Hospitality is something every Christian should be doing, but what exactly is hospitality? Hospitality can mean different things based on your culture, and upbringing. Do some hospitality is what you receive when you stay in a hotel. Its a clean bed, space to be alone, a lavish breakfast and the ability to have your needs meet 24 hours day. For others, hospitality is someone opening their home for you to stay. Instead of a lavish breakfast, room to yourself, and your needs met 24 hours, you are invited into a home to help prepare the meals and to share rooms with others.

14 books to get your family reading aloud together this summer. A great family tradition to get started with wonderful books.

Jacob and Amy often receive questions about matters pertaining to family, children and the church. One such question was how to train our children to love instruction and to love God’s Law. This week we briefly touch on 5 tips to help you teach your children to love Instruction and His law.

Jacob recently received this questions about the contemporary Christian Music Movement within churches today. We know that many people are struggling with what music should be sung in worship, versus the home. We hope that this answer encourages you to think about the “Christian” music you listen to and the music that is sung at your worship service on Sundays.

My wife and I have always taught our children about death. This means, as Christian parents, we have also taught our children about the hope of the resurrection. It can be difficult to have conversations with little ones, and that’s a truism that has been proven time and time again as we raise our four living children. Conversations can sometimes be difficult because of the tragic, gut-wrenching, soul-disturbing reality of the curse of death.

Today we will share a few quotes to think about and chew on. Many of these will read as quite offensive in the current climate in the secular west that is so utterly hostile to the Lord and his instructions.

The past few months have been filled with prayer, work, excitement and anticipation. We are so blessed in where God has called our family. We look forward to sharing with you more about how God has been working in our lives in hopes to encourage you in yours. Check out what’s new with our family!

In Acts 14:23 (narrative, descriptive) we read that it was the Apostle Paul's pattern to appoint Christian elders within churches early on in the lifecycle of a church (1):

Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.

The following is an excerpt from a study Jacob has been working on over the last 2 years about the New Testament Elder…..

In Acts 11:29-30 (narrative, descriptive) we’re given the first explicit mention of New Testament Christian elders:

Acts 11:29 The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea. 30 This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

There seems to be trouble not far behind whenever we conflate what we do, enjoy, or desire, with who we are. What we do changes, what we enjoy is fleeting, and what we desire is rarely satisfied. Our understanding of ourselves will, by necessity, be a confusing labyrinth of the mind if we use any of these things to find, evaluate, and plant our identity. This is perhaps the definitive great question of our time among a dying and lost world, “who am I?” and by association as social creatures “who are we?”.

If you think this isn’t a hot topic within western Christianity then I’ll simply lay out one, clear cut propositional statement for you - The VAST majority of distinctions within churches in the west boils down to issues related to authority. The reason there are X number of different professing Christian groups within your city, county, state, province, region, nation, and continent, are primarily due to distinctions and perspectives regarding authority.

Christians who are enjoined in a covenant marriage between one man and one woman have the best possible sex because it is the only sexual experience which dwells under the blessing of the Divine Maker. No other form of human sexuality can include the Divine blessing. For the biblically informed married Christian husband and wife, sex isn’t a sneaky unspiritual side gig outside of the blessing of God. For that couple sex is a unifying expression of love to be enjoyed for the glory of God.

While we live in an age where Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, Millennials, and Gen Zers are all active and sharing a digital space called the Internet, the conversations relating to religion are much different from those prior to the mass adoption of the Internet. Politics, religion, and finances were the socially accepted triumvirate of topics that were taboo among polite company over much of the 2nd half of the twentieth century. Today, speaking of taxation policies, immigration, and even gun laws might make for awkward conversational topics for many, but those issues are not nearly as polarizing as the present “hot topics” within Christianity at large. 

It is worthy to note that while many belief systems lay foundational claims regarding character, morays, and morals, Christianity has a distinct and unique foundational claim. The foundational claims of Christianity surround historical events. These historical events then form the basis for all imperatives of the Christian religion. 

Singing praises to God together as a family and community is one of the pillars of Christianity. Today we look at the history or hymns, and share with you our own family hymnal. Our family hymnal is historic hymns re formatted to be followed easier by beginner readers, and paired down to 1 hymn a week.

Nowadays it may be a rare thing to hear much of "hell" or "eternal torment". Anyone who should dare bring up an eternity of misery is surely discounted and discredited with terms like "fundamentalist" or "religious extremist". Yet in his work on the subject of eternity's greatest bliss (the Saint's Everlasting Rest), Richard Baxter addresses his audience with a warning and lengthy discussions on the horror of eternity apart from Christ.

One of the strangest, few verses in all of the Bible, describes the circumstances around the death of Christ. Matthew, in the midst of a relatively unbroken flow of narrative on the crucifixion of Jesus, interrupts the flow to describe the after-effects of Jesus’ death. Today we look at what different theologians and myself have to say about these verses.

In The Rain That Never Stops: And the Problem of Depression author M.R. Scott takes the reader through a personal account of grieving to discuss the nature, and purposes, of depression and suffering in life. Through a theological exploration of his own suffering due to the loss of a dear friend and mentor, Scott gives a biblical foundation for understanding suffering.

Jacob had the pleasure of preaching at Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church on Sunday, February 26, 2023. He preached on 1 Corinthians 11:23 about what Paul has received and what he delivered.

Over the last several weeks we’ve been a part of several conversations regarding revival. News is spreading of various events that are being called “revivals” throughout the United States. What makes this topic at this time rather stirring for us, is that both those who are professing believers, and those who are not believers are taking notice.