July 6, 2023
by Pastor Seth Alcorn
| Tags: Mark, gospel, Bible, controversy, end of Mark
While most of Mark is straightforward, there is one section that is highly controversial. As a matter of fact, the controversy I am speaking of goes all the way back to the early days of the church. This is the controversy we will deal with in the next two blogs and it is whether or not Mark 16:9-20 is the original ending of Mark....
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June 22, 2023
by Pastor Seth Alcorn
| Tags: Bible, ESV, Bible version, Flat RUn, church
One topic that has often been controversial in the Evangelical realm is what Bible version should be used? In the context that I was reared and trained initially for ministry, this was a question that caused a lot of contention and even division. Churches at times have split over which Bible to use. This is altogether unnecessary, but it happens. The purpose of this blog i...
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May 23, 2023
by Pastor Seth Alcorn
| Tags: church, nourish, Bible, Lord's Day, dead, salvation
My wife and I can be morbid. Over the last several months, we have discovered a YouTube channel where a mortician answers questions about her practices and life’s vocation. It is fascinating – but again, we can be morbid!
Being a pastor, I have been around the dead quite a bit. I can still remember the first time I went to the hospital and sat with a member and her...
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May 2, 2023
by Pastor Seth Alcorn
| Tags: preaching, preacher, Pastor, church, Bible, perfectionism
I am a perfectionist is some areas of life. I am not advocating theological perfectionism, but rather confessing to the personality construct of feeling like you always have more to do in a certain area and you are never satisfied with it. This is something many people deal with, but more on that in a moment....
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April 20, 2023
by Pastor Seth Alcorn
| Tags: church, sermon, endings, preaching, Pastor, end of sermon, Isaiah 40:8, Bible
Ending a sermon well has always been difficult for me. Preaching can be likened to flying an airplane. The introduction is the takeoff. The exposition is the actual flight. The conclusion is the landing. And oh, my, have I had some crash-and-burn landings! Maybe at the top of the list was the time I forgot the lyrics to a song I was going to recite! After fumbling and mu...
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April 6, 2023
by Pastor Seth Alcorn
| Tags: preaching, expository preaching, expository, Bible, sermons, church, Pastor, preacher
In my last post, I talked about what I believe is the best method of exposing the people of God to the Word of God on the Lord’s Day. I am convinced that this is done through expository preaching. However, I am not so naïve to think that every expository sermon is done in a 5-star fashion and there are times when it is not modeled well. I want to help correct some misco...
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April 4, 2023
by Pastor Seth Alcorn
| Tags: preaching, Pastor, church-building, expository, Bible, God
A decisive factor in choosing a church is the preaching – and rightly so because sound doctrine and healthy teaching are referenced frequently in the New Testament. Yet all too often we judge preaching based on the style and the communication skills of the preacher and not necessarily his content or method. Is the preacher funny? Does he inspire me?
But better question...
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February 25, 2023
by Pastor Seth Alcorn
| Tags: doubt, salvation, struggle, assurance of salvation, Bible, God
Our last blog post addressed reasons why a person may doubt his or her salvation. This topic is near and dear to me because I too struggled with this challenge in years past. As I have studied the Scriptures, I identified Biblical four responses that God has used in my own life that may help other sufferers doubting their salvation....
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February 1, 2023
by Pastor Seth Alcorn
| Tags: Christian, backsliding, sin, Bible, faith, love, repent
Is it possible for a true Christian to backslide? The answer depends on our definition of the term. If by backsliding, we mean that our enthusiasm and vigor for Christ can begin to wane, then it is certainly possible. We see the church of Ephesus going through this in Revelation 2:4 where Jesus in rebuke says, “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the lov...
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January 30, 2023
by Pastor Seth Alcorn
| Tags: Bible, preachers, pastors, sermon
In November 2022, I celebrated 20 years since I preached my first sermon. I
am still shocked that it was this long ago. During those two decades, I have come
to appreciate, respect and even revere not just the teaching office of pastor, but also
any teaching role in a church. ...
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