We live in a world where the existence of hell is questioned quite often, which is a bit confusing considering we are able to witness so much suffering in this life. In the church, preachers have steered away from the old hellfire and brimstone messages that were popular not too long ago. Instead we live in a time where more people believe that heaven is real than they believe in a literal hell.Is...  Read More

“For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue. Make them bear their guilt, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out, for they have rebelled against you. But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your pro...  Read More

“For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you. Lead me, O Lord, in your ri...  Read More

“Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray. O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.”Psalm 5:1-3There’s a lot of debate in my house as to verses that encourage us to seek God in the morning. For some of us, having to get up any earlier than normal is th...  Read More

One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head...  Read More

“Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2“If we think love is not worth sorrow or pain, then we are more pagan than Christian.” I read this quote in an article recently on the four types of love as described by CS Lewis and most certai...  Read More

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”James 1:2-4When you see an elderly couple together who have been married for 50 plus years, you might be tempted to think, how did those two people manage to s...  Read More

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”Ephesians 6:4If you want to change the world, start at home. The God of the Bible believes this to be true. In the Old Testament, God gives the instruction to parents to talk to their children about his commands wherever they go (Deut. 6). In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul says to...  Read More

“Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.” Proverbs 27:6When we talk about healing and God healing the brokenhearted, as he does in Isaiah 61:1, one of the big things we need to talk about is the wounds we’ve received from a friend. In our current culture, which worships comfort above all else, when a friend wounds us, most of us will simply write that friend off. “...  Read More

“But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”Acts 6:4At our church we believe that every person is a minister, but that doesn’t mean every ministry is the same. In the New Testament church, you see several different types of ministries, but everyone is involved as ministers.In the early church, the explosive growth had led to some big problems. One of the biggest proble...  Read More

When we pray we have an ally - The Holy Spirit. Some of us have either forgotten about this very important ally or we never knew He helps us in our prayers. In Romans, Paul says that the Spirit helps us in our weakness by praying through us essentially. Now, I want to make a note of something here, we first have to realize our weakness in prayer. When we come to God in prayer, we must come in a place of weakness.   Read More

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”Matthew 6:16-18One of th...  Read More

“Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.”Isaiah 58:4Many of us will enter into a fast hoping to see something change in the world. When we start to fast, our prayer list might grow. We might long to see change in politics or in communities or even in our own neighborhood. These prayers ar...  Read More

“For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.”Psalm 69:9-10A call to fast, is a call to humble yourself. Pride is one of the primary enemies of the Christian soul. Pride says things like, “I don’t need to do this…” or “this is something for others to do, not me.” Pride p...  Read More

“And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to ...  Read More

But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. 11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. 12  I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hu...  Read More

"Supernatural living through supernatural empowering is at the very heart of New Testament Christianity." - J. I. PackerAt the heart of Christianity is the supernatural. In fact, without the supernatural, you don’t have Christianity, you have a philosophy. And many people in the American church are pledging allegiance to a philosophy rather than truly believing in Jesus. The life of Jesus was mark...  Read More

"In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." -Psalm 4:8Recently, I made a statement that true rest comes from relationship with God. In fact, I believe that so much so, that I will expand on it here. You cannot find real rest anywhere apart from God. God invented rest. He was the first person to rest. Rest was his idea, if you will.For me, I feel like ...  Read More

"You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound." - Psalm 4:7We used to sing a song as kids about having joy, joy, joy down in our hearts. The Psalmist coined the term. David here is in the midst of being surrounded by his enemies and disgruntled followers and somehow he has joy in his heart. Too often when I evaluate my own heart, I don't see the same thing that...  Read More

"There are many who say, “Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!” - Psalm 4:6Have you ever dealt with someone that is impossible to please? I would say almost all of us have. In fact, some of us are probably that person right now! And others may be married to that person (please don't tag your spouse). When dealing with people who are disgruntled, you can feel ...  Read More

"Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord." - Psalm 4:5The message of the church is the message that David has here for his enemies. Remember David is surrounded by people who are seeking to kill him and his message isn't "I'm getting ready to slaughter all of you" but it's a message of repentance.David says to his enemies essentially, repent. Repent, turn to God. Offer right sacrifi...  Read More

"Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah" - Psalm 4:4Anger is a tough topic. One of the biggest issues with anger can be it's propensity to lead towards violence. Anger can be incredibly hard to deal with for most people. I've met people with extreme anger issues. They fly off the handle at the smallest of things. And the Bible is clear in many other ...  Read More

"But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him." - Psalm 4:3Have you ever prayed and felt like your words were bouncing off the ceiling? I know I have. There have been many times in my life where I wasn't sure the Lord was listening to me. I would pray faithfully, but the only response I got was silence.The truth of the matter, though, was that God d...  Read More

"O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah"- Psalm 4:2One of the hardest things most people ever go through is betrayal. When you are betrayed, the sting seems to never end. Every thought and every mention of the person who betrayed you brings back so much pain. And the result of that is that most of us shut down. We don't wan...  Read More