Michael Sturek

What comes to mind when you think about a sermon? With different denominations, worship styles and agendas, sermons today sometimes can feel more like motivational speeches or platforms for social issues. Contrary to these styles of preaching, Belgic Confession article 29 says that one of the marks of a true

Children rarely do as they please. What they do is dependent on their parents and other parental figures in their lives. Teenagers have more ability to do as they please but are still limited by teachers and parents. Adults are limited by their bosses and family. The very rich and

Names are very important in the Bible. Children’s names often reflected a physical characteristic of the baby or a hope the parents had for the coming child (Genesis 25:25, 1 Samuel 1:20). Often the name became a fitting description of the child as they grew up. When

Traditions in and of themselves are not bad. Some are God-honoring and can be helpful for us on our walk. Based on Jesus’ teaching, traditions can be acceptable as part of our spiritual disciplines and in worship if they meet two broad qualifications: that they do not contradict Scripture and

Psalm 51 is one of King David’s penitential Psalms where he prayed to God as a result of sin. There are six of these in the Psalms (Psalm 6, 32, 38, 51, 130 and 148). We do not know the exact occasion for any of them except for Psalm

As Christians, we claim that Jesus is the Messiah, that He was sent by God the Father to save all those who believe in Him from their sin. Why do we believe that Jesus is the Messiah? The Bible testifies to the fact that many even in Jesus’ day claimed

Imagine a courtroom scene for a crime. The jury has just come back into the room with their verdict, and everyone is waiting to hear what they will say because a guilty verdict will carry a hard sentence for the defendant. The prosecutor and defense attorney both presented very strong

“The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue.” – Psalm 33:16-17 The world can be a scary place. There are wars, racial unrest,

When the Israelites were about to enter the Promised Land, God warned them that if they followed the evil ways of the people, He would take them out of the land, and He would cause them to be overtaken by other countries (Deuteronomy 29:25-28). The books of 1 and

If you want to start a dispute, find two baseball fans and ask them who the best Major League Baseball pitcher of all time is. This question will almost certainly start a dispute because each person will have their own opinion of what “best” means. But if you ask those

I remember hearing a story about Pearl Jam, one of the big bands of the 90s. One of their biggest songs called “Alive” is a painful autobiographical song written by the singer, Eddie Vedder. However, fans of the song heard the song as a song of inspiration and strength. They

When it comes to the Christian life, there are two opposite but dangerous errors when it comes to understanding the law – antinomianism and legalism. Antinomianism is the teaching that since Jesus fulfilled the law, we have no law to follow and are free to do anything we want. Legalism is

The Trinity The Trinity is the biblical concept that God exists as three Divine Persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The purpose of this article is not to be a comprehensive study of the doctrine of the Trinity. The basic goals of this article are 1) to

It has been said that one of America’s biggest exports is the spread of the prosperity gospel. The teaching of the prosperity gospel is about how God wants most for His people is health and wealth, that He will bless you financially and in other worldly ways based on

What is a Spirit-filled church? Is it one where there is freedom to worship God in whatever way our hearts are led? Is it where there is no structure and order to how worship is carried out or where there is structure and order? Does God set guidelines of how

In 2 Samuel 11 is one of the saddest chapters of the Old Testament. In it we see the great fall of David as one of God’s most faithful people to an adulterer and murderer. Although we know David was not sinless, the Bible does not record any significant