Daniel Rose: The Pastor Next Door

The fully audio version of the message can be found here: Whispers of Grace - Witness (Revelation)

We’ve come to the end of our summer series, Whispers of Grace: 15 New Testament Words of Life. Week by week, we’ve traced these “words of life” across the New Testament. Today we arrive at the last book of the Bible—Revelation—and with it, our final word: witness.

The Greek word behind “witness” is martis. If that sounds familiar, it should: it’s the root of our word “martyr.” In the New Testament, martyrs are witnesses. Nowhere is this clearer than in Revelation, a book that is, at its core, about bearing witness.

You can listen to the whole unabridged sermon here: Whispers of Grace - Love (1 John)

As we near the end of our summer series, Whispers of Grace: 15 New Testament Words of Life, we arrive at word number 14—love. It’s no surprise that love makes the list. After all, when we think of Jesus, of God, of the church—love is supposed to be at the heart of it all.

But let me ask you something: if you walked around and asked people outside the church what word comes to mind when they hear “Christian,” do you think they’d say love?

Probably not.

You’re more likely to hear words like judgmental, mean, or political. And that should break our hearts. Because there may be nothing more central to following Jesus than love.

You can listen to this week’s message in full here: Whispers of Grace - Holy (1 Peter)

This past fall, I took a weekend trip with my oldest friend, Vince. I’ve mentioned him before—we met on a basketball court at 16, and we’ve been friends ever since. That’s more than three decades now, which makes me feel… well, old.

Vince is a diehard Notre Dame football fan. He loves the movie Rudy—so much that he named his first dog after it—and I’m pretty sure he has the whole thing memorized. The speeches, the plays, the lore—he lives and breathes it. But he had never actually been to a Notre Dame game.

You can listen to the full audio version here: Whispers of Grace - Religion (James)

“Christianity Isn’t a Religion, It’s a Relationship”… Right?

Back in the day, when I was on staff with Campus Crusade, I can’t count how many times I’d sit across from a college student and hear something like, “Yeah, I don’t do religion. It’s just not my thing.” And my go-to response? “Ah, but see—that’s the beautiful part. Christianity isn’t a religion. It’s a relationship.”

I thought I had a killer line. And sure, there’s truth in it—Christianity is deeply relational. We have a relationship with God through Christ in the Holy Spirit. But here’s the thing: I was wrong. Christianity is a religion.

I remember the first time I drove a three-wheeler. I had ridden on the back with older cousins driving, but I had never been the one in control. There was an overwhelming sense of nervousness as I grabbed the handlebars and placed my thumb on the throttle. I knew where the gear shift was—just near my left foot. I took a deep breath and gave it a little gas. It began to move! A thrill ran through my entire being.

As I drove, I got more confident. Then I got arrogant, believing I was in control. But as I turned a corner, I hit a root—or maybe a large rock—and my thumb slammed down on the throttle. I was absolutely not in control. The machine underneath me was the real master. I was, in all reality, simply trying to hold on and manage it the best I could.

The audio of this week’s message: Whispers of Grace - Peace (Hebrews)

As we continue our summer series, Whispers of Grace: New Testament Words of Life, today we turn our attention to the word peace. This is especially fitting given our setting—Peace Presbyterian Church. It’s worth pausing to reflect on what this word means, particularly for those of us who call this place home.

Our focus today is the letter to the Hebrews, specifically chapter 10. At first glance, it might seem odd to draw insights about peace from Hebrews, since the word itself only appears a few times in the text. However, the theme is present in powerful, though indirect, ways. Hebrews speaks frequently of rest and of reconciliation, of how humanity’s sin is atoned for. These discussions open a deeper understanding of peace—a peace that is more than the absence of conflict or noise. It is a soul-level peace, hard-won and deeply rooted in Christ.

Depending on how you answer that question, someone could likely place you on the political spectrum. That’s because liberty makes up one half of the final moral foundation described by Jonathan Haidt in The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. This is the liberty/oppression moral foundation.