Having not served in our Armed Forces, I never experienced the joys of Boot Camp.  One proud retired Marine described Boot Camp this way: “There we stood, an unorganized, ragtag bunch of seventy or so young men of every conceivable size and background, thrown together in a strange place, having no idea (thankfully) what was […]

The War of the Worlds, a science fiction novel published in 1898 by H. G. Wells tells the story of a Martian invasion of England.  In 1938, Orson Wells produced a radio show, when broadcast caused wide spread panic in the United States.  People did not know it was fictional. I understand the panic.  As a child I […]

Paul founded the church at Ephesus around A.D. 52 (Acts 19-20), then appointed Timothy as its pastor around A.D. 65 (1 Timothy 1:3).  Paul called the elders of the church to meet him Miletus when he was on his way to Jerusalem.  Please read his impassioned last words to them beginning in 20:17. These seven […]

“What we have heard and seen with our eyes…what we have seen and heard, we proclaim to you…”  So John began his first epistle. He is now on the Island of Patmos, exiled by a Roman Emperor.  It has been many years since John heard the voice and saw the face of his Master. No […]

JOHN THE REVEALER This Sunday, I begin a new series: Letters from Heaven, based upon the seven letters Jesus sent to seven churches in Turkey.  But this Sunday I want you to meet John The Revealer, (aka John the Apostle). It is a sanctified guess, but I place him in his mid-teens when he left his […]

Ralph Waldo Emerson well-said, “Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.” Another way to put it: You are the sum of all your decisions.  That is one of the great takeaways of […]

Ephesians 2:1 in the old King James Version reads, “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” In 1611 quicken meant “to make alive” (see verse 5). In John 5:24, Jesus promises that believers have everlasting life (right now and forever) and have passed from death to life. Ephesians 2 reinforces […]

There are some passages most pastors feel uncomfortable preaching.  Sunday’s passage is one of those.  One pastor titled his sermon on this text “Pay Your Pastor!”  On Sunday he told his congregation, “If my sermon title makes you feel uncomfortable, you should know it makes me even more so!”   As a general rule pastors […]

Suppose you developed kidney disease and would die without a dialysis machine.  Although you would be grateful for a machine which prolonged your life, it would be very restrictive. Your life would now be governed by the hours spent on the machine. Now suppose one day the doctor called, and told you that a kidney […]

There are really only two kinds of people people in the world:  those who are dead and those who are going to be dead. Death is a game you cannot cheat.  Fame will not intimidate it.  Wealth cannot out outbid it.  Power does not scare it. And intelligence will not outsmart it.  The writer of […]