Written by Kyle E. Sims |
Saturday, October 26, 2024
The primary relationship must be with the Lord. It must be in Jesus who has a steadfast love for you. Jesus who by the gospel proved His love for you. Jesus watches over you and keeps you. Jesus loves you perfectly. It is from a relationship with Jesus that you then can love others in their imperfections and sin. 

Gospel ministry focuses on relationships. In ministry, we proclaim the truth of Christ’s gospel that restores our vertical relationship with God and transforms how we live with others in the church and the world. You must have more than a head knowledge of the gospel. The gospel should transform your life from the inside out. The gospel causes you to love God and love man.
The Lord is faithful in upholding His end of our relationship. He has a steadfast love for His People. He is always working for their good. He never slumbers and His eye never blinks in His watching over them. We may stray away due to sin and weakness, but He always brings us back. The Lord is good and can be trusted not to fail us.
We expect people in the world to fail us. They are slaves to sin and self-focused. However, one of the greatest pains we experience is when Christians fail us. This can happen at many levels. Unthinking remarks that are sharp and cut, being left out of the group or having an exchange with someone having a bad day. We face these things every day even with Christians. Most of the time we can let these roll off in love. Yet there are other times when those in the church hurt us deeply.
Many know the pain of pouring into fellow believers in our church, only to have them leave over something petty. What you thought to be a strong relationship was broken in an instant. These actions sting us.  When leaders fail it is even worse. Here are the men who are called to lead the church. Yet they choose their sin over the gospel and they abandon the church and their vows.
There is a great dilemma in loving as a Christian. You are called to love the church and to love others as yourself.
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Written by Kyle E. Sims |
Sunday, September 22, 2024
We live in a cynical world, it is easy to become cynical even in our thoughts of God. We can drag the Lord’s love and actions down to our level. You can even think about the Lord’s giving us grace like a parent who in frustration overlooks our transgressions. The Lord’s grace is a deliberate act of love by the Lord. He gives us grace because He loves us His people with a perfect love. He saved us so that we might be restored to Him and be transformed to be like Him. 

Grace is often thought of in relation mainly to our justification. We are saved by grace. Our sin and sinful nature are justified by grace alone. As a result, the Christian is now right with God. There is a danger that we only think about grace in relation to our justification and not our sanctification. Not a few folks have an idea that we enter the church by grace and remain by our efforts. This is not what the scriptures teach. Hear the words of Paul as he deals with the thorn in the flesh;
[9] But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. [10] For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9–10 (ESV)
Living by grace reminds us who we are as sinners saved by grace. We need grace to enter the kingdom of God and we need grace to continue in the Christian life. We must never forget that we live by grace alone. This is how you can forgive and love your enemies because you have been loved and forgiven by God. This is why you can pray for those who hurt you and oppose you.
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Written by Kyle E. Sims |
Saturday, May 25, 2024
I believe a pastor needs to move on from the local church you served, so staying at our old church was not an option. But I came to realize that going to a variety of churches was not enough. You need to have your own church. You need to be part of a body of believers. The local church is a gift from the Lord and you need to take advantage of this blessing from Him. 

For our whole married life I was employed in a church until May 2023. Thus there was never a discussion about which church we would attend. Only the occasional decision about where to visit while on vacation. This last year has been a challenge transitioning from local ministry to the seminary. Making this change harder is that as the Director of Church Relations I am preaching or attending different churches many Sunday mornings. When taking this job I did not consider the loss of my local church family to be such a big factor in the coming transition.
At first, I enjoyed being in many different churches each week seeing old friends and making new ones, but as we moved into the Fall of the year, I noticed something was missing. My wife and I talked about how we missed the regular flow of church life in a local congregation. But now came the hard part – we needed to agree on a church to attend. We had never had to choose a church home. There were many good options in our area. We never settled on a church that was right for us, partly because they had to have ministry outside of Sunday mornings. This meant an evening service and Wednesday night activities. We entered the new year a bit lost still needing a church home but struggling to find one that met our specific needs.
Then one Friday afternoon in February, I saw a friend of my wife’s at the local Panera Bread, after talking for a little while the subject of church came up. I told her about our struggles in finding a church and she invited us to her church. This was the answer to our need. They had a Sunday night Worship service and Wednesday night programs. What a blessing it has been to reconnect with a local congregation in the last few months.
Why did we realize we needed a church home?
First, we needed to be fed the Word of God.
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The thing that makes revival so special is that it is rare. Yet, what is not rare is the everyday work of the Lord in our lives and churches. It is this slow growth that we see over time. We pray for great revival, but we trust in our God who is everyday working for his people.Last week there was breaking news about revival at Asbury College and Seminary in Kentucky. There are many on the internet giving balanced thoughts on this event and reminding us what true revival is. We should pray that the Lord would bring revival. A revival not just of feelings and emotions, but the true outpouring of the Holy Spirit. I do hope that what is happening at Asbury will prove to be a true revival.  An outpouring that changes lives, churches, and nations.
In the account of the Welsh Revival in the early Twentieth century there were clear transformations that took place. Individuals’ lives were transformed so that they gave up their sins and followed the Lord. Society was changed to the point that in some places they closed the Police stations because there was no more crime. We should pray that a true revival might sweep across our land and that we might see ourselves, our churches, and our nation changed by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
As we long for revival, do not forget that the Lord is working everyday. Revivals are special times. However, we should not despise the day of small things. This is the ordinary work of God. To bless daily by the means of grace and to grow the church through small steps. Yes, we long for revival, but we must also acknowledge and trust the ordinary work of the Lord.
Sometimes this work of the Lord is hard to see. It is like watching your child grow. You can’t see the growth every day or week, maybe not even every month. But over time, as you mark their height on the door frame, you see the growth.
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Written by Kyle E. Sims |
Friday, May 13, 2022
The process should look like this: after receiving the ministerial data forms, the pulpit committee needs to pray through the names, see which ministers seem to line up best with their congregation, rank them in order, and then start with the first name on the list and pursue it until there is a yes or a no. If it is a no, you go to the next name on the list. My plea to pulpit committees is to pursue one man at a time. Continue with one candidate until there is either a yes or a no. Trust the Lord to guide you to whom He is calling to be your pastor.

The Bachelorette is a reality TV show where one single woman is put in a situation where she interacts with a larger group of potential suitors. She goes on dates, has group activities, and whittles down the group of men to one man. It seems strange to find a potential husband by dating twenty men at one time.
However, this show’s process of finding a significant other is not unlike the way many pulpit committees seek to find a pastor. Often, pulpit committees will talk with several candidates at one time, even interviewing multiple candidates at one time. There is no hard rule against this practice, but there is some wisdom for not doing it this way.
First, by dealing with multiple candidates simultaneously, you run the risk of splitting the pulpit committee between two or more potential pastors. Who wants to go to a new call knowing that some on the pulpit committee did not want you? Often, the division on the pulpit committee will become known in the congregation. This information can cause unnecessary division and conflict.
Second, pulpit committees who treat the calling of their pastor like a company hiring an employee run the risk of using human wisdom over God’s calling. You compare the candidates and look at their skills and abilities. This process can lead a pulpit committee away from the first and primary question, “Who is God calling to be our pastor?”  The question then distorts to become “Who do we want to be our pastor?”
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Written by Kyle E. Sims |
Saturday, December 25, 2021
Love must be seen in our denominations. Many denominations are going through difficult times. The issues are serious. Some cut to the heart of what we believe and others to disagreements on how best to live out the Bible. As church leaders, we should be setting an example of love in disagreements and conflict.

Love should be a ubiquitous characteristic among Christians. The scriptures are replete in calling for this emphasis on love in the life of every Christian. Jesus answers the Pharisees that love for God and others were the greatest commandments.
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” – Matthew 22:37–40 (ESV)
The world speaks of love but really they only mean acceptance. Worldly love is predicated on set conditions. In the church, love is much deeper. Love does not just accept people, it works for their best interest.  Christian love should be a much greater love. The church is a place where worldly distinctions are melted away by an intense love fired by a common salvation, a shared hope, and the powerful indwelling by the Holy Spirit. It is a love that is active and involved. The early church father Tertullian wrote how the pagans noted the evident love Christians had for each other.
“But it is mainly the deeds of love so noble that lead many to put a brand upon us. See, they say, how they love one another, for they themselves are animated by mutual hatred.”
Love is at the center of Christianity. God’s gracious and merciful love for sinners is at the heart of the gospel. Once experienced, the Gospel brings a genuine love for God and develops a love for all men. Apostle John speaks about this truth in his First Epistle:
We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. 1 John 4:19–21
Christian, you must be a person of love. Our great enemy knows the power of this love in our hearts, relationships, and churches.
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Written by Kyle E. Sims |
Saturday, October 2, 2021
We also learn from Daniel that God answers prayers. You see this in Daniel 9:23 and 10:12, where God hears our prayers from the beginning. Is this not enough encouragement to pray. My friends, God hears you when you start to pray. You are heard! Why are we not praying?

Preaching through the book of Daniel has been a tremendous joy as it speaks to God’s power, His purposes, and His faithfulness. It shows us the Lord’s love and help to his people even in hard times. It is relevant to our world and needs today.
When most Christians think about the book of Daniel, two stories come to mind. The obvious one is Daniel and the Lion’s Den, a classic staple of Sunday School and Children’s Bibles. The other story is that of the Hebrew children and the fiery furnace. These three men refuse to bow down to the Babylonian idol and are thrown into the superheated furnace.
One thing that has struck me in preaching through Daniel is his prayers. There are a few observations I want to bring out of the book. I hope they will encourage and guide you in your own prayer life.
In Daniel 6, the king is lead by wicked and jealous men to make a prideful decree that only he could be prayed to for 30 days. What do we see Daniel do? He does what he had always done. The prophet opened his window and prayed three times a day. This regular prayer time is what he previously had done, and he kept doing it. Are we this regular in prayer?
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Written by Kyle E. Sims |
Sunday, August 29, 2021
The antidote is to look beyond this world to Jesus. He is the one who can bring real, genuine, and lasting joy, even in a world of illogical fear and growing Godlessness. See what the Lord has done and is doing. Take the time to stop and count these blessings.

Where is your joy? To be honest, I struggle with joy. I know it is a facet of the Fruit of the Spirit. But it is just hard to be joyful when the world is turned upside down. Why is this? We are Christians. We know the Lord is in control. But yet, we live in fear and depression. Why is this?

We do not keep our eyes on the Lord. I mean this in the greater sense. The Lord needs to be our compass, our filter, our bell-weather. We must see all of life in the light of his power and providence. If we are only looking at men to make changes and build our culture, we are in trouble. There will be no joy because man cannot do it.
We expect the things of this world to bring us absolute joy. As a tall teenager, I dreamed about winning a basketball championship and playing in a national tournament. I still remember that night in early March. We won our district and were going to the National tournament. It was funny, I was happy. But it was not the deep-down joy I thought it would be. I imagine many people reach a goal and find a similar feeling. They marry the love of their life. They get their dream job or live in their dream city. It is excellent, but it is not that joy we long for in our souls. Only Jesus brings this joy.

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