Pastor's Corner

“But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the gates of the prison, and taking them out he said, “Go, stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this Life.”(NASB95)” One of the hardest things we can do as Christians is fully obeying God. It can be difficult, especially when He calls us to do something difficult. Soon after I became a Christian, I felt the calling to quit my job and to enter seminary. I did this without really objecting and continued to serve Him to my best ability. Years later when I became a pastor, I quickly found that following God will often put you at odds with mankind. I learned this as I soon had to become mediator and peacemaker between arguing people. My first year of ministry was marked with much conflict that I inherited and even more anguish as I was routinely beaten down by those closest to me. It was hard. In the passage in Acts 5, the apostles were jailed for sharing Jesus and for disobeying the Sanhedrin’s command to sto...

“But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (NASB95)” Years ago, I had an interview for a tech support job. After five rounds of interviews, I was on the sixth and final with the Vice President of the support team. I was told going into it that this would be more of a formality, but to still take it seriously. The interview, for the most part, was a standard exchange of questions and answers. Toward the end of the interview, my interviewer asked me a question that he said he asked everyone. He asked me, “If you could work any job in the world, what would it be?” It was at this point he leaned back in his chair and smiled waiting to see how I answered. This was before I became a pastor as I was still in seminary at the time. I paused for a moment to think, then responded, “I would be a pastor.” His smile faded on his face...

“But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!” Acts 3:6 NABS95 Often, I hear messages preached from the pulpit about how Christians are supposed to be a giving group of people. That message is very much true but not just in one way. In our culture, when we think of giving, we first think of money. At my church, much like every Protestant church in the United States, we have an offering every week. The tithes go towards various ministries inside of the local church and in the global church body. These offerings are meant to be a blessing and often they are, but there is a far more important aspect of Christianity: Jesus. In the passage in Acts 3, a lame beggar thought he was going to receive money from Peter and John. Peter called out to the beggar to look at him and John. The beggar expected to receive money from them, but instead he received something far better. The beggar received the ability ...

We have been going through the book of Acts chapter by chapter for the past few weeks during Bible study. As I read, it amazes me how frequently the early church met and fellowshipped together. In the 21st century, most churches meet once a week on Sunday. Some churches meet several times on Sunday or throughout the week for a mid-week Bible study or prayer service. Even if the most active church meets three times a week, it pales in comparison when looking at the early church. In Acts 2, there is a small passage talking about the early church meeting that often goes unnoticed. Due to Pentecost and Peter’s first sermon, the ingathering of the Jewish Christians falls between the cracks as a person reads Acts. Consider the last two verses of chapter 2. “Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was a...