1 Samuel 15:29 (NASB) “The Glory of Israel will not   lie  or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.” Titus 1:1-2 (NASB)  “Paul a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie , promised long ages ago.” Hebrews 6:18 (NASB)  “So by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God

Think of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday. Luke 19:38-40 (NASB)  “As soon as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole  crowd of the disciples  began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, shouting: ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in Heaven and glory in the highest!’ Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, ‘Teacher; rebuke Your disciples.’

Matthew 13: 45-46 (NASB) “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.” When I was a young man I thought the “pearl of great price” (KJV) was forgiveness of my sins, redemption, and salvation. And as a young man I was correct. Their value is truly priceless. But at that time, I didn’t know what selling all that I had really meant. Plus, I also didn’t understand

There are many ifs in the Bible. The ifs usually require some action on our part. If you do this, then God will do that. If you do this then this next thing will happen to you, for good or bad. Why do you think all of these ifs are in the Bible? My concern for the Church is that we quite possibly have errored in our judgment of what kind of ifs we should be doing. Let’s explore a few. Deuteronomy 4:29 (NASB)  “But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find

Does God actually call people to specific duties anymore? The Bible gives us some very good examples of His calling. He called Noah to build the ark. He called Abraham to a new land and to be the father of a chosen citizenry. He called Moses to save the Israelites. He called Samuel to be His first prophet. He called David to be king over Israel. He called Jonah to go preach repentance to Nineveh. He called Mary to be the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus called His disci

John 3:16-17 (NASB)  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” Often times I think of the phrase, “If I had a nickel for every time…” It really applies to grace and forgiveness. If I had a nickel for every time I needed to forgive someone, I would be a rich man. But, if I ha

Psalm 53:2 (ESV)  “God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.” If I were limited to only one thought that I could share with you, this would be what I would say: Seek God with your whole heart! Deuteronomy 4:29 (ESV)  “…you will seek the Lord your God and you will find Him, if you search after Him with all your heart and all your soul.” The Bible has many promises of what will happen if we seek Him. But by far

2 Corinthians 3: 4-6 (ESV) “Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter  but of the Spirit . For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. ” I read a communication from a local church to our community that stated, “If you drink and smoke then your Jesus is not our Je

Ephesians 4: 11-16 (NASB) “And He gave us some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result we are no longer to be children, tossed here and the

John 15: 1-11 (NASB)  “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide  in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides  in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide  in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abid

John 1: 6-13 (NASB)  “There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light , so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light but he came to testify about the Light . There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as re

Matthew 7: 13-14 (KJV)  “Enter ye at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in there at: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few  there be that find it.” This one might hurt! These are the Lord’s own words, and He always means what He says! So what is He telling us? Only a few of us will find the way. I ask; Do we smugly sit in our pews looking around and s

Ecclesiastes 1: 7-10 (NASB)  “All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, there they flow again. All things are wearisome; Man is not able to tell it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear filled with hearing. That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun.  Is there anything of which one might say, ‘See this, it is new’?

Luke 9: 23-25 (ESV)  “And he said to all. ‘If anyone would come after  me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily  and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?’” There does seem to be a difference between the everyday church-goer and a person who has left all to follow Christ. Our typical Christian never makes

Unless you're born-again, most people don't understand what that means. This writing is meant to help non-believers understand why we use the term and hopefully will help you begin your journey of trusting in Christ.  I’ll try to explain in a very basic format what I believe “Born Again” means by using the words of Jesus referencing a lot of scripture from John 3 (NIV).   Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a leader and a teacher in the Jewish council. He had heard of this Jesus who wa

Luke 5: 37-39 (NASB)  “No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is good enough.’” This is another of Christ’s parables that is full of truth and deep meaning. So what is He telling us? This would go well with His private discussion with Nicodemus on the nig

Ephesians 2: 4-9 (NASB) “But God being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that

John 10:11 (NASB)  “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” If we wish to witness and know what true beauty is then, we need only look to Jesus Christ and His selflessness. We can learn by reading the Scriptures that Jesus was fixed on His destiny with the cross. And that through sheer determination He accomplished the task the Father sent Him to do for our salvation. But He could only fulfill the Father’s will through selflessness. On the

Hebrews 12: 1-4 (ESV)  “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfector 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. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against him

I’ve read the gospels many times but as I was reading Mark the other day, it struck me that we have no real perception or understanding of what Jesus experienced the night they came for him. “They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ He took Peter, James and John along with Him, and He began to be deeply distressed and troubled. ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,’ He said to them. ‘Stay here and k