A Place Of Grace

LIGHT… it is just fitting around this time of year. In the winter months we seem to miss the light more than ever. In our home we have a tradition where we load up in the car, sometimes we pack hot chocolate, we turn on Christmas music and we go driving around looking for Christmas lights. Something…

Love … a word that has such a vast range of meaning whether in the scriptures or in our culture today. I love a good cup of coffee early in the morning as the sun is coming up or as the snow falls to the ground I love a tender steak grilled just right with a side of mashed potatoes and grilled corn with…

We come to the Advent or Coming of JOY… HOW DO DEFINE JOY??? That which brings gladness It is something found in the heart of a person The heart's state of BEING It is a condition of the heart (it is an emotion, something felt) It stems from a CAUSE or SOURCE!!! Here is a question to begin with today...…

On this Sunday looking at the Advent of Peace… I have posed a question. Is PEACE Attainable?… I ask this question on your behalf because of my childhood. My understanding of things warped how I viewed the scripture and things God stated in His Word. When I think of Peace… (or love and joy) the song,…

Growing up, moving all over traditions seemed to be few. One tradition I have discovered that many celebrated in thier church growing up was Advent. Since I never have I thought it might be interesting to approach this season in my preaching looking at Advent. During this Season we will look at: Hope,…

When we take time to look at the world we live in, even just in the recent past year you see: Unrest in the middle east and around the world There are school shootings, mass shootings, assassinations Christians are slaughtered around the world for thier faith We continue to see the mass murders of unborn…

Today as we get near the end of our CORE Church Concepts series we will be looking at the concept of Family and the church as a FAMILY OF FAMILIES. I felt it would be fitting to introduce you to my family… [ FAMILY PHOTO ] This here is our bunch… introduce [ WEDDING PHOTO ] Our family started on January…

The Church… to this I am referring to the people of God. Those who have placed thier faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, trusting in Him for thier salvation. To those followers of Christ, it is Christ who is building His church, drawing to Himself those who are lost in sin. Scripture at various…

A new family walks into the church. They are new to town, they have a few kids elementary age and one teenager… WHAT ARE THEY LOOKING FOR? A newly retired couple walks through the doors on a Sunday morning. Excited about this new stage of life... WHAT DO THEY HOPE FOR IN A CHURCH? A young single newly…

As the oldest of six children, you may be shocked to know that I was (sometimes, ok maybe frequently) the reason for disagreements among us siblings! As oldest I should decide… I knew best… or I didn't want to… You get the picture… and each time my mother would direct me to a passage of scripture ( read,…

Good health is not always indicated by the absence of disease, some infirmity, or negative conditions in one's life. Good health can also refer to what is present and observed. An area in the believer's life that can be observed and serve as a VITAL SIGN of their spiritual health is prayer. Frequent…

“Context, Context, Context…” our youth give me a hard time because I say this so often. I also often say of our youth… “our youth are not the church of tomorrow, but rather the church of today!” Imagine saying something so frequently people use the statement “ Remember what Jesus would always say...…

As we look at these CRORE Concepts for the Church… you will begin to notice how many of these Concepts overlap. Christ is building His Church, and instruction in scripture is interwoven together to build a strong, healthy church body. IF we are to be strong and healthy, THEN there needs to be healthy…

There was a statement I read the other day that bristled the hair on my neck and then I realized that it may actually be true… well, for America anyway: “ The Bible is the world's number one best selling coffee table book ” Many coffee tables/end tables have a dust outline Sadly Christian lives and homes…

When my family moved here in 2011 we noticed a foundation that had been laid over by Wal-Mart. Not having much knowledge of the area or history we watched the foundation area in expectation and wonder of what we might see be built. And we waited, and waited and waited… Christ is building His Church……

Paul would write to the church in Romans 10:13-14 these words… and Paul ask some good questions… HOW can they believe without HEARING? HOW can they HEAR without someone TELLING or sharing with them?! Paul would write to the Ephesian church that it is the Pastor's job to: “ EQUIP the saints for the work…

This is the last Sunday I will be sharing my heart concerning the things God really laid on my heart and challenged me with over my sabbatical. While away I definitely had my concerns for those I shepherd, I prayed faithfully for you, but God gave a peace as well. He is the One ultimately in control,…

I WAS TERRIFIED… as I stood there, a 14 year old young man, shy, and not a huge fan of doing anything upfront of people, I opened up this Bible to deliver my first sermon! There was this pastor… Charlie Hornick who was convinced I could do this. Shaking in the knees and I am sure voice as well I read…

Gratitude... Thank you for these last seven weeks of rest. I am overwhelmed by the grace and love of this church and our leadership that you allow your pastor to take a sabbatical every seven years. It was a blessed time / very restful I was able to read some books that I have desired to for some time…

Being a father and watching my children step into this phase of adulthood has given opportunity to observe the things they have learned. Some things I thought were being taught through observation I soon realized I needed to further instruct upon... Driving skills… / Filling up a gas tank!!! Some things…

Thank you… For the opportunity to take this sabbatical. I look forward to this time of refreshment and the ability to be able to focus on areas that I have wanted to give attention to. I am truly grateful that you my church family are giving me and my family this gracious blessing. Excited for our church...…

“ Everything will be ok in the end. If it's not, it's not the end. ” Well… we have come to the end of our study of this amazing book of Revelation. 33 sermons ago this study began, as we recognized and set the focus of our study… set forth in Revelation 1:1 “ The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God…

They say say that a picture is worth a thousand words… In our passage today, John sees somethings visually that is difficult to find words for to describe! In order for us to visualize what he is seeing John writes down for us 611 words. Johns words will immerse us in a tour given by an angel as he has…

As I realized we would be honoring our graduates this Sunday, I looked ahead to where I would be in the book of Revelation curious what I would be preaching on… and noticed it would be the topic of ETERNITY . At first I thought, “ Well , that's a heavy subject matter ” but as I thought about it more…

The late Charles Dickens begins his novel “Christmas Carol” with these opening words: Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. … Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail. … There is no doubt that Marley was dead. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can…

The role of PARENTING is under attack these days. BOTH roles of Father and Mother are vital roles and both in our society have recieved pointed attacks. The war rages more and more each day! Europe has already relegated these roles to (Parent 1 and Parent 2). The family institution (Father, Mother, Child,…

Communion Jesus shared with His disciples that we are to remember Him as often as we come together… this is done when the bread is broken, the cup is drank. He left us beautiful pictures to look back and remember: His body broken for you and me His blood shed for the atonement for our sin This is also…

Jesus defeated sin and death at the cross. We had the blessed celebration of that last week. Jesus would say That “ God so loved the world He gave His only Son ” Because of this, Jesus as He ascended into Heaven would declare. “ Go into all the world and make disciples ” But Jesus would also warn His…

The book of Acts records for us that the apostles were sharing Jesus Christ risen from the dead and because of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection… there was forgiveness of sin! The religious leaders were not happy with this message that they were spreading… and wanted to stop them! One of them however…

An amazing week was coming to a close, Jesus had taught such a great deal, declared so many amazing things. NOW … it was passover, the greatest of all Jewish Feast and Celebrations!!! Jesus had celebrated with His disciples this occasion before but He was specially looking forward to this one. The Meal…

The Lure… a decoy intended for capture… it is something artificial intended to look real and appealing, very attractive. The way it moves and looks catches the eye It appeals to the senses and sparks interest Once it catches the attention it draws in its prey, seducing it The prey draws closer, mesmerized…

I Have a “ God Box ” … I made mine small, bright so it would grab my attention, I even labeled it so I would know and remember. Some of you are judging me right now Some of you are thinking, “My box is much bigger” Some of you are wondering, “why so small?” Some of you are thinking, “I don't put God…

During my trips to Africa I experienced worship a little different than we engage in worship here… I recall one of the songs we sang was over ten minutes long! In that song they sang about all they were grateful to God for. One of the ladies in one church gave me a CD they had made of their worship songs……

There has been a real struggle since I stated this series. Please pray for me, it is sometimes daily, but consistently weekly… MY WIFE keeps referring to this book we have grown to love and have been studying together as REVELATION (S) … the struggle is real and I have come to the conclusion she is doing…

We zoomed in from the large panning of the global wrath of God to focus in on some details and key individuals of this tribulation period. We observed the cosmic conflict that has raged over time between the WOMAN Israel, The DRAGON Satan himself, and the MALE CHILD Christ Himself. God sent His Two Witnesses…

Our Labrador will do everything in her power to run and jump in a pond, lake, or river. She loves the rain and snow, sprinklers are a fun toy for her… YET , you mention the word “ BATH ” and her ears go back, her tail goes between her legs and she does all she can to hide. It is a similar impression…