Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 Paul the great church planter, pastor and theologian wrote these words to a church in Thessalonica in the middle of the first century AD. Most likely the first letter to the Thessalonians…
If I asked a 100 people, “What is the Church?” I might get 100 different answers. Everyone has an opinion. There is nothing wrong with a personal view on any subject. Regarding questions related to God, ‘what I think’ doesn’t really hold a lot of weight. When questions like these arise, I have one place…
In 1931 Tennessee Williams wrote a tragic short story about a man who forgot something important… Jacob Brodzky, a shy Russian Jew whose father owned a bookstore. The older Brodzky wanted his son to go to college. The boy, on the other hand, desired nothing but to marry Lila, his childhood sweetheart- a French girl…
I often run across stories and articles that are too long for a sermon, yet they are too wonderful not to share. Here is a little known story about the moon landing in 1969. Communion on the Moon: July 20th, 1969 by Eric Metaxas Forty seven years ago two human beings changed history by walking on…
Occasionally I run across an article that is too good not to share. This is one of them. This is written by a “local” here in the South Bay. The grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence as Scott Shute discovered after the loss of his father. Faith of His…
I read a chilling statistic the other day on cnn.com… “Imagine every man, woman and child leaving home in 29 states, mostly in the U.S. West and Midwest. That’s everyone west of Ohio and Kentucky and north of Texas, all the way to California. The 158 million people in those states make up the same…
Electronic Bible study. . . That is exactly what this blog post is. Two weeks ago, I wrote about this verse from Ecclesiastes. . . 15 In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: a righteous man perishing in his righteousness, and a wicked man living long in his wickedness….
King Solomon was pretty smart. The Bible says that he was the wisest person ever to live (short of Jesus the Son of God). He is believed to be the partial author of 3 books of the Bible: Song of Songs, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. One of them is racy and the other two are…
Love is an amazing gift that God ‘built’ into humanity. God wanted us to know how He feels towards us. The downside to love is that sometimes others hurt us or we have say goodbye for awhile when a loved dies. The great pastor and theologian Paul (from the New Testament) says this about…
Where in the world is Pastor Ben this week? Some of you heard a little bit about the summer camp that I am the director of in the announcements last Sunday at Bethel Lutheran Church. I am the co-director of a camp called Leadership Lab (as in laboratory). It is a one week camp that…
