Dear Members and Friends of IBCZ, As we saw last Sunday, the ancient church at Sardis had a serious problem: they had a reputation for being alive, but Jesus said they were dead. While others thought well of them in light of all the activity taking place in that church,
Continue readingDear Members and Friends of IBCZ, As we continue our study of the Seven Letters to the Seven Churches of Revelation, last Sunday we examined the church at Thyatira. In many ways this was a healthy church, and the risen Christ commended it for growing in love, faith, service and
Continue readingDear Members and Friends of IBCZ, In our continuing preaching series on the Letters to the Seven Churches in Revelation, last week we looked at the church at Pergamum. Pergamum was a city filled with many pagan cults, temples dedication to idols, and worship of the Roman Emperor. It was
Continue readingDear Members and Friends of IBCZ, The sermon last week focused on the Church at Smyrna, as found in Rev. 2:8-11. The risen Christ warned this church of coming persecution which would be more severe than what they had already been experiencing. While we are likely not facing genuine persecution,
Continue readingDear Members and Friends of IBCZ, Last Sunday I began a new preaching series from Rev. 2-3, which records the messages the risen Christ gave to seven first-century churches in a vision to the Apostle John. We will consider these seven messages week-by-week. Last week we focused Jesus’s message to
Continue readingDear Members and Friends of IBCZ, Last Sunday in worship we considered God’s wonderful gift of joy. As we saw, joy is much deeper than happiness, which is dependent on outer circumstances. Joy is rooted in the character, faithfulness, and love of God. Knowing this is how God always is,
Continue readingDear Members and Friends of IBCZ, First, I want to thank the Elders for writing the news articles for the past several months so I could spend more time focusing on my German studies. Second, I invite you to prayerfully consider attending our next church camp – Nov. 1-3 in
Continue readingAs I started reading 1 Thessalonians this week, I had to stop and meditate already after the 3rd verse of the letter. Paul thanks God for his audience, specifically for their faith, love, and hope. The placement of these comments so early in the letter suggests these are essential marks
Continue readingDear Members and friends of IBCZ, Looking back to Abraham’s life in the sermons of the last months, many points are still relevant today, more than 3000 years ago. Abraham is known for having faith, but even being one of the great figures in the bible it was quite amazing
Continue readingMost of you have heard the disturbing news of the bombings in Sri Lanka. Many of the more than 300 victims are Christians. Whilst Sri Lanka is not generally known to be a country where Christians are persecuted, Open Door (a charity helping the persecuted church) nevertheless lists it on
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