Category: Pastor’s Blog

Here is how “The Message Bible” renders the beloved 23rd Psalm. “[LORD,] my shepherd! I don’t need a thing. You have bedded me down in lush meadows, you find me quiet pools to drink from. True to your wod, you let me catch mmy breath and send me in the right direction. From when the […]

Helping People through Tough Times

Recently I shared a message on the above theme. Here are the message notes for your consideration. First we need to BE PRESENT Job’s friends did something right, as we read about in Job 2:13. “No one said a word to him because they saw how great his suffering was.” Then they opened their mouths […]

The Five Purposes of the Church

Along with many other churches, the Church of the Living Savior is “purpose-driven” in nature. This is drawn from Rick Warren’s leadership through planting and growing Saddleback Church and through his books (such as “The Purpose Driven Church”–the how to, engineering side; and “The Purpose Driven Life”–the devotional, Christian walk side.” But far more importantly, […]

Prayer

The Bible talks about many ways to pray. In John 17:1, Jesus looks heavenward and prays “the High Priestly Prayer” that may also be called the true “Lord’s Prayer.” People fall flat on their face in prayer. They kneel. It is the attitude of the heart that counts. There are many books on prayer (including […]

Reading the Bible

The Bible–comprised of the Old and New Testaments–is the only inspired written word of God. Christians do not worship the Bible, but they recognize the dual authorship of each book–human and Holy Spirit. Further, the Holy Spirit within someone brings the written word alive and provides the power to obey that written word. It has […]

The Message Bible

In “The Message Bible” Eugene Petersen produced a dynamic equivalent translation using late 20th century idiomatic American English. It is a translation, not a paraphrase. Petersen himself was both a Hebrew (main Old Testament language) and Greek (New Testament) scholar. But he had the humility to have scholars focused on various sections or books of […]

Previous Blogs

During the “oughts” or “00’s,” I wrote two blogs: one for Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship entitled “Haystack08” (because it was a blog on missioins with the title looking back to the haystack prayer meeting that catalyzed the Americana Protestant mission movement in the oughts (00’s) of the 1800’s; and (surprise) Pastor’s Blog for the web site […]

Phil’s First post

Welcome. I have named this post after a famous TV science fiction show from the 60’s. The head of the Star Ship would open and or close the show by saying, “Captain’s Blog. Star Date ###.” Well, this is a “Pastor’s Blog” written with a date based on the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. […]