Presby-Musings

This week all of our Daily Devotions will be reflecting on the sermon that I preached this past Sunday at my church, the First Presbyterian Church of Eustis--a sermon entitled, "Three Chairs." We believe our church has a rich history, a vibrant present and a hopeful future. Not all churches or communities of faith feel that way, though.  Over the course of this week we'll be getting to the bottom of how that can change.   "Do not act out of selfish ambition or conceit, but with humility think of others as being better than yourselves." - Philippians 2:3  One of the distinguishing marks of the true Church is when followers of Jesus put the needs of others ahead of their own.  One act of sacrificial kindness and grace has more power to draw people to Jesus than anything we might say, and infinitely more power than any of our doctrines, dogmas or traditions.   I have seen the hardest hearts melt when faced with the humility of a Jesus-follower who simp...

This week I am preaching the third installment of the sermon series, "Big Church."  The entire foundation of this series is grounded in the notion that the Church is not an institution, it's a movement.   Jesus did not create a mission for the Church, he created a Church for His Mission. The text for the sermon this week is a strange little story embedded in Acts chapter 9 immediately following the dramatic conversion of Saul.  Here's it is: 36 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas ); she was always doing good and helping the poor. 37 About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. 38 Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!” 39 Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other...