Posts from January 2023

5 Items

Superficiality V. Substance

by Tyler Dirks

We oftentimes find ourselves swimming in superficiality. Sometimes superficiality feels nice. It’s light, it’s casual, it’s predictable, and it offers a dose of ephemeral pleasure. But ultimately it erodes confidence, and it amplifies our anxiety. Simply put, inch-deep interactions with fellow image-bearers won’t cut it. We often opt for superficiality because we aren’t comfortable with […]

The Angel of the LORD

by Tyler Dirks

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.  Luke 24:27 Where is the Angel of the Lord in Scripture? Gen. 16 – Gives a promise to Hagar in the wilderness. Gen. 22 – Reaffirms the messianic promise with Abraham. Gen. 31 – Appears […]

An Alarming Way

by Tyler Dirks

Even a cursory overview of Paul’s life is alarming. Paul put himself through stuff that makes the Badwater 135 look like “treat-yo-self” spa day! Paul received countless beatings, he was often near death, and frequently in prison. Five times he received forty lashings minus one. Three times he was beaten with rods. Once he was […]

The Most Successful Church

by Tyler Dirks

What is the premiere picture of a successful church? Jesus must be our most emphatic, and most-highly esteemed, paradigm of success. That means, the MOST SUCCESSFUL, MOST WORTHY OF ESTEEM AND EMULATION, CHURCH looks like Jesus and the apostles. The apostles, bear in mind, were blue-collar uneducated fisherman and former tax-collectors and zealots. Eventually, Jesus […]

or·ni·thol·o·gy

by Tyler Dirks

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather […]