People wear crosses. They are a piece of decoration in the way of earrings and necklaces and pins. Sometimes they are featured on letterhead and logos. A cross was a mode of execution, an extreme, painful invention of the Romans. They meant both to torture and kill someone using this means. Why would anyone want […]

I was thinking of a song I sang in congregations while growing up and into my adult life, Jesus Is the Joy of Living. The idea just popped into my head, while considering what to write. I wondered about the song, because the music seemed like it came from a certain revivalist era. I read […]

The birth of Christ is an important part of the overall story, teaching, and picture. It goes all the way back to the beginning after man fell into sin, but then we know that it actually goes back to before the foundations of the world, because of God’s foreknowledge. The way Jesus was born fulfilled […]

Paul wants to establish his apostleship at the beginning of Galatians, because his authority has been attacked by false teachers. They are preaching a false gospel and part of their strategy was to undermine the true gospel by assailing its messenger. In the very first verse of Galatians Paul wants to establish the divine quality […]

John 2 records the first passover in Jerusalem of Jesus’ after He began His public ministry. Jesus cleanses the temple, His Father’s house, because the religious leaders had made it a house of merchandise, instead of one of prayer. Someone should understand a house of prayer as a place of fellowship with God. However, God’s […]

Jesus talks about the end of summer in Matthew 24:32, “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh.” What does that mean? When the tree buds, it’s spring. It’s really not very complex. In this time of year when […]

Perhaps you ask yourself the same question we read in Luke 18:8, “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” Of course, He will find faith on the earth, but so relatively little that it merits the question. Why can we say faith will be on the earth? It […]

Jesus cares about your every day life, all the little things of your life. Overall, Jesus cares for you. However, how you interpret His care is important. His caring for you doesn’t mean that you will get everything that you want just like you want. It doesn’t mean that you won’t face difficult times, or […]

When I was a child, in church we would sing a particular chorus.  I’m not giving a full endorsement of this chorus as worship or even this kind of singing or music ministry with children.  I did grow up with it.  The song was “Everybody ought to know.”  The music and the words do stick […]

Stay with me for a few moments on leadership and our church.  Spiritual leadership in a church revolves around the authority, the Bible, and our ultimate Leader, Jesus Christ, and His mandate for His organization.  The Bible and that Person, Jesus, are our Leadership.  The institutional flowchart has the pastor taking care of that responsibility […]