Tag: Ministry

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday December 21ST 2025, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great new day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ. Let us love our neighbor as ourself.

This is the 4TH Sunday of Advent of 2025. On this Sunday we receive and rejoice in God’s eternal love as we eagerly await the new Kingdom of God on earth.

1 John 4:16-17 NLT:
We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in His love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God – our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face Him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.

8 weeks ago I began transcribing my sermon titled “Apostle & Elder”. I preached it to my second church family on Sunday October 18TH 2020.

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8

Here’s Part 9:

You know we hear a lot about systematic racism in our country today. That’s become a trending phrase on social media and a talking point over the TV airwaves. But if you want to see systematic evil – look no further than the world out there. The worldview is that of systematic evil. It is opposed to Creator, Christ, and Spirit as One. It is against God’s believers and followers and His Kingdom here on Earth. It is anti-church. It is anti-Christ. It is under the influence of Satan.

The next time I’m blessed with the opportunity to preach a full sermon up here I’ll be preaching on “Satan & Hell”, and that’s actually the name of the sermon. I wrote it this past April and into May – during the peak of the pandemic – when everything was shut-down around us. It was actually supposed to be today’s sermon (next in line), but I wanted today’s sermon to be more uplifting, and more of a continuation of Pastor Bob’s current message series. Last Sunday Pastor preached on “Walking With God”, and the previous Sunday he preached on “Dwelling In The Presence Of God”.

My sermon today could’ve been titled “Living In The Truth Of God”. John The Elder reminds us to live in truth and love. We are commanded to love one another. We must remain in the teaching that God’s Word has taught us. We must know a deceiver – a false teacher – when we hear one. Always verify with God’s Truth.

[TO BE CONTINUED – NEXT WEEK]

My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture – whether it’s part of a sermon, a testimony, or just me writing about the events of the past week. Hopefully it encourages you and inspires you to seek the Lord – and get closer to Him with each new day.

If you wish to learn more about the God I know – then stay tuned to #SundayScripture. The best is yet to come !

Thank you for reading my blog for this day, and may:

The LORD bless you, and keep you.
The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you.
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.

Tags Bible, Blog, Christ, Christian, Church, Gaudete, God, Jesus, Message, Minister, Ministry, Pastor, Preacher, Reverend, Scripture, Sermon, Sunday

Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday December 14TH 2025, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great new day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ. Let us love our neighbor as ourself.

This is the 3RD Sunday of Advent of 2025. This is Gaudete (pronounced GOW-day-tay) Sunday. This is the day when we light the pink candle on the Advent wreath. Gaudete means “rejoice”. This day reminds us of the joy that is to come. We recall the hope we have because of the coming of our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ – our King of Kings.

As the Bible says in Paul’s Letter to the Philippian church:

Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again – rejoice ! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember – the Lord is coming soon. (4:4-5)

(And those 2 verses come right before these 2 memory verses. You know them.)

Don’t worry about anything. Instead – pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace – which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (4:6-7)

So Happy Gaudete Sunday. It’s Rejoice Sunday ! Rejoice today ! Rejoice every day ! Everyone say “rejoice” ! You are not guaranteed the next day, so if you wake up tomorrow – REJOICE !

This is the day that our LORD has made. Let us – do what ? – rejoice. Let us be glad in it.

7 weeks ago I began transcribing my sermon titled “Apostle & Elder”. I preached it to my second church family on Sunday October 18TH 2020.

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7

Here’s Part 8:

Most bible-believing churches today are open churches. They allow anyone to walk-in and be a part of the celebration within. You can walk-in off the streets, have a seat anywhere, and sing along to the songs, and listen to the sermon. No questions asked. Free admission.

We’re an open church. Anyone and everyone is invited here. And we should show hospitality to anyone and everyone who enters through those front doors – whether we invited them, or we don’t yet know them. We should show them that they are indeed welcome here – to praise – to worship – to pray – to listen – to take-in God’s Word.

That new person that walks in here – we could be saving their life. We could be resurrecting their fantastic journey. That’s what happened to me in March of 2015 when I first walked through those front doors. I only knew Marge. I didn’t know anyone else here. I was looking for another church body in Homestead to celebrate Christ with – to rejuvenate my walk with Christ. I found it.

During that valley – on my journey – in 2015 – when I was burnt out – when I decided that I could do no more, or go no further in my leadership roles – I could’ve left my previous church body, and kept on walking – right back into the world – right back to where I was some 9 years earlier.

I could’ve done that, but that really wasn’t an option for me. The Spirit within me spoke to me. God’s Truth spoke to me. John’s first letter to the church spoke to me:

But you belong to God – my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people – because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God – they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception. (1 John 4:4-6)

[TO BE CONTINUED – NEXT WEEK]

If you wish to learn more about the God I know – then stay tuned to #SundayScripture. The best is yet to come !

Thank you for reading my blog for this day, and may:

The LORD bless you, and keep you.
The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you.
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.

Tags Bible, Blog, Christ, Christian, Church, Gaudete, God, Jesus, Message, Minister, Ministry, Pastor, Preacher, Reverend, Scripture, Sermon, Sunday

Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday December 07TH 2025, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great new day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ. Let us love our neighbor as ourself.

This marks the 1,500TH blog post since the great reboot of January 2018 when I brought this blog over from Facebook. It’s a pleasure to continue this tradition each week – with #TravelThursday, #SundayScripture, and #MusicMonday.

Last Sunday I got to enjoy a church service at my family’s new non-denominational church in Sachse Texas. Several months ago they left their Catholic church (and religion) behind and experimented with a new type of church for them. They loved it at first sight – the spacious building, the loud worship music, the relevant message from the Pastor, the friendly and down-to-earth people, etc. My brother told me about it after their first service, and I’ve been watching their services online ever since. It was fun being a first-time guest in-person, but already familiar with the church.

This morning I’m back at my own home church for the first time in 2 weeks. It’s the first Sunday of December, so I’ll be leading Communion.

6 weeks ago I began transcribing my sermon titled “Apostle & Elder”. I preached it to my second church family on Sunday October 18TH 2020.

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6

Here’s Part 7:

Anyone who wanders away from this teaching has no relationship with God. But anyone who remains in the teaching of Christ has a relationship with both the Father and the Son. (2 John 1:9)

See when you wander away from the Truth – when you start to listen to the deceivers of the world – when you start to believe things that aren’t in the Bible – your relationship with God diminishes to nothing. You’re moving further away from God until you can no longer see the light. God didn’t leave you. You left God. But he’ll wait for you – in case you come back to Him. And He wants you to come back to Him. He’ll welcome you back with arms wide open.

Don’t let anyone or anything ever come between you and God.

If anyone comes to your meeting and does not teach the Truth about Christ – (then) don’t invite that person into your home, or give any kind of encouragement. Anyone who encourages such people becomes a partner in their evil work. (2 John 1:10-11)

So back in the First Century churches met in private homes. And John was instructing his fellow believers and followers of Christ to not allow anyone to teach anything in their homes that goes against the Apostle’s teachings. He said don’t even let them in. If you let them in then you’re just as bad as them.

You know the same applies in today’s church. We still have church bodies that meet in private homes. Today we call them “small groups” or “life groups”. They are like groups of small churches within the bigger church. They meet once a week – usually during the middle of the week.

I was part of several “life groups” – almost continuously – for about 8 years with my previous church family. Everyone was welcome to attend these life groups in select homes around Homestead. The sizes of the life groups were restricted, so you had to register for them.

Everyone was allowed to testify on what God has done for them, but not everyone was allowed to teach. Only those brothers and sisters who believed and knew and understood God’s Word were allowed to teach to the others. Did we occasionally have non-believers, and non-followers attend these life groups ? Of course. They didn’t teach. They listened. They absorbed. They took-in the Word of God. In most cases they eventually – with time – became believers and followers and YES – some even became teachers and leaders within the church.

[TO BE CONTINUED – NEXT WEEK]

If you wish to learn more about the God I know – then stay tuned to #SundayScripture. The best is yet to come !

Thank you for reading my blog for this day, and may:

The LORD bless you, and keep you.
The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you.
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.

Tags Bible, Blog, Christ, Christian, Church, God, Jesus, Message, Minister, Ministry, Pastor, Preacher, Reverend, Scripture, Sermon, Sunday

Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday November 30TH 2025, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great new day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ. Let us love our neighbor as ourself.

Tonight marks my 38TH anniversary as a Florida resident. I arrived at Homestead AFB as a 20½ year old during the early-morning hours of December 01ST 1987. I lived near or in Homestead for the next 35 years (aside from 19 months after Hurricane Andrew). I’ve lived near Sebring for the past (almost) 3 years. It’s my forever home.

This also marks the 18TH anniversary of the arrival of this blog here on the WordPress platform. It moved here from Myspace. Aside from a 7-year hiatus when this blog was on Twitter and Facebook – it’s been here ever since. I brought this blog back to its original home almost 8 years ago – where it has thrived. Next #SundayScripture is the 1,500TH blog post since its resurrection here on WordPress in January 2018. (That includes #TravelThursday and #MusicMonday posts.)

I’m in Wylie Texas this morning. We’ll be headed over to Northplace Church in Sachse later. It’ll be the first time in my entire life that I’ll attend a non-denominational church service with my family.

5 weeks ago I began transcribing my sermon titled “Apostle & Elder”. I preached it to my second church family on Sunday October 18TH 2020.

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5

Here’s Part 6:

And so John writes to us in his letter that if a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body – (then) that person has the Spirit of God. But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus – (then) that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist – which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here. (1 John 4:2b-3)

Jesus Christ came in a real body. God became flesh in Christ. He is both fully man and He is fully God. He is the Christ. He is the Son of God.

That’s the Truth then. That’s the Truth now. That’s the Truth forever. See when you have the Spirit of God within you – the Spirit teaches you the Truth – so that you can go and tell the Truth to others – so that you can spread the Gospel – so that you can evangelize. We are commanded to be messengers for the messages of the Holy Spirit.

(In red letters) Christ said, “When the Spirit of Truth comes – He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own, but (He) will tell you what He has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring Me glory by telling you whatever He receives from Me. All that belongs to the Father is mine. This is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever He receives from Me.’” (John 16:13-15)

You know we believe in the Holy Trinity – our 3-in-1-God – Creator, Christ, and Spirit as One. I reiterate that Truth every time we observe and celebrate Communion. Creator, Christ, and Spirit as One work in perfect harmony.

The Holy Spirit continues the work of Christ by advising us, and defending us, and protecting us on our day-to-day journey. The Holy Spirit maintains Christ’s presence in the world. The Holy Spirit guides the judgment of the world.

Beware of false prophets – in and out of the church. Beware of the spirit of deception who lives in the world. Rely on the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.

[TO BE CONTINUED – NEXT WEEK]

If you wish to learn more about the God I know – then stay tuned to #SundayScripture. The best is yet to come !

Thank you for reading my blog for this day, and may:

The LORD bless you, and keep you.
The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you.
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.