This blog is Pastor Jay's weekly musings about God's Word, God's world, and God's call to our culture. We hope they encourage, challenge, and inform you. Sign up to recieve them in your email.
I want to attempt what feels like the near impossible with this post. We were talking about the freedom of the will in Sunday school and it became clear again that this is a sticky subject. There are multiple reasons for this, but I want to deal with the most problematic feature of it: confusing words. We know that communication is hard. It is even harder when there are t...
Keep ReadingLet me grant at the outset this this goes against conventional wisdom, so please hear me out. Today I want to tackle one of the most repeated proverbs of western language; "Actions speak louder than words". I want to demote it from a proverb to a clich. The challenge of doing this is that even a clich has something true in it somewhere. But as Christians, we aren't satisfi...
Keep ReadingI would like to offer up one more take on how to approach the New Year. This is the time to evaluate, plan and prepare for what you are going to do differently in the coming year. That is usually a good thing to do. Doing it only once a year normally doesn't help much, but once is better than nothing. So what kind of planning and preparing should you do? Well, probably all...
Keep ReadingLast week the Respect for Marriage Act was passed by the Senate. While profoundly disappointing, it is not surprising. What is somewhat surprising is the case being made to support this. It is a case we have heard before. In the 1980's, Governor Mario Cuomo of New York made the case that a person could be personally and privately against abortion, but still be publicly an...
Keep ReadingWho are we supposed to please, God or man? Our inner Sunday School rushes to the surface on a question like this: God! We should please God. But the question isn't quite as straightforward as that. The Scriptures speak about pleasing God and pleasing man. Look at these passages that speak of pleasing people. Romans 15:2 Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good...
Keep ReadingSchools have always followed wherever the gospel goes. Schools meet needs that arise from gospel compulsions. The gospel compels us to know God more and thus learning to read allows us to read his holy Word. The gospel compels us to glorify God and we can do that better when we see his world accurately, which history and science allows. The gospel compels us to love our fa...
Keep ReadingEveryone has to deal with fear about something at some point in their lives. Yes, there are those people out there that are super talented, highly connected and powerful, and gifted with all kinds of resources; and it can seem that they fear nothing. But if you dig long enough and deep enough, Eureka!, you will strike fear. The source and cause of the fear is irrelevant at...
Keep ReadingWhen Open Door Fellowship first started, 2022 wasn't just 10 years away, it felt like it was a million years away. There were so many uncertainties, and no one knew what to expect. I had never started a church, let alone pastored a church on my own. None of the people from Church of the Open Door who came with the plant had ever done a church plant before either. We knew t...
Keep ReadingFew things bring panic to the souls of many like the thought of sharing the gospel. Each potential encounter has its own panic-inducing features. To share with a stranger means potentially upsetting a nice casual encounter with accusations of being a religious nut-job imposing beliefs on people. But share with a friend or relative and you quite possibly sour a relationship...
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Thursday morning met us with a new addition to our church sign. Someone had given up some of their evening to spray paint "Facist" across the front. "Facist". Huh. Do we have a thing for faces? Yes, we absolutely love faces. We love all faces. We love the faces of those who are born and those who are still in the womb. We love faces of all sizes, even the smallest that ar...
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