As part of explaining John 1:29-34 in the Sunday sermon, I mentioned “textual criticism.” What exactly is textual criticism, and should its use undermine or bolster our confidence in the Bible we have today? To answer most directly, textual criticism is the process of using the surviving copies of an original text no longer in…
In the Sunday sermon, we got to see a striking example of Christian humility in John the Baptist. When required to give testimony about himself to the Jews in John 1:19-28, John adamantly confesses that he is no one special, that he is only a voice, and that he is ultimately an unworthy slave of…
There’s something profound about the human face. From our earliest days as babies, we want to look at and understand other human faces. We want to see people’s faces when we talk to them or when they talk to us. Our most treasured art pieces, whether photos, drawings, paintings, or sculpture, are either focused on…
Imagine that someone came up to you and told you that, to be a truly faithful Christian and to inherit eternal life, you needed to give up your job, sell your house and the rest of your possessions, give all your money to the poor, say goodbye to your closest friends and family, and then…
This past Saturday we wrapped up our version of the In His Image: Recovering Human Dignity biblical counseling conference from ACBC (The Association of Certified Biblical Counselors). The conference was a great time of instruction, fellowship, and discussion. For today’s meditation, I thought I would briefly share some of the takeaways from the different conference…
(Today’s meditation is a guest post from our brother Mark Twombly. This is a slightly edited version of the original article, which can be found at Mark’s blog, In His Grip.) If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. (1 Timothy 6:8) Seriously? How? I know how to get along with…
I’ve been thinking more this week about a connection between our Sunday school lesson on early church persecution and Pastor Babij’s sermon on how The Gospel Makes All Things New. In Christ, people who normally would not have any reason to associate with each other but plenty of reason to hate one another find supernatural…
On Sunday, Pastor Babij took us through the opening salutation or greeting portion of Paul’s letter to the Colossians. Considering the theologically significant language Paul uses in his greeting to the Colossians, I thought it would be interesting to compare briefly the other greetings we see in the New Testament letters to see what we…
This past Sunday, we began two new message series at church: Pastor Babij began preaching through the book of Colossians, and I began teaching the first module of a foundation-level church history course in our adult Sunday school class. It occurred to me that this time of new beginnings is also an appropriate moment to…
In place of this week’s midweek meditation, I’d like to share a fuller preview of what’s coming up in our different levels of regular Sunday school this fall, starting this Sunday, September 18, at 9am. Adult Sunday School: Early Church History Location: Sanctuary (also available by livestream and recording) Led by: Pastor Dave Capoccia In…