Preach The Word

Today’s message is the first of several in which I ask the simple question, “Why?” “Why Do You Believe In God?” You may wonder, “Why would a preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ propose such a question?” Well, let me ask you, “Have you ever thought about that question?” What if someone - some stranger, friend, or relative - asked you that question How would you answer? I want to share a story I...

Vv. 1-3 give us the setting of our text. In these 3 verses Paul . . . 1) Encourages these believers to “rejoice in the Lord . . . ” 2) But to keep an eye out for false teachers, especially the Judaizers. He calls them dogs, evil workers, and “the concision” (lit. mutilators). Paul had set before the Philippians the fact of Christ and His sacrifice for believers. Jesus is the center of our faith. H...

Jeremiah vs. Hananiah is the classic battle of truth vs. error, of those who preach God’s message vs. those who preach what people want to hear. Jeremiah was a man of God and a God-pleasing prophet. Hananiah was of the world, a false preacher who sought to please those who heard him. Hananiah sought to please the ego of the king. He was the type that would find out what the king wanted to hear, th...

The Bible does not argue facts. It simply sets the truth before us, and we will either accept it or reject it. We who are saved should be quite familiar with these verses. They present the account of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the Christmas season. Regardless of the commercialism that accompanies it, and the world’s opposition to it, the season brings to mind one of, if not the gr...

I was surprised to see how many “Christmas” movies have been made that have the word “miracle” in the title. We are probably all familiar with the classic “Miracle On 34th Street.” But there is quite a list of other lesser know “miracle” Christmas movies, like: “A Christmas Miracle” (2019), “The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey,” “A Miracle On Christmas Lake,” “A Christmas Tree Miracle,” “Mr....

The story is told that in a great debate about what makes Christianity unique that C.S. Lewis gave the answer, “Oh, that’s easy. It’s grace.” Lewis stated that Christianity has a unique claim that God’s love comes free of charge with no strings attached. He also said that there was NO other religion on earth that could make this claim. That is true, and yet I believe one of the greatest sins and o...

We have officially come to that time of year when there seems to be great controversy over whether to wish someone a merry Christmas or just say, “Happy Holidays.” The world says we are being exclusive and offensive by acknowledging Christ this time of year. They see no problem with our Jewish friends saying, “Happy Hanukkah” or others saying “Happy Kwanzaa,” but our naming the name of Jesus bothe...

Today there is a great misunderstanding about what a church is and its purpose. Some believe “the church” is some great, universal conglomerate of all of the saved of all the ages, regardless of their differences in beliefs concerning Bible doctrines. Some believe a church exists to supply physical food to the hungry, housing to the homeless, clothing to the destitute, etc., but that is not our pu...

Who, or what holds first place in your life? Some might say, “My spouse, my mate comes first. I would sacrifice everything for him/her. I would give my life to protect my mate.” Others might say, “My family, especially my children come first in my life. I would sacrifice my life to protect them.” Still others may say, “My job comes first. I have to work and make a living to take care of my family,...

Have you ever felt that because you are a child of God your life should be a “bed of roses?” No problems, no pain, no difficulty? Were you disappointed when it wasn’t? Our text reveals what we can look forward to in this life -- sorrow, toilsome labor, pain, etc. Pain and suffering are a fact of life! We don't have to be in this body long until we learn this. Childhood illnesses (measles, mumps, c...

Why do churches exist? For our entertainment? To provide programs to (physically) enrich and excite their members? Is it to babysit the kids on Sunday morning so their parents can catch up on the sleep? Ask that question, and you will get many different answers. Churches exist for many reasons. Some exist to honor a man. Maybe it is some church member from the past who was an active worker in the...

I believe one of the greatest promises in the Bible is the promise of our Lord’s continual presence with us in Hebrews 13:5 where the writer quotes Jesus' promise, “. . . for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” In the midst of trials, trouble, and tribulation, HE IS THERE! Even when we stray from His side, He never leaves us. Even when we cannot see Him because of the cloud o...

Nowhere in the Bible are we promised that the Christian life is going to be easy. In fact, the opposite is often true -- John 16:33 : “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” Difficulties and trials will come our way, and we may be tempted to quit on God. That is what was happenin...

We have heard the word “revival” mentioned in a message lately. Actually, “revival” is an Old Testament word. It is not found in the New Testament. The New Testament word is “repent.” As we saw last Sunday night in our study of the church at Ephesus this word refers to a change of mind that results in a change of direction. The Lord said to the church at Ephesus, the church that had left her “hone...

A few weeks ago I shared a message titled “Setting The Stage For The Man Of Sin.” That message laid out some of the things that have taken place and are taking place that appear to open the door for the coming of Antichrist. However, the recent announcement made by the Prime Minister of Great Britain not only opens the door, but invites the man of sin on in. Under the guise of preventing illegal i...

The title of this morning’s message asks two completely different questions and answers both. We are going to go back to basics, back to the very beginning to see where we came from. Before you can know where you are going, you need to know where you came from. And when you realize where you are, it’s a good idea to find out how you got there. This nation and this world are in a mess today. Violen...

In last week’s message I talked about the invisible war that is going on around us. It is a dark, diabolical, deadly war, a form of guerilla warfare with sabotage, subversion, innuendo, and sniping. The first few words of the song “It Is Finished” tell us about that war. “There’s a line that is drawn through the ages. On that line stands an old rugged cross. On that cross, a battle is raging For t...

Revelation lesson #9 -- The Church At Ephesus

This is NOT a political message! However, it is a comment on things that have happened this past week and what I believe is their relation to the coming of the Lord. First, I know that the United States of America does not in any way represent the whole world. However, I believe that we can get an idea of what is going on in the world by looking at our own nation. It is interesting that almost 250...

We live in evil times. Some say we are living in “post-christian” America. Post-christian = anti-christian. The Bible tells us that the spirit of antichrist is in the world today. But it was also in the world 2000 years ago during John’s day -- I John 4:3 : “And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye...

Paul’s message to the Thessalonians makes it very clear that the apostle believed in the imminent return of the Lord Jesus -- I Thessalonians 4:16-17 : “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: (17) Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the...

There ought to be something different about a child of God and the rest of this sinful world. We live in a world of perversion, pre-marital sex, fornication, adultery, abortion, etc. And some of those who practice such things profess Christ as Savior, and some of them are even members of the Lord’s churches. And too often churches choose to ignore them in order to avoid having to deal with their s...

Our achievements in life are, most often, a product of and controlled by what motivates us. Whatever motivates you drives you, compels you to become whatever you become. Sadly, there are those in our world, and some of them are in the Lord’s churches that seem to have absolutely no motivation whatsoever. These do little, produce little, achieve little. I believe the greatest failure of believers a...

Can a person limit God? We would immediately answer with a resounding NO! But there is also a certain YES! You ask, “How is that possible?” In one sense it is impossible for the creature to limit the Creator. Certainly, no mere human being can limit the Almighty God. However, when God ties His work to man’s faith and/or obedience, there is a sense in which man can and does limit God. The psalmist...

In Matthew 24:7-8 Jesus was answering a question about the end times when He said: “ . . . there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. (8) All these are the beginning of sorrows.” Recently we have seen an 8.8 earthquake that just occurred off the coast of Russia. Wednesday evening I read that Mt. Rainier in Washington state, one of the few active volcanoes in the wo...