Mark served as pastor of Lafayette Salem Evangelical Church from January 2023 until August of 2025. He and his family have served overseas for 30 years. His wife, Rachel, is a local gal from Whittier, IA. They met while serving in East Asia. As of September 2025, they returned to the foreign field.
We Christians talk about eternal security. We talk about salvation by faith alone. But I do not think most of us have a good understanding of what that really means. Paul warns us not to grieve the Holy Spirit, but in the same breath he…
Continue reading...In the previous verse, which we looked at a couple weeks ago, we saw for the thief that putting off the old self and putting on the new was so clear and obvious. Paul has another bellwether of old-self versus new-self: The Tongue. Maybe stealing…
Continue reading...People sometimes ask, “What does it mean to ‘believe’?” And that is a very good question. So often we think it is just this internal thing, a heart thing, a mind thing. And it certainly includes that. True belief comes in through the ears or…
Continue reading...Sharing. Do you know how hard a lesson that is for us to get? We watch our kids—without training from us—naturally battle and fight for the things they want. It starts so young! And when we get older, we’re supposed to have mastered the art…
Continue reading...Last week we talked about the importance of being honest, transparent, and speaking even painful truths to those around us. Yet do so out of love and humility, for our own benefit and for the benefit of those with whom we speak. Paul’s next command…
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