CONCORD

Every generation has struggles that define and shape it. The 1930’s are defined by the Great Depression. The children that were born during this time lived very simply and never threw anything away. I presided over a funeral for a man I pastored. One of the remarks made by his family is that he would rather spend four hours looking for a $.39 bolt that he, “knew he had”, then to buy a new one. He was shaped by his generation. What is shaping our current generation? There

Scripture finds many ways to describe the greatness of God. In Isaiah 6 God’s greatness is described with a thundering voice that shakes the door post, with angelic beings crying Holy continually, and God high and lifted up seated upon His throne. The scene is majestic. In Exodus 19 the people of Israel are told to consecrate themselves or make themselves ready for God to descend on the mountain. They were instructed to stay away and not touch the mountain or they would d

Throughout our lives there are other people that are helping to shape and mold us. They teach us how to give and receive love, what grace is, how to worship, how to confess, how to apologize and a host of other lessons. This training may not take place in a formal classroom. In reality it is more likely that we learn this through living life together. We observe and experience these lessons. We often think of teaching or mentoring to be a formal setting and there is noth

We see many examples of worship in the scriptures. We see Abraham tithe a tenth of all his belongings in Genesis 14. We see Abraham being resolute in the idea that God would provide a lamb for him as he goes to offer Issac, Genesis 22. We see David dancing before the lord in 2 Samuel. Isaiah is moved to deeper service in Isaiah 6 as he encounters God high and lifted up. The Psalms are written to help people worship, to express grief or frustration to God. Some were call

The church can focus on many things and do a lot of activities. How do we decide where our time, energy and money should be spent. The chief reason that man exist is to glorify God, so every activity or ministry must bring glory to God. When we begin to look at the life of Jesus we realize that the entire reason He came was to reconcile us to the Heavenly Father and that in doing so the Father was glorified. So one of the most important functions of the church is to intro