January 01, 2020

RENEWAL

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Titus 3:4-6 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.

We have stepped into the New Year. It’s a sort of special time because we regard it as an opportunity to have a new beginning, as if everything can start over fresh and renewed. Some of us may make New Year’s resolutions and hope to leave the problems of the past behind us. Of course, the reality is, many of the old problems are really not left behind. They tend to follow us wherever we go, even into the New Year. The debts, the hard feelings, the illnesses, all have a way rearing their ugly heads again. For sinners such as we, grudges, sickness, sorrow, and creditors are not easily shaken. They tend to continue to taunt and harass us even though we attempt to ignore them and pretend, at least for a brief moment, that they aren’t really there anymore...

December 01, 2019

What Child is This?

A Fortress Article for December 2019

Everything changes when you have a baby.  As I write this article, today is the 16th birthday of my oldest son, Josiah.  Man, time has sure flown these past 16 years!  I look back and think how different life was B.C. (before children)! Before Josiah was born, I’d never changed a diaper, never worried as much as I do as a parent, never felt the weight of responsibility for another person’s soul the way I do now.  And now, with four boys at home, paying for tuition, going through a gallon of milk per day, helping with homework, struggling with teenage angst, and sharing in the laughter and joy of having four boys, I can’t imagine my life without any of them...

November 01, 2019

NOW

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2 Corinthians 6:1-2 As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. 2 For he says, "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.

As we enter the month of November we also enter into that part of the church year which we refer to as the Season of End Time. During the last four Sundays of the church year we focus on events that teach us about the end of the world, judgment, heaven, and hell. We are reminded that there will be a day when God will bring all things to an end in this world, and what is temporal will be no more. But what is eternal will last forever and ever. At those times in life when we find ourselves standing next to the hospital bed of a dying person...