Hello all, this is the most recent sermon that I gave for Columbus First Church of the Nazarene. I believe that this prayer of Jesus is important for us to understand today.
Dear Reader, If you are reading this letter, you may have walked away from the church at some point. I understand, because I have been there, too. I once left the church, and later came back. Today, I am glad that I gave the church a second chance. If you have walked away from the church, I want to meet you where you are at in this letter. At least, I want to do this for as many of you as possible. The reasons why people have left the church are varied, and it is not possible for me to talk about everything in a single letter. It is my hope that the conversation that I am trying to start does not end at this letter. It is my hope and prayer that this little letter simply serves as a beginning to a bigger, and longer, conversation. Some of you grew up in the church and walked away when you reached adulthood. Some of you came to church as an adult, but left after a short time. Some of you may have attended church once and never looked back. No matter what your situation is, I want ...
Did you know that there are good Christian magazines out there that you can get for FREE? If you like to read, but are looking for something to read in addition to books, then it may be worth your time to check out these free Christian magazines. Some of them are hard copies, and some of them are pdf versions of their magazine. Either way, they are free, and they are chock-full of good information. 1. The Voice of the Martyrs The Voice of the Martyrs was founded in 1967 by Romanian pastor Richard Wurmbrand. After the USSR took over Romania in 1944, Wurmbrand worked with the underground church, which eventually led to his arrest and 14 years of torture and persecution in Communist prison. Eventually, Wurmbrand was ransomed out and came to the United States. Since Wurmbrand founded the organization, it has worked tirelessly to keep Christians in the Western world informed about the persecution that our brothers and sisters around the world are going through, as well as providing ...
The Nicene Creed is an important creed in the history of the Christian faith. It expounds the Trinitarian faith of Jesus, the apostles, and the early Church. Composed originally at the Council of Nicaea, and confirmed in its final form at the Council of Constantinople. Despite its importance, far too few Christians understand what the Nicene Creed is and why it is important. Because of this, I thought it would be a good idea to release a commentary on the Nicene Creed, albeit a very brief one. There is much that could be expounded that I will not do in this post. Rather, I will simply try to post in such a way as to help the average Christian understand what the Creed is saying. The form that will be presented here is the form that was finalized at the Council of Constantinople. We believe in one God, the Father, the almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. The opening line of the Nicene Creed is a strong affirmation of monotheism. It asserts that there is ...
The title of this post is a claim that I woke up to from an atheist in one of our debate groups. It is not a new statement, to say the least, but it seems that this claim is making the rounds once again. Although this claim has been shown fallacious in the past, that doesn't stop it from being parroted again after a short cooldown period. This is not the first time this claim has made the rounds, and it will not be the last time. So how do we, as Christians, respond to this? In short, it depends on the nuance behind the argument. Let me explain what I mean. The claim that was made in a theist/atheist debate group If, by this response, the person giving it means that, if you have to argue for something, it must not be true. Or, at least, it must not be obvious enough to accept. However, this nuance to the argument is simply a non-sequitur. This is easy to show by simply parodying the argument. Take some examples: "If gravity were real, you wouldn't need scientists to argue ...
The year 2025 is coming to a close. Nazarene Caffeine is now over 5 years old, and this is the 3rd Year-In-Review we have done. God has done some incredible things in the past year, and I know that he has some very good things for us in 2026. The past year was a year unlike any other that we have experienced since Nazarene Caffeine was founded. Nazarene Caffeine launched the Barnabas Initiative as a means of connecting individuals to church communities. Since launching in September, we have helped 2 people connect to a church community in which they will be cared for spiritually. This past October, we also participated in our first in-person event, where we handed out Lifebooks , represented Christ, and engaged attendees on the question of the relevance of the church in today's world. The overwhelming response was that the church is, in fact, still very relevant today, a response that I was pleased to see. In 2025, we also saw a loss of several Christian leaders. Our praye...
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