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This year has undoubtedly been interesting. It reminds me of a roller coaster. You slowly ascend, then downward you go, twisting every which way. The problem is that the ride keeps joining! Disease, economic uncertainties, ineffective government leaders, west coast fires and Caribbean hurricanes, and even murderous hornets! And to think that we have three months to go in 2020. This year has reminded me of several important Biblical truths. One must turn to the Lord during uncertain times. The...
What a ride this year has been! I never thought that we would still be dealing with masks, quarantine, and the general confusion that has defined our lives for the past seven months. I am grateful that we live in a relatively safe area and those who have been sick have recovered well. Now we find ourselves struggling to figure out how to educate our children during a pandemic. Our prayers are that the Lord will guide our educators and assist them in this trying time. This year is also a presidential election cycle. Every four years, our...
I am really struggling to write this article. I'd much rather preach and write sermons than articles, but tonight that is not the story. Tonight, I find myself like most of you, angered, confused, worried and absolutely tired of social media and all news in any form. I am angry that a man was murdered by a man who had sworn to protect, confused about how others hijack a legitimate protest with different agendas, and by fools looting to score a new TV. We, as a nation, find ourselves again at precipice. Our nation has been there multiple times,...
What a time of history it is that we find ourselves facing. A month ago, lives were normal. All of us were making plans for the spring – graduations, reunions, summer vacations; like I said, normal. Then came the storm. A microscopic virus has gripped the entirety of our daily lives. As if we were about finished with a puzzle and as we placed some of the last pieces, Covid-19 grabbed the table and tossed it up in the air, scattering puzzle pieces everywhere. All our plans, all the parts of our daily lives scattered all over the floor. Chaos a...
The oldest book of the Bible addresses the singular aspect that all humanity faces, that of suffering. The ancient poem of Job addresses human suffering on a level that few would ever experience. The Book of Job opens with, “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil” (Job 1:1). We are introduced to a man who loved God and lived his faith out in his daily life. Job had a beautiful family, successful in life, health, but that would change suddenly. By...
Christmas is almost here. If you are like me, it has been a busy time throughout the month of December. No one experiences many quiet moments as Christmas approaches. Parties, shopping, cooking, greeting cards – always a lot to do this month. Then there are the countless interruptions of life to go with the busyness of the month. The phone rings as we are trying to eat. Coworkers interrupt your work to talk. Our children have a sudden emergency. Some are unwelcomed, some are just a nuisance, and some are cherished. Remember the last t...
Fall has arrived in full force. The cold is on the way, and the leaves will soon turn. Soon we will all be raking the yards. Fall brings a lot of different experiences – football, hayrides and, of course, pumpkin spice on everything. Soon Thanksgiving will be coming. Time certainly moves quickly. Enjoy each moment while you can. One thing that fall brings is Halloween. Scares and candy. I tend to like candy more than the scares. We all enjoy playing pranks and scaring our kids. I did a lot of t...
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: … thou hast forgotten the law of thy God” (Hosea 4:6). Remember the first day of high school? The fear of algebra, assorted classes across the campus, and older students walking the halls – a little overwhelming right? I remember my first day in Mr. McBrayer’s history class. He took history seriously and wanted his students to as well. Mr. McBrayer taught me to love history. He was a great teacher and I still remember many of his lessons. On the front of his desk was this quote: "Those who do no...
Have you ever thought you had something with you, only to find out that you didn't? Perhaps you thought your child was beside you at the store, but they weren't. Perhaps you thought you had your billfold or purse, only to find that you did not at the drive-thru. False assumptions. We think we have it only to find out that we don't. Unfortunately, we often do that with the Lord. Many times throughout the Bible people made the false assumption that God was with them, only to tragically find out...
After pastoring for 26 years, I have gained an interesting perspective on humanity. I have seen good and bad. I have seen prosperity and poverty. I have seen joy and sorrow. I have seen gracious and selfish. Ask anyone who works in customer service about their experience with people. It is a sour-sweet experience. Humanity is certainly diverse. One of these diverse things I have witnessed is tragic. There are people who recognize the need for God in their lives and because of that deep need, passionately pursue God. That vibrant relationship...
Human suffering. In our world of internet and television, we are exposed to scenes of human suffering daily. We look around and see so many struggling with sorrow and pain. It is overwhelming at times. Pastors have a front row to human suffering. So many times I have heard people scream, beg, cry out, “Pastor, please make the pain stop!” Pastors are just humans. We cannot make the pain stop. Often we are just as you – lost, confused and struggling with what words to say. But there is One who we...
The oldest book of the Bible addresses the singular aspect that all humanity faces, that of suffering. The ancient poem of Job addresses human suffering on a level that few would ever experience. The Book of Job opens with, “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil” (Job 1:1). We are introduced to a man who loved God, and lived his faith out in his daily life. Beautiful family, successful in life, hea...
Life has many interruptions. The phone rings as we are trying to eat. Coworkers interrupt your work to talk. Our children have a sudden emergency. Some are unwelcomed, some are just a nuisance, and some are cherished. Remember the last telemarketer, or remember when your wife awoke you and told you it was time to get her to the hospital, the baby was coming! Good or bad interruptions happen. Go back two thousand years ago. The world was interrupted like no other night. A sleeping town of Bethlehem would never be the same again! It all started...
Fall has arrived. The cold is coming and the leaves are starting to turn. Soon we will all be raking the yards. Fall brings a lot of different experiences, football, hayrides and, of course, pumpkin spice on everything. Soon Thanksgiving will be coming. Time certainly moves quickly. Enjoy each moment while you can. One thing that fall brings is Halloween. Scares and candy. I tend to like the candy more than the scares. We all enjoy playing pranks and scaring our kids. I did a lot of that when...
Human suffering. In our world of internet and television, we are exposed to scenes of human suffering daily. We look around and see so many struggling with sorrow and pain. It is overwhelming at times. Pastors have a front row seat to human suffering. So many times I have heard people scream, beg, cry out, “Pastor, please make the pain stop!” Pastors are just humans. We cannot make pain stop. Often we are just as you lost, confused and struggling with what words to say. But there is One who we...
My mind is on children right now. Our summers at Bible Baptist Church start with youth camp in June and ends with our Youth Week (vacation Bible school) in August. Tonight is our closing night, which consists of a carnival and parents enjoying what their children learned during the week. Our youth camp was one of the best we ever had and our youth week is following the same course. I love ministering to children. As we deflate the bounce house, drain the dunking tanks and take down all of our...
Summer is quickly disappearing. We are sure you have had a busy summer. Looking for something for your child to do this next week? Don’t miss out on the last VBS of the year. Bring your children to our church next week for two hours of learning and fun. Bible Baptist Church will be conducting our annual Vacation Bible School-Youth Week 2018 starting Monday, July 30, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Children from preschool to fifth grade (Fall 2018) are invited to attend each night. The theme of our VBS t...
I am really getting tired of fake news. It is getting increasingly harder to discern the truth and make intelligent decisions. Whether it is trying to decide about Question 788, who to vote for on Tuesday, all the immigration problems at the border, or just simply trying to determine if your kids are giving you some fake news, it is easy to be misled. Misleading facts lead to wrong choices, wrong beliefs and wrong decisions. It is not that fake news is new. Fake news has always been around. Reme...
We are grateful for all the mothers and for all you do for our families. May your day be blessed. I trust that your children will honor you and show you the love on your special day. Thank you for all your love. A story is told of a father and a son spending the day fishing by a still pond. After several hours of hopeless fishing, the father decided to call it a day. The two went home with a very different disposition and outlook. The son went to his room and prepared for bed. He grabbed his diary and wrote, “Spent the day fishing – the bes...
Imagine Thomas’ condition. A week earlier he had watched Christ die. He had placed all of his hope and all of his life on Jesus. Jesus was everything to him and now he was dead. Three days after the cross found him still unable to join the other disciples. He had lost too much. The painful memories of the battered body of His Savior haunted him. The disciples came to find him to let him know the joyful news, Christ has Risen. Peter, James, John and all the others affirmed to Thomas that C...
Valentine’s Day has passed. I hope you all received something from someone who loves you. It is fun to make our loved ones smile as we demonstrate our love to them on Valentine’s Day. True love is like that. True love demands action. Love is not just a feeling, but is also the decision to act on that feeling. True love always demands action. It is wonderful that we are reminded to express our love to those we love. We all understand that we should act on this love year-round. What about our love...
Sitting on my office desk is a new calendar. Its pages are blank. No appointments, deadlines or meeting are written within. It is blank, but not because there are no plans for 2018, for there are plenty of items to start filling it up. I just haven’t picked up the pen to start. I wanted it to remain blank for a little while longer to remind me of the precious gift of time God has granted to me. I am still in a state of shock. Where did 2017 go? Have I finally reached the age where my days go too...
Thanksgiving is over. I trust that you had a wonderful time with your family, rejoicing and thanking God for all he has done for you. Now suddenly Christmas is here. If you are like me, it gets busy in the month of December. Nothing is quiet as Christmas approaches. We will face a lot of interruptions as we are trying to finish the year. The phone rings as we are trying to eat. Coworkers interrupt your work to talk. Our children have a sudden emergency. Some are unwelcome, some are just a...
Fall has arrived in full force. The cold is now here and the leaves are starting to turn. Soon we will all be raking the yards. Fall brings a lot of different experiences: football, hayrides and, of course, pumpkin spice on everything. Soon Thanksgiving will be coming. Time certainly moves quickly. Enjoy each moment while you can. One thing that fall brings is Halloween. Scares and candy. I tend to like the candy more than the scares. We all enjoy playing pranks and scaring our kids. I did a lot of that when my kids were young. I think of it...
Humanity is truly a diverse lot. We come in different shapes, sizes and colors. We come from different backgrounds, we have various degrees of beliefs and values, each of us has a different set of circumstances that determines everything from our personality to our attitudes about life. We are unique. There are only a few common things about each of us, but there is one thing that each of us will experience in our lifetime. It is our greatest enemy, our greatest fear, and the one thing in life that causes us the most anxiety and pain: DEATH. Ea...
