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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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  "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us". (Matt. 1:23; Isa. 7:14) Merry Christmas - Christ has come and God has visited His people. And it all began with... a seed. The ‘seed’ is ...the word of God (Luke 8:11). We are told that ‘in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God...and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.’ (John 1:1,14) And even then, the very ones to whom He came to...did not receive Him (John 1:11). It happens, more than you might think. Today, multitudes around the world are ‘celebrating’ by acknowledging that God truly did visit His people, and this King of Glory, the Almighty God...robed Himself in flesh which was all a part of His plan to redeem His people. (Luke 1:68). Whether you agree or disagree with even acknowledging this time of year and the day in which we remember God’s humble and meek entrance into a bro...
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  How would you explain to a person who has known nothing but a life of slavery...what it’s like to be ‘free’? I can only imagine what some of those conversations had to have been like in the ‘slave quarters’ that existed in this country years ago, when parents talked to their children who were ‘born into slavery’...trying to describe to them what it was like before they had become slaves themselves and brought to this country and forced to serve their white ‘masters’. Or better yet...imagine being a member of those federal troops who made their way into Galveston, TX in 1865 to free the approximately 250,000 blacks who were still being held as slaves, despite the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation that freed them two years earlier...and informing them they no longer had to live as slaves given the fact their freedom was granted. Meanwhile...people scoff at folks who want to celebrate Juneteenth Day, while they themselves love to celebrate Christmas; go figure. I bet some mi...
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  Anyone else being bombarded with ‘last minute’ gift ideas via emails or TV ads? Something I have noticed over the years when it comes to successful marketing campaigns is if you can first convince to show (if not create) a viable ‘need’ in a person’s life for your product, you have that much better of an opportunity to sell whatever it is your pitching. Ever heard that old saying- ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’? Good marketing specialist ‘get that’ when it comes to creating effective ad campaigns. Show me why I ‘need’ this product and you could very well convince me to buy whatever it is you are selling. The ‘church’ would do well to pay attention and give that some serious thought also. It can be an easy and deceptive trap to go heavy on pushing and promoting all the ‘perks and advantages’ to owning something, when you fail to present a viable and legitimate need as to why a person should own it. And I’ve been around the ‘church world’ long enough to see how we ten...
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