Sic Parvis Magna is a latin phrase which translates to “Greatness from Small Beginnings.”  The motto originates from an explorer dated back to 1587 by Sir Francis Drake.  He said, “There must be a beginning to any great matter, but the continuing unto the end until it be thoroughly finished yields the true glory.”  In other words, “its not how you start but how you finish!”  We are all on a journey, it has a beginning, and it has an ending.  The journey begins in this life, the only life we know which involves all of our five senses: sight, touch, smell, taste and hearing.  Any one of these five senses can be lost.  Although these five senses are a gift from our creator in Whose image we are made, these senses are unstable.  Just like our emotions/feelings, although a gift and a curse, we can’t build our life on them.  They are too unstable and uncertain.  There is only one thing in life that is certain and that never changes, and that is God’s word.  God’s word gives us everything we need for “life and godliness.”  We must resist all the “noises” and “lies” of our culture.  We must not give into the peer pressure (young and old) and liberal anti-God of our day.  Our culture would have you to believe that you can build your life without God.  Majority of people unfortunately build their lives without God.  They build their careers, resume, bank accounts, etc.,…with no thought of God and are seemingly successful.  The wisest, richest man to ever live was Solomon.  In Ecclesiastes a key word in which he penned was “vanity.”  Vanity meaning “the futile emptiness of trying to be happy apart from God.”  Power, popularity, prestige, pleasure - nothing can fill the void in man’s heart but God.  The late Rev. Billy Graham had said “every man is born with a hole in his heart which only God can fill.”  If you are filling it with anything other than what God has for you it is ultimately “vanity.”  Solomon wrote in Psalm 127 these wise words for today “Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.”  God loves you. He is the God of new beginnings. He is on your side.  His greatest desire is that you journey in this life knowing His presence and that you spend an eternity with Him and all the redeemed someday in a place the Bible calls heaven.  You and I are preparing for heaven now.  What are you building?  More importantly - what are you building your life on?  I would encourage you to build your life on God and His word.  It all begins by receiving, by faith, His only begotten Son Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord and continuing to follow Him “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith!” (cf. Hebrews 12: 1-2)

Pastor Rodney