Warsaw Evangelical Presbyterian Church

The New Testament includes gospels and letters from a few of the first Christian disciples and believers, but have you ever wondered or imagined what some of the  other  early believers in Jesus might say if they were able to speak to us? What experiences and surprises might they speak about to encourage us to fully trust Jesus with an eternal perspective, even today? Perhaps I have an overactive...

Matthew 7:15-23 As He nears the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus urges us to actually do the things He has been teaching. Last week, in verses 13 and 14, He told us to enter by the Narrow Gate and to walk on the Narrow Path. This week we’ll see that He is concerned that we pay attention to our steps – that we take actions to ensure that we remain on the Narrow Way. He gives us warnings...

The story is told that  The Times of London  at one point early in the 1900s posed this question to several prominent authors: “What’s wrong with the world today?” The well-known author G.K. Chesterton is said to have responded, at one point early in the 1900s, with a one-sentence essay: “Dear Sir, I am. Yours, G.K. Chesterton” His words demonstrate that most people lack humility. Most people clai...

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”  - Matthew 7:7 Have you ever been at a store and needed help finding something, but there was no one around to ask? It’s a frustrating experience, right? Or have you ever needed help finding something and there was an employee 5 feet away; but you’re too stubborn to ask; and so you search in vain?...

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”  - Matthew 7:1 Have you ever been critical of someone or said something about someone's behavior and then heard these words: “Don't judge, or you too will be judged?” Is Jesus implying here that we may never evaluate people or make assessments about them? Does that mean that, as parents who have been given the responsibility of teaching our childr...

“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  -Matthew 6:21 Greetings from General Assembly 2024 in Memphis, TN! It is an honor and a privilege to be representing you at our annual church meeting, and I invite you to join me in prayer as (by the time you will read this), we will have concluded our important business and be heading towards home). Pray that our work has honored Christ, p...

My guess is that you’ve heard the idea, “It’s possible to do all the right things for all the wrong reasons.” In the church, it might play out something like this: We can read our Bibles, go to church, put money in the collection plate, and live an exemplary life, yet all as a means of serving ourselves. Perhaps we do these things to ease a guilty conscience; perhaps it’s to impress others, or per...

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” -Matthew 5:44-45 How many of us have ever heard (or used) the phrase, “Don’t get mad; get even!”? Most of us want to fight back when someone hurts us. We want to prove we are right and the other person is wrong. In our highly-polarized society, the fabric of self-preservation is woven deepl...

“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”  Matthew 19:5-6 God’s design for marriage is for a husband and wife to leave their families and to form something new. This involves much more than a contract, or even a commitmen...

How many of you have memories of either singing (or teaching your own children) the song, “Oh, be careful little eyes what you see…”? This children’s song is a reminder that little eyes don’t just see another child’s toy, they can lead one to envy what another has. Jesus says much the same thing in Matthew 5:27-30 by using the example of someone looking at another person lustfully. There is little...

Has this ever happened to you? Your colleague belittles you in front of your coworkers, and you silently plot how to get even. A driver rudely cuts you off on the freeway, and you hit the accelerator to show them what you think of their driving. Your parents made mistakes that have hurt you, and you’ve spent your adult life being angry over how they treated you. Anger can be incredibly corrosive w...

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”  - Matthew 5:17 Have you ever noticed that very few drivers come to a complete stop at a stop sign? Most prefer the “rolling stop option.” Or the many places in Warsaw where a light turning from yellow to red is almost always guaranteed to have a truck or car running through it?...

In our health-conscious world, we often look for labels that say, “Reduced Sodium.” But let's be honest; how many of us truly get excited when we see a bag of chips or a box of crackers that contains those words? Most likely not too many of us! That’s because salt is delicious. It’s why chips, crackers, French fries, pizza, and many other things taste good. Salt exists to make food better. Tha...

Last week in church, we started to look at the Beatitudes. However, we didn’t finish them, meaning that we get to take a look at the second four. In where we left off, we were just beginning to talk about what it means to hunger and thirst for righteousness:  “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”  (Matthew 5:6) Many of us are hungry for approval. We...

There have been many times over the years where we have gone out for a nice meal, but where I haven’t been able to finish it all. When that happens, I come home with a box of leftovers ready to be taken to church with me for lunch the next day. Yet on countless occasions, I open up the fridge the next morning only to discover that someone has eaten my lunch! When that happens, 9 times out of 10, I...

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven... Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  - Matthew 5:3,10 The Sermon on the Mount begins with a series of “blessing” statements. These are often called the Beatitudes. Each statement begins with the Greek word ­ macarios , which can be translated as “blessed” or “hap...

For a couple of hours on Monday, April 8th, we will be transfixed by the movement of heavenly bodies as much of North America is plunged into blackness. A dark celestial glory will be on display as the moon blocks the sun’s rays from reaching the earth. During that brief window, we will be impressed, gobsmacked, mesmerized, and in awe. Perhaps we will marvel at how little we control in our own liv...

On the first Easter Sunday morning, a couple of women were in for the surprise of their lives. Instead of finding a closed tomb, they found an open grave, and an angel greeting them with the words,  “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.”  For them and for every follower of the Lord Jesus, life would never be...

How should we view Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem? Was it an event to celebrate, or a day of sadness? For many who saw Jesus riding into the city, it was a day of rejoicing. They lined the streets, shouting, “Hosanna!” (a shout of praise), expecting Jesus to restore Israel to its former glory. With excitement and religious fervor, the people shouted,  “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name o...

“And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”  - Jonah 4:11 Though Nineveh was a great city, its people had wandered far from God. Jonah didn’t care much about that, though, because Nineveh’s people were enemies of his own people. Still, God was...

“Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”  Jonah 3:9 As we left off last Sunday, after three days in the sour belly of a fish, Jonah is vomited onto dry land. God gave him a second chance. Then God calls Jonah to preach to the people of Nineveh about a second chance. This time, however, Jonah obeys and he begins to preach.  But did y...

Have you ever been in a precarious position? What is the posture you assumed in those moments? Triumph?! Hopefulness?! Despair?! Have you ever viewed that precarious position as a picture of God’s grace?  Probably not! If we’re anything like Jonah, we cried out in despair:  “In my distress, I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From the deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you...

We love the story of a good hero; so much so that it’s spawned comics and, TV shows, and movies. For the past decade, the DC and Marvel empires have risen on the backs of many of these superhero blockbusters. Of course, as I once heard someone quip, “The problem with these movies is that everything is at stake, and nothing is at stake.” In other words, the whole world seems to be in peril, but the...

The story of Ruth is one of the Bible’s great love stories. It overflows with kindness and compassion, and it highlights how God’s people experience His sovereignty and tender mercy as He works through the lives of His people. Just think about what we have seen: As Ruth had shown kindness to her mother-in-law Naomi, (Ruth 1:16-17), so Boaz - a close relative of Naomi - showed kindness to Ruth. Boa...

The word redeem means “to buy back.” For Boaz, this meant using his money to buy back a relative’s land and having a child with Ruth to preserve the family name of that relative. Like Ruth, Boaz is a person of noble character. As Ruth clung to Naomi out of respect for her mother-in-law and for the Lord, Boaz clung to the Word of God, recognizing that all honor and praise belong to the Lord. As thi...