Happy New Year!
God has been faithful for another year, providing faith and understanding into his Word, family times together, friendships, work, food, money, health, energy, and more!
James 1:17: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” I thank the Lord for everything.
I continue to serve with joy as full-time pastor of Lake Shore Church in Chicago. What a privilege! I love the people God has given us and the work of making disciples who make disciples, the work of evangelism and preaching.
My wife Nancy remains healthy and vigorous and loves helping family. I thank God for her, and for all my sons, their wives, and our six grandchildren. (Missing from this photo are Brian and his family)
Much of my study and reading in Scripture this year has been in Psalms and in the Gospel of Luke because I have been preaching through both on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. This has been a spiritual feast. I love God’s Word, by which I fellowship with him and know him.
You can listen to my recent message from Luke titled “A Beautiful Mind.” For other audio recordings of sermons on Luke, see here.
Scripture memorization has an increasing role in my devotional time. It facilitates Bible meditation, prayer, and worship, and renews my mind. It increases my faith. Among other Scriptures, this year I have focused persistent efforts in memorizing Isaiah 58, which has been challenging, but rich and edifying.
The highlights of my reading this year have been the following books: The Gospel According to Jesus: What Is Authentic Faith, by John MacArthur; Gospel Assurance and Warnings, by Paul Washer; The Barbell Prescription, by Jonathon Sullivan and Andy Baker.
Nancy and I are both training with barbells several times a week.
This year was my best ever in evangelism on the sidewalk. I went out 41 times and proclaimed a hopeful, three-sentence gospel message to 5,774 passers-by, of whom 1,524 took gospel pamphlets. The three sentences are: “God raised Jesus from the dead. So there is hope for everyone who follows him. In a world of death and evil, there is hope in the Son of God.” (The pamphlet I hand out is an abbreviation of the article Four Things You Need to Know about God, by Ray Comfort.)
I am thrilled to have created an email book titled Nice Is Not Enough: 15 Marks of Faith According to Jesus. It’s a free book delivered one chapter per week by email. I am now at work turning it into a paperback to be self-published on Amazon. To get the email book for free starting today, sign up here.
My prayer for you is the prayer of the apostle John: “Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.” (3 John 1:2 ESV)