Posts from 2017

Forgive me folks, I am going to be a touch lazy this week and allow the Word of God to speak for itself (should do this more often I suppose).  I really love Saint John, I always see him as the romantic of the New Testament authors.  What I mean is that St. John uses a beautiful form of prose to show that Jesus is all the Glory of God made human.  This Glory was before…

I hope that all who will read this already know that Christianity is about relationship with God, our Father.  A Purpose among several of Jesus coming into this world was to bridge our self-induced gap between us and God.  The Father wants nothing more than to be in relationship with us, for this He created us.  What I think is necessary to understand more practically is…

“Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke‬ ‭2:10-11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬) I love Christmas.  I just love it.  I love the hustle and bustle, I love the gifts, and I love the fellowship.  And how could I…

“… His mother kept all these things in her heart.” (Luke‬ ‭2:51‬ ‭NKJV‬‬) St. Luke’s narrative of Jesus’ life is pretty amazing when considered. We should remember that Luke, the author, was a gentile not a Jew, most likely from Antioch in Turkey.  How much he knew of all these events prior to his Call to write this Gospel is guess work, but the best guess is that…

“We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks! For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near.” ‭‭(Psalms‬ ‭75:1‬ ‭NKJV‬‬) With this being the end of the month of Thanksgiving I would like to share three things I believe Christians in the United States have to be thankful for: 1.  The Bible translated into our languages, I include Spanish here because I love it.…

Here is a little Thanksgiving fun.  Demonstrations of thanksgiving from Moses, David, Christ Himself, and Paul.  I am thankful for each of you and for Emmanuel Baptist (and Hurricane as well). “And when you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the LORD, offer it of your own free will.” ‭‭(Leviticus‬ ‭22:29‬ ‭NKJV‬‬) “That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving, And…

“Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.” (‭‭John‬ ‭9:3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬) I know that I have talked about it, but I honestly do not remember if I have written about an event I experienced this past Summer. I was in my truck getting ready to go into Staples and I heard a knock on my door. It was a well-spoken…

This morning through Thursday morning is 24 Hours of Prayer for Emmanuel Baptist Church.  I ask that each of you take time during the next 24 hours to pray that the Spirit guides and that the Spirit challenges at Emmanuel Baptist.  I ask that whether you attend with us or elsewhere that you pray for our Church.  Here are a few thoughts for the next 24 hours drawn from…

“And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.” (‭‭Matthew‬ ‭17:3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬) Running within the Grand Narrative of the first five books of the Bible is a biography of Moses.  Is he not a fascinating guy?  He grew up rich and lost it.  He made something out of nothing in the desert, only to then be Compelled by God to go back into Egypt and take…

For about a week I have been completely immersed in Ron Chernow’s new biography of General/President Grant and there is a very useful example for us in it.  It is common for even good historians to portray Grant simply as a man who liked to drink alcohol and liked to drink it too much.  This is misleading.  Grant, more than anyone else, knew that he alone could not…