We will be in Matthew this Sunday, but it may feel a little out of order. You see, we're largely following the chronology of the Gospel of Luke, so whenever the text is from one of the other gospels, it may seem like we're skipping a lot. And that's because each gospel writer has a different audience and a different focus, so they organize the stories differently, in a way...

We're back in the Gospel of Luke this week. It's a long series, this series, on the life of Christ,Walking with Jesus: A Year with the Savior.We're inLuke 7:36-50and we come across two notorious sinners. One sinner everyone knows is notorious, the other sinner everyone knows is not. But Jesus knows that thoughts and attitudes of us all, including these two notorious sinner...

This Sunday is Easter. This is the day we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior with the great cry,"Christ is Risen!" To which the answer is"He is Risen Indeed!" It is one of my favorite days of the year, for all of our faith depends on the truth of this great day.So this Sunday, we're continuing our series on the life of Christ,Walking with Jesus: A Year with ...

Thanks to everyone who continues to pray for and provide for Joanne. She is doing much better, and she can "try" to start walking with a boot this week. Please pray that goes well.This Sunday we come to another one of many teachings of Jesus, that, truth be told, we would probably rather not hear, and largely don't understand. We will be back in another part of the Sermon ...

Thanks to everyone who continues to pray for and provide for Joanne. We are overwhelmed and amazed by your kindness.This Sunday we come to one of many teachings of Jesus, that, truth be told, we would probably rather not hear. Jesus takes the teaching of the Pharisees and turns it on its head. But He does it in an arena that is up close and personal. He challenges our acti...

Thanks to everyone who has continued to pray for and provide for Joanne.It is much appreciated.She started physical and occupational therapy this week, but it's very slow until she can start bearing weight on that leg.So, we're still taking things a week at a time. This Sunday we come to the second of many scenes where something Jesus does is challenged.Once again, we fin...

Thanks to everyone who's been praying and providing for Joanne. It is much appreciated. It will be a long road to a full recovery.This Sunday we come to another event that Jesus is well known for His calling of the first group of disciples. But how He does it is what's striking here. Remember Jesus was a carpenter from Nazareth (an inland village) who comes to the Sea of ...

Thanks to all who have been praying for Joanne.I'll keep you updated on our FB group and Realm. This Sunday we've come to something that Jesus is well known for His healing of those who are physically suffering.Jesus meets several people that others don't want to be around.And while He heals many people in the gospels, we're going to look at two in particular one leper,...

This Sunday we've come to one of the major events in Jesus' life.It's one of only a few stories of His life that are present in all four gospels.The narrative of His birth isn't in all the gospels.The temptation isn't in all the gospels.Most of His miracles and parables aren't in all the gospels.The Beatitudes aren't, The Lord's Prayer isn't, not even the raising of Lazaru...

This Sunday we've come to another major event in Jesus' life His temptation in the wilderness.Jesus is challenged with three temptations, and He fends them off with Scripture.Sounds easy, right?Not so fast.There are some things going on here underneath the surface that make this event incredibly significant. We're continuing our series on the life of Christ,Walking with ...

This Sunday we've come to what, at first glance, feels like a pretty ordinary story. But it's anything but. And that's not because of what happens, but how little we know about what happens. We're continuing in our series on the life of Christ,Walking with Jesus: A Year with the Saviorand we've come to the story of when Jesus was accidently left behind in the Temple, when ...

This Sunday ends the season of Christmas with Epiphany. For all you lapsed Anglicans (like me), this is Epiphany Sunday. Epiphany celebrates the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. And it's this Sunday because tradition says that the Wise Men came to visit the Christ Child twelve days after Christmas (and that's where "The Twelve Days of Christmas" comes from).And bel...

This Sunday, with Advent being over, we find ourselves in the season of Christmas. On top of that, Sunday is the last day of the year, and on Monday we start yet another year. It's out with the old and in with the new. There will be a lot of memes showing 2023 as Father Time and 2024 as a newborn babe.And believe it or not, all of that fits with our passage for this Sunday...

This Sunday, we're in our third week of Advent and our third week in our new series on the life of Christ,Walking with Jesus: A Year with the Savior. The first week we were in the Gospel of Luke where we saw the birth of Christ foretold, last week we waded through the genealogy of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, and now this week we turn to the Gospel of John where we fin...

This Sunday, we're starting a whole new series on the life of Christ.As you may know, the story of Jesus moves with the feel of an epic drama.It's almost too grand to keep fully in view.This is a story too good to be too busy to miss.Each of us needs our life to slow down long enough to savor the Savior's story. We are going to spend the next twelve months going throu...

This Sunday, we're in our second week of Advent and our second week in our new series on the life of Christ,Walking with Jesus: A Year with the Savior. As I told you last week, the story of Jesus moves with the feel of an epic drama. So this week we turn in anticipation toMatthew 1:1-17 and we find a long genealogy.And yes, at first glance, it seems really boring. What hap...

This Sunday, we're continuing in the Book of Titus and looking at why "Truth Matters."And here the Apostle Paul lays out practical directions for Titus on how and why to encourage the people to endure in godliness (remember Crete was a notoriously ungodly place) and to encourage them to endure in hope of the coming of Christ. And like he did in Timothy, Paul has special i...

This Sunday, we're going to start the Book of Titus. Titus comes right after 2nd Timothy in the New Testament, but in terms of when it was written, it falls in between 1st and 2nd Timothy. Titus appears to be an older version of Timothy; in that he was a more experienced pastor and teacher whom Paul leaves with a new church on the island of Crete. This new church was in a...

This Sunday, we're going to finish up the Book of2 Timothywithchapter 4.Many feel that this chapter is the conclusion of what has been the Apostle Paul's Last Will and Testament.While Paul has a number of personal requests of his protg, his last command to Timothy comes inverse 2, "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with com...

It's good to be back in the pulpit this week as we continue our study ofTimothy. This Sunday, we'll continue looking at"discipleship in action"from2 Timothy 3. As we've seen in 1 2 Timothy so far, Timothy is battling false teaching and the destructive consequences that it brings. And one of those consequences is the issue of suffering where it comes from, why it comes to...

This Sunday, we'll continue looking at"discipleship in action"from 1 Timothy 4.Here the Apostle Paul tells Timothy about the effort to maintain good doctrine, particularly in light of the devasting effects of false teaching.Once again, Paul reminds him (and us) that we need to be focused on godliness, so that we not only don't teach things that are false, but we don't fall...

This Sunday, we'll continue looking at"discipleship in action"from1 Timothy 5.Here the Apostle Paul wants Timothy to overcome the effects of false teaching by working hard at building relationships.False teaching often results in discord and division, just as much in Paul's time as it does in our time.And yet the church is called to exhibit a supernatural unity in Christ.M...

Okay, big question for this week!How many of you would consider yourselves to be truly content?I'm sure there's some who consider themselves to be contented people, but I don't think it's very many.Most of us would like to be content, we hope for contentment, and occasionally we find it but it usually doesn't last.Honestly, most of us are rarely content. And part of the...

Well, we're starting a new series this Sunday.We'll be looking at"discipleship in action"from 1 2 Timothy and Titus.These are known as the Pastoral Epistles because in them, the Apostle Paul is teaching his protg, Timothy, how to pastor.And that's because Paul is sending Timothy out to go pastor a church.But not just any church, the church at Ephesus.This is one of the mo...

First of all, it's good to have Frank Wang back from sabbatical.Especially since he's leading a large group to Modgnik (kingdom spelled backwards) this weekend.Please pray for the 4 adults and 17 Middle School students who will be on this retreat!Pray that our Lord is gracious to them and draws them closer to Himself.Second, I know you're praying for so many of our church ...

Well, we've gotten to the last week in our Summer in the Psalms. This week we'll be looking at Psalm 37 and a "Prayer for our Worry." And while we'll talk about worry (and anxiety and envy and the wicked and the righteousness and of course, Jesus), I've chosen this Psalm to conclude our series because it has all the elements of the other Psalms we've covered this summer. ...

Well, I guess I should say it's good to be back (though, to be honest, I'd still rather be at the beach). But I am back, and I want to thank Ron, Mark, Frank, James, and Tom for filling the pulpit in my absence. It's a blessing (for all of us) to have elders that can minister the Word of God to us so well. This week we'll be looking at Psalm 137 and a "Prayer for our Ange...

We've been working through a number of Psalms and seeing what they have to say about the things we are (or should) be praying about. We've looked at how to pray about foolishness, anxiety, repentance, tears, thirst, transcendence, and wisdom I know, it reads just like your typical prayer request list. But that's the Psalms for you they get at the things we forget, or hav...

Last week we talked about how we use social media and how it affects us physically, emotionally, and spiritually. But the problem is so much bigger. We are suffering from a crushing information overload that's causing a great deal of anxiety and stress. And then there's a corresponding inability to make decisions because there's simply too much information to process. Wha...

How much time do you spend on social media? You don't have to answer that, but I'm guessing it's way more than you'd like to admit. Sadly, that's true for most of us. Our life is largely lived before a screen. And it's not all bad but some of it is. And one of the most difficult things about our online life is that we're often unaware of how it's affecting us. We look to ...

Everyone cries. Some people cry a lot. Some people don't. Some people cry over the smallest of things. Some people only cry when faced with great loss. But everyone cries. The Bible doesn't have much to say about crying (in terms of shedding tears). But it has a lot to say about weeping. Probably because weeping involves overwhelming emotion, and because weeping is so comm...

This week we're starting a new sermon series I've called "Summer in the Psalms." So far this year, we've looked at "Bringing Back the Wanderer" and "A Man Called Job." One dealt with the pain of lost relationships and the other examined how we respond to suffering. For thousands of years, believers have responded to both of these demanding situations by turning to the Ps...

This has been a crazy week. I've been out most nights this week, and will be out every night next week. We've had graduations. There's a wedding this weekend. And General Assembly starts next week in Memphis. The sermon's not done and I'm running out of time. So the anxiety level is a little high. You ever have a week like that? Maybe, like me, you're having one right n...

Please be in prayer for our Officer Retreat this weekend. Our guest speaker for the retreat and this Sunday will be Rev. Todd Pruitt of Covenant PCA in Harrisonburg, VA. Todd has been the Pastor of Covenant since 2013. Originally from Houston, he was raised Southern Baptist. He's a graduate of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City and has served churches i...

We've come to the end of our series on "A Man Called Job." Of course, we went over the last chapter two weeks ago, so what's left? Well, Job shows up one more time, in the Book of James. While Job is not mentioned by name in the "Hall of Faith" in Hebrews 11, he is the only one mentioned by name in the "Hall of Patience" in James 5. Not only is Job counted among the prop...

We're in the last chapter in our series on "A Man Called Job" as this week we'll be in Job 42. And we're really looking for the "happily ever after" ending. And we sort of get it and we sort of don't. Yes, Job is restored and blessed, but his suffering was real and will never be forgotten. And then there's a lot of unanswered questions. If Job hadn't sinned, why is he re...

We're in the final stretch for our series on "A Man Called Job" and this week we'll be in Job 38-40. And finally, after thirty plus chapters of dialogue, debate, discussion, and division, we finally get to hear from God. I've called this chapter, "God's Famous Words" and that's because, well, they are. God finally responds to all of the arguments we've heard from Job and ...

This week is Easter Sunday and we're going to take a break from the Book of Job and reflect on the resurrection of Christ and what that should mean to us. We're going to look at one of the great Easter texts as we consider the resurrection of Christ. This is an important thing to do at a time when Christians around the world are celebrating this glorious event. We live in ...

It's been quite a week. We've become somewhat numb over the years to the senseless violence that seems to regularly wash over our country in destructive waves. But this week felt different. A PCA church school was hit. The school meets in the church building. Six lives were lost. While I didn't know any of the victims, I do know four of the church's six Pastors. I know sev...

We're continuing our series on "A Man Called Job" and this week we'll be in Job 18-19. These are unusual chapters in that chapter 18 is the second speech by Bildad and contains some of the harshest words in the whole book. If you remember, Bildad is the cold, calculating one who's debating Job's situation at the intellectual level. And then in chapter 19, we see Job respon...

This week we'll be in Job 8-10, part of our sermon series on "A Man Called Job." Job has been grieving. He's been lamenting. And now Job's friends have shown up. Last week, we saw Eliphaz get first crack at talking some sense into Job. He's the gentle one and he got nowhere. This week we get friend number 2, name of Bildad, and he's less than gentle. Bildad brings the st...

This week we'll be back in the Book of Job, chapters 4-7, part of our sermon series on "A Man Called Job." Job has grieving for seven days. Job's friends have now shown up. Three friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar have joined him, but so far have said nothing. There are times when words fail. There are times when silence is the best therapy. But, as we saw last week, Jo...

This week we're continuing our new sermon series on "A Man Called Job."And Sunday we'll be in Job, chapter 3, which gives us a very personal look at a man who is grappling with many of the big questions of life but after the last two weeks of having his life turned completely upside down, he starts to ask the "Why" questions. Why do sad things happen to me? Why are there ...

This week we're starting a new sermon series which I've entitled, "A Man Called Job." We'll be looking at the Book of Job for the next four months and grappling with many of the big questions of life Why is there suffering? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do bad things happen to me? How do you explain the presence of evil? Is God really sovereign? Why are the...

We're in week four of our January series on "Coming Home: Bringing Back the Wanderer." And this week we're going to look at the wanderer we're most familiar with. I'm calling them the willful wanderers because their wandering is usually intentional. Last week I said that most of us know someone who's a wanderer. Well, almost all of us know this wanderer and that's because...

Well, we've spent two weeks now in our January series on "Coming Home: Bringing Back the Wanderer." I've probably gotten more feedback, questions, and comments on the last two sermons than I've received in years. And that's because almost every one of us knows someone who's a wanderer. It could be a child or some other relative, perhaps a friend we grew up with, maybe some...

It's soon to be the second Sunday in January. The church calendar tells us that it's Epiphany Sunday, commemorating the visit of the wise men. It also marks the official end of the holiday season. The twelve days of Christmas are now over. Our annual overindulgence of too much to eat, too much to drink, too much laziness, and too many dumb movies is grinding to a halt. We ...

2023! It's hard to believe we're already heading into a new year. 2022 has come and gone. Out of curiosity, I went and looked up what I wrote to you at this time last year. This is what I said, "Wow, by the time we meet again it will be the New Year. And we all want 2022 to be a lot more hopeful (and less stressful) than the past few years. But who knows? Well, God does." ...

We're moving into week three of our Advent Series on The Indescribable Gift. However, that title is a little bit of a misnomer, because Colossians One is trying to do just that describe Jesus since He is the gift. Perhaps it's indescribable because the Apostle Paul uses so many different terms, different theological concepts, different titles, and different goals in refe...

For the rest of Advent, we're looking at Colossians One. I urge you to read the chapter all the way through each week, and not just the passage that's coming up, but the whole chapter, and that way we'll all really learn it this month, because there's no higher picture of Christ than in Colossians One. Last week, we looked at "Jesus, Our Gospel." And so this week, we'll b...

For the next four Sundays leading up to Christmas, we're going to look at Colossians One. I urge you to read the chapter all the way through each week, and not just the passage that's coming up, but the whole chapter, and that way we'll all really learn it this month, because there's no higher picture, no loftier view, no more penetrating portrait of Christ than in Colossi...

What do you think of when you hear the words, "Judgment Day"? Does your mind immediately go to the "End of the world as we know it" lyrics (it's a Classic Rock song, just ask Frank Wang)? Perhaps (like me) you picture the "Terminator" movie (if you haven't seen it, just ask Frank). For some of our younger folks, it's more likely to be "Avengers: Infinity War" (again, if yo...

This Sunday, we've come to one of the hardest, and most negative, parts of the New Testament. 2nd Peter, chapter 2 contains a hard-hitting denunciation of false teachers. It has some of the strongest language in the New Testament. But remember, the Apostle Peter is writing about the essential truths he wants his original readers (and us) to know. So why is this warning ab...

This Sunday, we're starting the Book of 2nd Peter, and it's quite different from 1st Peter. When Peter writes this letter, he's nearing the end of his life and has a few things he wants to say before he's gone. It seems as if he's trying to be both encouraging and challenging at the same time. We'll be looking at 2 Peter 1:1-21 and his exhortation to embrace diligence. How...

This Sunday, while we're continuing our series on 1st 2nd Peter up until Advent, we are coming to the end of 1st Peter. And Peter wraps up this book by addressing many of the issues these suffering Christians were forced to deal with. They were dealing with church leaders some who belonged and some who didn't. They were dealing with spiritual attacks coming from Satan. ...

This Sunday, we're continuing our series on 1st 2nd Peter. So far, Peter has repeatedly told them that they need to live differently than those around them, that they are to be "in the world, but not of the world." And they are finding out that this is easier said than done. This week we'll be looking at 1 Peter 3:1-7, which is one of the more controversial passages in th...

This Sunday, we're continuing in our series on 1st 2nd Peter which I've entitled "Embracing Exile." So far, Peter has told them that they need to live differently than those around them, that they are to be "in the world, but not of the world." And now in chapter 2, he fleshes that out a little bit. Remember, The Apostle Peter is writing to a church that is undergoing in...

Due to me being out of town and Frank coming down with Covid, wehave a special guest this Sunday, Rev. Jegar Chinnavanof First South Asian Indian PCA in Herndon. Jegar will be preaching on"Salvation is Only in Jesus name!"fromActs 4:1-12. Most of you will remember that Jegar preached at Potomac Hills last April. It's good to have him back (and on such short notice)! We hav...

This Sunday, we're continuing in our new series on 1st 2nd Peter which I've entitled "Embracing Exile." The Apostle Peter is writing to a church which is undergoing intense suffering. So you would expect him to write words of comfort and reassurance. But it doesn't seem that's what he does. Instead, he reminds these exiles, these refugees that they are different from eve...

Well, we've come to the first message in our new series on 1st 2nd Peter which I've entitled "Embracing Exile." The Apostle Peter is writing to a church which is fragmented, isolated, persecuted, stressed, overwhelmed, far from home, and wondering what in the world God is doing! They are trying to figure out how to do life when there is so much suffering among them. And ...

Well, we've come to the last message in our summer series on Biblical Priorities called "First Things First." [Next up is 1st 2nd Peter] And even though it's last, this command comes to us from Jesus Himself, and that makes it important. We'll be looking at "First Love" from The Letter to the Church in Ephesus in Revelation 2:1-7. But His command doesn't come first. Rath...

Hey all, it's good to be back I think after all, I was told about that ankle monitor Tom mentioned in his sermon last week. Yeah, not happening. But anyway, here I am and we're looking at another well-known, often ignored passage as part of our summer series on Biblical Priorities called "First Things First." This week, we'll look at a topic where our knowledge usually ...

Hey, this week we're going to take on another hard-to-understand passage, Mark 13:3-13, which is part of Jesus' famous Olivet Discourse on the end times. As you know, we're in a series on Biblical Priorities called "First Things First," so how can a passage on the last days show us one of our first priorities? Well, this passage is about something (the proclamation of the...

Well, we're continuing our summer series on Biblical Priorities called "First Things First" and we've come to another well-known, but often misunderstood, passage. This week we'll be looking at Matthew 7:5 and "First Take." However, this passage begins with Jesus' famous words, "Judge not, that you be not judged." Now Christians have spent more time arguing over what thes...

Well, we're a month into our summer series on Biblical Priorities called "First Things First." So far, we've looked at First Inquire, First Recognize, First Listen, and First Understand. And today we've come to what may be the most well-known first command of them all First Seek which we find in Matthew 6:33, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and ...

Well, we've just started a new series on Biblical Priorities called "First Things First" where we'll spend the summer looking at twelve verses that tell us to do something "first." However, this week, we'll be looking at several verses that don't tell us to do something first, but rather to recognize what should come first in our lives. More specifically, we are to recogni...

This Sunday, we're going to step out of Deuteronomy and all the warnings against breaking the covenant, and look at the covenant itself. Rev. Porter Harlow of Christ Presbyterian Church in Burke (Porter preached at Potomac Hills last summer) will be preaching on "Demonstrated Faithfulness" in Genesis 22 and how it points us to the true gospel in Matthew 28. And then we wil...

Well, we're coming into the home stretch of Deuteronomy only two sermons left and then we'll start a series on Biblical Priorities called "First Things First" where we'll spend the summer looking at twelve verses that tell us to do something "first." I think it will be helpful for us all. Meanwhile, Deuteronomy concludes by focusing on a challenge facing Israel: living l...

Pastoral Letter for a Faithful Church May 19, 2022 Dear Church Family, It's been a horrific week, probably not for you, but for many people around the country (and the world).While we continue to pray for peace in the Ukraine, perhaps we're not praying often enough for peace here in our own country.In just the first half of May, there have been 33 mass shootings in ...

Well, we're wrapping up the Ten Commandments this week. We'll close out the commandments with "Do Not Covet." What does it mean to covet? The dictionary defines coveting as "greatly desire," meaning to "wish, long, or crave for (something, especially the property of another person)." But this commandment isn't just about wanting something that's not ours, it also serves a...

Well, we're back in Deuteronomy this week and due to changing my Easter sermon, this week we have two commandments to cover The Seventh Commandment, "Do Not Commit Adultery" and the Eighth Commandment, "Do Not Steal." What do these commandments have in common? Both involve taking something that belongs to someone else. In one case it's the taking of a person, and in the o...

We have a special guest this Sunday, Rev. Jegar Chinnavan of First South Asian Indian PCA in Herndon. Jegar will be preaching on "The Ascension of Christ" from Acts 1:9-11. Jegar will also be presenting the ongoing work of his church during our Sunday School time. We have been supporting Jegar and his church for the last several years, because this is a unique ministry in ...

This week we're having two services for Holy Week. We'll start with a traditional Good Friday service at 6:30 pm. It will be a shorter service consisting largely of Scripture readings and a short homily. We must go through the darkness of Good Friday to get to the light" of Easter Sunday. And then on Sunday, we're going to take a break from Deuteronomy and look at the res...

Well, this Sunday is Palm Sunday (Yes, we'll have palms. No, you can't hit anyone with them). It marks the beginning of Holy Week leading up to our Good Friday service (6:30 pm on April 15) and Easter on April 17th. If you haven't gotten your kid-friendly Easter Devotional, they'll be on the front table when you come on. It's an excerpt from the recently released The Bigge...

First off, I want to thank Frank Wang, James Murphy, and Timo Sazo who filled in for me while I've been out of the pulpit the last three weeks. I'm doing much better, going to Cardiac Rehab (Supervised Exercise) three times a week, and getting stronger every day. But I'm looking forward to being back preaching this Sunday. We have the privilege of having our missionaries,...

Wow, what a week! I've been praying for the people of Ukraine today as war has been thrust upon them. I've been praying especially for the ERSU (Evangelical Reformed Seminary of Ukraine) which was started by PCA missionaries. The churches in Ukraine send more missionaries throughout Europe than any other country. The gospel is strong in that land. I've written to several m...

First off, I hope you've been praying for the people of Ukraine. As one of our PCA missionaries serving in Kharkiv wrote this week, "Nowhere in my seminary education is there a class called, "How to evacuate your church in case of invasion." His church was able to evacuate, but is now scattered in twelve different cities and five different countries. Many are wondering if ...

Well, we have some good news (at least for most of you). Today, we were notified that the LCPS mask mandate for community events and churches has been lifted! Here's the official statement from their website: "Even though transmission rates for COVID in Loudoun County are high, they continue to decrease. To that end, LCPS has changed safety protocols to permit persons ut...

We're continuing in our sermon series on "Knowing God" from the Book of Deuteronomy and we've come to Deuteronomy 6. This text contains the shemah of Israel ("Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One" Deuteronomy 6:4) that every Jew knows, and which is considered one of the most holy verses in the Hebrew Bible (our Old Testament). It's a profound statement of mon...

Some of you may remember this wonderful piece of artwork. It's hanging in the church office. It's a picture of Moses going up Mt. Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments from God. It was drawn by Miss Fiona Hanley (a former, much-loved member of our church) for the sermon series I did on Exodus back in 2016. I thought of it this week as we'll be looking at Deuteronomy 4:44-...

Well, this week we've come to one of the least known and most important chapters of the Old Testament. We'll be looking at Deuteronomy 4:1-43. It may be the least known because it has nothing new in it, and yet it's the most important because Moses is reminding the people of what they need to know just prior to giving them the Ten Commandments again. So what would they ...

Well, we've already had our first canceled service of the New Year, and hopefully, that's the last one! And while Frank, Tom, and Eli did a great job with the online service, it reminded me once again how much I value worshipping together in person. I miss seeing everyone, I miss hearing everyone sing, I miss the corporate nature of corporate worship, and quite frankly, I ...

Wow, by the time we meet again it will be the New Year. And we all want 2022 to be a lot more hopeful (and less stressful) than the past few years. But who knows? Well, God does. And that's a great reason for us to begin the New Year in the Book of Deuteronomy (the 5th book of the Bible). There are several themes that run through Deuteronomy that seem particularly applicab...

Well, it's hard to believe, but this Sunday is the Fourth Sunday in Advent (the last Sunday before Christmas). We'll continue to light the Advent Wreath, sing Christmas Hymns (and hear the Christmas Choir), and spend some time seeing Jesus accomplish some important things over a meal. This Sunday we come to our fourth meal in our Advent series on "Meals with Jesus." We fe...

Wow, we're halfway through Advent and it doesn't quite feel like Christmas yet. Yes, the Christmas lights are starting to fill my neighborhood. Yes, the incessant playing of modern Christmas music, neither hymns, carols, or classics, but songs that are sugary sweet and about as nutritious, has filled the airwaves (does anyone actually like Wham! and why do we have to hear...

Wow, autumn has flown by, and winter is almost here. We've finished with the Book of Philippians, we're about to feast on Thanksgiving turkey, and then, starting this Sunday, we move into the season of Advent. Thus, we're going to start a short Advent series on "Meals with Jesus." And we'll begin in John 2:1-11 with the feast at a wedding in Cana, the scene of Jesus' first...

We're almost done with the Book of Philippians, Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and Advent begins the following week. It's hard to believe we're almost at the end of the year. And it's been quite a year full of trials and testing, relational conflict, and filled with cultural disruption. As someone famous once wrote, "It's been the best of times it's been the wo...

One of the big issues in the evangelical world in recent years has been the phenomenon of "deconstructing the faith" or what we used to call "deconversion." It addresses the situation concerning a former believer, a former member of the church, who has announced that he or she has left the faith. There have been a number of well-known musicians and celebrity pastors who ha...

Have you ever asked your kids (or any kids), "What do you want to be when you grow up?" And most kids will answer by telling you what they want to do when they grow up. Of course, very few kids actually end up doing what they said when they were four. Otherwise, our country would be full of cowboys and princesses. We still confuse this question, though. We often mix up wh...

It will be good to be back this Sunday. Joanne and I enjoyed visiting family in Pennsylvania last week and I got to baptize our granddaughter Anne (and yes, she did scream). As much as we enjoyed it, it's not quite the same as being at our church with our church family. So, it's good to be home. This week we're looking at Philippians 2:12-18 and the topic of being (or bec...

Wow, five weeks in and we're finally getting to chapter 2 of the Book of Philippians. This week we're looking at Philippians 2:1-4 and the topic of "Humble Significance." Humility is one of those things that we know is supposed to be part of the Christian life and yet, at the same time, it seems to be something that's near impossible to cultivate. I mean, as soon as you t...

This is the third week in our new series on the Book of Philippians entitled "Worthy of the Gospel." And this week we come to one of the Apostle Paul's most famous sayings, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21). And that sounds really spiritual, but what does it mean, really? Is Paul saying this because he's imprisoned and facing execution? Is h...

This week we're continuing our new series on the Book of Philippians entitled "Worthy of the Gospel." As I said last week, the Apostle Paul is writing this book from prison in Rome and that certainly colors his perspective and his words. But instead of being down and depressed as you might expect, Paul seems to overflow with joy. And this joy is grounded in the good news o...

This week we begin our new series on the Book of Philippians which I've entitled "Worthy of the Gospel." This book has a lot about Jesus and a lot about joy. As the Apostle Paul is writing from prison, he teaches that our love of Christ and our joy in Christ are connected by the gospel of Christ. And so he's writing to encourage us to live lives "worthy of the gospel" (Phi...

Well, this week we wrap up our summer series on the One Another commands of the New Testament with 1 Thessalonians 5:11-18 and the command to "Build Up One Another." In many ways, this is the summary passage for all the rest of these commands. They should all have the effect of building up the church. Have you ever heard someone say that "Christianity is not a list of rul...

Well, I'd like to say that it's good to be back after two way-too-short weeks at the beach. But honestly, it was hard to leave the beach. Very little relaxes me more than getting a little sand in my sandwich, letting that cold Diet Coke get warm, and finding the spots I missed with the sunscreen. Not to mention how wonderful the twelve-and-a-half-hour drive home was. While...

Well, we have the special privilege this week of hearing from my good friend Porter Harlow. I'm only sorry that I won't be with you to hear him bring God's Word to us today (don't feel bad for me, I'm off hiding from you on vacation). Porter is a graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary, Washington, the Founding Pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Burke, VA, and the ...

Well, after that scintillating presentation on General Assembly last Sunday, we're back to our regular schedule. We'll be looking at Revelation 19:11-21 during Sunday School and then during the worship service, we'll be continuing our summer sermon series on the One Another commands of the New Testament. This week, we're looking at 1 Corinthians 12:21-26, with special att...

Well, since so many of you have asked about the PCA's 48th General Assembly in St. Louis, I think it would be wise if I addressed it soon. So I'm going to cover all the excitement this Sunday during Sunday School. I'll give you the scoop on GA, the BCO, the RAO, the SJC, the OC, the AC, what's an overture?, and maybe even some RONR for good measure (Presbyterians sure love...

I'm writing this a week in advance because, by the time you read it, I'll be at the PCA's 48th General Assembly in St. Louis.This year promises lots of controversy in the form of several overtures (a motion, or a request for action, coming from one of our 88 presbyteries) about sexuality and race and I have theburdenprivilege of serving on the Overtures Committee!So.Much.F...

PastoralLetterfor a Faithful Church June 11, 2021 Dear friends, Last week I sent you a schedule of how we're going to further reopen the church, noting that we were going to do it incrementally over several months.We've received a number of comments and concerns over this plan.We've had people who think we should continue social distancing and mask requirements; ot...

This week, we are starting a new sermon series on the One Another commands of the New Testament. I can't think of a more needed, and more timely, set of Biblical commands for us in this day and age. As I shared in my commencement address at RTS, DC last month, the past year has worn us all out with unending controversy. There have been constant debates over the treatment ...

Pastoral Letter for a Faithful Church June 4, 2021 Dear friends, Well, last month I wrote and promised to let you know when we would be able to make some adjustments to our Sunday schedule. Finally! This is that letter. We have spent some time figuring out how best to "finish" reopening and we're going to do it incrementally as we move through the summer. Al...

It seems like we just started going through the Book of Joshua and now we're coming to the end of the book. Frank will preach on Joshua 23 next week, and I'll preach on Joshua 24 this week (yes, we switched. It's okay, I promise). So, this week we'll be looking at "The Promise of Worship," what it has to do with the covenant, why we need to be regularly reminded of it, w...

Wow! It seems like May is just flying by and it will soon be over. So here's a few things to be praying for. This weekend is our annual Officer's Retreat (which got canceled last year). We'll be hearing from Kirk Blankenship, Pastor of Pilgrim PCA in Martinsburg, WV. He'll be sharing on the implications of the Resurrection for our lives today. Pray that this proves to be a...

Pastoral Letter for a Faithful Church May 15, 2021 Dear friends, Exactly one year ago today I wrote my 10th Pastoral Letter of the pandemic to announce that we were going to resume in-person worship in June (of 2020). At that time, I pleaded with everyone to extend grace to each other even as we are, Philippians 1:27b, "standing firm in one spirit, with...

For those of you who have kids, are kids, or were kids have you ever heard this complaint? "He got more than me!" Perhaps you were handing out candy or dishing up ice cream? Well, this week, you're going to hear it again! But there will be no candy. Nor will there be ice cream. Just land. Lots and lots of land. I know you would never think that any part of the Bible was...

Are there parts of the Bible that make you uncomfortable? Irritated? Angry? Historically, our text for this week, Joshua 10:16-43, is one of those texts. We'll be looking at the Southern Campaign in the Conquest of Canaan. And, once again, we'll see that God tells the Israelites to slaughter the Canaanites. And, once again, we'll probably cringe and question and doubt. And...

Have you ever been conned? Someone promised you something and then it never happened. And it cost you some money? Then you found out later that the lie was intentional, the other party had never planned on fulfilling their promise, or delivering the product. You got scammed and you probably felt angry and frustrated and wanted to get back at the other party? Well, welcom...

There's lots of common words that have taken on a negative connotation these days. These are words that used to be considered positive words, but with the changing values of our society, they're viewed more negatively now. One of those words is "obedience." Our society has placed such a high value on the concept of "individual freedom" and has given it somewhat unconstrain...

I wonder how many of you remember the opening sequence to ABC's Wide World of Sports? The show ran every Saturday afternoon from April of 1961 to January of 1998. And for those 37 years, it always began the same way, "Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat the human drama of athletic competition This ...

I wonder how many of you remember the old song about the fall of Jericho. Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho, Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, And the walls came tumbling down. I know, now you're singing it to yourself and it's stuck in your head. You're welcome. But there's a small problem with this song that many of us learned as a childre...

I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the beautiful weather of the last couple of days. After all that snow, it was wonderful to sit out in the sun for a little while this week. I hope you got the chance to do that. As you may know, we're coming up on the one-year anniversary of the pandemic. And so, starting this Sunday, and continuing for the next few months, we're...

The good news (for some of you) is that it's supposed to snow again this week. The good news (for others of you) is that it's all supposed to be gone by Sunday morning. Which means, we finally get to meet again! I know, it's only been three weeks, but I'm more than ready to worship together again. I hope you are too. We do have some other good news to pass on. We haven't ...

This week, we're starting a new sermon series on The Book of Joshua which I've entitled, "Living Out a Courageous Faith." In this time of such societal unrest, unease, and uncertainty, where Christians aren't sure what to say, how to act, or who to agree with, I can think of few times in my nearly thirty years of pastoral ministry that we've more needed to learn how to liv...

This week, we're finishing our January sermon series "With Confidence: Trusting God in Winter." We've already looked at having confidence in God, confidence in the Bible, confidence in Christ, confidence in the Gospel, and this week we're looking at having confidence in Hope. Now that one may sound a little funny to us because usually we use the word "Hope" with regard to...

This week, we're continuing our January sermon series "With Confidence: Trusting God in Winter." We've already looking at having confidence in God, confidence in the Bible, confidence in Christ, and this week we're looking at having confidence in the gospel. We'll be doing a deep dive into a few verses, Romans 1:16-17, which are the theme verses for the whole Book of Roma...

PastoralLetterfor a Faithful Church January 10, 2021 Dear friends, Below are the remarks I made this morning regarding the danger of spiritual immaturity: I did want to address this week's events at the Capitol.I rarely speak publicly about such events, and when I do, I invariably upset someone. However, this one was unique in that it more publicly involved prof...

In the midst of this Covid surge, one of our members, Mrs. Jenny Nelson, tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday. Jenny and her family were at church on Sunday. Jenny has already notified those folks she was in contact with. Most importantly, please be praying for the Nelson family, who currently have mild cold symptoms. Pray for a quick return to good health and that the ...

Well, it's a new year. 2020 has come and gone, but in its wake, it has left behind a legacy of uncertainty and confusion, doubt for many, and despair for some. A global pandemic, economic turmoil, racial tensions, political polarization, election drama (and don't forget, the movie "Pacific Rim" was set in 2020). We've never seen a year like 2020 before (unless you were ali...

I hope your holidays haven't been too crazy so far. I hope you've been able to slow down a little bit this Advent. I hope you've been able to take advantage of our Advent devotional (Tom Gardner did such a good job putting it together). And I hope you learned something new and different from our Advent series, "Unexpected Joy: A Christmas with Jonah." This Thursd...

Well, it's been a crazy week, but thankfully, once again we're able to meet in-person this Sunday. Therefore, we are going to have our congregational meeting during the Sunday School hour where we'll have our annual report, discuss the budget, and vote on my call for next year. We start at 9:30 am and we really need you there in order to have enough votes to make it offici...

A couple of reminders this Sunday we have a congregational meeting where we'll have our annual report, discuss the budget, and vote on my call for next year. We start at 9:30 am and we really need you there in order to have enough votes to make it official. Second, let me gently remind you that we are still required to wear our masks and keep our distance. As the coronav...

This week we're starting a new series for Advent. I've entitled it "Unexpected Joy: A Christmas with Jonah." This is not your typical Advent story. And that's because Jonah is a story of great fear (both good and bad), great humility (both real and fake), great sorrow (for good and bad reasons), and great repentance (both true and false). It's a story about a great fish an...

PastoralLetterfor a Distributed Church November 20, 2020 Dear friends, It's been two months since my last letter and we're finishing up our sermon series on "Misused Stories of the Bible." We've looked at Cain, Rahab, Gideon, Samson, David, Naaman, Daniel, Judas, The Lord's Supper, the Adulterous Woman, The Rich Fool, and Rev. Wang will finish up with Zacchaeus.I hop...

This week we'll be going through another familiar story, commonly known as "The Parable of the Rich Fool." This is a story of a man who interrupted Jesus as He was teaching, demanding that He decide a dispute in this man's favor. Jesus gave what appears to be a blistering response, followed by this parable, which surely would have humiliated the man. So, what subject so r...

This week we'll be going through another familiar story, except this one isn't misused in how it's interpreted, but more often than not, in how it's applied. We'll be looking at the well-known story of the woman caught in adultery in John 8:1-11. This, of course, is the story of a woman who's used by the Pharisees to trap Jesus into breaking the Old Testament Law. It's a s...

Well, if you've gotten one message from our series on "Misused Stories" so far, hopefully it has something to do with reading the Bible accurately. Because when we don't read the Bible accurately, we can come up with the wrong conclusions. Or we get to the right conclusions the wrong way, and because we got there illegitimately, people begin to doubt our conclusions, eve...

This week we're back to the book of Daniel (some of you may remember me preaching through this book in 2009). In our series on "Misused Stories of the Bible" we've jumped way ahead canonically (it's a long way from 1st Kings to Daniel) but just a little bit chronologically (we're still in the time of the exile). We'll be in Daniel 6 and the famous story of "Daniel and the...

This week we're back together, meeting in-person at Harper Park. I appreciate everyone's patience as we dealt with our first covid scare. Everyone who needed to be tested was and they all tested negative. Thank you, Jesus. Mark had mild symptoms, is recovering well, and we look forward to his eventual return. Furthermore, this Sunday, for the second time after going six ...

PastoralLetterfor a Distributed Church September 19, 2020 Dear friends, It's been a month since my last letter and we're a few weeks into our new sermon series on "Misused Stories of the Bible."We've looked at Cain, Rahab, and Gideon (tomorrow) with Samson, David, Naaman, and Daniel still to come. I hope it's helped you to see what the real main point of these storie...

This week we're moving on from Rahab to Gideon in our sermon series on "Misused Stories of the Bible." We'll be in Judges 6:36-40 and the famous story of Gideon "putting out a fleece" in order to have God confirm the instructions that He's already given to Gideon. It's not just that Gideon doesn't like the instructions God's given him, but rather he's terrified of the inst...

This week we continue our new sermon series on "Misused Stories of the Bible." We'll be looking at a number of famous Bible stories that are often misinterpreted and misinterpreted to such an extent that we miss the real meaning of the story. It's interesting because one of the stories I use in my preaching class at Reformed Theological Seminary, as an example of HOW NOT ...

This week we start a new sermon series on "Misused Stories of the Bible." You may remember a few years ago when we did a series on the "Misunderstood Verses of the Bible" and this will be similar to that. We'll be looking at a number of famous Bible stories that are often misinterpreted to such an extent that we miss the real meaning of the story. We're going to kick off t...

Well, we've come to the end of our 44-sermon series on The Gospel of Mark. I'm going to miss learning from Peter and John Mark. Hopefully, after having spent the last year immersed in their eyewitness accounts of the life of Christ, you will miss them too. We'll be finishing up with Mark 15:21-47 and the depiction of the crucifixion. However, it's pretty obvious that some...

Pastoral Letter for a Distributed Church August 22, 2020 Dear friends, It's been three weeks since my last letter (yeah for vacations) and I wanted to update you on some upcoming events and changes for this fall.We have been restarting our ministries in an incremental fashion this summer with good results. We have restarted the Nurseryduri...

Have you ever made a promise to someone your spouse, your child, your best friend, a co-worker and then, without even thinking about it broke it? Perhaps you had forgotten you made this promise. Maybe you didn't remember the promise until after it was broken. Possibly you had to be reminded that you had made this promise. And it was made worse because the reminder came ...

I sometimes wonder what everyone thinks about the various protests going on around the country. I imagine most of us feel somewhat divided about them, because so many different issues are being protested. We may agree with some and disagree with others. Some of the protests are peaceful and some are not. Some of the protests have seen the police come alongside and some h...

It's been a crazy time lately, hasn't it? There's been significant losses for some families in our church, the covid crisis dominates the newsfeed, protests over economic disruption, gender identity, and racial equality have filled our streets. Do you ever have days when you wish Lester Holt would open his newscast by saying, "Nothing strange happened today. It's all been ...

Dear Potomac Hills family, It is with deep sorrow that I have to tell you that we have lost another member of our church family. Jon Thompson went home to be with his beloved Lord and Savior Jesus Christ this morning -- passing away this morning. As you know, Jon suffered congestive heart failure on Wednesday, and while the hospital did all it could, the Lord has interven...

After two weeks (thanks to Frank Wang and Frank Pugh for ably filling the pulpit in my absence), we're once again plumbing the depths of The Gospel of Mark this week. We've come to three seemingly unrelated incidents in our passage this week, Mark 12:35-44. In these verses, Jesus takes on three challenges. There's a theological challenge, a moral challenge, and a spiritual...

Dear friends, We will be gathering for the fourth time this Sunday, July 5th, at Harper Park Middle School. We will gather for worship at 10:30 am, and will still be operating under Phase 1 of our updated Plan for resuming in-person worship (which you can find here: https://www.csmedia1.com/potomachills.org/plan-to-resume-worship-2020.pdf). As before, we will have all...

Dear friends, Do you know our bulletin has said "Welcome Home" for years? We want people to have that sense of belonging when they come to Potomac Hills! We will be gathering for the third time this Sunday, June 28th, at Harper Park Middle School. We will gather for worship at 10:30 am, and will still be operating under Phase 1 of our updated Plan for resuming in-pers...

After two weeks and two sermons on worship and gathering together again, we are back in The Gospel of Mark this week and our series on "The King and His Cross." This week we've come to Mark 11:27-12:12 and two confusing scenes. One (Mark 11:27-33) appears to be an unresolved debate between Jesus and the religious leaders on the subject of authority. And the other (Mark 12:...

Pastoral Letter for a Distributed Church June 12, 2020 Dear friends, The above graphic is a true statement. We can't wait to see you and to worship with you. We will be gathering this Sunday, June 14th, at Harper Park Middle School once again. We will gather for worship at 10:30 am, and we will be operating under Phase 1 of our updated Plan for resuming in-person worsh...

As of this morning, we're planning on meeting together again this Sunday at Harper Park! In light of that good news, we're taking a two-week break from the Gospel of Mark to talk about re-gathering for worship on Sunday. And we're going to focus in on two aspects of meeting together worship and community. Not to worry, we'll pick Mark back up in a couple of weeks and fin...

This week, we've come to two of Jesus' most frequently misunderstood actions, the cursing of the fig tree and the cleansing of the Temple, found in Mark 11:12-25. This is no surprise, for, on their own, these two events are difficult to understand. When read together, however, these two events explain each other. Recently, Mark has given us contrasts the Rich Young Ruler...

Pastoral Letter for a Distributed Church May 28, 2020 Dear friends, The above graphic is a nice way to let you know that A) there is a plan, and B) you should keep reading. This is the eleventh pastoral letter of the coronavirus pandemic and I hope it finds you staying alive and well and hopeful! The Governor of Virginia is moving slowly to reopen the Commonwealth an...

This week, we've come to yet another well-known passage in The Gospel of Mark. And that's the story of Blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10:46-52. One of the things I like about Mark is that he arranges his gospel stories to make a point. The last few weeks we've seen Jesus welcome the little children, followed by the Rich Young Ruler who declines Jesus' welcome. Then we had Jame...

Dear friends, The above graphic is a just another way of reminding us that the church is made up of the people in it. In fact, the word used most in the New Testament to describe the "church" is ekklesia, meaning "the assembly of the called." Now, understanding the definition of ekklesia is an important component of understanding what the church is and what the church is ...

This week, we've come to another well-known passage in The Gospel of Mark. And that's the story of the Rich Young Ruler in Mark 10:17-31. One of the things I find most interesting about this story is how it's placed right after Jesus' teaching that "whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." Because it sure doesn't seem like the Rich Youn...

This week, we've come to a short passage in The Gospel of Mark. And that's because, with the cancellation of our Officer's Retreat, we also lost the Officer Retreat Speaker for Sunday, May 17th. So, I took the passage originally intended for this Sunday and split it in two. And that's okay, since this passage,Mark 10:13-16, talks about children, and this Sunday is Mother's...

This week, we’ve come to a hard part of The Gospel of Mark.  And that’s Mark 10:1-12 which is on the subject of Jesus and divorce.  And that’s a challenge, because we have a number of folks in our church who have been divorced and possibly remarried.  However, Jesus has some hard words to say here.  And because I preach right through books, and don’t skip any...

Dear friends, The above graphic is a fun way of reminding you not to skip church this Sunday just because it's just so easy to do. It's easy to say, "I'll watch it later" but it's also easy to forget. The staff has been fascinated by the YouTube viewing analytics which show us how many views we get, what's the average time, what's the total time, etc. (BTW, the average ti...

Dear friends, While it may feel like we can't do anything during this strange season we're in, the above graphic is a good reminder that there's a lot we still can do and need to do. So, in line with Frank Wang's words in this week's church email, I want to look at some things from a different perspective in this letter. I want to view the coronavirus pandemic through th...

This week, we're back on schedule in The Gospel of Mark. We jumped around the last few weeks to have the right texts for Palm Sunday and Easter, but now we're back in Mark 9:14-29. If you remember, the last passage we studied in Mark 9 was The Transfiguration, which was a literal "mountaintop experience." But now the disciples have come down off the mountain, only to be me...

Pastoral Letter for a Distributed Church April 9, 2020 Dear friends, The above graphic is a good reminder of the season we're in. It's Thursday of Holy Week as I write this, and I don't know about you, but it doesn't feel like Holy Week. The reality of not being together seems to have sunk in a little more this week. We finished filming our Good Friday service this mo...

This week we're having multiple services for Holy Week. We'll start with a traditional Good Friday afternoon service that will look at "The Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross." It will be a shorter service consisting largely of Scripture readings and prayers. It will be followed by a Good Friday evening service, with further meditations on the "Seven Last Words" from ...

Pastoral Letter for a Distributed Church April 1, 2020 Dear friends, The above description of God is a good kick-off to our 30 Days of Prayer for the month of April. The PCA Committees and Agencies, as well as pastors and elders of the General Assembly, want to invite you to join them in 30 Days of Prayer for our churches, our nation, and the world. The last few weeks h...

This week we're back in The Gospel of Mark. As it's Palm Sunday, we're skipping over to the text on The Triumphal Entry, Mark 11:1-11. Every year on Palm Sunday, children enter our worship service with palm branches, delightfully waving to the congregation in celebration of Jesus's entry into Jerusalem. Obviously, we won't be able to do that in this year of social distanci...

Pastoral Letter for a Distributed Church March 26, 2020 Dear friends, The above watercolor hangs in our church office and it's a good reminder of the promises of God during our troubled times. This is the third pastoral letter of the coronavirus pandemic and I hope it finds you both healthy and safe. Well, we're all starting to get settled into the new routine, which,...

This week we're continuing our sermon series on The Gospel of Mark. We'll be in a famous text this Sunday, Mark 9:2-13, where we'll see what's commonly known as the Transfiguration. It would be easy to think that this has nothing to do with our world today. Or that it was just another cool miracle, but one that has little meaning for us now, maybe in the future, but not no...

Pastoral Letter for a Distributed Church March 18, 2020 Dear friends, I hope this finds you well. With the rising concern over the coronavirus pandemic, we thought it would be important to reach out to you with another communication from your church, both with information and encouragement. My intent is to write a pastoral letter on a weekly basis (we'll see how that go...

Addressing the Coronavirus Outbreak at PHPC March 12, 2020 Dear friends, I hope this finds you well. With the rising concern over the coronavirus, we thought it would beimportant to reach out to you with communication from your church, both with information and encouragement. This is intended to be a pastoral letter on how we, as Christians, should respond to the Coro...

This week we're continuing our sermon series on The Gospel of Mark. I'm looking forward to being back in the pulpit after having been on sabbatical. We'll be in Mark 8:31 to 9:1 this Sunday and Jesus will tell the disciples that He's going to die and rise again. Peter reacts, well, poorly. And so Jesus goes on to teach them how to face suffering in a godly manner. It shoul...

This week we're continuing our Advent series on "Christmas in the Psalms." We're looking at a few Messianic Psalms that foretell some aspect of the coming of the Messiah. This Sunday, we'll be looking at Psalm 72 which will tell us something very comforting about "Christ the Lord" (After last week, we need something comforting)! It's a unique Psalm in that it addresses the...

This week we're continuing our Advent series on "Christmas in the Psalms." We're looking at five Messianic Psalms in December that foretell some aspect of the coming of the Messiah, each of which is among the most quoted Psalms in the New Testament. This Sunday, we'll be looking at Psalm 69 which will tell us something very different about "Christ the Messiah." It's a uniq...

This week we're leaving the Gospel of Mark for a season as we'll be starting our Advent series on "Christmas in the Psalms." But we won't be leaving "The King and His Cross" as we'll be looking at five Messianic Psalms over the next five weeks which foretell some aspect of the coming of the Messiah. The Psalms we'll be looking at are Psalm 2, 69, 72, 110, and 118 (in case ...

This week we're in the miracles of Jesus. Last week I told you that the parables are often miracles in story form. Well, often the miracles are parables in action. And we have something of that in our text this week, Mark 4:35-41, the well-known story of Jesus calming the storm. Now, Jesus has already done a lot in front of the disciples. He's taught, He's healed people, ...

This week we're in the parables of Jesus. The parables basically tell us that we're doing everything wrong. And we have a hard time with that. Most of the time, we're trying (very hard) to do everything right! Okay, not everyone, but surely you are! And now Jesus is sharing parables to help us see that the ways of the Kingdom are not the ways of the world. Things are backw...

This week we'll see how Jesus answers those who question what He's doing. Our passage for this week, Mark 3:20-35, begins with Jesus' family showing up and wanting to take Him home so He'll stop embarrassing everyone with all of this sensationalistic, miraculous, healing stuff that He was doing And right in the middle of this family mess, another group shows up and questi...

I hope you were blessed by last Sunday's celebration of our 25th Anniversary. Many thanks to Cici Palm and Dave Dorst for all their hard work (BTW, the link to the slide show is now posted on Realm and in our Facebook group). I was greatly appreciative that Ligon Duncan made time in his super busy schedule to be with us. And every time I think back to Mark Phoebe Rist's r...

Well, we've finally made it. This Sunday we celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Potomac Hills. What an amazing milestone. We have an exciting day lined up. In the morning, one of the leading Reformed thinkers in the world today, Dr. Ligon Duncan, Chancellor of Reformed Theological Seminary, will be with us. He will speak to a combined Teen / Adult Sunday School class at 9:30...

Have you ever tried to do the right thing and had people criticize you for it? And so you changed what you were doing and did it the way you thought they wanted it done and you still got criticized for it. And by the same people! If you do it this way, they get mad and if you do it that way, they get mad. No matter what you try to do they get mad and you can't win. And...

Have you ever gotten really, really hurt? I hope not, because getting hurt is well, painful. No one likes getting hurt. I speak from experience. I've broken multiple bones, torn multiple tendons and ligaments, have had multiple surgeries and probably need a few more. Another pastor once wrote me (after yet another surgery) that "scars are God's way of reminding you that y...

Well, we've started in on the Gospel of Mark and I hope you're excited to be back in the gospels. Mark is the only one of the four gospel writers to call his book a gospel (which means 'Good News'), but he didn't invent the word. It was used in the common language of the time, and it meant that some history-making, life-shaping event had happened, and a messenger has come ...

Wow! So much starts in September. Just in our church, this month we'll be starting new Sunday School classes, new Community Groups, new Bible Studies, new Joy Groups, new Men's and Women's Ministry events, etc., etc., etc. I mean, there's like 500 bulletin inserts this week (good luck with those). On top of that we're having ministry testimonies each week, and this Sunday ...

Have you ever met someone and, after spending some time with them, you thought, "they just know God much better than I do" or maybe it was "that guy prays at a whole different level than I do" or perhaps even "you know, she loves God in a way that I've never felt"? I've met a few people like that and have always left them wondering how that nearness to God, knowledge of Go...

Have you ever had to make a hard decision, not knowing how it would turn out? You weigh all the pros and cons, get counsel from others, try to figure out what the result will look like, and then make the decision. And something goes horribly wrong. Usually, it's due to what we call "unintended consequences." After you made the decision, something happened that you either d...

Have you ever been accused of something you didn't do? Sooner or later, most of us have to endure such an accusation and it can really hurt. It can also make us angry, bitter, resentful, and scared. You try to explain, and the other person doesn't seem to care. Why? Usually because they're angry, bitter, resentful, and scared too (although sometimes they're just mean, but...

Have you ever been accused of burning a Bible? Probably not (at least, I hope not). And yet, it's happening today in many parts of the world. I know that seems hard to believe in this day and age, but sadly, it's getting worse, not better. In reality, it's not a new thing at all, the history of the Bible is filled with accounts of them getting burned. I don't know when opp...

Well, this week we'll be looking at "The Prophet's Promise Keepers" from Jeremiah 34-35. If you remember, the exile is almost upon them, the enemy is camped at the door, everything looks hopeless, and so now God tells Jeremiah that it's time to teach the people about the importance of keeping the promises they've made before Him. But it's not just a passage about making pr...

Well, this week we have the privilege of hearing from Rev. Chris Hutchinson, Pastor of Grace Covenant PCAin Blacksburg, Virginia. Over the years, we've had a number of folks who've passed through his church and have blessed ours. You may recognize Chris as he's visited our church every year for about a decade now. Chris will be speaking at our Officer Retreat this weekend ...

Well, this week we'll be looking at "The Prophet's Land Deal" from Jeremiah 32. The exile is almost upon them, the enemy is camped at the door, everything looks hopeless, and so God tells Jeremiah that he should go buy a plot of land. At first glance, the timing is so bad it just may be the worst land deal in the Bible. It's akin to buying oceanfront property in Arizona (t...

Well, this week we have the special treat of hearing from Ron Clifton, who will be preaching on "The Prophet's New Covenant" from Jeremiah 31:31-40. As you may know, Ron has been going through Officer Training for the last few months which consists of weekly classes and a heavy reading load. Part of the training process for a Ruling Elder is giving the Session an opportuni...

Well, this week it's Easter Sunday so we're going to take a break from Jeremiah to talk about the "So What?" of Easter. There are a lot of people in the world today (including many of your neighbors and co-workers) who hear us talk about faith and respond with something to the effect of "I'm glad that works for you but it's not for me. It doesn't have any bearing on my hec...

Well, this week we're going to celebrate Advent in April. Advent is traditionally centered on the Old Testament prophecies concerning a coming Messiah and His establishment of an earthly kingdom. And this Sunday, we have the first of four chapters in the book of Jeremiah (chapter 30) where the Lord gives His people a bunch of promises to look forward to, except He gives th...

Well, this week we have one of the key chapters in the book of Jeremiah (chapter 29) where the Lord tells His people how they are going to live, work, have families, and keep the faith while they're in exiled in Babylon. Of course, this chapter includes one of the most popular verses in the world Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, pl...

It's been a crazy week. That usually happens when I try to do too much stuff in too little time. It's also why this is coming to you so late. Apologies all around. This week we're in Jeremiah 26 and it's a different chapter than any of them we've seen so far. Jeremiah continues to preach, he gets arrested, tried, convicted, sentenced to death, overturned on appeal, and in...

Well, this week we have another passage in Jeremiah (chapters 24-25) where the Lord tells His people who they are, what will happen to them (both good and bad), and why those things are going to happen. Of course, He's told them these kinds of things already. So why say them again? Because now He will present them in a paradoxical (or opposite) sort of way. For those who ...

Well, this week we have another long stretch of Jeremiah (there will be a lot of those over the coming months) where the Lord compares and contrasts the Kings of Judah. Using the prophet Jeremiah, He calls out specific kings and states how they have fallen short of what he expects of a king. And yet the criticisms the Lord levels, although harsh, are surprisingly common. T...

Wow! It's been six weeks since the last sermon I preached. It will be good to be back in the pulpit. You all have been very patient with my preaching absence (some of you have even enjoyed it)! So, first of all, I'm very grateful to Dave Dorst and Frank Wang for filling in and doing such a great job (including our first video sermon!). It was wonderful to hear from Paul Ha...

Wow what a great Sunday with Paul Hahn. He is one of the most engaging guys in the PCA. I hope you appreciated his presentation during Sunday School and his sermon during worship as much as I did (though it was pretty convicting). I look forward to the discussion we'll have about it at my Community Group this week. If you're not in a Community Group, it's not too late, ju...

First of all, I hope everyone had a wonderful snow day last Sunday. If you were able to use the Worship at Home Service we sent out, let us know on Facebook or Realm how that went. It was the first time we've done that, and we'd like to know what you thought. Also, how did you like the video sermon Dave Dorst preached? The links are still online if you didn't get to see it...

Attached is our bulletin for how to have a complete worship service at home tomorrow. It includes links to the music, the offering, and the sermon (video, no less!). We hope this helps to make your home worship service a worthwhile one. Let us know how it went!...

Church is canceled for this Sunday, January 13th. Loudoun County Public Schools just notified us that all schools will be closed this weekend. We will be sending out a guide shortly on how to have worship at home this Sunday (including the regularly scheduled sermon)!...

Well, we've finally gotten through the holiday season (though, since The Twelve Days of Christmas doesn't end until Epiphany on January 6th, I'm still listening to Christmas music, so don't judge). The beginning of a new year brings all sorts of questions: Will this be the year I get that promotion? Or maybe it's time for a new job? Will I suffer from the same illness / ad...

Wow! It seems like Advent is just flying by. Didn't we just put the Advent wreath out? These are the days I miss having the kids at home. So many of our family traditions revolved around watching our children and family grow more each year. And we kind of see that in miniature each Advent season in worship. The 1st Sunday we had the preschool class come up, light the wreat...

We're now well into the Advent season. This Sunday will be the 3rd Sunday of Advent, and our reading for the day is The Story of the Angels from Luke 2. And it's a wonderful story, and you probably know it well. If not from the Scriptures, then from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" where Linus gives his famous "The True Meaning of Christmas" speech. If I knew how to embed it in...

Advent is here. This Sunday will be the 2nd Sunday of Advent, and our reading for the day is The Story of the Shepherds from Luke 2. And it's a wonderful story, full of promise and hope. But for many among us, and even some of us, this season seems to lack promise and hope. There's no doubt that many people are struggling with one form of darkness or another in their lives...

"Celebrating Advent means learning how to wait. . . . Those who learn to wait are uneasy about their way of life, but yet have seen a vision of greatness in the world of the future and are patiently expecting its fulfillment. The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to...

We're getting close to entering the holiday season and we've already started getting flooded with gift catalogs at home. And each catalog shows us the latest, greatest, coolest, just-gotta-have-it gift for this season. And it got me to thinking about gifts. Have you ever gotten a gift that seemed like it would be really great at first, but after a little while it's lost it...

Have you ever been surprised by the words or actions of a friend? Here's someone you know well, that you're close to, and all of a sudden, they say something, or do something, that just surprises you. And perhaps you respond with, "Something must be up with them. That's not like them." Or maybe even, "Wow, you thought you knew a guy ... and then they do something like th...

Have you ever suffered through a time of great loss when you felt lost, lonely, or abandoned? Most of us have experienced that at one time or another. And if you haven't yet, sadly, you probably will. Perhaps for you it was the loss of a loved one, an unexpected change in job, location, or school, maybe a fractured relationship or even just a friendship that has faded aw...

I was just reading through some news articles this week and I'm continually amazed, especially in this election season, how easily we make ourselves out to be far better than we are. We rate ourselves as above-average drivers, wise investors, and productive employees, even though math dictates that can't be true for all of us. We also tend to believe we are less likely tha...

After traveling last week to Georgia and Florida, it was good to come back home. I like returning to what's familiar, to what's comfortable, to all those things (and people) that make home ... home. But sometimes that can backfire on us too. We get so used to the comfortable and familiar we're no longer able to see how that can sometimes harm us as well. We become blind ...

Have you ever been disappointed? I'm sure you have. Perhaps when you were a kid Christmas morning came and you didn't get that one present you really wanted. Or when you were a teen you didn't get that prom date you set your heart on. Or maybe you picked out the perfect college ... until you got that letter. Then you entered the work force, and got that first job intervie...

Have you ever gotten lost? Just driving around with absolutely no idea where you are or how to get where you're supposed to be going? That happens a lot less than it used to with the advent of GPS devices and map apps on our phones. But it's enormously frustrating when it does happen. And it still happens sometimes (usually when your phone dies and you forgot your car char...

Have you ever seen someone make a complete train wreck of their lives? Maybe you saw it from a distance? Or perhaps it was up close and personal? Sadly, it's common enough that most of us have, or will, suffer through watching such a personal disaster. And sometimes it's made even more difficult because you see it coming before it happens. You're watching people make bad...

Have you ever had something happen to you that you couldn't figure out? Perhaps it was some illness or injury or accident? Maybe it was a relational failure of some sort? Or even a missed opportunity at work? But some event or circumstance has taken place in your life, and as hard as you try to understand it, you can't come up with why this is happening to you. Maybe you...

There are things I love and don't love about starting the new school year. I don't like to see summer come to a close -- there's a relaxation to summer that I don't feel any other time of year and I don't look forward to the hecticness of the fall. And yet, at the same time, there's an excitement about starting new things - and at Potomac Hills we're starting a number of...

The Book of James is extremely practical. It goes over very specific, very concrete aspects of practical Christian living. This Sunday, we'll be finishing our series on James, entitled "We Walk in Wisdom." And we'll be looking at James 5:13-20 on having "Wisdom in Prayer." It tells us two things. It tells us about the power of prayer in general, and then it tells us abou...

The book of James is a practical book, and the question it asks and answers is If you really believe the basic message of Jesus, the gospel of Jesus Christ, what kind of life will that create on the ground?What will it look like practically?Each passage we've looked at has been asking ... What kind of church community is created among those of us who believe the gospel? ...

Everyone wants to be wise, and most of us think we're somewhat wise, but we have real concerns about everyone else. When something goes wrong in someone else's life, we're quick to wonder, "What were they thinking?" But when something's not going right in our own life, we're quick to get defensive, "It couldn't be helped. Sometimes things just happen. Nothing I could have ...

This Sunday, we'll be continuing our series on The Book of James, entitled "We Walk in Wisdom." We're spending the summer looking at what the brother of Jesus has to say about wisdom. And this week we'll be looking at James 2:1-13 on the "Wisdom for Prejudice." Now, we don't need wisdom on being prejudiced, but we do need wisdom on how to handle prejudice when it shows up...

Hey, first of all, thanks to everyone for being flexible with Sunday School and Children's Church rooms as we navigate our way through Harper Park's renovation this summer. I'm sure there will be lots more changes coming our way. And if you're looking for somewhere to serve, Children's Church needs some people. The more adults we have serving, the easier it is. Second, s...

This Sunday, we're starting our new series on The Book of James, which I've entitled "We Walk in Wisdom." I think coming off our series on "The Time of Trouble," it will be good to look at James since he puts such great emphasis on living wisely in all areas of our life. Now, of course, that's easier said than done. We all tend to think we're wise (most of the time, anywa...

Community Group Study Guide for May 27-June 2...

This Sunday, we're well into the series "The Time of Trouble." Due to travel and surgery, I haven't been in the pulpit for the last four Sundays, so first, I want to thank Dave Frank (and Nick Batzig) for stepping up and preaching faithfully. I'm in the enviable position of not having to worry when I'm away or unable to preach, since I know that the church is in good ha...

This Sunday, we have the unique opportunity to hear from Rev. Nick Batzig, who will be leading our officer retreat this weekend. I've visited Nick's church and he's a wonderful preacher. Nick is the Pastor of New Covenant Presbyterian Church in Richmond Hill, Georgia. A native Georgian, Nick attended Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in South Carolina wh...