The month of June is upon us and, with it, the celebration of America’s true public religion – Pride. Our nation, with much of the western world, has committed itself wholesale to the worship of unlimited sexual license and the aggressive evangelizing of the LGTBQ+ agenda. This is not about politics, or social policy, or human rights. At its core, this is purely about worship. It is demonically driven rebellion against the Living God and His good creation. This is man “exchanging the truth of God for a lie” and God, in judicial response, giving our society “over to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done” (Romans 1:28). Pride Month is man shaking his fist in the face of God – and God revealing His just and awful response to that wicked pride....
This coming week we welcome Eddie Mercado as Harvest’s full-time, summer pastoral intern. Eddie and his wife Hilary have 4 children: Calvin (9), Ezekiel (7), David (5) and Amelia (3). He was raised in a Christian home in the greater Chicago area, but did not become convicted of his sin and trust in Christ until he was 12-13 years old. In 2016, he and his family began attending Harvest’s evening service while Eddie studied at Kuiper College. The Mercados officially joined Harvest as members in 2020. ...
We are people who worry. We worry about our health, about the kids, about our job, about our relationships, the economy, the country, the world. I, for one, am an expert worrier. I can find something to worry about in just about any situation, no matter how good it might be. ...
Spring is nearly too much for me. The sheer thrill of warm sunshine, the wonder of growing things, the glory of flowering trees and the smell of warm earth; I can barely contain myself. I feel like a 5-year-old boy on my birthday about to open the presents with cake and ice cream waiting. It’s too good and too much, an overload of the joy-capacitor. The weight of the glory strains what this mortal can handle. I can’t help but think that this experience is a small foretaste of the first day in heaven. ...
Why are we taking on this new task of offering English as a Second Language classes? The purpose of ESL ministry is to share the Good News of Christ in word and deed. In Matthew 25, Jesus describes some of the characteristics of his people. These good deeds are not the basis of their salvation, but the evidence or demonstration of it: “The King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me…”...
Have you noticed how the Apostle Paul repeatedly references multiple associates—“fellow workers” and “ministers”—with whom he serves. As Colin Marshall and Tony Payne observe, “Up to 100 names are associated with Paul in the New Testament, of which around 36 could be considered close partners and fellow laborers.” [2] For example, there are Prisca and Aquila (Rom 16:3), Apollos (1 Cor 3:5), Tychichus (Eph 6:21), Epaphroditus (Phil 2:25), Epaphras (Col 1:7), and Timothy (1 Thess 3:2), to name just a few. In a word, Paul carried out his ministry within the context of a team. ...
I’m convicted by how easily contemporary Christians (me included) act like these fruits are nice-but-not-necessary features of the Christian life. We can all recite them, but how many of us intentionally pursue them? How many of us are deeply conscience stricken when they are not evident in our life? I know some of us are, and I’m deeply thankful for you. But, I feel like my vision of piety has been heavy in how-to-respond-to-God and insufficiently focused on the fruit of the Spirit – which is heavy in how we respond to people. ...
“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, a light upon my path.” That’s how I memorized Psalm 119:105 as a young boy at Lamont Christian School. It’s hard to describe how much more precious that truth has become 50-some years later. I say that because I feel increasingly disoriented in today’s society. So much has changed. ...
Conspiracy theories have a way of grabbing our attention. Joe Carter defines a conspiracy as something that “…explains an event or set of circumstances as the result of a secret plot, usually by powerful conspirators.” Whether it’s a fake moon landing, flat-earthers, the illuminati, or the reptilian elite (yes, you read that correctly), there is something simultaneously sensational, humorous, and pathetic about these claims. ...
Like yours, my heart has been heavy with grief this week in the wake of the evil suffered by Christians in Nashville. And, perhaps like yours, my heart has struggled to find words to speak to God in prayer....
The One:Ten Team exists to develop a culture of discipleship at Harvest Church. We are defining discipleship as the process of learning Christ in faith and repentance so that we are growing like Christ in our actions, attitudes, and life’s agenda. When we say that we want to see a culture of discipleship at Harvest, we mean that we want to see the way we act and talk to ...
Keep ReadingPaul can describe anxiousness, or concern, as a good thing when directed toward what God desires. Therefore, we become free from anxiety, not by simply making it stop, but by directing our anxiety toward a focused care to know the grace, acceptance, and love of the Father towards us in Christ....
Keep ReadingWe believe in the catholic church. This is what we confess on a regular basis in our worship services when we read together the historic creeds, such as the Nicene and Apostolic. Perhaps you’ve never thought that much about those words; or, maybe, you’ve recited the words but with a bewilderment or confusion, “…but aren’t we presbyterian? Shouldn’t it be, ‘...
Keep Reading“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2) Ponder this pivotal command and promise with me for a moment. ...
Keep ReadingIt struck me again this past Sunday that the pastor has the best seat in the house. I wish you could see what I see as I look out over the congregation on a Sunday morning. What do I see? ...
Keep ReadingThere is a time for everything. These were the verses from Ecclesiastes 3 that we read together as a family our last night in Providence, Rhode Island. They seemed fitting for together we sensed that this was both a sad moment but also a happy one. ...
Keep ReadingI’m reading an excellent book called Pastoral Graces by Lee Eclov, in which he says that God’s children have a Spirit-given homesickness about them. “God gives his people a homing instinct when the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us.” ...
Keep ReadingPerspective is so hard to come by when you’re walking through a trial. Sickness, sin, and all kinds of misery can seem eternal, and heaven can become microscopic in our heart and imagination. In my last sermon from James 1, I was very moved by our confidence that “various trials” should be counted as “all joy” because of what they are producing in us: endurance....
Keep ReadingClearly, the needs for wise care within the church far exceed the capacity of any pastor, and clearly, the solution is to multiply wise helpers within the church through training. “How?” is the million-dollar question! The Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (CCEF) is a biblical counseling ministry that God is using worldwide to help pastors like me answer th...
Keep ReadingI have been thinking about death lately. Not morbidly. I know death is a conquered foe. But it is still an inevitable reality. And the Bible says that there is something about “numbering our days” that produces wisdom (Ps 90:12). What is the wisdom of remembering our own mortality?...
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