Thought For the Week

Dear Friends, I love history. In fact, if God had not called me to be a pastor, I might have ended up teaching history. Therefore, today, I share parts of two historical documents (from the second century) which I ran across while doing research for my sermon this past Sunday. I found each one intriguing and thought I would pass them along to you. They both have to do with the beliefs and lifestyles of early Christians. The 1st is by a man named Aristides the Philosopher, a man who was given the job of looking into the new “cult” called Christianity and reporting back to the Emperor Titus Hadrianus Antoninus with what he discovered (some believing he became a Christian himself by the time he finished it). The 2nd is by a man named Diognetus and is taken from his “Epistle of Diognetus.” I believe you will find them informative and challenging. Enjoy. Aristides reports to the Emperor Hadrianus Antoninus. “As for the Christians, they trace their line from Jesus Christ who is ...

Dear Friends, As a pastor I do enjoy hearing people’s conversion stories. Therefore, I thought I would share one I came across this week. It comes out of Kyle Idleman’s book, “Not a Fan.” That is, no just a church goer, or someone who claims to believe, or an admirer of Jesus – but someone who has been changed, by the Spirit of God, into a devoted servant and committed follower of Jesus. This is the story of a man who thought he had it all, till it was all taken from him. His name is Gary Polsgrove. This is his story. Enjoy. NOT A FAN "Guilty." Sitting in front of the judge's stand, I started to cry. I heard the judge say something about jail time, and I sobbed even harder. An officer handcuffed me and took me to jail. I spent a few days there, trying to figure out what had happened to my life. How did it come to this? I had reached the pinnacle of my career as a pilot for UPS. I had everything going for me. Having left my wife in 1993, I didn't have anyone...