Pastor Sam Crabtree is Bethlehem's Executive Pastor and Lead Pastor for Life Training.
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Dec 24
Sam Crabtree
The classic Christmas carol “What Child Is This?” includes this paradoxical line, the silent Word is pleading.
Words speak. Generally, they are not meant to be silent. Left unuttered, words don’t do their job. They don’t plead.
Not this Word. He...
Dec 23
Sam Crabtree
Answer: Everything.
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things?—Romans 8:32
Having freely given us his own Son, the best of all things, God thereby underscores that he...
Dec 22
Sam Crabtree
It may at first seem strange to think of the following text as a Christmas text:“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (...
Dec 21
Sam Crabtree
And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.—Luke 2:18–19
Apparently Mary did something with the news of the shepherds that the others who heard it did not do....
Dec 20
Sam Crabtree
This past weekend’s worship services included the following video clip in which I highlighted three updates:Pastor John’s return to Bethlehem’s pulpit in early January.An update on our 2010 Church & Missions financial need—see the most recent (...
Dec 20
Sam Crabtree
This week features a series of five blog posts on the meaning of Christmas.
The first thing the angel tells the frightened shepherds after telling them to fear not is “Behold!” See! Pay attention! Look with understanding. Apprehend!
While it’s so...
Dec 17
Sam Crabtree
“It seems almost paradoxical at first that both creationists and evolutionists would appeal to the very same evidence in support of their opposing positions. We might be inclined to think that creationists would use one line of evidence, and...
Dec 16
Sam Crabtree
The following news item arrived as an enclosure in my automobile insurance premium notice, indicating that parenting makes an impact on teen crash risk.
Recent research from State Farm and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia shows that teen...
Dec 15
Sam Crabtree
Which of the following numbers is the number of global partners sent out from Bethlehem?
10
38
72
110
π
The answer will be posted tomorrow. Have you sent a Christmas card to a global partner far from home?
Dec 14
Sam Crabtree
At a recent staff lunch, Erik Hyatt, Pastor for Global Outreach, asked this question: “How many guarantees do we have?”
History records products guaranteed by companies that eventually went out of business.
Pastor Erik answered his own question by...
