Posts from 2024
Wisdom Seekers
Turn your ear toward wisdom and stretch your mind toward understanding. Call out for insight, and cry aloud for understanding. Seek it like silver; search for it like hidden treasure. Then you will understand the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God. (Proverbs 2:2-5) A Bible podcast I listened to recently has led me to reflect on the nature of God’s wisdom. Wisdom is challenging to define. One dictionary defines wisdom as “the quality of having…
SFNAZ Newsletter – November 2024
Click here to view the weekly devotional. SFNAZ ANNOUNCEMENTS Dear SFNaz family, Thank you for the kindness you extended to Cas and me and the rest of the staff this past month. The encouragement you gave through the cards and gifts lifted our hearts and blessed us. I love you all and am so grateful for the honor of being your pastor. Thank you for caring for my staff and me in all the ways you do. Blessings, Pastor Wes…
Anxious and Afraid
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4:18 (ESV) Have you noticed how prevalent fear is in our culture? We don’t always call it fear, we offer different names for it—anxiety, panic, apprehension, dread, terror, these either elevate or minimalize the presence of fear but in the end it’s all fear and fear grips all of us. So how does love allay fear? First, it’s important to put the love we’re talking…
Romans 15
This next week is one that will be full of division and hate across the nation. In Romans 15, Paul reminds us of a higher calling: to bear with one another and seek the good of our neighbors. This call to unity is not about suppressing our beliefs but about prioritizing love and understanding over division. He encourages us to bear with one another, recognizing that we all are different but that our goal is being unified by the work of…
Justice & Love
To be honest, I have struggled to write what I feel God has placed on my heart. Recently I have been reminded of the evil that is so prevalent in our culture. God is a God of Justice, and these things must break His heart. Certainly, God is grieved with the killing of innocent life. God is grieved when care is not given to the widow, the orphan, and the “least of these”. Certainly, God is grieved when Christians are…
Turkeys
I was watching this silly turkey from the deck of the parsonage. He was at the back of the church inside a fenced area and he couldn’t figure out how to get out. He started pacing back and forth for like 30 minutes. The rest of the group of turkeys went about their business looking for something to eat. Back and forth this turkey went. Finally, turkey #2 flew in to talk to turkey #1 and tell him how to…
SFNAZ Newsletter – October 2024
Click here to view the weekly devotional. SFNAZ ANNOUNCEMENTS PASTOR APPRECIATION MONTH October is Pastor Appreciation Month! Thank you to our wonderful Pastors: Wes Hershberger, Jordan Roth, Justine Wilks, David Dixon, Lake Wilks, and Wanda Aller. We love and appreciate you! Your church board invites you to pick up a card in the Holy Grounds (or bring in your own) and leave a personal note of gratitude to show how much you appreciate them! VETERAN’S DAY PHOTOS Photos for the…
I Identify
One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at the table at Jesus side… John 13:23 John, the son of Zebedee, a fisherman by trade, was called by Jesus to be one of his followers. This man was given the unique opportunity to be one of three who were given premier access to Jesus—part of his inner circle. He was also the longest living of Jesus’ disciples. He wrote a large portion of the New Testament, eclipsed only by…
Isaiah 6:8
I first felt a definitive call to ministry when I was on a Work and Witness trip to Kenya at the age of 16. I was so excited to share this call with the other people on the trip, as well as the Kenyan pastors we have gotten to know well over the years. They all affirmed my call and told me I would do great things for the Lord. When we came home, I shared the news of my…
Freedom from Sin
I grew up in the Presbyterian Church. I can recall as a young boy being scared that if I didn’t pray each night for the forgiveness of my sins, I might go to hell. What if I failed to confess all my sins? What if I had sinned and didn’t know it? What if I sinned and died in a car accident? I lived in constant fear of going to hell if I failed to constantly ask God for forgiveness…
Nostalgia
“Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:13-14) The past two months have been filled with nostalgia. In early August my son and I flew to San Diego to watch a couple of baseball games. While we were there, I showed…
Community
As much as I love summer there’s something about fall that brings routine and a different pace of life. One of my favorite things to look forward to in the fall is the starting back up of our life group. Rusty and I have been blessed over the last 20 years to be part of a life group that meets weekly. Over those years many families have come and gone due to changes in life circumstances and some of those…