Dear Members and Friends of IBCZ, In our study of the Book of Hebrews, we have been reminded that as we run our race of faith, it will require perseverance, for there will be all kinds of obstacles that would hinder us from running. But we can persevere by “fixing
Continue readingDear Members and Friends of IBCZ, Ignatius of Loyola was a sixteenth-century Catholic priest from Spain. With several others, he formed the religious order known as The Society of Jesus, better known as the Jesuits. The Jesuits are known for education and missionary work. He composed a prayer of surrender
Continue readingDear Members and Friends of IBCZ, Back in the 17th century, Lewis Bayly wrote a devotional handbook entitled Practice of Piety. Included in it is the following dialogue he imagined between the soul and Christ in light of what Christ did for us on the cross. I find it to
Continue readingDear Members and Friends of IBCZ, This week I want to touch on a few topics important for our church life. First, I want to thank all the members who participated via Zoom in our Business Meeting last Sunday. This was our first online Business Meeting, and it seemed to
Continue readingDear Members and Friends of IBCZ, In the message this past Sunday from Heb. 11, I shared a quote by George Ladd, who was a renown New Testament scholar about 50 years ago. I think his quote is very insightful and helpful, so I wanted to share it here so
Continue readingDear Members and Friends of IBCZ, I can still remember the first time I saw a friend use a mobile phone. It was about 30 years ago. The whole contraption (receiver and base the receiver was placed on) was about the size of a shoebox. It was only partially mobile
Continue readingDear Members and Friends of IBCZ, A few months ago, in a sermon I quoted the poem Life Is but a Weaving, that Corrie ten Boom often recited to audiences around the world. The poem pictures in a beautiful and insightful way how God is always at work, even in
Continue readingDear Members and Friends of IBCZ, When we lived in Malaysia (immediately prior to coming to Switzerland), we would sometimes get invited out to eat with friends from our church. On occasion they would take us to restaurants we could never enter on our own. These were private clubs, often
Continue readingDear Members and Friends of IBCZ, Last Sunday I began a new sermon series on the Book of Hebrews, this wonderful account of the supremacy of Christ in all things. In the introductory first three verses, we encounter an interesting phrase I did not have time to explain in the
Continue readingAfter Christmas is a good time to reflect on this event, especially this time when activities have been much reduced. In „normal“ years the main event – coming of Jesus – gets often submerged in the hectic activities oft the Christmas time. The old testament talks about the coming of
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