Category: 828 Newsletter
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Family Devotions With Matthew Henry
Recently, my wife and I decided to do something a little different for our devotions together. Instead of picking up something new or trendy, we went way back—back to the beginning of our marriage. Back then, we did something that might sound a little strange by modern Christian devotional standards: we used Matthew Henry’s commentary…
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Dry Bones
Taken from a sermon preached in January 2026 A new year always carries a quiet question beneath the celebrations: Can things really be different this time? We talk about new beginnings, fresh starts, and renewed commitments, but deep down many of us wonder whether change is possible—or whether we are standing once again on dry…
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Three Snow Day Observations from the Book of Ezra
The recent Snowpocalypse has been relatively uneventful—and for that, I am thankful. I hope it stays that way. Snow days have a funny way of slowing life down just enough to expose how restless we really are. After everyone at our house began to feel a bit stir-crazy, I decided to take some time for…
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Is ‘Doctrine’ a Bad Word?
“But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine.” – Titus 2:1 I was talking with a Christian friend the other night at church, and our conversation drifted toward something we had noticed more and more in the modern American church: the word doctrine is almost made to feel like a…
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Business as Usual
This is a section of a sermon preached Sunday, January 18th, 2026 Now we return to Luke 17, where Jesus is teaching about the kingdom. He compares the coming of the kingdom to the days of Noah and the days of Lot. Most people assume he means it will be like those days because of…
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Faith and the Beginning: Reflections on Hebrews 11 and Creation
It’s Friday night, and I feel like penning a few words about creation after a fruitful day of family and ministry. I’m having a good time this week applying the principles of William Perkins’ little book, ‘The Art of Prophesying.’ My plan is to experiment with a simple preaching and writing style I learned from…
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Hope for the Broken
“Behold, my servant whom I have chosen… a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench… and in his name the Gentiles will hope.”— Matthew 12:18–21 (ESV) Joseph Parker, a contemporary of Charles Spurgeon, once said that if you preach to broken hearts, you will always find an audience.…
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Creation Still Matters
I want to pull a few threads together here, because the more I sit with this, the more connected it all becomes. Earlier this week, I read a ScienceDaily write-up discussing new research on the Temple of Karnak in Egypt. The article quoted Dr. Ben Pennington, who suggested that the temple’s location was intentionally chosen…
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The First Gospel
Gospel Hope In Genesis 3:15 One of the most remarkable verses in the entire Bible is found just three chapters in. Genesis 3:15—spoken by God in the aftermath of humanity’s fall—has long been called the Protoevangelium, meaning “the first gospel.” Bible scholars and theologians use this phrase because, even in a moment of judgment, God…
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Daily Discipleship
As we step into a new year, I’ve been thinking about a story I recently came across while reading National Geographic’s year-in-review. One photograph in particular stopped me. It showed part of Africa’s Great Green Wall—a project launched nearly 20 years ago to restore life, food, and hope across regions devastated by war, desertification, and…
828 Newsletter 