On Sunday, February 20, 2011, I was officially installed as Senior Pastor at Christ Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Winterville, NC. On that Lord’s day morning, a friend and fellow soldier in the work of the ministry, Cole McLaughlin delivered a charge to me which was very encouraging to me and others present. Below is aContinue reading “A Charge to the Pastor”
Author Archives: John Estorge
Pastoral Calling: an inside look
Men are not led to the Pastoral office as they are induced to select other professions in life they are drawn as a sinner is drawn to Christ by a mighty invincible work of the Spirit. The call of God never fails to be convincing. Men are made to feel that a woe is uponContinue reading “Pastoral Calling: an inside look”
The discomfort and intrusion of Grace
We’ve all been in uncomfortable and awkward situations often involving someone who didn’t fully understand personal boundaries. Maybe it was a “close-talker,” a house guest who stayed too long, the neighbor who suddenly appears at your back door, or the friend who asks too many personal questions. Well, if you asked the Apostle Peter aboutContinue reading “The discomfort and intrusion of Grace”
The self-awareness and identity of Jesus
How do you humble yourself before a true enemy? How to you love and serve someone whom you know is going to turn on you and sell you out? How do you wash the feet of the one you know is going to betray you in just a few hours? At the Thursday gathering ofContinue reading “The self-awareness and identity of Jesus”
I would do anything for love, even that!
Meatloaf sang the popular song, “I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that” which became an instant classic when Dr. Pepper picked it up for their commercial a few years ago. The commercial pictures a young man who would do anything for his girlfriend including the purchasing of her feminine products, theContinue reading “I would do anything for love, even that!”
Substituting ideas about God for an Experience of Him
This Spring will mark a special occasion in my life when on my physical birthday I will turn 44 and on my spiritual birthday I will turn 22. It might not mean so much to you but it means a lot to me because 22 years ago the Holy Spirit chased me down to executeContinue reading “Substituting ideas about God for an Experience of Him”
The Unpredictibility of Living with Jesus
With the simplicity of click, drag and drop, Jesus exorcised the demons and sent them into the herd of 2,000 pigs who immediately ran down the steep bank and drowned themselves in the sea. Upon hearing the breaking news of the miraculous healing along with the bankruptcy of the BBQ industry, the Gadarene townspeople wereContinue reading “The Unpredictibility of Living with Jesus”
Jesus stills the storm and He stills the soul.
Mark 5:1-20 tells the story of a miserable man who was kept in the tombs by a legion of unclean, demonic spirits. The spirits trapped him there to torment him continually with the spectacle of death. They cut him off from society and he lived as a dead man among the dead. The “Gardarene Demoniac,”Continue reading “Jesus stills the storm and He stills the soul.”
Man of the Tombs meets Jesus
MAN OF THE TOMBS Bob Bennett © 1989 Matters Of The Heart Music (ASCAP) Man of the tombs He lives in a place where no one goes And he tears at himself And lives with a pain that no one knows He counts himself dead among the living He knows no mercy and no forgivingContinue reading “Man of the Tombs meets Jesus”
Did God Create Evil?
This past week the Lord brought me to a place where I had to answer some questions about God’s relationship to evil: Where did evil come from? Did God create it? So this blog entry is a bit of a digression from what I usually write about. I do care deeply that people see GodContinue reading “Did God Create Evil?”
Lead, Laugh, Love 