STRESS! Matthew 11:28-30 INTRODUCTION:  Does life seem far more stressful today to you then it did twenty or thirty years ago?  Stress contributes to high-blood-pressure, heart disease, and addictive disorders.  It often leads to headaches and backaches.  Stress has been traced to stomach and breathing disorders.  People under stress often...

THE WORD OF GOD AND OUR MENTAL HEALTH Romans 8:1-17 INTRODUCTION:  Our world is moving away from God and from faith in His Word.  It is important for us to understand that in our changing world, we serve a God who does not change: Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8.  Also the...

STRENGTHENING YOURSELF IN THE LORD! 1 Samuel 30:1-6 INTRODUCTION: As we go through our lives, we can become infected by certain unhealthy attitude, infectious sins, and inflamed by unhealthy attitudes.  We can easily succumb to anger, anxiety, depression and discouragement.  It is wonderful when friends can encourage us but one...

TRUMPING TEMPTATIONS POWER! 1 Corinthians 10:1-14 INTRODUCTION: An old country western song asked the question when I was young: “How can anything that seems so right be so wrong?”  We always seem to be tempted by things that seem so right.  Those things that tempt us are always to beautiful,...

GENDER CONFUSION! Genesis 1:26-31 INTRODUCTION:  We learned two weeks ago that God is the designer of gender: Genesis 1:27.  God created man in the image of God.  God created man male and female.  Our God founded the foundation of the family.  God created males and females different than one another. ...

GENDER CONFUSION! Genesis 1:26-31 INTRODUCTION:  We learned two weeks ago that God is the designer of gender: Genesis 1:27.  God created man in the image of God.  God created man male and female.  Our God founded the foundation of the family.  God created males and females different than one another. ...

GODLY FAITH TURNS STRESS TO PRAISE! John 14:15-31 INTRODUCTION:  Godly faith will turn our stress into praise!  We live in a world full of stress.  Our Lord Jesus promised peace in a world torn by turmoil and stress: John 14:26-27.  Jesus didn’t promise us our peace; He said it would...

COMPLETE SURRENDER! 1 Kings 20:1-4 INTRODUCTION: Ben-Hadad asked complete surrender of Ahab, the King of Israel and what Ahab agreed to was indeed complete surrender:  1 Kings 20:4.  These are words of complete surrender and every child of God ought to yield himself in exactly that way to their heavenly...

WHO AM I? Genesis 1:26-31 INTRODUCTION:  Isaiah 29:13-16; Luke 6:46-49. Some of the hottest topics of conversation across our nation and around our world will be our topic for the next couple of weeks.  We will be looking at what society has to say about these topics and we will...

WHO AM I? Genesis 1:26-31 INTRODUCTION:  Isaiah 29:13-16; Luke 6:46-49. Some of the hottest topics of conversation across our nation and around our world will be our topic for the next couple of weeks.  We will be looking at what society has to say about these topics and we will...

WHY DOES GOD ALLOW HIS CHILDREN TO SUFFER? Hebrews 12:3-15 INTRODUCTION:  Our subject for the next two Sunday nights will answer a perennial question that is constantly asked by both believers and non-believers: “Why do God’s children suffer?”  the question becomes more complex because some churches teach that once you...

WILL YOU SEE GOD? Hebrews 12:1-15 INTRODUCTION:  How important is holiness in your personal view?  How important is your holiness in God’s view?  Hebrews 12:14; Romans 12:18.  Sometimes with our very best effort we cannot live in peace with others, but your personal holiness is your choice.  If you desire...

WHY DOES GOD ALLOW HIS CHILDREN TO SUFFER? Hebrews 12:3-15 INTRODUCTION:  Our subject for the next two Sunday nights will answer a perennial question that is constantly asked by both believers and non-believers: “Why do God’s children suffer?”  the question becomes more complex because some churches teach that once you...

WILL YOU SEE GOD? Hebrews 12:1-15 INTRODUCTION:  How important is holiness in your personal view?  How important is your holiness in God’s view?  Hebrews 12:14; Romans 12:18.  Sometimes with our very best effort we cannot live in peace with others, but your personal holiness is your choice.  If you desire...

WILL YOU SEE GOD? Hebrews 12:1-15 INTRODUCTION:  How important is holiness in your personal view?  How important is your holiness in God’s view?  Hebrews 12:14; Romans 12:18.  Sometimes with our very best effort we cannot live in peace with others, but your personal holiness is your choice.  If you desire...

GOD’S GIFT OF STRENGTH! ENCOURAGING YOURSELF IN THE LORD! 1 Samuel 30:1-20 INTRODUCTION: David was in real trouble.  The army of Israel was searching for him, and the bitter old King Saul wanted him dead.  Those who were on David’s side were being killed, and those who were betraying David...

WHEN GOD IS SILENT! Matthew 8:14-17 INTRODUCTION:  We can easily understand our Lord’s interventions in the lives of those He loves.  Matthew 8:14-17; John 9:1-12; Mark 3:1-6.  We all rejoice when our God intervenes in our lives and blesses us.  What we struggle with is the other side of the...

JESUS WAY TO HAPPINESS! Matthew 5:1-12 INTRODUCTION: In the first twelve verses of Matthew chapter five, Matthew, in the Sermon on the Mount lays out Jesus way to happiness.  The Greek word used for “blessed” is “Markarius” and it means happy.  As we look at the Sermon on the Mount...

PREPARING FOR GOD’S SPRING! Isaiah 43:16-21 INTRODUCTION: The faith and hope of God’s people was very low during the days of Isaiah and they constantly needed assurance that things would eventually turn around for them.  In spite of their backsliding God still loved them and through word pictures God described...

GOD’S RECIPE FOR JOY! John 15:9-17 INTRODUCTION:  Today we want to talk about how we can have the fullness of Joy that is offered to us in God’s Word. How to have fullness of joy in our hearts and how to learn God’s recipe for joy.  John 15:11.  Joy is...

GOD’S RECIPE FOR JOY! John 15:9-17 INTRODUCTION:  Today we want to talk about how we can have the fullness of Joy that is offered to us in God’s Word. How to have fullness of joy in our hearts and how to learn God’s recipe for joy.  John 15:11.  Joy is...

STANDING ALONE WITH GOD! 1 Kings 22:1-38 INTRODUCTION:  Courage has been defined as “the ability or the willingness to do something difficult or dangerous.”  Remember, our God shows up when we step up and when we take that first step of faith:                ...

AN INDEPENDENT NATION TOTALLY DEPENDENT ON GOD! Daniel 9:1-19 INTRODUCTION: Daniel was a very godly man.  He is one of only a few men that the Bible speaks a great deal about that no sin is recorded in his life.  Daniel was a praying man.  Three times a day he...

STANDING ALONE WITH GOD! 1 Kings 22:1-38 INTRODUCTION:  Courage has been defined as “the ability or the willingness to do something difficult or dangerous.”  Remember, our God shows up when we step up and when we take that first step of faith: 2 Chronicles 16:9.  Fear is the biggest enemy...

FASTING FOR GOD’S GLORY AND POWER! Matthew 6:16-18 INTRODUCTION:  In our nation we live to eat not eat to live.  We have a fixation on food!  The average American will eat 150,000 pounds of food by age seventy.  We eat about a ton of food every year.  Food is never...

WHEN OUR TROUBLES BECOME OUR TRIUMPHS! Proverbs 24:15-20 INTRODUCTION:  Often in lives our greatest triumphs come from our everyday troubles!  As Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson said; sometimes what you want so badly is “the best thing that never happened to you.”  Our message today is being given so you might...

THE MARK OF THE BEAST AND THE COMING ECONOMIC CRISIS! Revelation 13:1-18 INTRODUCTION:  These are amazing times we are living in.  If you are seven-five or older these are some of the things you have experienced in your life time.  You have seen the atom split and now we have...

THE MARK OF THE BEAST AND THE COMING ECONOMIC CRISIS! Revelation 13:1-18 INTRODUCTION:  These are amazing times we are living in.  If you are seven-five or older these are some of the things you have experienced in your life time.  You have seen the atom split and now we have...

ENJOYING GOD! Psalm 73:1-28 INTRODUCTION:  When you think of God, what picture comes to mind?  Do you see an austere old man who just watches to see you slip up the least bit so He may punish you?  Do you see a holy God high and lifted up that you...

HONORING THEIR SACRlFlCES! 2 Timothy 1:3-15 INTRODUCTION: People are more important than things! We tend to value things and use people. It should be the other way around. We should value people and use things. Luke 12:13-21: Life is more important than things. On this Memorial Day weekend, I want...

EQUIPPED FOR SERVICE John 9:1-11 INTRODUCTION: Those of us who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior honestly believe honestly believe that He saved us to do good works.  Ephesians 2:8-10.  Those Christians who chose not to take their time, their talents, and their finances to do service...

WHAT LIFE WOULD THE LORD HAVE ME LIVE? John 10:1-11 INTRODUCTION: Yet another major question about life is: “Is there life after physical death?”  But perhaps an even greater question for many is: “Is there life after physical birth?”  When we ask that second question we are not just talking...

MOTHERS WHO WALK IN FAITH Matthew 15:21-28 INTRODUCTION:  Anna M. Jarvis first suggested the national observance of an annual day honoring all mothers because she had loved her mother so much.  At her mother’s memorial service on May 10 1908, Miss Jarvis gave a carnation (her mother’s favorite flower) to...

TAKING OUR FRIENDS TO JESUS! Mark 2:1-12 INTRODUCTION: “When Jesus saw their faith!” Mark 2:5. Our question is: “Where did these men get such faith?” Romans 10:17. Could we bring our friends to Jesus and would He see our faith? Hebrews 4:16; Ephesians 2:13, 18. It is because of our...

WHAT SHOULD WE LOVE MOST? Matthew 22:34-40 INTRODUCTION: We are all on the journey of life. In all of our lives there are decisions that must be made and questions that must be answered to have a successful life. Some of these questions and decisions will not make a lot...

EDIFICATION: BUILDING UP! Psalm 11:1-7 INTRODUCTION: At the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first century, the foundations of the United States of America were being destroyed. The very foundations of our blessed nation were being destroyed: Proverbs 14:34. Leaders at the very pinnacle of national...

LOSING YOUR LIFE TO SAVE IT! Mark 8:31-38 INTRODUCTION:  Tents are important, but not nearly as important as the people they protect from the elements on camping trips.  Do you know that God has given you a soul and that your body is the tent?  Sadly, so often in life...

WHEN THE DAYS GROW WEARY Jeremiah 29:1-14 INTRODUCTION: To the children of Israel and to us also God has a message when things are going terrible in our lives: Jeremiah 29:11.  Jeremiah preached doom for the nation, but after the bottom dropped out he brought a message of hope.  He...

RELIGION, RULES, AND RITUALS Mark 3:1-6 INTRODUCTION:  In our Scripture reading today we come across a group of religious, rule keeping, and ritual keeping people that honestly thought they were the only ones close to God and the only ones obedient to God, and yet they did not even know...

JESUS IS OUR PASSOVER LAMB! Exodus 12:1-13 INTRODUCTION:  We want to remember and celebrate the death and resurrection of Our Savior as a substitute for us, we want to turn our attention to the snapshot of Jesus Christ as our Passover Lamb!  1 Corinthians 5:7-8.  Paul said Christ was our...

RESURRECTION POWER! John 20:1-18 INTRODUCTION: Today we will look at just one primary aspect of our Lord’s life; His resurrection to life from the dead.  In the New Testament alone we are given over three hundred verses that are connected to the subject of our Lord Jesus’ resurrection from the...

RESPONDING TO SUFFERING Luke 23:26-56 INTRODUCTION:  There are two kinds of responses to our own personal suffering: 1) We can choose to rail against God and say: “If you are such a great and powerful and loving God, why am I in this awful mess.”  2) We can acknowledge that...

STAY ABOVE THE SNAKE LINE Isaiah 40:25-31 INTRODUCTION: There is an invisible line that is fixed, at a given altitude above sea level—known as “the snake line.”  Above the snake line no snake can live. Security of mankind against snakes is set by God and is purely a matter of...

PALM SUNDAY! John 12:12-19 INTRODUCTION:  The writers of the gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all talk about the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday.    John 12:12-19. The people of Israel, perhaps as many as 2 and ½ million, hailed their King on Sunday...

THE BLEST MAN! Psalm 1:1-6 KJV INTRODUCTION:  King Solomon said: Ecclesiastes 12:12.  Right after Solomon said these words he turned around and wrote three more new books.  Today Solomon’s words are even more true than they were when he wrote them.  Millions of books are in print today.  The Bible...

THE VALUE OF YOUR SOUL! Mark 8:27-38 INTRODUCTION:  Banana Flips and an icy cold coke are a delectable desert combination after a hard day’s work.   But if we get so caught up in how sloppy that Banana Flip can be we might just miss out on the best of what...

A WORD WE HARDLY USE IN CHURCH! Psalm 122:1 INTRODUCTION: In our house there are some words that are off-limits for use.  We in the Church have a word that is hardly ever used that should be used much more often: “Excitement!”  Every person here tonight loves it when life...

CATCHING UP! Mark 10:13-16 INTRODUCTION: Our Lord Jesus loved children.  In fact, on one occasion when Jesus own disciples wanted to stop people from bringing their children to Jesus to have Him bless them Jesus got hot!  There is a great eternal lesson we can learn from children: Mark 10:14-16. ...

LIVING A SPIRIT FILLED LIFE! 2 Kings 6:1-7 INTRODUCTION:  Our prayer for our lives should be that each one will make an impact for our God in this world!  If we will walk with our God He will make our impact on our family, friends, and community be an impact...

WHAT IS TRUTH? John 18:28-40 INTRODUCTION:  Our Lord Jesus said: “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”  Pilot’s response was: “What is truth?”  Is truth abstract and unknowable or is truth concrete and embraceable?  In our culture today, people are still arguing about truth.  Today in our congress,...

WHY IS OUR WORLD SHAKING? Hebrews 12:26-29 INTRODUCTION:  This present world we are living in is undergoing quite a shaking.  Governments and nations that were once stable are now trembling.  It is time to read the signs of the time and to check our historical maps.  Where are we according...

THE WIDOWS MIGHT! Mark 12:41-44 INTRODUCTION:  We should be glad to offer the Lord whatever we can to further His Kingdom since all we have has come from Him in the first place: 1 Corinthians 4:7.  Sometimes our offerings seem so little with such great need but our precious little...

SURVIVING A SHIPWRECK Acts 27:9-15 INTRODUCTION:   Acts chapter 27 is an exciting story of the sea and of survival.  It is true history of the life of the Apostle Paul who was a prisoner of Rome sailing to Rome to be tried before Caesar.  The ship Paul was sailing on...

SPRING CLEANING IN GOD’S HOUSE Matthew 21:12-16 INTRODUCTION:  Have you ever considered cleaning your house from a spiritual standpoint?  According to the Word of God there are four houses that God has lived in and cleaned!  The first house was Adam, a product of God’s creation.  That was God’s first...

  RESTORING YOUR INTEGRITY Revelations 3:1-6 INTRODUCTION: The definition of the word integrity is an unimpaired condition: Soundness: the quality or state of being complete or undivided. Sadly, today the church has become like the frog in the kettle where the water is heated slowly. We are to be salt...

WHEN FAITH IS SHAKEN! Luke 24:13-32 INTRODUCTION: Our Lord Jesus passion of love to His Father caused Him to go to the cross. Jesus passion for the love of His Father for you and I caused Him to leave heaven; it caused Him to come to this earth and to...

WHEN DADDIES GO BAD 2 Samuel 12:7-12 INTRODUCTION: Our Lord has told us we are to honor our fathers and mothers: Exodus 20:12. The idea to set aside a special day in our nation to honor fathers began in 1909, but it was not until 1956 that Father’s Day became...

ARE THEY IN OR OUT? Luke 16:19-31 INTRODUCTION: Thirty-seven-percent of atheists, agnostics, and people with no identifiable religion say they believe in heaven, and twenty-seven-percent believe in hell.  Exactly how a secularist can hold to a belief in the after-life with intellectual honesty is hard to figure out.  The truth...

MOTHER’S WAGES! Exodus 2:1-10 INTRODUCTION: We are told there are more phone calls made on Mother’s Day than any other day of the year. There have been many mothers in the history of this world that have greatly influenced their children to trust in the Lord. Many of those mothers...

Faith

CHRISTIANS WITHOUT COMMITMENT! 2 Timothy 1:1-18 INTRODUCTION: The apostle Paul said he had committed his salvation to God and he was not worried about it at all because God would guard his salvation: 2 Timothy 1:11-12. Many today are afraid to commit their souls to Jesus Christ. They have been...