Grace Alone Online

Everyone thinks the world is ending soon because of signs here and there.  These signs have been around since the time of Christ.  People become afraid, however, when they fear the world is coming to an end.  for Christians, it is a time of rejoicing.  Why?  Simply because we have waited 2000 to be with our Lord and truly live in His kingdom.  Nothing can harm us; not...

Joel Osteen, popular TV preacher, would have you believe that you deserve your best life now!  No focus on Christ, or the cross, or the resurrection, this false teacher glories in YOUR possibilities instead of the glory of Christ, masquerading as a Christian.  How can YOU have the BLEST life now?

a Mighty Fortress - Psalm 46.  Luther found great comfort in the words of this Psalm.  His life was plagued by, well, the Plague, Islamic invaders on the borders of Germany, the Pope breathing down his neck, and his own personal illnesses.  1520s were not a good decade for Luther.  Yet, in the middle of all of this, surrounded by enemies on all sides, he and the German princes...

What's your Angle on Angels? Is your angel "acute" angel?  Kidding aside, do you believe that angels exist?  what do they do? does each Christian have one?  Are they there to serve us?  We hardly mention, study or recognize angels in Scripture.  Not that they want to be recognized, but they have had a very important mission given to them by God throughout history.  Se...

Are you content with your worship?  Is contentment what praise and worship is all about?  Some people love to go to worship because the music is "lively" or "energetic".  They LOVE the music; it energizes them.  They jump, laugh, sing la-la-la and enjoy themselves.  It's an uplifting experience.  Psalm 33 is a Psalm about worship and you'd be surprised at what it has...

SCHOOLED!!! A popular phrase that means "you been taught!"  God teaches too.  He teaches through his Word.  And the basics of His teaching is the aim of our Catechism.  Catechisms are instructional booklets that bring students and new Christians the basic teaching of God in Scripture.  It is a guide to Christian living.  How have you been schooled by God?  What d...

"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked...."  this Psalm opens the Psaltery with advice that we all should take note of.  Walking in the pathway of God's counsel is difficult.  Producing fruit pleasing to God demands God's counsel and not that of the world.  Psalm 1's message is basically "Don't take any wooden nickels!"  But, the key is how to r...

The alarm goes off at 7:00AM.....time to go to church. You hit the snooze bar.  It's the opening of the NFL season and your team is on at what time?  Time that you go to church....so.....you get a beer.  you'll go next Sunday.  As a child, I always went to church with my family.  for some, however, it is a chore - not a priority.  The question comes up...do you HAVE T...

"You've got Troubles ... I Do Too. But you've got a friend in me."  A song from Toy Story tells us that we all have troubles.  And, sometimes, a friend can help us through.  But where do you go when those troubles seem insurmountable ... and God seems so far away that it seems He does not hear you.  If you feel the weight of unanswered prays, when God seems so far, this Psalm i...

What?  No, there is no mention of bellybutton in the Psalm but your bellybutton does have everything to do with the same problem King David was having.  Everyone has a bellybutton, and it's there for a reason.  Who you are depends on it.  Listen in.

Psalm 23 is a favorite of many.  Most know the line, "Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life...."  Today we reminisce about a childhood game: Hide and seek.  There is more in this game than meets the eye.  The game is in our DNA...  Adam and Even sinned, they hid from God.  then god seeks them.  We play hide and seek in our adult lives w...

The Gospel reading is from Luke 12:49, where Jesus begins.....“I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division." and the preacher says, "This is the Gospel of the Lord." What?  I thought Gospel was Good...

Faith is a miracle.  We do not do it.  It is not a work that we have to drum up.  God is the author and finisher of our faith. We see the miracle of faith given to us precisely when our faith is attacked.  When things happen to us that make us believe that God does not love us, we often times doubt God's faithfulness and promises.  We want a permanent rose garden, which in this world never happens...

We all want to live the good life.  I mean, we want to have the best life now that we can have. And there is plenty of peer pressure and advertisements to make us feel that way. Financial security, good health, no worries about our future, a nice place to live, happy family life, good friends and neighbors–who doesn’t want all that? Your best life now. A steak on the grill, a margarita in you...

"There's a Place for Us" - a memorable song from Leonard Berstein's musical West Side Story.  We all have dreams shattered, plans that are upset.  We lose our place - or it seems we're always trying to find our place somewhere, some how, some way.... It's daunting, but even for Ezekiel things did not go the way he had planned.  Whatever your shattered dreams, your alterations to you...

Ezekiel's vision takes him to the valley of dry bones - a desert place.  No life, dusty, deserted.  These are the people of Israel.  a few chapters later, Ezekiel is taken to see a desert where only a trickle of water is coming out from the temple of the Lord.  An eyedropper is the measurement of the trickle.  Suddenly it explodes into a gushing river.  This is the wa...

I don't know if we're hard-wired this way, but it seems that all people SEE, then they FEEL, then they ACT.  Seeing leads to feeling, which leads to doing or acting upon the feeling about what is seen.  Ezekiel speaks to this point when he sees the glory of the god of Israel.  God, however, is also seeing, feeling and acting.  His glory is based on His feeling....His feeling is...

Long before Heart of Stone was sung by the Rolling Stones, and long before Neil Young was "searching for a heart of gold," the Lord told the people of Israel that they had hearts of stone, because of their rebellion and sinful lives they did not seek Him or obey His statues.  What does the Lord God have in store for them?  What He had in store for them, he also had in store for us! &nbsp...

In 1887, Anthony Showalter composed the hymn, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms . The hymn’s refrain includes these famous words—“Safe and secure from all alarms.” Safe and secure from all alarms. You know, all we hear these days are blaring, loud-sounding, heart-stopping alarms. And fear accompanies being alarmed. Even beyond fear there is one word that can sum up our alarmist and fearful reactions...

There’s a reason why Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd and not the Good cowboy.  Why?

Pentecost Sunday is celebrated by the miraculous and mystifying speaking in tongues of the disciples and the pilgrims from around the Middle East who hear the Word of God for the first time in their own languages.  But is it really about hearing and speaking?  Listen in... 

I enjoy road trips. When our children were young, we would pile in the car – that’s right, we drove – and we’d drive and drive and drive. Our favorite road game was: Are We There Yet!” The kids would play this about every five minutes. The game ranks right up there with songs we sang: This is the Song That Never Ends , and our family favorite: I Know Song That’ll Get On Your Nerves . I would usual...

Trials and Tribulations - not only common in Toy Story but, yes, something similar.  In the lives of all people there are trials.  In the world of Christians, these trials are tribulations and they happen every day.  Only Christians can endure tribulations because of Christ.  The greatest tribulation in the world is.....the WORLD.  Being persecuted for thoughts, opinions,...

"Wait 'til your father comes home."  How often did you hear that as a child?  The phrase never brings "good" memories.  Anyone hearing this would probably find themselves waiting for their punishment with guilt and fear.  As adults this phrase takes a different shape, "Hey, the boss wants to see you," striking guilt and fear in the hearts of the employed.  For some, this p...

During the last four weeks we have heard our Lord's resurrection from eyewitnesses, from "doubting" Thomas, from the women who ran from the tomb bewildered and afraid, and on this 4th Sunday after Easter, St. Paul speaks about the last enemy, death, which will be destroyed upon our Lord's return. Paul offers us an additional two perspectives on the resurrection.  One, he describes as a "battl...