By Pastor Don Strand July 1, 2016 Things are different today, the Rolling Stones said in 1966, but I doubt even they had an inkling of just how different things would become.  Where graciousness, manners, and humility were once celebrated as virtues to be cultivated, now society has abandoned all pretense of civility and instead openly celebrates narcissism and selfishness with parades…

By Pastor Don Strand The eternal security of the believer, called the “perseverance” of the saints, or the “preservation” of the saints is clearly taught in a broad range of Bible texts.  In addition to John 6:37 and Ephesians 1:3 there is also Paul’s great assurance of security for the believer in Romans 8:26-30.  Yet, there are people and Christian churches that…

By Pastor Don Strand Last week I discussed the first two of five practices you can adopt to prepare yourself the Sunday worship service.  Those two practices were to, first, remind yourself of the seriousness of the occasion.  The Sunday worship service is a meeting with the Triune God, the creator, and sustainer of the Universe.  It is hardly to be taken…

By Pastor Don Strand In the previous two posts, we’ve learned that we need to go to church, first and most importantly because God commands us to appear before Him.  We are commanded to hear from our Heavenly Father of our hopeless condition of fallen and sinful creatures and to hear of His gracious solution to our problem.  We are unable to…

Pastor Don Strand Last week, in part one of the discussion of the reasons we need to go to church, I said that the first and most important reason is that God commands His people to do so.  Two examples cited were Deuteronomy 31:12 and Psalm 50:5-7.  Now, some may say: “That is what God commanded in the Old Testament for Israel,…

By Pastor Don Strand Ahhh, Sunday.  A day to relax, perhaps to sleep in a bit, maybe just unwind from the workweek and catch up on some things around the house.  Or, perhaps your Sunday includes taking the kids to soccer or Little League or play days at the local arena.  And ever since your oldest kid made the traveling team, (bragging…

by Pastor Don Strand There are some people today who claim to be able to heal the sick and do other sorts of things that appear to be miracles.  Miracle working is popular with the “name it and claim it” crowd who say that every Christian should be able to do these things if they have enough faith.  Being sick, being poor…