5/31/2024-Lighthearted Confessions of a Deadliner
Open in New Tab Here Lighthearted Confessions of a Deadliner 1 Thessalonians 5:14 And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. In sharp and unflattering contrast to myself, my lovely spouse is a hard worker. Now that she is
5/24/2024-The Beautiful Bride
Open in New Tab Here The Beautiful Bride Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”– for the fine linen
5/17/2024
Open in New Tab Here Psalm 33:20–22 (ESV): 20 Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. 21 For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. 22 Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we
5/10/2024-Thresholds: A Line in the Grass
Open in New Tab Here Thresholds: A Line in the Grass There can be little doubt about it now: I am an old man! It has been a hard thing to accept, but the unavoidable truth is setting in. It is unwelcome. I am disposed to follow the inclination of
5/3/2024
Open in New Tab Here Romans 7:14 – “but I am of the flesh, sold under sin” “Concupiscence” is my word of the day. Did you know we all battle concupiscence every day? Paul did and told us why in the text above. What is this you might be saying? Concupiscence is
4/19/24-Supervised Salvation
Open in New Tab Here Supersized Salvation How many of you remember when you had your first supersized meal from your local fast food joint? Or perhaps you rode your bike to the local Seven 11 and were delighted to find that you could supersize your Slurpee to 128 ounces.
4/12/24- Growing Old
Open in New Tab Here Growing Old Prov. 15:15 “All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.” This week I find myself testing a pair of hearing aids. The event has triggered in me what Longfellow might have
4/5/2024
Open in New Tab Here Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them. Psalms 111:2 ESV In my daily Bible reading plan, Psalm 111 was on the list for yesterday. It is one of my favorites, probably because of verse 2 (above) that clearly
3/29/2024-We Shall Rise
Open in New Tab Here We Shall Rise For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. I Cor. 15:22 I have reached a point in my life’s journey where I have ceased to be mirror friendly. It is a kind of “I don’t look
3/21/2024-Pastoral Prayer
Open in New Tab Here Pastoral Prayer John 16:33 “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Brothers and sisters, this past week Satan brought the darkness of this
3/8/2024
Open in New Tab Here 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith
2/23/2024- Summer and Harvest
Open in New Tab Here Summer and Harvest Jeremiah 8:20 The harvest is past, and the summer is ended, and we are not saved. KJV Here is a frightening thought: We pray that it should never be true of us, our country, or of those that we love. God is
2/9/2024-The Light of Darkness
Open in New Tab Here The Light of Darkness If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, fo darkness is as light with you. Psalms 139:11-12 ESV
2/2/2024
Open in New Tab Here Dear Bereans, “Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.” I Peter 3:14 Peter, near the end of his second epistle, reminds his readers that the end of things as we
1/26/2024-Memories
Open in New Tab Here Memories 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also
1/19/2024-The Goodness of God
Open in New Tab Here The Goodness of God In his pastoral encouragement last week, Pastor Rich asked us to do more than just make resolutions to exercise in this New Year. He encouraged us to incorporate spiritual rigor by, “devoting even more time and effort in training yourself for
1/13/2024-Great Indeed
Open in New Tab Here Great Indeed Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. 1 Timothy 3:16 Have nothing to do with
1/5/2024-A Stranger No More
Open in New Tab Here A Stranger No More Ephesians 2:19 KJV Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; A couple of weeks ago Berean’s oldest female member died and was buried. Her name was Rose
12/29/2023
Open in New Tab Here Luke 2:25 (ESV): 25 “Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel….” I am a lifelong Lions fan. Like many of you, we have been waiting to see our
12/16/2023
Each holiday season feels different as the years go by. The excitement and almost magical feeling of Christmas as a child is warming in itself. At least, my memory of it is as such. The lights, aromas, and gifts, all so enjoyable to reminisce about. And the people, most of
2/13/2026 – The Eternal Weight of Glory
Open in New Tab Here The Eternal Weight of Glory (thoughts from 2 Corinthians Ch 4) Life can be terribly weighty sometimes, can’t it? Whether it is the weight of sin, the struggle of ministry, fighting a cancer diagnosis, wrestling with disobedient children, or just waiting for an answer that
10/11/2025
Open in New Tab Here In our Sunday School class, we are in the middle of a few-week series on answering some of life’s big existential questions with a goal of engaging the lost with gospel hope. Grouped into five “big questions” we see scripture reveal Christ as the answer
10/3/2025 – Playing All Four Quarters
Open in New Tab Here “Playing All Four Quarters” “Alright team, let’s bring it in.” You know, when you watch the Detroit Lions, one thing’s clear: you can’t win a game by playing just one good quarter. You have to play all four quarters. And that’s true in our walk
9/19/2025 – How Would You Like Your Change?
Open in New Tab Here How Would You Like Your Change? Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and
9/12/2025
Open in New Tab Here Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: 2 “If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? Yet who can keep from speaking? 3 Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands. 4 Your words have upheld him who
8/22/2025 – Trying to Find the Words
Open in New Tab Here 9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— I Cor. 2:9 In 1962, The World’s Fair came to Seattle. It was such a big deal that even
8/15/2025 – If We Loved Like Jesus
Open in New Tab Here The song, I Can Only Imagine, invites us to picture the day when we stand face-to-face with Jesus, surrounded by His perfect love, free from sin, pain, and division. But what if we didn’t have to wait for heaven to taste that love? What if
8/1/2025
Open in New Tab Here 11 “Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire? 12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?……. Job 3:11-12 16 Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the
7/25/2025 – Traveling Light
Open in New Tab Here Traveling Light 18 Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord. Genesis 13:18 KJV Next month, Jackie and I will have been married 65 years. We are both closer now to
7/19/2025
Open in New Tab Here And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the
