pastor || writer || speaker
Father in Heaven! You have loved us first, help us never to forget that You are love so that this sure conviction might triumph in our hearts over the seduction of the world, over the inquietude of the soul, over the anxiety for the future, over the fright of the past, over the distress of …
Continue reading "You have loved us first: a prayer by Søren Kierkegaard"
The entire life of faith begins with God reaching out to us first. In response to humanity’s fall from grace and sin’s impact upon this world, God sent Jesus—fully God and fully man—to live, die and be resurrected to bring us and all creation back to God through relational restoration. This is how the Apostle …
Continue reading "The Flesh of Our Savior: the importance of the body in Jesus’ redemption"
This past weekend at Eastbrook, I preached on Jesus' powerful statement: "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (John 8:12). I wanted to spend a little time today exploring four ways that Jesus shines the light of God into the …
Continue reading "Jesus Shines God’s Light: 4 Ways Jesus the Light of the World Reveals Who God Is"
The world around us has all sorts of darkness these days. There is the darkness that gathers around us in visible ways: violence, famine, global conflict, racial tension, unemployment, etc. For some of us, that darkness feels close and for others it feels distant. However, I’d like to sharpen our understanding of darkness by remembering …
"Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." (Luke 12:6-7) This passage in Luke comes within an extended exhortation by Jesus about acknowledging Him in our …
Matthew Erickson 