Pastor Gabe's Old Blog

I'm presently in California for the Shepherd's Conference held at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley. The theme this year is in honor of the 500th anniversary of the protestant reformation. Speakers include John MacArthur, Al Mohler, Mark Dever, Steve Lawson, and many others. It's going to be a great week of teaching and fellowship with other pastors. I wasn't in California for very long before I was exposed as "not from around here." Yes, the "You're not in Kansas anymore" jokes abound. I've been all over the U.S., having set foot in about 40 different states, but I guess there's just something different about California. When I got to my hotel, a gentleman recommended to me that Uber was the best way to get a ride, much cheaper than a cab. I'd never used Uber before, so I downloaded the app and scheduled my first trip. The Uber map put me in a weird place to rendezvous with my driver, but we managed to find each other. I ap...

This morning I shared a quote from J.C. Ryle, former Anglican Bishop of Liverpool. He was big on evangelism and critical of ritualism. From his book Practical Religion , he wrote, "Give me a candle and a Bible, and shut me up in a dark dungeon, and I will tell you all that the whole world is doing." One of the most common criticisms I face as a preacher, and perhaps any Christian faces today, is that I don't have the right to judge anyone (the accuser always misses the irony that they are, in fact, judging me). I'm reminded constantly that judging a person's behavior is contrary to the Bible which commands Christians not to judge (news flash: it doesn't ). But I don't have to judge anyone. The Bible has already judged everyone. All I need to do is repeat what the Bible says. Recently, I was invited over to someone's home to share the gospel with a young man. His parents were of a false religion, but he said he didn't believe any of their r...