During Advent this year, we will be working our way through a series titled: The Canticles of Christmas. Canticle comes from the Latin canticulum, meaning “little song.” During the Christmas story, there are three human characters who burst out in song in response to what God is doing in sending His Son into the world … [Read More…] November 30, 2025
One hundred years ago, in his sermon dedicating our sanctuary building, Pastor P.W. Philpott titled his message, “What Mean These Stones?” Drawing upon Joshua 4, where the children of Israel made a memorial pile of twelve stones taken from the Jordan River to stand forever as a testimony to the miraculous way God had brought … [Read More…] November 23, 2025
It’s relatively easy to trust God when the birds are singing, the flowers are in color, and the sun is shining. It’s in the dark that trusting God becomes a challenge. How do you trust God when everything feels unhinged? When evil seems to triumph? When enemies plot against us? When the night is unrelenting? … [Read More…] November 16, 2025
In the Old Testament, when the harvest came in, God’s people would bring thank offerings to the temple to express their gratitude for the abundant mercies of God in their lives. In agrarian societies, people lived hand to mouth off the land. Survival depended on a decent harvest year after year, which meant everyone lived … [Read More…] November 9, 2025
On Sunday, November 23, we are going to have a very special celebration of 100 years of ministry in our sanctuary building. Pastor Lutzer and I will be collaborating in a service of thanksgiving for God’s goodness to our church and a prayerful look to the future. Please mark your calendars and make plans to … [Read More…] November 2, 2025
On Monday, my Grandma LaVern Joyce Miller went home to be with Jesus and is now reunited with her dear Eugene, my Grandpa. She was born on March 9th, 1933. She suffered a debilitating stroke about a year ago, and so these last months were challenging. I’m so thankful her struggle is at an end, … [Read More…] October 26, 2025
The joke in Illinois is that we only have two seasons: winter and road construction. That’s especially true of our expressways. It seems like they’re always a work in progress. If you’re like me, it’s easy to grow impatient when things are a work in progress. Projects often begin with enthusiasm and end with joy … [Read More…] October 19, 2025
October is Pastor Appreciation Month, and I’d like to encourage us all to take a few moments to express our gratitude to the pastors and ministry directors who faithfully serve here at The Moody Church. We are blessed by a wonderful team of Gospel ministers, and your encouragement means more to them than you probably … [Read More…] October 12, 2025
The apostle Paul’s influence within the early Christian movement is massive. He made three missionary journeys, planting churches throughout much of the ancient Greco-Roman world. Thirteen of the letters he wrote to those various churches are included in our New Testament. Additionally, he had indirect influence through his traveling companion and attending physician, Luke, who … [Read More…] October 05, 2025
This Sunday, we come to one of my absolute favorite scenes in the book of Acts. God arranges for Philip the evangelist to have a “chance encounter” with an Ethiopian eunuch as he travels along the road of a 2,000-mile, round-trip, spiritual pilgrimage to Jerusalem. A trip of that duration was extraordinarily expensive and quite … [Read More…] September 28, 2025
