Episodes
Sunday Nov 28, 2021
THE POWER OF COMMUNICATION (Proverbs 18:21-22)
Sunday Nov 28, 2021
Sunday Nov 28, 2021
Outside of loving the Lord, I believe communication is one of the most important things in our homes. Whether it is between you and your spouse, your children, your married kids and their spouses, or just people that you know, how you communicate is very important to that relationship.
Now, it may be that you think you married the wrong person, but it may also be that you have not married the wrong woman at all. It may be, instead, that you never really learned how to communicate with your wife and vice versa. I am convinced that the number one problem in marriage is communication. Now, whether you’re married or not, let me just say one of the biggest problems in life is communication, because many times, whether it is with our spouse, or our family, or our friends, many of us deliberately miscommunicate.
Prov 18:21-22
21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
22 Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord.
KJV
The highest form of fulfillment is sharing with someone else. Being fulfilled is not having things; it’s not doing things; it is sharing, whether that be with God or with someone else. Sharing is the highest form of communication.
Click on the link below to hear a message about what the Bible says about the power of communication. The secret to communication with anyone that you care about is to first get right with Jesus Christ. Accept Him, accept that He has accepted you, accept yourself, then accept others as Christ has accepted you. The power of communication is not about power at all, it is about using communication to share your love with others, the same love that Christ has shared with you.
Amen.
Sunday Nov 21, 2021
A TRUE FRIEND (Proverbs 17:17)
Sunday Nov 21, 2021
Sunday Nov 21, 2021
A TRUE FRIEND (PROVERBS 17:17)
Like most of you, I can count on one hand the number of true friends that I have had throughout my life, and still have fingers left over. A true friend is a gift from God, and it is something that we treasure because they are so rare. In today’s lesson, I am going to flip this around and talk about what we, you and I, need to do in order to cultivate and become a true friend to someone else. So, what do I mean when I say a true friend? Somebody has said, “A friend is someone who comes in when everyone else goes out.” If you want to know who your true friends are, face some real tragedy in your life, and then see who jumps ship, and who comes to be with you.
Prov 17:17
17 A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
KJV
A true friend will make you a better person. A true friend is faithful, and a true friend will care enough and love enough to confront you.
Now, for the believer, the best friend that we will ever have is Jesus Christ. Just think about the blessings of knowing Jesus and having Christ as a friend, and all of the things that it ultimately means to us. How His friendship for us lifts us to a new level, and the fact that we didn’t choose Him, but He chose us.
Now, let me give you something to understand. Grace is God’s acceptance of me. Faith is my acceptance of God’s acceptance of me. Peace is my acceptance of me. Love is my acceptance of you, and then, fellowship is your acceptance of me. Grace, faith, peace, love, fellowship—there’s an unbroken chain. We need to learn how to accept God’s acceptance of us so we can accept ourselves and so we can accept others.
Click on the link below to hear a message on what it means to be a true friend to someone else. As a Christian we offer eternal life with Jesus Christ in heaven. If this is truly our vision, then it is very important for you as an individual to have friends and to be a friend. But, if we are to bring more people to a saving knowledge of Christ, then we need to meet their needs, and one of the things that meets needs is that spirit of friendliness.
Amen.
Sunday Nov 14, 2021
THE DANGER OF PRIDE (Proverbs 16:18)
Sunday Nov 14, 2021
Sunday Nov 14, 2021
THE DANGER OF PRIDE (PROVERBS 16:18)
God talks about pride, or being proud, 97 times in the Bible, so this is a subject that God really wants us to understand what He thinks about it.
Prov 16:18
18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
KJV
Pride, more than any other sin, is holding back revival in our land, in our home, and in our church. Pride, more than any other sin is destroying homes and ruining happiness and joy in the home. Pride, more than any other sin, is undermining the foundation of America, this great nation that we love. Pride, more than any other sin, is causing Christians, born again people, to live lives of defeat. Pride, more than any other sin, is populating and filling up the place that we call hell. It is a dangerous sin.
But not only is pride a dangerous sin, it is a deceitful sin. Now, so many people do not understand that they have pride or what pride is doing to them. There’s a benefit at least to being a drunkard or a thief, as bad as that is. At least the drunkard knows he’s a drunkard. At least the thief knows he’s a thief. But the proud person says, “Well, if I had any sin, I’d confess it.” He doesn’t admit his problem. His pride, that is his problem, keeps him from admitting the problem.
Pride brings national ruin. Pride brings domestic ruin. Pride brings financial ruin. Pride Brings emotional ruin. Pride brings spiritual ruin and Pride brings eternal ruin.
Click on the link below to hear a message on five ways that pride can destroy your life. Pride is a dangerous, and a deceitful sin that’s doing more damage in homes, and hearts, and lives than any of us may dare dream. And every one of us, wrestles with the sin of pride.
Amen.
Sunday Nov 07, 2021
DISHARMONY IN THE HOME (Proverbs 15:13-22)
Sunday Nov 07, 2021
Sunday Nov 07, 2021
When a man and woman are married, there is to be what is called the “The Music of Marriage.” You have the husband, or the father, who is the leader of the band. It is the father who sets tune in the home. He is the leader of the band. Now the Music of Marriage requires that there be “Harmony in the Home,” and if there is to be harmony in the home, then husbands and wives must sing the same song, but they sing different parts. That’s what makes it harmonious, and not a mere melody, but wonderful harmony.
Now, this harmonious Music of Marriage occurs when we play the part that God has equipped us to play. So, husbands and wives are singing different parts of the same song, but hopefully they are singing in the right rhythm, so they sing it together. But, the message today is on this subject: “Disharmony in the Home” I’m really talking about tension in the home, and what can we do to deal with it. How can we have the harmonious music of marriage that God wants us to have?
As a young man I tried to learn to play the guitar, and I have dabbled trying to play the piano. I was not successful in either endeavor. I can’t seem to tap my foot to keep time and play the notes at the same time, and a metronome drives me crazy. But, playing the guitar did teach me a few things besides having sore fingertips. I learned that in order for the music coming from the guitar to sound harmonious, each of the strings have to be in tune. Now, to tune those strings you have to adjust the tension on it. If the string is not tight enough, then the music is flat and dull. But, if the string is too tight, then the music is shrill and high-pitched. But if the string is even tighter, the string will snap.
One of the major obstacles to the harmonious Music of Marriage is tension in the home caused by stress and strife. Stress is related to raising your voice, to raising your pulse, and raising your children. Listen, if you’ve got children, then you have stress just built in, and being in today’s home, the string can get mighty tight, and sometimes it can snap.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how God intends for you to deal with the stress in your home, and how you can have that harmonious Music of Marriage that God wants for your home.
Amen.
Sunday Oct 31, 2021
RIGHTEOUSNESS INCREASES FREEDOM-PART II (Proverbs 14:34)
Sunday Oct 31, 2021
Sunday Oct 31, 2021
This is Part II of a message that I began last week on how the Word of God teaches that righteousness increases freedom, and I put this in the context of what is happening today to this country that we love so much. We live in a time when the very foundations of our nation are being challenged, and in many ways those foundations have already been unalterably changed.
Alexander Hamilton said, “People get the kind of government they deserve.” This means that the government that we have is a reflection of the character of our people. If the government reflects the character of the people, then you are going to find that the greater the character of the people, the more freedom, the more liberty, those people will have. The less the character of the people, the less freedom, and the less liberty, those people will have. Another word for character is responsibility, because character is responsibility assumed.
So, what is the only hope for America? I want to state with all of the power of my soul that the only hope for America is found right here in God’s Word.
Prov 14:34
34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.
KJV
This is not merely what God has said in the past, this is what God is saying to any people, any nation. It is a universal truth from God, “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” Unfortunately, the country that we love has overwhelmingly chosen the path that is described by the last half of this verse, where it says, but sin is a reproach to any people. It is with a very heavy heart that I have to say America is no longer the godly country our founders created.
Now on July 4, 1776, there was signed in the city of Philadelphia a document we call the Declaration of Independence. Now it was independence from Great Britain, but what many people fail to understand is that this same document was a document of dependence upon Almighty God. Now, without a doubt, the politicians of today have forgotten that fact. But it was clearly, and plainly, a declaration of dependence upon Almighty God.
Look at the opening and closing paragraph of this document. It says this: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are … endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights.” It begins that way. But it closes this way: “With a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence …”—now, what is reliance? That’s dependence—“With a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence”—what is divine providence? That’s God—“With a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”
All of that was stated in the context of depending upon Almighty God. It was then that the cannons fired. It was then that the fireworks went off. It was then, in the old statehouse now called Independence Hall, that the Liberty Bell began to ring out freedom. And on that bell are inscribed these words from Leviticus 25, verse 10: “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land.”
In that document they said that God created us. Now, that isn’t what we can teach in schools today. But, our founders said in that document that God, as our Creator, gives us our rights, not the government. These are inalienable rights, like life, and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These have come from the Almighty, and not from government.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how our government, our constitution, began with a dependence upon Almighty God. And the Constitution was written by people of character, for people of character, and it will work for no other people. If we lose our character in the United States, our constitution will not work.
Amen.