Peace In Aiken

We owe something to God. We owe something to our government. The question is this: what do we owe to each?

I am not worthy of heaven. This isn't us being unnecessarily self-effacing. This is honesty. Yet, the king invites the unworthy. He is a God of invitation and makes us servants who love to invite!

Repentance is not one time, one day, one moment. Repentance is lifelong. We reflect, we repent, and that repentance and forgiveness leads us to live differently.

Forgiveness is for me. It's a truth that's worth internalizing daily. It's a truth that we are reminded of weekly in church. And since forgiveness is for me, forgiveness is for others.

Does God actually hold us responsible for the unbelief of people around us? I think that's the wrong question. Maybe the better question is this: how has God called me to be a watchman in the lives of those around me? It's not an easy calling, but know this: your Savior's heart and the courage given to you by the Holy Spirit goes with you!

How do we know Romans 8:28 is true? How do we know that God is actually doing everything for our good? Verses 29-39 give us the answer!

Our God gave us a purpose as he provided us with everything we need for this life. It was to be like him. He is a generous God... and he has generous children!

Wisdom comes from faith. Without faith, we could receive blessing after blessing from God, and it wouldn't matter. We would always want, need, and demand more. Instead, the spiritual wisdom we receive by faith tells us that our God is enough.

The Power of the Lord's Supper comes from the cross. There, our sins are forgiven. This is the core of the blessing of communion: sins are brought and sins are left at the table.

At the Lord's Supper, we aren't just confessing a healed relationship with God. God has something more in mind. He has a horizontal relationship in mind as well. As we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we are confessing our unity with those who celebrate it with us. At the same time, God binds us more tightly together and strengthens our church family!

"We love God." Anyone who goes to church would have no problem confessing that. "I love God more than anything else." Now that's a different conversation. We have been blessed with so many things to love and care about that we can get distracted and find ourselves replacing God with other gods. How do we combat this? We stare deeply into the work of God, who showed the importance that he placed on...

Sometimes our God has to say hard things to us. He doesn't do it to hurt us or to make us sad. He does so to remind us of our spiritual need for him. He says the hard thing so that he might say the beautiful thing: the good news of the gospel.

Our God leads us. He leads us through the Spirit. He leads us by his Word. But he doesn't stop there. God leads us through people he has established to do the difficult work of leading. By doing that work, leaders serve those they lead while they serve their Savior.

Paul doesn't call himself the worst to speak hyperbolically. Instead, he teaches us to know our sin better than we know anyone else's. The more I understand my sin, the more I understand my Savior's love.

It's fun to learn how things work. Sometimes it feels extremely important to know how certain things function. However, when we start contemplating the Trinity, we have to pump the brakes. I don't want a God who is supposedly beyond me to be able to be perfectly understood and explained by me.

There is one way to heaven. To some, that sounds terrifying. It sounds elitist. It sounds exclusive. And while it might not be either of the first two, it certainly is the third. Salvation is exclusive to those who trust in Jesus as Savior. In this exclusivity, we find beauty. As Jesus makes the gospel the exclusive way to heaven, he makes salvation endlessly inclusive!

Sheep are good at one thing. You're a sheep. Let's find out what God wants you to be "good at" as we follow the Good Shepherd.

On the Road to Emmaus, the two disciples were steeped in confusion and disappointment. When Jesus reveals himself and shows himself to be the center of all Scripture, hope comes rushing back!

Is there enough evidence for the resurrection to persuade you? If I want to rest my faith on evidence, I might wind up grasping at straws. But our faith isn't manmade. It is created by the Spirit and nourished through the Word and Sacraments.

On Easter Sunday, we're reminded of the heart of our faith: Jesus died to take away the sins of the whole world, and he rose again to promise us that we too would live in the face of death.

What must it be like to dine with God? We won't fully understand just how breathtaking that experience is until we find ourselves in heaven. But here on earth, we get a foretaste of what that will be like every time we come to the Lord's Supper!

Jesus wouldn't let one prophecy go unfulfilled. Palm Sunday reminds us that as Jesus completes the work laid forth for him by the Father, he leaves no stone unturned. On his way to the cross, he solidifies this truth in our hearts: this week, he is not merely an undeserving victim. He is OUR king who lives to secure OUR victory.

Your life is in the palm of your Savior's hand... is there any place better?

He couldn't see. But that wasn't the biggest drag on his life. The biggest drag was his spiritual blindness. When you don't know Jesus, you don't know yourself, your world, or your God. When you know Jesus... you see things as they are.

When the Samaritan woman went to the well, she was expecting one thing: water. Little did she realize, Jesus was going to use the most important conversation of her life to give her living water!