Dear Members and Friends of IBCZ, In this, my final article, I first want to thank you for the tremendous privilege of serving as your pastor. Daniela and I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know you and serving our Lord with you. We thank God for each of you. Paul
Continue readingDear Members and Friends of IBCZ, Last Sunday we concluded our series on the Apostles’ Creed with the affirmation we believe “in the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.” Through Christ’s atoning death on the cross, our sins have been forgiven (I Jn. 2:2).
Continue readingDear Members and Friends of IBCZ, Last Sunday we focused on the church, and what it means to believe in the church, as the Apostles’ Creed states. We saw that the church is the people of God called out of the world to live for God, set apart to be
Continue readingDear Members and Friends of IBCZ, Last Sunday we considered the ascension of Jesus into heaven and what that means for us. We saw that the disciples were filled with joy, even though it meant they would not see Jesus again in this life, because they were assured Jesus would
Continue readingDear Members and Friends of IBCZ, We have just finished celebrating Holy Week, beginning with the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, moving on to His crucifixion on Good Friday, and culminating with His resurrection on Easter Sunday. The death and resurrection of Jesus in particular serve to
Continue readingDear Members and Friends of IBCZ, We are now in the midst of Holy Week, a journey from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, from the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem to his departure from the tomb one week later. In between these two Sundays is Good Friday, the day when
Continue readingDear Members and Friends of IBCZ, Last Sunday we considered the church as the Bride of Christ. As His Bride, our relationship with God is rooted in love – first, His love for us, and then in response, our love for God. Nothing renews, deepens, and energizes our faith like
Continue readingDear Members and Friends of IBCZ, For the past two weeks I have been sharing about community – the life we experience as a church family as we love one another, care for one another, forgive one another, bear with one another, and encourage one another. We have seen that
Continue readingDear Members and Friends of IBCZ, Last week I wrote about the importance of community within the church. The church is not to be a place where we come, sit through a worship service, and then leave. The church is the people who are drawn to God and to one
Continue readingDear Members and Friends of IBCZ, One of the common themes we’ve encountered in our sermon series on The Church has been community. Several whole sermons were devoted to this (“What Is the Church?” which highlighted the church as the people of God being called together; and “The Church: A
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