Jesus said that “He (God the Father) makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (cf. Matthew 5:45)

Herein lies the Sovereignty of God!  God is all-knowing, all-powerful and ever-present!  The bible says “while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.” (cf. Genesis 8: 22)  A Sovereign God not only sends the rain, but He allows “that thorn” in our lives.  Who doesn’t like roses?!  They are one of God’s beautiful creations - and they smell good too!   But on the stems of those roses are thorns.  Why are the thorns there? - ....

Happy New Year!  Hard to believe its 2018!  I can remember like it was yesterday the big Y2K scare in 1999 as we were approaching the year 2000.   All the computers were going to have a melt down - well it didn’t happen, but still 2000 was uncharted territory!   Just the thought of turning my calendar to the year 2000 seemed strange and science fiction!  And now here we are, 18 years latter!  We do need to be knowledgable and act wisely based upon the...

At the time of this writing there is only two more days until Christmas!  There has been much planning, shopping, decorating, card giving and much more going on up to this point.  When “all the dust” has settled preparing for Christmas, you realize that what is important is people!   All the other “stuff” that goes along with our preparation and celebration is okay, but Christmas is....

Encouragement - “the action of giving someone support, confidence, or hope.”   We all need encouragement from time to time.   Encouragement that “it is going to be ok.”  Encouragement that says,”you are not alone, we are in this together.”   Encouragement that helps you...

Would you consider yourself religious? - I hope not.   Religion is tied to a set of rules, traditions and your own righteousness.   The Pharisees of Jesus’ day were very religious, and Jesus said, ”that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (cf. Matthew 5:20) -some pretty tough words from the only one that matters!

The apostle  Paul addressed the “religious” of his day, “men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious, for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship…” 

(cf. Acts 17: 22-23)   Jesus does not call humankind to a religion, but to a relationship with Him.  We say that “Jesus is the reason for the season”, but....                                                 

God loves YOU!  That is the message of the Christmas season.  Have you experienced God’s love?  Have you received the most important Christmas present ever, the one that will last into eternity?!

The Bible says, “For God so loved the world (that’s YOU) that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever (that’s YOU) believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  (cf. John 3:16)

Receive that all important gift today if you haven’t.  God’s greatest desire is to spend an eternity in heaven with YOU, but you must...

Happy Thanksgiving!  I’m thankful that our creator has revealed Himself to us through His creation, His word and through others.  I’m thankful that I can know God as my heavenly Father because of my relationship with His Son - Jesus Christ.  I’m thankful for the Holy Spirit.  If it were not for the Holy Spirit I would never have been convicted of my sin, and the need to repent of my sin and look to Christ for salvation and for new life.  I’m thankful that as a new creation I...

How seriously do you take your prayer life?  Do you have a regular and  intentional time to pray?  I’m not talking about prayer before a meal or prayer at church, or about a quick bedtime prayer, “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray to God my soul to take.”  I’m talking about the kind of prayer life that....

The bible says that “the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” 

(cf. Acts 11: 26b)   It is interesting that 83 percent of Americans identify themselves as Christians.  The word Christian given to the disciples, by the world, was a derogatory statement meaning “belonging to Christ.”    When Americans say they are Christian, are they meaning they belong to Christ?   Jesus never called His followers Christians, He always used the term disciples.  The greek for disciple is machetes, meaning “student, learner,” a follower that adheres to the teaching, life and conduct.  Within the context of the bible that means that you have answered the call to know Christ, to follow Him and to...

“To tithe or not to tithe?!”  I really dislike talking about money, in fact, I only preach on this topic maybe once a year.   But it is a biblical principle (O.T. & N.T.) and one that Jesus addressed on several occasions.  Jesus said the “love” of money was the root of all even.  Jesus spoke of how hard it was for a rich man to enter heaven because they trusted in “uncertain” riches instead of Him.  Jesus told a parable of the rich man that was storing up more and more possessions for himself, and in this case, Jesus said that he was as fool, because his soul was going to be required of him that very day.  There are a lot of misconceptions and misunderstandings about money and the use of it.   It is not my intent to “de-christianize”  anyone based upon...