Many weeks ago now our Pastor preached  the Sermon on the Mount.    Since I've been doing much studying along these lines the last few months I decided to put my notes from his sermon down here along with some of my own thoughts.  I believe there are two ways, two crowds, two behaviours that eventually lead to two destinations.  According to a recent poll 98% of people believe (think) they are going to heaven.  Well that would mak...

Most everyone is familiar with the story of the shepherds watching over their flocks the night angels came to announce the birth of the Messiah.   He would be born in a little town of Bethlehem.  Shepherds.  Flocks.  Sheep.  Lambs.   Metaphors abound using these terms in scripture.  Shepherding was a big part of everyday life for the Jew.  Biblically speaking, the writers of scripture frequently used shepherding imagery depic...

There's been increasing discussion over the differences between Islam and Christianity.  Are they basically the same, just different religions?  Do they worship the same God?  Are their basic tenets the same with just a few variables?  I see major differences between the Islamic faith and the Christian Faith.     How tolerant is the Muslim faith?  How does it compare to the tolerance of the Christian faith? Are they both equally intolerant of a...

We just got back from a National Preaching Conference in Orlando and my head is still swimming with all the great preaching we heard from some of the greatest preachers of our day.  We spent the weekend with the likes of R.C. Sproul Sr. & Jr., John MacArthur, Allistair Begg among others.   They said there were more than 4,000 in attendance. The subject matter was of a great variety answering some of the most perplexing questions concerning philosophical and theological...

Eve led her husband into rebellion against God, and he allowed her to do so.  So now what?  Well we do know the first thing they did was hide.  From each other and then from God.  They sewed themselves clothing the best they could from fig leaves.  And they waited.  Genesis 3:8-11 says: "And they heard the voice of God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the ga...

Everything changed in the Garden of Eden after the tempation.  It started out so well but ended so awful.  All because Eve entered into a discussion with a serpent showing us that entering into a discussion with the devil is always a bad idea.  Genesis 3:1 says: "Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord god had made.  And he said to the woman, 'has God said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"  So why was it ...

Last weekend I was asked to speak at a woman's luncheon for Mother's Day.  When I inquired as to what they wished for a subject matter they left it up to me.  So I thought about it for a day or so.  Then I came up with Eve.  Why not?  Afterall she was the mother of us all.  Since I've never heard a Mother's Day Sermon on this topic I decided I'd tackle it myself.    Woman are important to God and He makes that very clear thru His written Word. ...

I want to tell you a true story.  It's ancient history now but it's a beautiful story of God's love for all mankind.  God looked down, saw a mess and knew something had to be done to reconcile us to Him saving us from what would be a terrible end otherwise.  It all starts with a man called Abraham.  Years after the events of the original story James wrote this:  "Was not Abraham, our father, justified by works when he offered Isaac his son upon the altar...

Warfare is a word we are all familiar with.  We understand what doing battle means.  It involves weapons, tactics, tenacity and death.  The one who fights wisely not depending solely on power and strength usually wins whether it be a war against terror or a battle between a man and a woman within the bonds of marriage.  There's another war we don't hear of in the news.  It's a spiritual warfare, and it's just as real as the physical battles we fight eve...

Someone recently asked me what I thought of a doctrine out there called Generational Curses.  I'm not sure how many have heard of this teaching before but there's a movement that's been around for some time to go back into the past and dig up previous memories and history hoping to find answers for present problems.  As a result,  marriages have been destroyed, relationships put to the test and many other bad things have resulted in such practices. ...

Things I Have Learned by John Piper Since my father died, I have been looking through his papers. I found a small sheet with the following fifteen counsels, titled "Things I Have Learned." He didn't make most of these up. Some of them go back to his college days when he was absorbing the pithy wisdom of Bob Jones Senior. They have again confirmed the obvious: I owe my father more than I can ever remember. The comment after each one is mine. Things I Have Learned 1. The right road al...

I just found out something interesting today.  I didn't know this.  Did you know the Vatican not only has a Chief astronomer but also has a Vatican Observatory near Rome?  What is a church doing in the business of Astronomy?   Who's paying for all this?  Anyhow the Vatican has just come out to say that aliens could exist.  Here's the whole scoop!   "The Pope's Chief astronomer says that life on Mars cannot be ruled out.  Writing ...

I've noticed the last few months that there's been a renewed interest in the end times or some say "end of the world."  I've noticed this not only in the preachers preaching from the pulpit but also in the in the form of entertainment such as TV movies and movies playing at the theaters.   Included in all this is the talk about 2012 being the end of the world with a movie coming out about that as well.  For some of us the end of our world c...

Since ancient times there hasn't been a piece of Real Estate more fought over than that little parcel of land, no bigger than the state of RI, in the Middle East that we now call Israel.  To understand the conflict over there is to understand history.  This land has passed hands countless times even well before the Romans had control over it in the first century and has continued ever since.  Much blood has been shed in that region, more than any other, well before their...

For centuries many have speculated over who the antichrist would be.  Many pointed to the tryants of yesteryear as the man of perdition but they would come and go and we'd go on to the next bad guy who surely must be the man of the hour.  Many movies in recent years have been attributed to him and many speculate on the when and who still today.  Many, as I do, believe he's among us today.  He wouldn't even know he's the man appointed for this task yet. So wh...