Tag: Sermon

Sunday Scripture

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday March 08TH 2026, 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.

Volume 9, Number 2, Edition 402
“Hypocrites In Church”

“I don’t go to church because of all of the hypocrites there.”

And of course my response to that would be – “Yes, and we have room for one more.”

There are hypocrites in and out of the church, and we are all hypocrites in various ways.

Yes – every church has those congregants / members / attendees who appear to be perfect in every way. They may even tell you that they are perfect – if they are pompous enough. If they don’t tell you then they will try to show you perfection – at least for those 90 minutes inside the church. Before and after that – you can’t tell them from the world. They are going to church, and they are leaving from church. They are leaving the church behind. They are not being the church. They are not bringing the church in everything they do and everywhere they go.

Hypocrites are in great abundance. It is not a church problem. It is a human problem – in and out of the church. We are all flawed. We are all sinners. We are all hypocrites. We are all in need of God. We are all in desperate need of His grace and mercy. True believers and followers of our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ know that. A true believer and follower is one 24/7 – even when nobody else is around.

I like seeing and hearing the same version of my brothers and sisters of my church family during the week away from our church building as I do on Sunday mornings, Tuesday evenings, and Friday evenings inside our church building. I like honesty. I like humility. I like being yourself – while getting closer to God – His Way and His Word.

There is no perfect church. There are no perfect people in the church. If you believe that you may have finally found that perfect church – then don’t go there. You’ll ruin it for everyone there.

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 March 01ST 2026, 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.

Volume 9, Number 1, Edition 401
“Saved By God”

I was recently asked if one could be saved by God and not know it. The answer is yes. I am a prime example of that. I was rescued and saved by God at a particular moment at dawn during the latter portion of August of 2006, and I didn’t realize it until weeks later. Songs about Christ began playing on my car radio as well as Bible verses. I searched those Bible verses online. Yahoo and Google were my first Bibles before I was given a physical Bible. The more I heard song lyrics about God – the closer I got to Him. The more I searched and studied those Bible verses online – the closer I got to Him. Salvation started before I knew what it meant. But it didn’t take very long to realize it, as I was immersed in God’s Word.

19½ years later – at Thursday Night Bible Study here in my neighborhood – we’re currently reading and discussing 1 Peter. We hit one of my favorite verses – 1:23 – this past Thursday night. It was one of the earliest verses of Scripture that I heard on the radio and searched on the Internet in 2006:

For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal living word of God.

Once I understood that verse – I knew that I had been rescued and saved and born again.

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 February 22ND 2026, 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.

Last week was Anniversary Week here on my blog, and I observed it with #SundayScripture, #MusicMonday, and #TravelThursday. I’ve got one more anniversary to share with you today. This is the 8TH anniversary of #SundayScripture. It started 8 years ago on the final Sunday of February of 2018. This is also the 400TH edition of #SundayScripture.

But the origins of #SundayScripture actually go back to 2007 – when I previously wrote about my journey in Christ and my Sunday morning church experiences on MySpace, WordPress (this blog), Twitter, and Facebook.

And I’ll continue to do just that as I enter my 9TH year and into the 400s of #SundayScripture.

I was recently asked “what religion are you ?”. The quick and simple answer is that I am of no religion. I am not religious. I do not follow a set of manmade rules, regulations, and rituals to get to Heaven. Instead – I have a personal relationship with my Lord + Savior Jesus Christ that began 20 years ago in 2006. That’s when I called on His name to rescue me, save me, and come into my heart. That’s when I was born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. My new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal living word of God. (1 Peter 1:23)

Going to church will not get you to Heaven. Being nice to people will not get you to Heaven.

Jesus told Nicodemus – a Pharisee – this:
“I tell you the truth – unless you are born again – you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)

Are you born again ? Have you been saved ? Do you know what that means ? I’ll continue to share in the weeks and months to come.

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 February 15TH 2026, 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.

It’s Anniversary Week. I selected my current dream home in my dream neighborhood in my dream part of Florida exactly 3 years ago. It was the 5TH of 5 identical condos I looked at, and the nicest one of them all – fully furnished. I made a purchase offer on it, and it was immediately accepted. I moved in a month later, and my life began anew here in Sebring Florida. Thanks be to God for leading me here.

I was recently asked about tithes and offerings. I’ve been tithing for 19 years now – ever since the beginning of my 8-year stay at my first home church. I learned early on how important it is to tithe if you indeed call a church your home church, and you trust what they are doing financially.

At my first church the giving of tithes and offerings was an important part of every service. Its importance was specifically explained for a few minutes from the stage (often by myself), and then we passed around popcorn buckets (at the movie theatre) to place our tithes and offerings in.

At my second church we passed around more traditional baskets towards the end of the service as our worship band performed “Thrive” (by Casting Crowns). I then prayed over the financial resources that were received. After a couple of years I was given the liberty by the Senior Pastor to change it to a different process. We placed a large copper bowl at the base of the altar, and the church members placed their tithes and offerings – either in an envelope or loose – into the bowl at their convenience. We never talked about it during the service. (I believe that the process has changed back since my departure.)

At my current church we also don’t talk about tithes and offerings, but every so often we mention that there are wooden boxes hanging on the wall where you can place them. We are also transparent in that we reveal the total amount of tithes and offerings in our bulletin each week.

I’ve never preached a sermon on tithes and offerings – or fundraising – or prosperity. Back in October 2022 I preached a sermon titled “Give & Take”. It was about the balancing act between giving out (blessing) and taking in (receiving). I preached this:

You know it is quite the balancing act to “Give & Take” appropriately. I like these red letters in the Gospel of Luke (6:38):

Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full – pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”

That verse right there is used at a lot of churches to encourage you to give financially in tithes and offerings. I myself used that verse at my previous place of worship – because I was told to. I think it’s taken out of context in that manner. I don’t believe that this verse – straight from Christ Himself (in red letters) – is about money at all. It’s about behavior.

The verse before that verse says a lot about what Christ is really talking about:

Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven. (6:37)

We must be gracious in how we view our neighbor. Don’t judge them. Don’t condemn them. Do forgive them. You don’t want to be judged. You don’t want to be condemned. You want to be forgiven.

Luke 6:38 continues Christ’s message on action and reaction via human interaction. When you give – you will receive. If you give kind words – you will receive kind words. If you give compassion – you will receive compassion. If you give a helping hand – you will receive a helping hand. Gladly accept what is given to you. Take it. Use it. And give back even more. That’s a “Give & Take” behavior that our God will find good and pleasing and perfect.

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.