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.
Our church has been in 1 Timothy chapter three, and there we have been looking at the calling and character of elders. These are the men that God sets aside to lead, feed, and protect his people. But for those who have been in different kinds of churches, they may have seen different kinds of elders. Some churches have teaching elders and ruling elders. Teaching elders a...
Keep ReadingBy Jay Lickey12-16-16 It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas when you start seeing statements made here and there about keeping Christ in Christmas. It's a pointed reminder in our increasingly secular age. But what about keeping church in Christmas? I have never seen that statement on a Facebook post or a t-shirt. Yet, every 6+ years Christmas falls on a Sunday. H...
Keep ReadingI am deeply blessed by having a host of wonderful people that live around and interact with my children. While you can hardly overstate the importance of parents, children will also be blessed and challenged and rounded out by the giftings and experiences of God's people. I want an army of people pointing my children to Christ and providing examples of sacrificial love i...
Keep ReadingThe other day it occurred to me that spiritual immaturity is like drinking alcohol. Both of these have within them the seeds of self-destruction. Let me explain the connection. Alcohol is a controlling agent. It incapacitates the mind so that a person falls under the sway of unchecked emotions and rationale. Alcohol is like a key that progressively unlocks the chains of ...
Keep ReadingMany features of God's creation showcase His intentional design. The Woodpecker has a special tongue that wraps around his skull providing a cushion for what would otherwise be a concussion-causing job. The Aye-Aye has incredibly long thin fingers for finding and pulling out grubs through small holes in trees. The Crabeater Seal doesn't actually eat crabs, but has some o...
Keep ReadingWe say it every year. A new year is here; can you believe it? 2016 has arrived and the question on everyone's mind is "what's in store this year? Believe it or not, I think I know, and I am not talking about any election. This year, as there has been every year, there will be another battle for the souls of men and women. I can even tell you what at least one of these ba...
Keep ReadingI like a sleek sports car and a power torqueing truck as much as the next guy, but I assure you I am not a gearhead or a car enthusiast by any stretch of the imagination. I could have been pretty easily, though. My grandfather worked for a Ford dealership and mechanic shop all his life. For whatever reason, those mechanical genes didn't get passed on to me. So it always ...
Keep ReadingTo wrap up this blog on public rebuke, I want to look at scriptural examples and then try to think through some of the practicalities. Remember, we have a target rich environment, so we need wisdom in the implementation of public warning and reproof. Abundant Example Example and imitation are important parts of discipleship. We are supposed to learn from those who lead...
Keep ReadingWhat do you do in a target-rich environment? If you come to my yard, and I tell you to pull out all the dandelions, you will find yourself in a target-rich environment! But you will soon realize that there are others things that you need to do in life, like eat and sleep and play with children. Your work on all those targets is determined by how much ammunition (or energ...
Keep ReadingIt happens every time we come to Christmas and Easter. Someone somewhere waves a large red flag of warning over our celebrations. Their argument is that buried in the holiday is a connection to paganism. Is this true? Do we need to jettison these celebrations, or radically alter them? Are there dangers lurking in what we do? These are valid questions. We shouldn't shy a...
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