Doing God's work, one step at a time

At any given moment in our lives, we experience things that stand out among others. When we remember back in our memories there is usually one thing that shines like a star more than the rest. When I was a kid, we went to Florida every Spring Break. One thing that stands out about one trip was when we got to play golf in Florida for the first time. It was so much different that a golf course up here. There are different types of grasses down there. It is a little spongier than the grass up here, so the ball doesn’t go quite as far. Naturally, my brother and I one time were out there and it was in the morning time. We took some snacks with us and were on the 5th hole or so. Our golf balls were in about the same place so I parked between the two. As we were standing over our golf balls, a huge raven flew over to our cart, landed on the front, stole our Nutri-Grain bars and flew off to a neighboring tree. We sat and watched him devour our breakfast and had the hardest laugh we’d had in a ...

As I was attempting to write my sermon, Sherri turned a show on called “How Not To Become Shark Bait.” Some of the things these guys did for the sake of science was totally outrageous. My first thought was, what would possess people to find out what causes shark attacks? They could be killed or severely injured or maimed. The point is, these guys are not only scientists, but thrill seekers as well. Part of the reason is because it’s an adrenaline rush. However, the main reason behind what they’re doing is to find out what causes people to be attacked by sharks. The aim is to warn people what not to do in order to be safe. They find out what is more tempting to a shark that confuses a person with food. Most sharks do not want to eat people, but they get confused because something a person is doing is confusing them with a fish or animal. These guys are trying to help people stay safe when they swim in the ocean. This is their main goal; save lives. As Christians, what is our motivation?...

Immigration and Citizenship have been issues in our country since we declared our independence from the British in 1776. We have constantly faced battles of immigration throughout our history in America. Over 20 times throughout our history various Acts have been passed ranging from Naturalization to Immigration laws. Even today, we battle Immigration and Citizenship within our borders. Recently Arizona has been on the map for their new Immigration Law that was supposed to go into effect to crack down on illegal Mexican aliens living and working in the US. The issue at hand is whether racial discrimination and profiling is inherent in the law. If we were to look back in our history however, there have always been laws aimed at certain races of people. Some of us may even be descendants of those who faced these issues. Many times during our history, an influx of people came from certain countries such as the Irish, English, German, Japanese, Chinese and now, Mexican. This does not mean ...

When I say the word deliverance, what comes to mind? One of the things that came to my mind was the song “My Deliverer” by Rich Mullins. It’s a contemporary song that was released in 1998, almost a year after he was killed in a car accident. This song is very inspiring if you’ve never heard it, I would suggest taking a listen. It talks about Joseph taking Mary and Jesus to Egypt as a child, where the captive Hebrew children used to sing the lyrics “My deliverer is coming, my deliverer is standing by” then moves on to talk about the eventuality of what Jesus was going to do on the cross. Inspiring and very moving. What I am for sure not talking about is the movie. Actually, I had never seen the movie, so I went online to look up the plot on Wikipedia. I got the hang of the story so I decided to go look up some movie clips. It seems like a movie that is high on suspense and thrills. If I were to go out to the mall and simply walk up to someone and say the word deliverance, the movie is p...

Today we continue our look into Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Last week we talked about being filled with the fruits of righteousness. This week, we’re going to see the direction Paul is going to go after requesting on behalf of the Philippians in prayer for them to be filled with the fruits of righteousness. There’s a story of two neighbors, Mr. Smith and Mr. Wilson, who were constantly at odds with each other. They were constantly fighting about where the property lines were, who’s tree was it that lost limbs in who’s yard…it was a constant battle. One day the son of Mr. Smith was talking to his friend and said “You know, my father and Mr. Wilson have been fighting and arguing for 30 years, but now, they’ve finally stopped!” “Why?” his friend replied, “Did they bury the hatchet?” “No, actually they buried Mr. Wilson.” Today we’re going to see Paul talking about being in prison and other people who are preaching the Gospel of Christ to cause problems for Paul. We will see exactly ...

This week we are going to start a new series and instead of doing a subject, we’re going to look at Paul’s letter to the Philippians. We’ll start at the beginning and work our way through. As planned, it’ll take us through the middle of October. I figure it’s a good way to spend our summer. Here’s a little background on Philippians from the book called “Opening up Philippians” by Roger Ellsworth. There is a series of books called “Opening up” whatever NT book you want. It is a good series published by Day One Publications. Anyone wanting to read in depth a little more on a book in the NT should look into this series of books. Paul visited and started this church in Philippi during his second missionary journey in around 51 A.D. The letter to the Philippians occur around 11 or 12 years after he left Philippi. This letter is the second one while in prison for the first time in Rome. The Prison Epistles are Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. Overall, however, the main them...

Confrontation. When I say that word, most people cringe at it. Anxiety ensues, nervousness, blood pressure raises, maybe you even start getting mad because you’re picturing a certain situation. Today is the 4th of July; Independence Day. 234 years ago, men gathered because they were tired of taxation without representation, religious persecution and various other reasons. They had the courage to confront the British Government, make them aware of what they were doing wrong; they called them out on their sin. Unfortunately, it led to war between the two countries. There is debate among theologians whether or not the U.S. committed a sin in rebelling against the government God put in place, but that issue is for another sermon…or two. The point is that the men who founded the United States of America had the courage to call out their brother in his sin. In Galatians 2:11-21 Paul does just this. Paul calls out Peter in a blatant sin. Let’s read. 11 When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed hi...