And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. ¹⁰ And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.¹² And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest,     and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

¹⁵ When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶ And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. ¹⁷ And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. ¹⁸ And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. ²⁰ And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. Luke 2:8-20 Continue reading →

Its not your typical Christmas story, that’s for sure. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had refused to worship the idol constructed by Nebuchadnezzar for his own self-aggrandizement. They proclaimed that they would only worship the true God of heaven, and thus found themselves on the wrong side of both the royal law and the furnace door.

Nearly 500 years before Jesus was born in Israel, these three worshipers of Jesus’ Father were ordered executed in Babylon simply because they wouldn’t worship like the Chaldeans.  Continue reading →

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 2 Corinthians 5:10 (NASB) 

12 So He said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return. 13 And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas and said to them, ‘Do business with this until I come back.’ 14 But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ 15 When he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves, to whom he had given the money, be called to him so that he might know what business they had done. Luke 19:12-15 (NASB) (Read Luke 19:26-27 on the site)

I have been dealing with many people online lately who are either attempting to preach “another Jesus” or they are attempting to distract believers to argue over topics like whether the “earth is flat” or other such nonsense. I even saw another one today from a well known preacher in North Carolina who has said in one of his sermons that God will never override your free will. …  View article →

1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;  2 Peter 1:1-4 (NASB)  (Read verses 3-4 on the site)

Is it possible to know whether we are genuine partakers of the divine nature and not simply religious converts? Let us look at the Apostle Peter’s understanding of this. If anyone would understand that our own efforts to please God are a total waste of time, Peter would be the man. He declared to our Lord on the night of His arrest that he would rather die with Him than desert Him. However, we all know that Peter not only deserted our Lord that night, he denied Him three times. From that failure and his later restoration by our Lord after He was resurrected, we know that we cannot please God with our own efforts. Any work that we do that is outside of His Grace is just works of the flesh and totally worthless. View article →

34 Wait for the Lord and keep His way, And He will exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked are cut off, you will see it. Psalm 37:34 (NASB) 

I read a great deal. I also walk through each day “listening” to the message from God from my circumstances, interactions with people, and what I read both in the Bible and from whatever book God has me reading. When it comes time to sit down and put together a message I try to put all of what I have “heard” that day together as I ask God for guidance. I seek scripture that speaks of the “Headline” that God has given me throughout the day. I suppose this is the same thing as God laying a certain message on a preachers heart. In any case, all today I could not get past how God has blessed me and my wife. My joy has been extreme for several days after I taught in Church this last Sunday. I have been delighting in God and He has answered our prayers in ways I thought I could not imagine. Our faith is growing and we are both extremely amazed at how He has taken care of us despite the evil that is going on all around us in our country. View article →

18 Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, He gave orders to depart to the other side of the sea. 19 Then a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” 20 Jesus *said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Matthew 8:18-22 (NASB)  (Read verse 21 on the site) 

For the Christian, this life is a test as well as a proving ground in which God grows and matures those who belong to Him through pruning and removing what is not of Him in order that the believer will be humbled and, therefore, enter deeper into the process of becoming more Christlike. There is a cost of discipleship, but if you listen to certain preachers and teachers in our time, this is not true at all. Instead, what they teach is that repentance is not at all part of one’s salvation. However, repentance is a marker of Christian authentication. On the other hand, in the visible Church in our time there are many voices which seek to normalize homosexuality. However, to make this claim they must ignore what the Bible clearly teaches about what constitutes marriage (Genesis 2:24;1 Corinthians 7:8-9). Those who truly follow Jesus must do so on His terms, not the terms of this lost and dying world. View article →