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  Happy New Year and welcome to 2026. I can assure you that I did not sit down to write out a message this morning that was tailored to fit around the first day of this new year, filled with platitudes and glowing words of affirmation, hope, and promise. In fact, yesterday’s message kind of caught me off guard with the tone and direction it took with repeated warnings of coming ‘tribulations and trials of testing’s’...if I’m being totally honest. Shortly after I posted my message yesterday, there was a particular verse that came to mind that had me questioning if I had forgot to include it, but then was impressed to share it with you here and now. It’s the words of Jesus which He shared with His disciples, and it followed shortly after His lesson on the importance of abiding in Him found in John 15:1-8. “These things I have spoken to you that in Me...you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) “in M...
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  I am fully aware that anytime God’s word goes forth… the ‘enemy comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.’ (Mark 4:15) That verse was referring to the ones who have hard hearts and don’t even understand what they are hearing, as Jesus explained there in that parable of the sower. But he (the enemy) is also right there when professing believers are feeding on the word, or maybe hearing new truths…and will do what he can to combat, confuse, or twist and distort what people are hearing. Often times he’ll provide ‘controversial questions’ to assist the process of casting doubt and speculation. He has…after all, been doing this from the very beginning of time- “Has God really said…?” (Gen. 2:17; 3:1-5; Matt. 22:27-30) So when we are studying and examining this topic of what it means to ‘abide in Jesus’…and to ‘go and sin no more’, let me assure you that he (Satan and his minions) works overtime to get you to ‘back off’ and want to assure you that all...
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  It’s a lesson most of us learn at some point in time, and usually sooner than later. It’s the one where it’s easier to say words with your mouth, that you will commit to doing something…than it is to actually ‘do it’. Taking part in wedding vows comes to my mind first, and I’ve witnessed many weddings over the years, both as a wedding photographer and as a pastor who officiated them. In fact I took part in one myself 45 years ago, coming up this Saturday. And those are some pretty remarkable vows two young people who are ‘in love’ will make to each other surrounded by family and friends. You know which vows I’m talking about…where you promise to ‘love each other…for better or worse, in sickness and in health...for richer or poorer’…unto the end before ‘death separates’ you. Who in their right mind and at that young age can clearly know what they are signing on for, making such promises? No wonder many people today have taken to writing and sharing their own vows that seem les...
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  When Jesus spoke and taught various truths, He did so for a reason – He meant what He said; which is why I will inject oftentimes that reminder that what I’m sharing with you here are ‘His words, and not mine’. And when Jesus really wanted to drive home a particular point, or truth, He added the phrase ‘verily, verily...I say unto you’, which means ‘most assuredly’. In fact, when you read through John’s gospel, we have it recorded 25 times where Jesus began a statement using that expression...’most assuredly’. I quoted one of them yesterday which is found in John 8:34 where Jesus said: “Most assuredly I tell you...whoever commits sin is a slave to sin...”; then adding in His next statement “and a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.” (35) With the new year only a couple of days away, many sincere believers will be gearing up to make a resolution to ‘read through their Bibles’ in 2026. I’m not knocking that practice at all; but I will say that one...
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  I know I might be ‘walking a tight rope’ with some here, who may read and want to conclude that I’m teaching ‘salvation by works’, and not ‘grace’. But that’s the problem when we’ve been taught man-made doctrines and we only can see the coin as being ‘heads or tails’; and I’m saying it’s neither (the way many see ‘grace’). And ‘No’, I’m not trying to ‘reinvent the wheel’ when it comes to basic core ‘Christian’ theology either. The past two days, we’ve looked once again, at the conversation Jesus had with a young, rich ruler who came to Him seeking how one might obtain ‘eternal life’. Most people today want to associate that expression with ‘getting saved’ (whatever that means to you). And we saw where Jesus pointed him to the ‘law’, or ‘keeping the commandments’. But it soon becomes apparent that this young man who was told by Jesus that if he really wanted to ‘enter life’, it would require that he be ‘fully in’ which can only come about by ‘selling out’. And we quickly lear...
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  Who here can complete this well-known piece of sage advice: “If it sounds too good to be true... ____________” My follow up question would be: “How many of you had to learn that from personal experience?” Yeah...some of us can be slow learners. And yet...when it comes to all the many ‘gospel’ presentations out there today...why are we so quick to dismiss this nugget of wisdom? [long pause....] To pick up where I left off yesterday (which is a subtle hint you might want to read that first if you missed it...) we were taking another look at the conversation Jesus had with that rich, young ruler which is recorded in Matt. 19, Mark 10 and Luke 18. This young man came to Jesus to begin a conversation inquiring what ‘good thing could he could do’ in order to receive ‘eternal life’ (Matt. 19:16). The ’short answer’ Jesus offered him...if he was serious about wanting to ‘enter into life’ was: “keep the commandments”. (Matt. 19:17). I should also point out this is not the only time J...
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  One does not usually go seeking after something ...that they’re convinced they already have in their possession. (Yeah...that would be worth reading again; we’re in no hurry here ) So this makes the story of the rich young ruler all the more interesting as 3 of the four gospels share it with us (Matt. 19; Mark 10; Luke 18). We don’t know a whole lot about this young man, but what we do learn from his dialogue with Jesus is quite important. It’s easy to assume that he had financial security, along with a certain degree of influence and prestige, perhaps respect and admiration from those in his circle of people, and I sense he probably had a decent upbringing. I say that because it is told that when he first approached Jesus that he knelt before Him (Mark 10:17), showing that despite his own position of power, he was able to humble himself and show respect to Jesus. And he had also been taught the commandments of God since he was a young lad. So there’s that as well. And yet, in...
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