Month: January 2026

Morning Musing: Romans 15:17-19

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“Therefore I have reason to boast in Christ Jesus regarding what pertains to God. For I would not dare say anything except what Christ has accomplished through me by word and deed for the obedience of the Gentiles, by the power of miraculous signs and wonders, and by the power of God’s Spirit. As a result, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

What is it that causes the Gospel to grow and spread? If you look much into it, you’ll find all sorts of evangelism methods and programs. The most popular of them are marketed well and cost a pretty penny to get your hands on. But while these aren’t entirely without merit—and indeed, some of them are pretty helpful if implemented well—these aren’t the things that cause the Gospel to grow. Paul speaks to some of what does here. Let’s take a look.

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Celebration Sunday 2026

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Each year at my church we have a special day called Celebration Sunday. We take the whole day to do nothing but highlight and celebrate all the great things our God has done in our midst over the past year. It’s a ton of fun. We’ve done things in the past as big hanging streamers and balloons and batting beach balls around the room. We’ve handed out party hats. Everybody went home this Sunday with a cookie (and some of the kids left armed with several cookies to the…delight…of their parents). I’m not going to try and put the whole transcript for the service on here because I’m not the only one who spoke, but I do want to share some highlights and the video of the service with you because I think what’s going on right now in my church is pretty exciting. If you are local and don’t already have a church home, we would sure be glad to have you join us. Without further ado, then, here is Celebration Sunday.

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Digging in Deeper: 1 Timothy 6:10

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“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Fridays on here are fun, but they’re also a challenge. They’re fun because I take time to write about things that are purely interests for me—thus you get lots of reviews of superhero movies and series. It’s also a challenge, though, because unlike the other four days of the week, I don’t necessarily know what I’m going to write about very far ahead of time. I have more than once gotten to Thursday evening actively still wondering what was going to be on tap for the next day. That was the case this week, in fact. At least it was until my sports fanatic son sent me a note about a sports betting ring involving a bunch of college basketball players being broken up this week. We talked about sports betting a few weeks ago, but here we are again because this was one I just couldn’t ignore.

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Morning Musing: Romans 15:14-16

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“My brothers and sisters, I myself am convinced about you that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. Nevertheless, I have written to remind you more boldly on some points because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest of the gospel of God. God’s purpose is that the Gentiles may be an acceptable offering, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Humility is one of the fundamental virtues necessary for growth and development in the Christian life. Embracing the Gospel begins from a place of humility—we must humbly accept that God is God and we are not. Along the way, though, ever more humility is required both to learn and to teach others. We see both sides of this humility in what Paul says next as he begins to turn much more personal as he is winding down this great letter.

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Morning Musing: Romans 15:13

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“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

What is it that keeps you going each day? What sees you getting out of bed even on days you don’t feel like it? Perhaps it’s a sense of duty, and that can certainly do the trick. But there isn’t a lot of fun in that. And duty only works for so long. There’s a better way, but we can’t do it on our own. Let’s look at Paul’s next little blessing, talk about this better way, and how we can walk it.

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