Author: Pastor Rich Lusk
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Christmas Meditation: The Invisible Made Visible (John 1:1-18)
These are notes from a sermon Pastor Lusk preached several years ago. This morning we learned that Jesus is the revelation of who God is, of what God is like, of how he has lived from all eternity. Jesus is one with God reveals God as he is in himself. Tonight I want to continue that thought…
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Christmas Meditation: A Day in the Life of God (John 1:1-18)
These are notes from a sermon Pastor Lusk preached several years ago. For most of us, Christmas memories are a vivid part of our life stories. Growing up, we quickly learned to anticipate the Christmas season as the best time of the year. Christmas was a season filled with vivid sights and sounds – the red and…
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Sermon Spin-off — 12/10/23 (1 Samuel 7)
This a slight reworking of the last portion of my sermon from 12/10/23. The end of 1 Samuel 7 describes the great blessings that accrued to Israel because of Samuel’s ministry as priest, prophet, and judge. Samuel, like Moses, held a multiplicity of offices usually assigned to many men instead of one. It was obviously…
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My Christian Nationalism
I am not really a fan of the “Christian nationalism” label. The “nationalism” bit carries too much baggage. But if I did want to identify myself as a Christian nationalist, Francis Scott Key’s hymn “Before the Lord We Bow” would define the term for me. Key is best known to Americans as the author of our national…
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An Advent Meditation from Isaiah 11
These are notes from a sermon by Rich Lusk, originally preached on December 12, 2004. G. K. Chesterton is one of my favorite authors. In his wildly funny and futuristic novel Napoleon of Notting Hill, he talks about a game the human race has been playing for a long, long time. It’s a game called “cheat…
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Romans 1:18-32: Reversing the Exchanges
In Romans 1:18-32, Paul identifies the pattern by which humanity (and particular civilizations within humanity) slide into apostasy and damnation. The sequence is ingratitude, leading to idolatry, leading to immorality. We refuse to thank and glorify the God who made us, turning to idols instead; the outworking of this idolatry is manifested in various forms…
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Pastoral Leadership in an Age of Wokeness
Are woke pastors committing vocational suicide? Is it enough to not be woke? Or must a pastor be explicitly anti-woke in order to remain faithful? I admit upfront I know absolutely nothing first hand about the Scott Sauls case and therefore anything I say here is strictly speculative. The charges brought against Sauls that he has been abusive and manipulative are very…
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Thanksgiving Day Note
This was sent out in the TPC congregational email today: George Washington’s 1789 Thanksgiving Day proclamation opened with these words: “Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor– and whereas…
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Baptismal Exhortation: Jesus Loves the Little (Covenant) Children
In Psalm 71, the psalmist says “You are my trust from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from birth.” In Psalm 22, David says, “You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts.” In Luke 18, believing parents bring their infants to Jesus for a blessing. Jesus laid hands on them and said, “To such belongs the kingdom of God.” In…
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Thanksgiving
This week, millions of Americans will gather for Thanksgiving. But will they really be giving thanks? And who will they thank? The Thanksgiving holiday is an annual reminder that our nation has wonderful (though obviously imperfect) Christian heritage. The influence of the Christian faith upon our nation, its government, its culture, its institutions, is the…
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