Posts by Brian Morgan

Heaven has received another saint this week. Jeff Heaton’s dad, Jim Heaton died on Sunday, September 20. Emily and I considered Jim and Marion to be our spiritual parents. After our son David died, they invited us into their home for dinner once a week for a year— the best gift a young couple could receive when they are swallowed in grief. Being inspired by Edith Schaeffer’s story of L’Abri, they asked God to use their home for his kingdom and God answered…

Your PBCC family will miss you Bill.

Jerry Tu will be continuing our series in Philippians this week focusing on the character of Paul’s colleagues, Timothy and Epaphroditus. Here is his message to us. In our journey through Paul’s letter to the Philippians, we explored the glorious Christ Hymn in Phil 2:5-11 that illustrated Jesus’ divinity and humanity. This week, we look at two faithful servants of the Lord that truly followed the example of Jesus from the Christ Hymn.  They were compassionate and committed, submissive and…

            With the COVID-19 outbreak devastating our economy, particularly small businesses, one of the hardest hit has been the restaurant industry. It didn’t take long before most restaurants in major cities lost 100% of their business. The devastation became personal to me when I learned what occurred to Marcelus Suciu, one of my spiritual sons in Romania. I first met Marcelus in 1988 when he was a youth, growing up under Ceausescu’s cruel regime. After the revolution Marty Brill had the…

Listening to the elders’ announcement Sunday, preparing us for the difficult and lengthy process involved re-opening church for Sunday services, coupled with Joel’s sermon on Jesus cleansing the temple in John 2, I was reminded of Isaiah’s word to exiles returning home from Babylon in chapters 56-66. How they longed for life to return to what it once was during Solomon’s glory. Imagine their joy after years of waiting, Cyrus’ decree finally came and 50,000 zealous Jews started the long…

As we begin our eighth week of sheltering in place and maintaining social distance, there is an uncertainty as to how long it will last and even greater uncertainty as to how we tiptoe our way back safely into community once restrictions are lifted. Until a vaccine and/or cure is developed, I suspect most of us will feel uneasy about congregating at any level, for all it takes is encountering ONE person that is infected, and an entire community is…

Redefining the “Good”             The corona virus has stopped the world in its tracks like nothing else in our lifetime. Wherever we turn we are confronted with loss on an unprecedented scale—the loss of life, income, jobs, companionship, sports, concerts, recreation, travel…the list goes on. It can be so overwhelming, that I found it necessary to monitor how much news I listen to, lest I spiral into the dark hole despair. Never before have I seen the apostle’s command to be “transformed by…

On Tuesday mornings a number of us have been working our way through one of the most beautiful poems in the Bible, Isaiah 40-55—the book of “comfort” to Israel’s exiles in Babylon. The Hebrew term “comfort” (nicham) is not merely receiving sympathy, but being consoled by a radical “change” of circumstances. God’s comfort “changes” things—“he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness an Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord” (51:3). We’ve found the prophet’s words…