Greeting and Introduction Good morning, everyone. As Pastor Steve said, my name is Conrad. I am one of the pastors here. Pastor Joel insisted that I tell you you won’t be subjected to me much longer. He promises to be back in the pulpit soon and for a while. He’s sad that he couldn’t be... Read More →
Intro Good morning, my name is Conrad, I’m one of the pastors here. And today, I’d like to talk about my Dad. We lost him to cancer 8 years ago this past October at the age of just 55. But in the brief time that he had on this terrestrial ball he shared a lot... Read More →
Prologue Good morning, my name is Conrad and I’m one of the pastors here at Surrey CLA. How many people in the room this morning are familiar with the idea of “wandering in the wilderness”? Typically when we talk about wandering in the wilderness, we are referring to something like this: [[[ Community – Waywardness... Read More →
Intro Scripture 13 So Boaz married Ruth and slept with her. The Lord enabled her to conceive and she gave birth to a son. The village women said to Naomi, “May the Lord be praised because he has not left you without a guardian today! May he become famous in Israel! He will encourage you... Read More →
Intro [ MYTHBUSTERS – STILL ] [ MYTHBUSTERS – IDIOM HISTORY ] Passage Then Boaz said to the leaders and all the people, “You are witnesses today that I have acquired from Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech, Kilion, and Mahlon. 10 I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, as my... Read More →
The Intro [ Parent Saves Video ] It’s always fun to watch these videos, isn’t it? When I was looking these up, my kids gathered around to watch and we all ooh’d and ahh’d and laughed and gasped and good times were had by all. But that parental instinct is a strong one, isn’t it?... Read More →
The Hook I’ve often talked about my love of baseball, and that has rubbed off on my boys. Teddy is just starting competitive baseball – where runs and outs are actually recorded – next spring. But Jonas started this past spring with Spring Ball, then immediately followed it up with Summer Ball. <<< SUMMER BALL... Read More →
The Hook High School english class. Just the thought of it conjures up images of Ben Stein from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, or The Wonder Years. But despite my general lack of interest in learning the nuances of the language I spoke every day, I still discovered some works that stick with me even now.... Read More →
INTRO STORY You know, I was a youth pastor for many years, and had a number of wonderful, memorable students over that time. For a season during seminary I ran both the senior (grade 8–12) and junior (grade 5–8) youth ministries. I had no adult leaders during this time. So the students in the senior... Read More →
Intro Recap 18 She carried it back into town and showed it to her mother-in-law. Ruth also gave her the roasted grain that was left over from her meal. 19 “Where did you gather all this grain today?” Naomi asked. “Where did you work? May the Lord bless the one who helped you!” So Ruth... Read More →
Some will read a passage like this and assume unmerited blessing. Others will read it and assume unmerited cursing. Solomon reminds us that both prosperity and adversity come from the hand of the Lord, and that wisdom learns from each. The posture Scripture calls for isn’t suspicion or entitlement, but attentiveness. Abram and Sarai are... Read More →
We are all the hero of our own stories. We narrate our lives in ways that make our choices feel reasonable, even admirable. We know how to frame our motives generously and our missteps sympathetically. Left to ourselves, we rarely sound like villains. Sin is more than happy to take advantage of that. It doesn’t... Read More →