As individuals and as a congregation, our aim is to “press on to maturity” in 2026. This involves a commitment to personal growth, spiritual development, and advancing beyond the foundation of our faith.  The shepherds have provided several resources and tools to help accomplish these goals set before us.  One such continual reminder is future bulletin articles written by our devoted deacons.

    The deacons will be writing this year on different phrases taken from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7).  This sermon, which introduced His hearers to “the gospel of the kingdom” (Matt. 4:23), is still well known…

Exodus 21:1-6 provides a most beautiful picture of love and commitment. 

    Under the Law of Moses, if an Israelite bought a Hebrew slave, he would serve for six years; but on the seventh he can go out as a free man without payment. If he comes in alone, he shall go out alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him.  If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master and the slave shall go out alone. But…

Is That All There Is?

In one of his plays Shakespeare describes Macbeth as being in abject despair.  He has lost his wife and his position of power.  All of his great ambitions have been crushed and life seems utterly empty.  In his hopelessness he declares:

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more.  It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

That soliloquy reminds me of the hauntingly pessimistic words in Mark Twain’s autobiography:

A myriad of men are born; they…

    There is no logical reason for not enjoying the worship services.  They should be a source of comfort to us, as well as a strong influence on our lives.  Good worship services should provide hope, strengthen ties, broaden influences, settle disturbed minds, and bring consolation to the disconsolate.   I was just thinking recently about some ways I might implement that would make the worship services more meaningful to me, and thus more helpful.  Maybe they might help you, too.

    Prepare early.  Far too few are ready to worship when it's time.  We get here right on time (or,…

Let the One Who Boasts . . .

All societies have generally assigned value to the same kinds of things. Regardless of time and culture, people have desired to be strong and powerful, to have wealth and resources, and to achieve status or influence among their peers. When someone has an abundance of these things, there has been a historical trend to assign moral value to these “successes,” even among the people of God. Despite history having abundant examples of the righteous suffering (e.g. Job) and Scripture clearly teaching that all who desire to live a godly life in Christ will…

    The 2026 church directories are available in the foyer.  I realize that they are not as critical as in years past since we have access to the online directory through the website and Congregate app.  But they are still a good resource and a tool for us to fulfill the “one another” passages given to members of the local church:

•     “bear one another’s burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2)
•     “let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but…

Jesus said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18).

Do I really believe that? Do my words and actions confirm it?

When Jesus said, “All authority has been given to Me,” he was not saying, “You live life however you want; whatever priorities you set are okay with Me.” He was not saying, “You follow Me, except when what I say conflicts with what the culture around you says.”

Today, the culture in which we live reflects an…

Acts 14 records some of Paul’s travels on his first preaching journey. The account of his experience in the town of Lystra is quite an adventure: in the space of a few sentences, the crowds go from trying to worship him as a god (verses 11-13) to having him stoned and left for dead (verse 19).

I wonder: Did the superstitious mindset that led the crowds to think Paul was a god in human form also make them easily swayed when his Jewish opponents arrived to denounce him? Did Paul’s refusal to…

The Quiet Danger of Spiritual Drift

It is often the body’s instinct to expel what is harmful. We recoil from what we know should not be taken in. Our Lord used similarly vivid language when He addressed the church at Laodicea and their lack of wholehearted commitment (Revelation 3:16).

The question for us today is both gentle and searching: Do we still possess that same spiritual sensitivity? Or have we grown so accustomed to comfort and routine that our responses have become muted? Over time we learn, we absorb, and sometimes - quietly, almost imperceptibly - we drift.

Humanity has always searched for…

    In Acts 27, Paul, while on a ship headed for Rome, encounters a storm that leaves the ship badly damaged and all of their provisions lost.  The last verse of that chapter says that the only thing that safely made it to land were the men on the boat and the planks of wood that they used as flotation devices. 

    “The native people showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold. When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire,…