with Christ, you...

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