My wife and I have the great blessing of godly older spiritual authority that knows us, loves us, and oversees us like mature spiritual fathers and mothers. One of these men had been faithfully serving his church for decades when the time of transition came. Wanting to learn as much as I could from the … Read more
More than any cause, movement, feeling, culture, or social unit, God is in control and is over it all.
One of the great points of division between Catholic and Protestant Christians is interpreting something Jesus said to Peter. In Matthew 16:16-19, Jesus spoke of a “rock” that He would build His church upon. Catholic theologians argue that Peter is the rock. Protestant theologians argue that Jesus is the rock and Peter’s confession of that … Read more
In this sermon from 1 Peter, Pastor Mark shares how God does perfect work through imperfect people and that God’s blessings outweigh and outlast the world’s burdens.
For high-profile leaders, there is likely at least one public controversy that follows them for their entire life. For Peter, his high- profile controversy regarding his commission from Jesus has followed him to this very day and has resulted in the family feud between Catholic Christians and Protestant Christians. Matthew 16:16–19 records Jesus’ commission of … Read more
Like most relationships, the way we make a new friend is often by an old friend introducing us to someone they know but we do not. The same is true of what Christians call evangelism. In its simplest form, evangelism is someone who is friends with Jesus introducing a friend to Jesus so that they … Read more
One of the things we do for people we love is give them a nickname. In our family, the person with the most nicknames is our beloved youngest son. On one funny occasion, someone who was with us for the first time stopped and asked, “What is the youngest son’s actual name?” They had heard … Read more
In Peter, we see a run-of-the-mill, shockingly normal Christian disciple. Someone who really loves Jesus. Someone who really sins. Someone with whom God is really patient as they grow and mature, taking two steps forward then one step back, never near perfect but heading North as a general rule. Religious folks are a bit shocked … Read more
Sometimes, it can be hard to identify with the characters in the Bible because they seem so flawless and perfect. That is not the case with Peter. The one believer in the Bible that is perhaps the most imperfect is Peter.