May 2024
Loving God, Loving Others, Love in Action.
In Acts 2 we read the following about the early church: 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were […]
January 2024
Loving God
Here at State Road we have been called and set apart for the Great Commission purpose of making disciples of Jesus. That word, “disciple,” isn’t used much outside of Christian circles. It’s a Bible word meaning a fully committed follower of Jesus- a sincere, from-the-heart imitator of His example, and the way we go about […]
September 2021
Dangerous Affections
The Bible gives no word of encouragement to those who would quit the life of a sojourner and make a home for themselves down here. We are, after all, the spiritual descendants of Abraham who lived in tents, not Lot who settled on the plain. 1 John 2:15-17 warns against some dangerous affections that threaten […]
The Root and the Fruit of Christian Fellowship
Are you lonely? If you are, you might take some small comfort in knowing that you are not alone. A new report finds many Americans are lonely. The study, published by the global health service company Cigna, found that 46 percent of U.S. adults report chronic feelings of loneliness, being disconnected, and feeling as though they […]
By This We Know Love
Here at State Road we talk a lot about becoming a people who love God, love others and love in action, but those statements rest on an implied assumption that we know what love is. In our culture, love is a notoriously difficult word to define. This is owing, at least in part, to the limitations of the […]
Loving God, Loving Others, Love in Action
When I was a boy growing up in Vermont I used to make a little extra money in late spring and early summer by gathering morel mushrooms in the woods and selling them to a local restaurant called “The Countryman’s Pleasure.” For whatever reason morels can’t be farmed or grown commercially, and so they have […]
February 2019
The Main Character Problem
The Bible contains both inspiring stories of faithfulness that we are to imitate and also cautionary tales that serve as a warning. In 1 Corinthians 10:6&11 Paul explains the value of studying Bible stories that show the consequences of living in ways that are selfish and disobedient. (Verse 6) Now these things occurred as examples […]
All Things To All People
So far in 2019 we have been talking a lot about our calling to make more and better disciples here at State Road church. I say “more” because part of being obedient to the Great Commission calling will involve winning new converts out of the world, and I say “better” because once a person has […]
January 2019
If You Love Me, You Will Keep My Commands
Generally speaking, Christians are more comfortable with commands to act than commands to feel. It’s one thing for God to command us to witness to the lost, but another to command that we also be heartbroken over their state of separation. It’s one thing to command that we serve our enemies, but another to command […]
Tuning Our Hearts
In Joshua 5:13-19 we read about an encounter that Joshua had with an Angel before the battle of Jericho. It says that Joshua, “lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you […]