My Sunday School Teacher asked me yesterday if I still thought of God's promises when looking at a rainbow.  I do.  The declaration to Noah never to destroy the world by water is a testimony to the faithfulness of the Creator.I do remember God's promises when the rainbow appears, but not when i'’s raining.  My thoughts are preoccupied when the water that falls, the wind that blows, and lighting th...  Read More

1 Corinthians 15:50-57Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.  Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.  For thi...  Read More

The death of God the Son is the darkest moments in history.  Sin take it's full effect as Jesus suffers the Father's full force of judgment.  But Good Friday is not the last word.As you prepare to celebrate Easter be encourage by this sermon from S. M. Lockridge (March 7, 1913 – April 4, 2000).  He was the Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in San Diego from 1953 to 1993. Lockridge was known for his...  Read More

The week between Palm Sunday and Easter is often over looked.  We spend quality time looking at His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, the Crucifixion and the Empty Grave.  Between Monday and Sunday, Jesus was busy.  He issued challenges to the Jewish leaders.  He taught lesson on marriage in heaven, paying taxes, and His authority.  Jesus also spent much of this time preparing the disciple to live ...  Read More

Part of my childhood meant playing ball beside the church I attended.  It was a wonderful place to grow.  The building itself was tall and imposing.  Built two years after the Civil War, it has such a treasured history.  The windows of the church were amazing.  Towering over ten feet, they pieced together with stain glass and each one was dedicated to a former member who has served God so faithful...  Read More

1 Corinthians 11:17-34 But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse.  For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it.  For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you.  Therefore when you meet tog...  Read More

The HBC Sunday School Lesson for March 14th focus on the life of the "Prodigal Son".  I always thought the older son got a bad rap in this story. Luke 15 recounts the history of the two brothers.  The younger son wanted his share of the father’s estate "before the father died" (vs. 12).  That tells us of this young mans nature and character at the time.  The father agreed to the son's demand.  Jew...  Read More

My wife forbade me from doing laundry last week.  I was trying to help out.  The problem is not knowing how to help.  My idea of laundry is to put it all in a the same time and push start.  Apparently some items cannot be washed or dried together.  Who knew?I have been married for 25 years.  I am 47 years old.  I still can't figure out this laundry thing.  But I am not going to stop trying.  I wan...  Read More

"I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may reside in me" (2 Corinthians 12:9).Over the years I've learned to celebrate my imperfections. Indeed, I have a shopping list of imperfections that might read like an invitation to group therapy. And I'm OK with them now. But it took time.Growing up with a harsh father shaped much of my thinking about myself as a...  Read More

1 Corinthians 15:35-49But someone will say, "How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?"  You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else.  But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own.  All flesh ...  Read More

"My times are in Your hand" (Psalm 31:15).St. Patrick’s Confession (autobiography)My name is Patrick. I am a sinner, a simple country person, and the least of all believers. I am looked down upon by many. My father was Calpornius. He was a deacon; his father was Potitus, a priest, who lived at Bannavem Taburniae. His home was near there, and that is where I was taken prisoner. I was about sixteen ...  Read More

During one of the severe potato famines in Ireland, a number of families wrote letters to their landlord saying they had absolutely no money at all to pay their rent and begged to be let off all their debts. The Irish landlord was Canon Andrew Robert Fausset, born near Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Ireland, in 1821.Canon Fausset wrote back to his tenants. He said it was quite impossible to let th...  Read More