Blog, Pastor's Desk
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Fjords Declare the Glory of God - By Tyler ...

Fjords, glaciers, bears, and other features of the Nordic landscape are anything but silent. They are part of a choir that gives unceasing praise to the Architect of the cosmological cathedral we inhabit. They are preachers who will not be silenced.

But what is the aim of the creation’s pedagogy and to what end do fjords and forests preach? Psalm 19 asserts that the content of the created order’s teaching is the glory of God.

Blog, Pastor's Desk
FIBC Webadmin
We Are Not Materialists - By Tyler Conrad

The secular and social dogma of the West is materialism. In this philosophy matter is the sole explanatory cause of all things, and so there is little love for the divine or tolerance for the transcendent. But if we are good, consistent materialists, why are we mourning with those who are suffering? What is cruel and unjust about violence if all things are merely matter and devoid of transcendently infused meaning?

Blog, Pastor's Desk
FIBC Webadmin
God and COVID-19 (Part 3) - By Tyler Conrad

Since the dawn of God’s story, his symphonic mastery over every note has not waned, but the pitch of its perfection resonates with echoes of brilliance. What is mysterious to us is manifest to him; where we are confounded, he is informed; where our love is slack with sin, he is perennially steadfast with holiness.

These truths are what feed our understanding of the questions previously addressed in my earlier posts, ‘Where is God in COVID-19?’ and ‘Why would he allow such an awful thing to occur?’ These truths are also what allow us to move on with confidence to another question, ‘What is the Christian’s response to COVID-19?’

Blog, Pastor's Desk
FIBC Webadmin
God and COVID-19 (Part 2) - By Tyler Conrad

Jesus may be sovereign and always with us, but if he allows and ordains catastrophes – both those we experience personally and collectively – can we trust him? Does he actually act in our best interest? If Jesus genuinely cared for us, wouldn’t that mean he should be a preventative force of COVID-19 rather than the causal agent behind it?

Blog, Pastor's Desk
FIBC Webadmin
God and COVID-19 (Part 1) - By Tyler Conrad

Since the outbreak of this virus, the world seems to have been catapulted into a narrative that seems more akin to thrilling fiction than our sobering reality. We’ve never seen anything quite like what we are witnessing – the cessation of normal life in almost all nations across the globe. Governments, either by appeal or force, enact quarantines in a bid to stem the tide of a virus, that unless slowed or stopped, has the likely potential to kill and hospitalize millions of people. Unlike the typical westerner who subscribes to a materialist worldview, or in some cases may retain some sense of an impersonal spiritual realm, the Christian is under obligation to think deeply about the COVID-19 outbreak.

Word

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Pastor's Desk: In Lieu of Sunday Worship Together

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As you know, we have suspended our meetings and worship services temporarily. This Sunday will be the first time, as far as I can remember, that we haven’t held a Sunday worship service at FIBC since we became a church (February 2002). These are extraordinary times that require some extraordinary measures to do what we can to slow the spread of the highly infectious COVID-19.

So, in lieu of meeting for worship together on Sunday, I would like to recommend that you spend some time listening to some worship songs and a sermon via internet podcast.

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Pastor's Desk: The Blessed Life

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We can choose our destiny or our path, but we can't choose both. Do you want to enjoy a life blessed by God; a life that's like a fruitful tree, a happy and healthy sheep or a satisfied guest? That is a choice of your destiny, and the path to that destiny is then decided for you: follow the LORD's ways revealed in His Word. Or, you can choose instead to follow the world's ways by listening to the counsel of the wicked, the sinful and the scornful. But, if you choose that path, then the destiny is decided for you: a life that's like chaff, for the wicked will perish.

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