This past week, I heard a pastor make the statement of an older couple that left the church, “they never fit into what we were doing anyway.” Immediately I thought what a sad statement was that there were people, Christian people, that did not fit into the church. I understand there are different styles of […]
You Never Know Who is Listening
Ezekiel 37 has all ways been one of my favorite stories in the bible. The story of the prophet’s vision in the valley of dry bones is powerful, but for me, it is more personal than just that. Let me explain. I grew up in a very non-Pentecostal church where we believed in living holy, […]
Gospel According to John
In the last several weeks, we have been talking about the Gospel and the four narratives that make up the Gospel or the ministry of Jesus. The truth is that we cannot say there are four gospels in that all four accounts give us a complete picture of Jesus, and so we must conclude there […]
The Gospel of Luke
The Gospel of Luke is one of the synoptic gospels along with Matthew and Mark as it seemingly goes hand and hand with the two. Luke is part of the two-volume set along with Acts that the writer writes telling us about not only the ministry of Jesus but the effects that He had on […]
The Gospel of Mark
There is great evidence that Mark was the first of the four gospels written, is that over 76% of the book is used in Matthew and Luke. Only 3% of Mark is unique. Mark starts his gospel off by letting us know that Jesus is the Son of God. Mark then begins through the words […]
The Gospel of Matthew
The Gospels When studying the gospels, we find four distinctive viewpoints of the life and ministry of Jesus. Some have said that there are conflicts with the differences of the gospels. Still, the truth is that each one of them wrote their gospels for a specific audience and a particular reason. Each saw things in […]
The church and politics
Several weeks ago, I heard a powerful sermon preached by Pastor Loren Livingston, of Central Church of God in Charlotte North Carolina, on Revelation 14 about Babylon. He made the point that the system of Babylon is politics and how politics is an evil that was orchestrated by men and not by God. God created […]
The Church we Leave Behind
Several days ago, I was in a conversation with three other pastor friends of mine about the state of our world and the church. We were talking about the spirit of the antichrist. How that it has been around since the days of Jesus. As we were coming to the end of the conversation, one […]
Build up Your Faith
Hey everyone, so glad that you have taken the time to read this, and I pray that you get some encouragement from it. Today we are coming to the end of March, and it has been one of the most unusual times in my life and more than likely yours as well. With the Covid […]
The Process of Anointing
In Matthew 4 and Luke 4 and Mark 1, we have the story of Jesus being led in the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. The word led is in both Matthew and Luke, and it is αναγο (anago) in the Greek, and it means to be offered up or pulled out too. Mark 1 says the Spirit […]
The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail
The picture above is a picture of the mountain cave at Caesarea Philippi. At the foot of this cliff was a temple built to the god Pan. Pan was a half-man, half-goat Greek god that was a god of the shepherds and a god of fertility. The temple was built over the spring that flowed […]
Let Me see what He sees
Yesterday we got into a boat, nothing like the boat of Jesus’ day, and we went out into the Sea of Galilee. The weather was a little breezy, and it had been raining throughout the day. They have gotten a lot of rain here this year, and the Sea is up very high. So much […]
Never Turn our Back on True Worship
In 1 King 12, we find the story of Jeroboam, the first king of the Northern kingdom of Israel. After the death of Solomon, his son Rehoboam took over his kingdom and took unwise counsel to make life harder on the people. As a result, 10 of the 12 tribes rebelled and started their kingdoms […]
Spirit, Soul, and Body
“for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, 10and in him ye are made full, who is the head of all principality and power: Colossians 2:9-10” I have been preaching the gospel now for over 33 years, pastored for over 27 years, and faithfully attended church for over 52 years. With that […]
Don’t Lose Hope
As we enter the Christmas season, most do so with excitement and a sense of good cheer, but others do so with despair and heartache. Did you know that more people have feelings of depression during the Christmas season? There are more suicides this time of year than at any other time. In a season […]
The Fear of the Lord
Fear is something that none of want to experience in our life. I mean, I do not know about you, but I am not a big fan of fear. Fear can be a destroyer of faith if we fear the wrong thing, but at the same time, fear is something that the Bible tells us […]
Cannot Lose a Generation
This week I heard of a young lady (29) that died from an overdose. This young lady had a hard life growing up and had faced many tough times. The thing that makes this an even greater tragedy to me is that she was a part of our Church as a child and teen. She […]
Advantages of a Smaller Church
Did you know that according to the National Congregation Study that the top 7% of the largest churches in America have 50% of church attenders, resources, and money in the American Church? If you take the top 1%, then they have over 20% of attenders, resources, and money in the US church. Now, what does […]
Do not Grow Weary
Have you ever been weary? Most of us if not all would answer that question with a resounding yes! I mean with all that is going on these days, it is easy to get weary. Paul ends his second letter to the people in Thessalonian with a warning about growing weary. He says in 2 […]
Can I Move on my Own?
The other day I had a conversation with some pastor friends of mine about the leading of the Lord. How do you know when God is leading you to another place? As Christians, should we wait on the leading of the Lord or can we be just as anointing and just as effective anywhere that […]
