Brothers and Sisters, The subject of discipleship has been on my mind lately. To be a disciple simply means to be a follower. I've had a sticky note on my desk for about a month now that says, "Discipleship means conforming yourself to the pattern of another person's life." Ultimately, we are disciples of Jesus. Ultimately, by the strength and power of the Holy Spirit, we...

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Early in the month of August I attempted to show how you can pray the Bible for your fellow members. Here, I want to attempt to show how you can pray the Bible for your own soul. Over the past week I've been praying Psalm 84 for my own soul (and for the congregation), and it strikes me that this is a particularly good Psalm to pray if you are ev...

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Lord willing, on August 27th I'll be gathering with the leaders of the women's small groups to reflect on 1 Samuel. This is in preparation for their study through the second half of the book over the course of the next year stretching from the Fall of 2016 to the Spring of 2017. In preparation for this teaching, I've been reading through 1 Samue...

Brothers and Sisters, The other day a friend asked me what kind of music I enjoyed listening to. If you know me, then you won't be surprised to know that I answered, "Hymns." Some of you thought that I was going to say, "The Baptist Catechism as published by the Charleston Association in 1813 set to music." No, though I do enjoy the catechism, I prefer hymns. I'm not a bi...

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, As many of you may know, my small group has been working through 1 Corinthians 13 with the help of Phil Ryken's book Loving the Way Jesus Loves. It has been encouraging to think about love from different angles and, in particular, what love looks like in practice. Perhaps one of the most challenging aspect of practicing love is practicing f...

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Back in January, I offered 16 resolutions for our church in 2016. I've mentioned them off and on in our church newsletter. I'll confess that I'm a little behind the pace that I wanted to set in working through those resolutions; nevertheless; today we take another step forward. Specifically, I'd like to briefly reflect on "Resolution #2" or that...

Dear Brothers and Sister,A few weeks ago I had the privilege of attending a pastor's conference entitled "Together for the Gospel." Over 10,000 people were there, and my dad was there with me. It was an encouraging time. We listened to 10 hour-long talks, and attended 2 additional breakout sessions. I took notes, by hand, and had about a full page of notes for each talk.Be...

Dear Brothers and Sisters,In January I offered 16 resolutions for our church in 2016. For those of you who were at the members' meeting on Sunday, you may recall that I brought these up again in our meeting this past Lord's Day. In particular, I mentioned resolution #16, that we should resolve to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. Why choose this?...

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Back in January I offered 16 resolutions for our church in 2016 with the hopes of offering further reflections on many of those resolutions throughout the year. Having already offered a reflection on resolution #1 (remember, rejoice, and rest in the whole obedience of Jesus Christ), that left 15 more to go! As you know from the newslet...

Dear Brothers and Sisters, As I shoveled snow for the eighth time in three days on Sunday, I pondered the question, "Why did God send the snow?" I think I know the ultimate answer to that question for his glory but I don't know that I know the particular answer to that question. As I shoveled, I wondered if the Lord sent snow because he wanted me to exercise. I wondere...