David Dykes
August 15, 2021
Lifting High the Name of Jesus (2021)
August 8, 2021
Beware of Grace-Robbers (2021)
August 1, 2021
Heaven’s Activity Guide (2021)
July 25, 2021
A New Leader for a New Challenge
July 11, 2021
How to Be a Prosperous Christian
July 5, 2021
God’s Precious Gift of Freedom
June 27, 2021
A Love Letter to a Special Lady
June 20, 2021
Bull-dogmatic Truths
June 6, 2021
The Ministry of Restoration
May 30, 2021
You Can Pray With Confidence
May 23, 2021
Do You Have Blessed Assurance?
May 16, 2021
Birthmarks of a Believer
May 9, 2021
You Can Face Your Future Without Fear
April 25, 2021
The Greatest Love of All
April 18, 2021
How to Spot a False Prophet a Smile Away
April 11, 2021
The Cure for a Condemning Heart
April 4, 2021
Face to Face With the Risen Lord
March 28, 2021
A Matter of Love and Death
March 21, 2021
God’s Solution for our Sin Problem
March 7, 2021
Are You Ready to Meet Jesus?
February 28, 2021
Watch Out for Drop-Outs
February 21, 2021
What in the World Is Worldliness?
February 7, 2021
Do You Know That You Know Jesus?
January 31, 2021
What to Do With Your Sins
January 17, 2021
Our Life in Christ
January 10, 2021
Vision Sunday 2021 Theme: Love East Texas
David Dykes
TINY BUT MIGHTY A single snowflake is just a tiny, beautiful six-sided ice crystal. It is so light and insignificant it will melt in your hand. Alone it’s not much. But when you put trillions of them together like in some of the blizzards up north, they can shut down a major city and an entire region.
Alone, we’re not much, but with the unity of the Spirit and the passion to show God’s love, our message can transform an entire region for Christ. Matthew 22:34-40.
January 3, 2021
Happy New You!
December 27, 2020
What Have We Learned in 2020?
December 20, 2020
The First Star Trek
December 13, 2020
The Cost of Christmas: From Riches to Rags to Riches
December 6, 2020
Believing: Life in His Name
David Dykes
THE REST OF THE STORY Jesus has been performing marvelous deeds since the beginning of the beginning. He told the Jews that “before Abraham was, I am.” Jesus has been performing trillions of miracles in this vast universe that we don’t even realize. One of the joys of Heaven will be for us to learn about all the other marvelous miracles that Jesus performed. Final message in the John: Believe and Live! series. John 20:30-31; 21:24-25.
November 15, 2020
Hope for ONE More Child
November 8, 2020
The Beauty of Restoration
David Dykes
SECOND CHANCES God is the God of the second chance—He’s the God of the third fourth and hundredth chance. If you have failed the Lord in the past, remember that Jesus can restore you. The devil comes to kill, steal, and destroy. He’s the great destroyer. But Jesus is the great restorer. He took a murderer like Moses and used him. He took an adulterer like David and used him. He took Christ-hating Jewish terrorist by the named Saul and gave him a new name, Paul, and used him mightily. And God can use you. He is the great restorer. John 21:15-23.
November 1, 2020
Sharing the Lord’s Breakfast
David Dykes
There are two forces at work in the Christian life, and you have to keep these two in perfect balance. There is union and communion. Union occurs when we first come to Christ and He moves into our life. That’s union. We are in Christ and Christ is in us. It is a relationship that can never be severed. But there is also communion in which we staying close fellowship with Jesus. John 21:1-14.
October 25, 2020
My Lord and My God!
David Dykes
ST. THOMAS OF INDIA History is full of seekers like Thomas who investigated and became believers. Church history reports that Thomas went to current day India to spread the Gospel. He preached for twenty years until he was martyred. Today, the patron saint of India is St. Thomas. And when the Dutch Trading Company landed on an island in the Caribbean, they named it Saint Thomas and established the St. Thomas Church there. So Honest Thomas had a great impact on God’s Kingdom. John 20:19-29.
October 18, 2020
Breath of Heaven
October 11, 2020
A Tomb with a View
David Dykes
Mary thought Jesus was the gardener so she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, please show me where you put him and I will get him.” That’s love. Maybe Mary weighed 110 pounds. Let’s assume Jesus weighed 180, and John tells us that Nicodemus and Joseph had wrapped His body in 75 additional pounds of aloe and spices. So this little woman was willing to heft a corpse weighing over 250 pounds on her shoulder and carry it back inside the tomb. That’s love. Her hope was shattered, and her faith was absent, but her love was still there. John 20:1-18.
September 13, 2020
The Day Death was Buried
David Dykes
JESUS’ REMOVAL FROM THE CROSS The Bible tells us that Jesus had two unlikely undertakers, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. You might expect family members or disciples to step forward and claim the body, but instead these two respected members of the Jewish Sanhedrin collected the body of Jesus from the cross. It was not an easy or a pretty job. First, they had to climb up and either remove the nails or removed Jesus hands and feet from the nails embedded in the cross. Then they had to lower His mangled body. Jesus’ back had been ripped apart with a whip, Water and blood had flowed from the wound in His side. Then they had to remove the razor-sharp crown of thorns. John 19:38-42.
September 6, 2020
The Water and the Blood
David Dykes
DEATH BY INCONVENIENCE To me it is the height of hypocrisy that the Jewish leaders were so concerned about sunset messing with their religious holiday that they appealed to Pilate to hasten the death of the three men being crucified. They didn’t want a bloody body to inconvenience them from their religious acts. John 19:28-37.
August 30, 2020
The Word Heard Around the World
David Dykes
KNOWING Can you imagine living your whole life anticipating the most horrible death possible? No doubt Jesus saw hundreds of Roman crucifixions as He was growing up. He must have thought, “That’s me someday.” Every time Joseph planed a rough piece of wood, Jesus probably thought about the cross. Every time Joseph pounded nails in wood, Jesus surely thought of the last time His human ears would hear that sound. John 19:28-30.
August 23, 2020
The Faces at Golgotha
David Dykes
INCONCEIVABLE The Gospel writers don’t go into minute detail about the crucifixion because all of their First-Century readers had witnessed the horror of crucifixion with their own eyes. We really don’t have a modern frame of reference for it. It would be like me going back to the time of Jesus and saying there was a head-on collision on Loop 49 and none of the passengers were wearing seatbelts. You get the picture—but they wouldn’t. We can’t begin to imagine the wickedness and cruelty of Roman crucifixion. John 19:17-27.
August 16, 2020
The Danger of Mob Mentality
David Dykes
With that act of symbolically washing his hands, Pilate thought he would be vindicated. He thought that he would never be associated with the death of Jesus. But let me show you what is tragically ironic. The one man who wanted to be absolved of any guilt is the name that has been spoken millions of times connecting him to the death of Jesus. I’m referring to the Apostle’s Creed. This creed has been recited millions of times, and is being recited today in Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, and many other churches. John 19:5-16.
August 9, 2020
A Cruel Crown on a Sacred Head
David Dykes
The crown of thorns was a prophecy of the majestic crown Jesus will wear when He returns. When Jesus came the first time, He came as the gentle Jesus, meek and mild. When He returns it will be a conquering King. When He came the first time it was as the Lamb of God, when He returns it will be as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. John 19:1-5.
August 2, 2020
Jesus is the Answer
David Dykes
REAL IDENTITY Barabbas was a bad dude. But he got the break of a life-time. An innocent man took his place on the cross. I am Barabbas. You are Barabbas. We are all guilty sinners. And we deserve to receive God’s judgment against sin. But like Barabbas, we have a substitute. Jesus died in our place. John 18:33-40.
July 19, 2020
Moving from Denial to Restoration
David Dykes
FALLING BEHIND Peter followed Jesus at a distance to the courtyard of Caiaphas’ house. That’s an indication that we find ourselves in trouble when we don’t follow the Lord closely. If you followed the Lord closely at one time, but you have hung back and now you follow the Lord at a distance, before long you find yourself hanging out with the wrong crowd. And soon you find yourself doing the wrong thing. John 18:15-18; 25-27
July 12, 2020
How to Keep Your Cool in a Crisis
DAVID DYKES
CUP OF HORRORS What was in that cup that Jesus found to be so unpleasant? To drink a cup means to go through an experience. Inside that cup Jesus knew there was terrible physical pain. He knew over the next few hours He would be tortured and crucified. Also inside that cup was isolation. All His disciples would forsake Him, and He would face the cross alone. Even on the cross, He endured isolation from His Father. But I think the most horrifying content of that cup were sins of all the world. He would bear all the sins in His body on the cross. All the lies, murders, rapes, and hatred of the world would stain His sinless soul. John 18:1-11.
July 5, 2020
Lord, Heal Our Land
June 28, 2020
Three Requests Jesus Prayed for You
June 14, 2020
The World’s MVP
David Dykes
PASCAL’S WAGER Is death the end and there is no afterlife as Dr. Stephen Hawking claimed or as Billy Graham said, is there an afterlife where we may spend eternity with God in a place called heaven? Both of them cannot be correct. And the most important decision in your short life is to decide which position is correct. John 17:1-12.
June 7, 2020
Moving from Sorrow to Joy
May 31, 2020
The Holy Spirit’s Job Description
May 24, 2020
How to Treat Your Friends and Enemies
David Dykes
THE FRIEND At the Last Supper, Jesus told His disciples that starting that night, He would call them friends, not servants. It is a revolutionary truth that we can be friends with our Creator. Abraham was called a friend of God. The Bible said Moses spoke to God face to face as a man speaks to a friend. When Jesus was told that Lazarus had died, He said, “Our friend, Lazarus has gone to sleep, but I’m going to wake him up.” John 15:12-27. Audio TBA.
May 10, 2020
Our Vine Line to God
May 3, 2020
The Promise of Peace
PAUSE FOR PEACE The world doesn’t understand peace. People talk about world peace, and that’s a noble goal. It’s always a good answer in a beauty contest. But according to an article in The New York Times, out of almost 4,000 years of recorded human history, there have only been about 200 years of peace—and those years of peace are just pauses for the armies to reload. John 14:27-31.
April 19, 2020
God’s Cure for Heart Trouble
ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY One reason people are on edge is because there is so much uncertainty. What if I, or someone I love contract the virus? Am I still going to have a job? Will I be able to retire? When will this pandemic be over? Will life ever be the same again? There is a lot of uncertainty in our world right now. If we just could get some kind of assurance that life will work out—then maybe we can hold on. I want to remind you than in the midst of so much uncertainty there are some things you can be absolutely certain about: God loves you and Jesus died to give you eternal life. John 14:1-11.
April 12, 2020
How’s Your Heart?
ON THE ROAD AGAIN After the two disciples who met Jesus on the road to Emmaus recognized him, they were so fired up they got up and returned to Jerusalem–seven miles. It’s uphill in that direction, but I can imagine they literally ran. What had been a road of despair was now a road of rejoicing. When they found the eleven disciples, they couldn’t keep silent. “It’s true! We’ve seen the Lord! He is ALIVE!” And there was celebration on the first Easter evening—and we’ve been celebrating ever since! Their hearts were on fire. The spark from one heart ignited the hearts of others. Luke 24:13-29.
April 5, 2020
How to Love Like Jesus Loves
MISTAKEN People make two big mistakes about what they think love is. Some think love is a feeling. Although love produces feelings, Jesus taught us that love isn’t a feeling, it’s a choice. He chose to lay down His life. Some people make the mistake of thinking love is some uncontrollable force. “I just fell out of love with that person.” You don’t fall out of love; you fall out of trees. Or they say, “I couldn’t help it, I fell in love with that person.” You don’t fall in love; you fall in holes. John 13:31-35.
March 29, 2020
The Danger of Pride and Pretense
COLLEGE DROPOUT Judas spent three years attending Jesus University. His mind was full of biblical truth. Judas heard all the parables and teachings of Jesus. He knew more about what Jesus taught than we do because only a small percentage of what Jesus did and said are in the Gospel accounts. Judas’ problem wasn’t information, it was transformation. He hadn’t been transformed. John 13:18-30; 36-38.
March 22, 2020
Clean Feet in a Dirty World
SECURITY Once you come to Christ, that relationship is secure forever. God is your Father and you are a child of God. Nothing can change the relationship. But as we walk in a dirty world, we sometimes still stumble into sin. So to stay in fellowship with the Lord we come to Him and regularly confess our sins to Him. John 13:1-17.
March 15, 2020
Facing Your Fears
MAMA BEAR MENTALITY Have you considered how love can drive out fear? There are several stories about supernatural courage and strength that takes place in a mother when her children are in danger of any sort. It is similar in our relationship: God’s love for us helps remove fear in our lives. Knowing that God loves us and that all things work together for good to them that love Him, we find strength to face fear with faith. 2 Timothy 1:7. Audio: David O. Dykes; Transcript: Michael Gossett.
March 1, 2020
The Magnetism of the Cross
POLAR OPPOSITES There are three different ways people react to the preaching of the cross. (1) Some are repelled by the thought of a messy, bloody cross. They want a nice clean, sanitary religion. (2) Others have no response. They have no interest in hearing about how a man died on a Roman cross two thousand years ago. (3) For many, the cross is like a magnet, drawing them to it. John 12:27-36.
February 16, 2020
Are You Just Living to Die or Dying to Live?
February 9, 2020
The Day Jesus Reigned on Their Parade
REDEEMER When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the Jews were looking for another military Messiah. But Jesus rode a donkey to show that He wasn’t a Hammer, He was a Redeemer. A radical revolutionary kills others for his cause but a loving Redeemer lays down His life so that others may live. John 12:12-19.
February 2, 2020
Getting in on God’s Economy in 2020
The 2020 Giving Challenge: Honor God and be blessed. Proverbs 3:5-10.
January 12, 2020
Who’s in Control Here?
January 5, 2020
The Lazarus Lesson
LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF FELLOWSHIP Jesus gave Lazarus life, then He gave Him liberty, and now Lazarus is enjoying a fellowship meal with Jesus. Some people think the Christian life is like a funeral but it’s more like a feast. He invites you from the spiritual tomb of your lostness to the spiritual table of fellowship with Him. John 11:28-44.
December 29, 2019
Jesus Turns Setbacks into Comebacks
WHEN YOU CAN’T JUST SIT THERE Sometimes when we experience a disappointment or a setback, we want to hide out and just be alone. It was part of the Jewish mourning custom that Martha should have stayed in her home sitting Shiva for seven days after Lazarus died. But when she got word that Jesus was on the way, she couldn’t sit still. She ran to Jesus. John 11:17-27.
December 8, 2019
God’s Delays Are Not God’s Denials
THE LAZARUS LESSON Jesus’ delay in going to Lazarus was a lesson He was trying to teach His disciples and us—that death is like sleeping. It is not to be feared any more than lying down and pulling up the covers under your chin to sleep. Jesus took the sting of fear out of death. John 11:1-16.
December 1, 2019
The Transforming Truth About Jesus
MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE The truth about Jesus isn’t just something to believe. It isn’t a set of facts to inform you, it is life-giving truth that transforms you. Belief that doesn’t affect your behavior isn’t true belief. If you believe Jesus is God it will affect the way you approach your marriage, your singleness, or being a parent or grandparent. It will transform your job, your hobbies, and how you handle God’s money. And believing in Jesus will affect your relationship with everyone you meet. John 10:29-42.
November 17, 2019
Keeping the MAIN Thing the MAIN Thing
The Great Commission. Matthew 28:16-20.
October 20, 2019
Once His Lamb, ALWAYS His Lamb
WORKING NON-STOP Have you ever started something you couldn’t finish? I have and probably so have you. But God has never started something He couldn’t finish. He began a good work in you and He will persevere until the day of Jesus: That means either the day you die and meet Jesus or the day Jesus returns. Either way, He won’t stop working on you. John 10:22-29.
October 13, 2019
What’s So Good About the Good Shepherd?
Jesus knew He was going to die, but He also knew the time and the place He would die. He was in complete control. That’s why He said He would lay down His life for the sheep. They couldn’t kill Him until He was ready to lay down his life. He said, “No man takes my life from me. I lay it down willingly.” John 10:10-21.
October 6, 2019
Jesus is the Only Gate to Heaven
IT’S PERSONAL Our Good Shepherd deals with each one of us individually. Have you noticed all the personal encounters Jesus had in this study? He was one-on-one with Nicodemus. He spoke to the woman at the well. He spoke to the paralyzed man at the Pool of Bethesda. He dealt personally with the man who was blind from birth. Jesus redeems individuals, not groups. John 10:1-10.
September 29, 2019
The Tragedy of Spiritual Blindness
September 22, 2019
The Blind Man’s Bluff
FRIENDS OR JESUS? So if you are going to stand up for Jesus, prepare to be rejected. Many Christians, especially young people and young adults, can’t resist the peer pressure. They want to be accepted by their friends, so they make a decision to reject the truth of the Bible to go along with the popular culture’s definition of truth. If you stand for truth, like this blind man did, you are going to be kicked out of the popular crowd. John 9:13-38.
September 8, 2019
Here’s Mud in Your Eye
August 25, 2019
Like Father, Like Son
SPIN DOCTOR The first recorded words of the devil are found in Genesis 3:1. He asked Eve a question. “Did God REALLY say you can’t eat from ANY tree in the Garden?” That’s not what God had said. So we see from the first that the devil tries to twist God’s words. And the devil always puts a question mark about the statements of God.
August 18, 2019
The Truth Will Set You Free; Or It Will Make You Mad
DEALING IN ABSOLUTES Today, truth is subjective and personal. People say, “There are no absolute truths. Whatever I feel to be true is my truth. And my truth may not be your truth.” But think about the contradiction. For someone to insist that there are no absolute truths is a statement of an absolute truth.
August 11, 2019
Kindness: Love in Action
August 4, 2019
Jesus: The Light of the World
THE JESUS FLASHLIGHT Just as we need a good light to read, we need the illumination of Jesus to empower us to understand the Word of God. Before a person comes to Christ, their understanding is darkened. But as they begin to truly seek the Lord, He begins to illuminate their minds. The light comes on. I’ve had people tell me they read the Bible for years and I couldn’t understand it, and then one day it was as if someone turned on the light and suddenly it started to make sense.” That is the illuminating power of Jesus.
July 28, 2019
Where Misery and Mercy Meet
What’s that in your hand today? Is it a rock and you find yourself being obsessed with a sense of always being cynical and hypercritical? You can’t have an open hand of grace as long as you’re holding on to a rock in your fist. The message the Holy Spirit has for some of you today is to drop your rocks.
July 14, 2019
Jesus: The Great Divider
June 23, 2019
The Secret of an Overflowing Life
If you want to know what’s filling a person’s heart listen to what they talk about. If it’s a certain music filling their heart, they’ll talk about it. If it’s a hobby like golf or horseshoes they’ll talk about it. If it’s the latest television series, they’ll talk about it. If their heart is full of Jesus, they’ll talk about Him. I don’t mean that’s all you’ll talk about—but if you never or seldom speak about Jesus, you need to check your heart.
May 26, 2019
When Jesus was in a Feast Fight
May 19, 2019
How to Handle Disappointments and Disagreements
Those who know God intimately have come to see that He often allows us to face adversity in order to conform us to the image of Christ. God determined from the beginning that we should be shaped into the image of His Son. Part of this plan involves the painful removal of those things in our lives that don’t reflect this image.
May 5, 2019
The Danger of Defective Discipleship
I can stand up here and say anything, but that doesn’t make it true. I can say, “I’m a tree. I’m a flowering pear tree.” And if I insisted on saying that you’d say, “No, you’re not a flowering tree. You’re a blooming idiot.” The reason I’m not a tree is that I don’t have the inner nature of a tree. A person can say, “I’m a Christian.” But saying doesn’t make it so unless they have had their hearts changed by Jesus.
April 21, 2019
The Fullness of Empty
The manger is empty so we can be filled with the truth about God. The cross is empty so we can be filled with forgiveness. And the tomb is empty so we can be filled with hope. To put it another way, the manger, the cross, and the tomb are all empty so that Heaven can be filled with people who trust Jesus.
April 14, 2019
The Wonder of Salvation
We live in a culture where the world, the devil and the flesh are doing everything possible to draw us away from Jesus. We can be drawn in two different directions. Have you ever been at the ocean and you’re in the surf near the shore? The waves are pulling you toward shore and the undertow is pulling you in the other direction. On the surface, there is so much in our culture trying to distract you and draw you away from Jesus.
April 7, 2019
The Great I AM: The Bread of Life
We live in a hungry world. Every creature has an open mouth wanting to be fed. From the baby bird in the nest to the eagle soaring in the sky; from the minnow in the creek to the whale in the ocean; from the mouse nibbling on a crumb to the mighty elephant in jungle; every creature has to be fed. In fact, most creatures in the animal world devote most of their lives to finding food. But physical food only satisfies us temporarily.
March 24, 2019
When Jesus Walks into Your Fears
When the disciples were caught in the storm at sea, they couldn’t see Jesus, but the good news was that Jesus could see the disciples. When you’re going through a dark struggle, you may look around and ask, “God where are you?” You may not think you can see God, but you can be certain that God sees you and He cares for you.
March 17, 2019
All You Can Eat…and MORE
In the miracle of the fishes and loaves, there were five thousand men, plus women and children. All of them had been following Jesus all day. It was late and they were tired and hungry. On the surface, you would think their main problem was a lack of food. But that was just the surface problem; there was a deeper spiritual problem.
February 24, 2019
Moses Knew About Jesus!
February 10, 2019
It’s GOOD to Know the Judge
There’s a great deal of misunderstanding of what eternal life is. Many of us grew up on the good old King James Version which often translated it “everlasting life.” So it’s easy to get the idea that eternal life is talking about a length of existence. Eternal life really is a quality of life.
February 4, 2019
Who is Equal to God?
I’m always looking for ways to help you understand how the Holy Spirit lives in you. I usually drink coffee in the morning, but a few weeks ago, I was in a restaurant for breakfast and I ordered a cup of hot tea. The server brought a cup of hot water with a tea bag on the saucer beside the cup. I unwrapped the tea bag and started dipping it into the hot water. In that moment, the power of that tea was infused into the water and it changed it. Within a few minutes, the plain, tasteless water was transformed into something totally different. It looked, smelled and tasted differently. Just having the tea bag beside the cup of water didn’t change anything. It was only when it was in the water that it infused it. I was reminded that I am totally incapable of reproducing the life of Jesus in my personality. In order to live the Christian life, His life and power has to be infused into my personality. When you put a tea bag in hot water, you don’t even call it water any more. You call it tea.
January 27, 2019
Do You WANT to Get Well?
Are you willing to leave your comfort zone to trust God completely? God didn’t save you to make your comfortable, but you make you obedient. You’ll never go on a mission trip is you’re not willing to leave your comfort zone. You’ll never start tithing until you are willing to leave your comfort zone. You’ll never start travailing in prayer until you are willing to leave your comfort zone. You’ll never vocally share your faith with others until you’re willing to leave your comfort zone. You’ll never volunteer to serve the Lord if you aren’t willing to leave your comfort zone.
January 20, 2019
Believing IS Seeing
January 13, 2019
A Dream of Fields
We are surrounded by people who are living miserable lives. They have no peace, no joy, and no hope of life getting any better. It’s our job to tell them, “You know, I used to be like that, but what a wonderful change in my life has occurred since Jesus came into my heart.” If you’ve been changed, you’ll want to share your story.
December 16, 2018
Living Water and Loving Worship, part 2
Sometimes we fall into the same trap of thinking that worship is about a place, practice, or posture. It is not. It’s about the Lord. We call this the Worship Center, but there’s nothing more holy or sacred about this place than your prayer closet where you worship the Lord all alone. Or there’s nothing more sacred about this place you’re your kitchen table where you have family devotions. My automobile is a worship center, because every Sunday morning on my way here I am singing praises to God.
December 2, 2018
Living Water and Loving Worship, part 1
Whether you are looking for satisfaction in possessions, pleasure, prestige, or power–you will never be satisfied. All those pursuits are like the liquid water Jesus spoke about: You can drink it and feel refreshed momentarily but you will still get thirsty again. But He offers something so radical and powerful that once you experience it, you will find absolute and total satisfaction.
November 25, 2018
Three Strikes and You’re NOT Out!
To borrow some baseball lingo, the Samaritan woman wasn’t close to being in the ballpark of the Kingdom of God. She was socially, racially, and morally way off base. But Jesus knocked it out of the park by telling her about living water. And for the Samaritan woman, it was a whole new ball game.
November 18, 2018
The Great Commission or the Great Omission?
October 21, 2018
Three “Musts” You Can Trust
The Pharisees not only had to keep the laws of the Torah, but also obey all the laws written to explain the laws of the Torah. For instance, it was determined that tying a knot on the Sabbath constituted work. But there was an exception. A woman could tie a sash around her waist to remain modest. So this exception led to a loophole. If a man needed to get water from the well on a Sabbath and the bucket wasn’t tied to the rope, he couldn’t tie the rope; that was work. But he could tie one end of a woman’s sash to the rope and the other end to the bucket. That’s a loophole.
October 7, 2018
Attitudes for a Successful Life
We don’t want to follow the example of these lousy best men. We want to be like John the Baptist. We are friends of the groom, and we should commit our lives to making the bridegroom famous. Remember it’s not about me and it’s not about you—it’s all about Jesus. And when you come to understand who you are in relationship with Jesus, all your other relationships will be healthier.
September 23, 2018
Come to the Light
Once we hear the truth about the good news of God’s forgiveness, it is like someone turning on a light in our soul. We’ve all seen the cartoons where a light bulb flashes on above a character’s head when they have an idea. That’s what happens when we receive the truth about Jesus. It’s like walking out of the darkness into the light. Suddenly, we can see everything clearly. Salvation occurs when Jesus moves us from the darkness into His glorious light.
September 16, 2018
Bad News–Good News
September 9, 2018
The Turning Point of Human History
The reason the Bible is such a long book is because God never gave up on us. It is the story of His repeated efforts to restore this loving relationship that our sin had broken. Otherwise the Bible could have been a short book. God created human beings because He wanted to love them. They didn’t love Him back. The end. But instead He kept trying and wouldn’t give up—and He won’t give up on you.
September 2, 2018
God’s Love: The Most Powerful Force in the Universe
August 19, 2018
Look and Live!
Here is one of the best examples of God’s grace in the Old Testament. The Israelites, who had a proven track record of rebellion, unbelief, and nagging didn’t deserve a cure for the snake bites. But because it is God’s nature, God graciously provided a means for healing. He had Moses make a brass snake and put it on a pole. Then God said, “Whoever looks at the serpent will be healed.”
August 5, 2018
How Many Times Have You Been Born?
July 22, 2018
The Third Temple Exists Today
Jesus cleaned house. He had the right to do it. It was the right of ownership. It was His Father’s house. If I come over to your house and it’s dirty, I’m not going to start cleaning it up. But I see something in my house that needs cleaning up I will take care of it as soon as my wife tells me to!
July 15, 2018
Jesus Saves the Best for Last
I like the fact that this was a quiet miracle. Because miracles don’t have to be loud to be miracles. There was no word of command, no hysterical shouting, no laying on of hands, or the binding of Satan. There was no hocus-pocus or mumbo jumbo. Jesus didn’t even touch the water. The water simply became wine.
July 8, 2018
Jesus: A Man’s Man
June 17, 2018
Look to the Lamb of God
June 10, 2018
John the Baptist: The Great I AM NOT
John the Baptist was a curious looking preacher. His attire was unusual, too. There was much about him that created curiosity as well. He had never cut his hair or beard. He wore a camel hair coat with a leather belt. He ate locusts and wild honey. Matthew and Mark tell us that huge crowds flocked out into the desert to hear him. Yet John the Baptist was so humble even he didn’t realize the full extent of how God was using him as the forerunner of the Messiah.
June 3, 2018
Full of Grace and Truth
May 27, 2018
Receive to Believe
May 20, 2018
Light and Life to All He Brings
Everyone you meet this week is in one of three positions regarding the light. Some are walking in the light as He is in the light. Those folks know the Lord. Some you meet aren’t walking IN the light, but they are walking TOWARD the light. They are interested in knowing the truth about Jesus. Your job is to lovingly point them to Jesus. But then you are going to meet some people who have turned their backs and are walking away from the light. And they are at risk of dying without ever finding the truth about salvation.
May 13, 2018
In the Beginning
May 6, 2018
Eleanor Rigby: All the Lonely People
April 29, 2018
Yesterday: What Do You Believe In?
April 15, 2018
Let it Be
April 8, 2018
Offering the Sacrifice of Praise
When it comes to praise, we can’t just THINK praiseworthy thoughts about God, we must express these thoughts with our lips—it must be verbal and vocal. It’s not enough to have a feeling of gratitude to God; you don’t complete the praise requirement until it is sung or spoken. An inner attitude of gratitude is the root of praise, but it doesn’t become praise it until it becomes the fruit of praise expressed by our lips.
April 1, 2018
Jesus Christ is the SAME Forever!
Is death the end and there is no afterlife as Dr. Stephen Hawking claimed? Or as Dr. Billy Graham said, is there an afterlife where we may spend eternity with God in a place called heaven? Both of them cannot be correct. And the most important decision in your short life is to decide which position is correct.
March 25, 2018
God’s Promise to Provide
March 18, 2018
Putting Your Faith to Work
God put us in this world to deliver his message to others. And we do this by putting our faith to work. Hospitality, prison ministry, and marriage may seem to be three random topics. But they all show us how believers relate to others. First, our relationship to strangers should be one of hospitality. Second, our relationship with prisoners and those mistreated should be one of compassion and caring. And third, our relationship in marriage should be one of commitment and purity.
March 11, 2018
The Unshakable Kingdom
March 4, 2018
Don’t Miss the Mountain!
Bitterness is created when you harbor a hurt in your heart. Love keeps no record of wrongs. Bitterness writes down every single slight and offense. Bitterness is like an iceberg. You can only see the cold top of an iceberg, but most of it is submerged Bitterness exists when you have a cold heart toward someone, yet most of the resentment is still below the surface.
February 18, 2018
Submitting to God’s Sandpaper
February 11, 2018
The Bible: Your Guide to Economic Freedom
January 21, 2018
Can You Trust the Bible? Part 2
Have you ever had this experience? You’re reading along in the Bible, and you are studying a passage of scripture you’ve read many times before. And suddenly, you see truth in that passage you had never experienced before. That has happened to me hundreds of times. Do you know what is happening? God is breathing life into His Word in your presence.
January 14, 2018
Can You Trust the Bible? Part 1
December 31, 2017
God’s Word Can Light Your Way
December 17, 2017
Consider Him Who Endured
December 3, 2017
The Race of Your Life
November 26, 2017
Faith to Endure Tough Times
October 29, 2017
Conquering Through Faith
October 15, 2017
Moving Forward By Faith
October 8, 2017
Moses: Choosing By Faith
Stephen tells us Moses was forty years old when he made a momentous decision. He could continue to live in palace and enjoy all fringe benefits of being the grandson of the Pharaoh but he decided to turn his back on the trappings of royalty and identify with the plight of the Hebrew slaves. He knew that choice would cause him to suffer alongside them.
October 1, 2017
Faith to Forge Strong Families
It wasn’t so much how Jacob started, but how he finished the race. Maybe you’ve left a trail of mistakes behind you as well. But God can change your life without changing your name. There’s still time to grab hold of His grace and let him turn you from a cheater to someone who is a blessing to others.
September 24, 2017
Longing for a Better Country
Every relationship you have here with Believers will be deepened and enhanced in Heaven. Yes, you will know your loved ones who are in heaven. You will maintain your distinct identity. People want to know, “How old will I be in heaven?” Ready for the answer? You will be the perfect age. And you will know people of faith in Heaven that you’ve never met before. You’ll get to ask David how tall Goliath really was. You can ask Jonah what it was like to sleep on a foam blubber mattress for three nights. You can ask Ruth to tell you her love story with Boaz.
September 17, 2017
Abraham: Waiting By Faith
Let’s face it. God must have an interesting sense of humor. He chose a couple of super seniors to begin his chosen nation. We know God laughs because Psalms 2 says that he who sits enthroned in the heavens laughs. If we had been making that plan we would have chosen a couple of young twenty-something’s.
September 10, 2017
Noah: An Unsinkable Faith
God has placed us in a wicked and corrupt culture and we are to do what Noah did. We don’t need to build an ark, because we already have one. Jesus is our ark who will carry us safely through the waters of God’s final judgment. So our job is to warn the people around us that there is going to be a final judgment against sin. And don’t be surprised if people mock you the same way they mocked Noah.
September 3, 2017
Abel and Enoch: Faith Forerunners
God didn’t primarily save us to serve Him. He has an innumerable company of angels to serve Him. He created us to have fellowship with Him. God doesn’t want you to think of Him as some impersonal force on the backside of the universe who doesn’t care about your life. He wants you to know Him intimately as a loving Father who cares about the details of your life. He wants you to walk with Him every day.
August 27, 2017
Faith 101: Believing is Seeing
Scientists have devoted centuries of studies trying to figure out HOW the universe was created. But the Bible isn’t so concerned with HOW it happened, it’s more about WHY God created the universe. Scientists aren’t even interested in the “why,” they just want to know the “how.” God created the heavens and the earth. Then He created plants and animals. And finally, His ultimate creation was a man and woman. If you can understand why God made them, then you can understand why God made you—it’s the same reason.
July 23, 2017
The Danger of Desertion
What’s the difference between a deserter and a disciple? It’s the difference between a son and a pig. A son may wander away from his father, but he will always be the child of his father and have his nature. Sons return, but pigs love the mud too much to leave. Believers sin, but we feel filthy when we sin. A make-believer can wallow in sin like a pig in mud and never feel bad.
July 16, 2017
The Best LET US in God’s Garden
We used to live in a world that was totally literal. You had literal friends and literal experiences. But today we live in a virtual world. You can have virtual friends and you can have virtual experiences. Some people today are looking for a virtual church experience but the writer of Hebrews stresses that we need to have a literal experience of gathering with other believers.
July 9, 2017
Make America Godly Again!
Let me give you three words to describe our culture without Christ. They are darkened, they are depraved, and they are doomed without Christ. There are fifteen blocks in Hollywood that feature 2,600 stars listing the names of people our culture calls stars. But in God’s accounting, the real stars are His children who allow the light of the word of God to shine through their lives.
June 18, 2017
The Faith of Our Forefathers
Our founders believed in absolute moral truth. They believed there is a basis of right and wrong. Truth is not relative. Truth isn’t what the King or the British Parliament decreed. The Bible teaches there is a God-given sense of right and wrong placed in every human heart: A conscience. This truth is self-evident.
June 4, 2017
Step Out of the Shadows of Legalism
Shadows are real, but they are dead. If I walked up to you to greet you and you tried to shake hands with my shadow I would infer one of two things: A) that you are probably crazy, or B) you like my shadow more than you like me. How the heart of Jesus must have been broken when some many of the Jewish people loved the shadow of legalism more that the substance of the Son of the Living God.
May 28, 2017
The Three Appearances of Jesus
May 21, 2017
The Scarlet Thread: What the Bible is All About
We see the important role that blood atonement plays in the Old Testament and the New Testament. This trail of blood redemption begins in the first pages of the Bible and goes all the way to the last pages of Revelation. As we trace this scarlet thread through the pages of scripture we will keep circling back to the key verse that speaks about the importance of the shedding of blood.
May 14, 2017
The Soul-Cleansing Power of the Blood
Some of you are on a life-long guilt trip, and that’s one trip you should cancel. Too many Christians lose their joy and effectiveness because they spend all their time looking in the rear-view mirror, regretting all their past mistakes. The reason that rearview mirror is so small and that windshield in front is so large is because where you’ve been isn’t nearly as important as where you’re going!
May 7, 2017
How to Live with a Clear Conscience
Have you ever told a lie? The first time you told a lie, you felt badly about it. But the next time you told it, the lie came a little easier. We have all known people who were so good at lying that they can look you right in the eye and lie without any sign of moral compunction or remorse. They have convinced themselves that telling a little lie is actually not so bad.
April 30, 2017
New and Improved!
Thank God we are no longer under the Old Covenant. God has given us a new covenant that is New and Improved. The faith of the Bible is all about newness. We read about it in a new Testament; we enter through a new birth; we become a new creation; we receive a new name; and one day we’ll live in a new heaven and a new earth. And on the last page of our Bible Jesus says, “Behold, I make ALL things new!”
April 23, 2017
God’s Temple: The Pattern for Reality
It is all seen in God’s affinity for the number three. In the Bible, numbers mean something. Three is the number of God. Of course, we know there is one God but He reveals Himself through His triune nature: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are created in God’s image in that we are a tri-unity as well. We are body, soul, and spirit. We are one person, but like the tabernacle pattern, we are comprised of three elements. This triune theme is repeated throughout God’s creation.
April 16, 2017
What IF They Found the Bones of Jesus?
In 2007, Discovery Channel aired a show called “The Lost Tomb of Jesus,” claiming Jesus’ tomb had been found. One of the most implausible things about the claims of this show is that IF Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had a son, what would be the odds of them naming him after the betrayer of Jesus, Judas? That would be as likely as a couple Holocaust survivors naming their son Adolph Hitler Goldberg. But on this Easter, let’s entertain the possibility that they found the bones of Jesus. What would it mean?
April 9, 2017
Jesus: A Better Bridge
How were people saved in the Old Testament? Not by keeping the law. They were saved the same way we are, by faith. They had faith in God’s plan for redemption. We know God’s plan for redemption is named Jesus. They couldn’t see Jesus clearly yet, but they had faith that God would deliver His people and forgive their sins. They had faith that God had a better priest, a better bridge, and His name was Jesus.
April 2, 2017
Mel-chiz-a-WHO?
Melchizedek was unusual because he was both a priest and a king. Later, when Israel had a king, the king could never be a priest, and a priest could never be a king. They came from two separate tribes. But Melchizedek was both. That’s why he is a great picture of Jesus. His name represented both righteousness and peace. And Jesus is the source of our righteousness and peace.
March 19, 2017
The Anchor Holds in Spite of the Storm
March 12, 2017
Two Unchangeable Things
February 19, 2017
Get Ready, Get Set, GROW!
Loving your neighbor as you love yourself simply means you see yourself as God sees you. You are fearfully and wonderfully made, but we are all made with flaws. But God loves us in spite of our imperfections. You and I are trophies of His grace. When you see yourself as a sinner saved by grace, but deeply loved by God, you are free to love others.
February 12, 2017
Can a Christian Lose Their Salvation?
I not only believe in the security of the believer, but I believe in the insecurity of the unbeliever. There might be people whose names are on a church roll but they haven’t darkened the doors of a church in decades. If they are hiding behind a “once saved always saved” belief, they are deceiving themselves.
February 5, 2017
Moving on to Maturity
January 29, 2017
Investing in the World’s Strongest Economy
January 15, 2017
The Power of Teamwork
January 1, 2017