PASTOR'S ARTICLES FROM 2024

I could go on and on about amazing stories of coming to, and growing in faith. Maybe one of those stories is yours, as God changed your life through the extended hand of a woman in need. Was it the birth of your child? The explosion of a sunset? The impassioned sermon that moved all? The dull sermon that moved none but you?

Max Locado poses a wonderful question at the beginning of his sermon “For Longer Than Forever”. He asks, “Why do you love your children?” And then he goes on to answer all the reasons that God should not love us. God gives us every breath we breathe, but do we thank Him?

When we think about our own lives, we must admit that life can get pretty messy at times. When we look at it this way, we could say that Christmas is the answer to life’s most important questions.

I have challenged my congregation to celebrate Christmas daily, but I never imagined one would do it this way. Today I want to challenge you with being a peacemaker.

Many parents know how difficult getting their children to practice their instruments can be. One mother was the piano player at her church. She always hoped her son would learn to play the piano. He wanted to go outside and play ball with the boys. To try to entice him, she said, “You know, the greatest message ever told to the world can be found on a simple scale. Play the C major scale.” He did but complained there was no message. Then she said, “Now, play it backward.” He did but didn’t hear any message. She said, “Now, add the pauses on the first, second, fourth, sixth, seventh and last note.”

Think about each of these traits that reveal Christian maturity: Compassion, Kindness, Humility, Meekness, Patience, and Forgiveness. Pick two of them and choose an activity you can do to model them as a Thanksgiving gift to your family.

Toxic people that make our lives difficult come and go. Have you ever wondered if they were sent by God to teach us how to love our enemies and pray for our persecutors?

God has truly blessed our nation, and the military men and women who serve our country need every prayer we can lift up on behalf of their protection and protection over their marriages and families.

In Matthew 17:20 Jesus says, “For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Have you ever experienced paralyzing fear? What are you most afraid of? Do you fear for the safety of family members? Does your fear help protect them? What other things are you afraid of? Take time and be honest. Say a prayer and give those fears to God.

Have you ever thought about Jesus’ prayer life? The Gospel of Luke gives us the clearest picture of Jesus’ prayer life. In it, he reveals that Jesus prayed about everything and that His prayer life was active and important to His ministry.

Who do you need to ask for forgiveness? Who do you need to forgive? Don’t wait. Start praying for God to open doors to experience the power of forgiveness.

When I first came to LaGrange, one of my church members was always quoting Zechariah 4:6, “So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, a father of two, has a new public health warning that parenting may be hazardous to your health. The advisory paper is called “Parents Under Pressure,”

Can you think of a time you followed your heart and knew your heart was right, but it turned out badly? Do you know how to discern the will of God when you have a sense you need to stop listening to your heart? Is there someone in your life that knows God with a mature faith, that can help you when you are tempted to follow your heart?

Do you think you trust God with everything? Can you think of a time when that seemed especially hard to do?

Have you ever felt that screens rob you of valuable time with children and the people you love? Would your home and life be happier if it you lived in a screen free zone, or at least a reduced screen zone? What keeps you from making these changes?

Have you ever thanked God for your pets? Have you ever had a chance encounter with some animal in nature that has assured you of God’s love or presence? What is your favorite story about an animal in your life? Share your story with someone else and see if they don’t respond with one of their favorite animal stories.

I called on one of the teenagers in worship and asked, “What is Real?”

Jesus gives examples of two Bible prayers in a parable in Luke 18:9-14. We read, “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’”

I have prayed for the health and safety of the president of our country regardless of party, for many years. I try to never speak in disrespectful ways of our president even when I disagree with the president on policy. I believe the President of the United States plays an important role in the course of history of both the United States, and the world, and is therefore deserving of our prayers and respect, again, regardless of political party.

Little sister had this knack for dating losers. The big brothers had this desire to protect their sister from these losers. She knew her brothers were right, but it made her mad.

Joe was the older brother in his family. His younger brother, Jeff, couldn’t do anything as good as Joe. Of course, there was six years difference in their age and Joe was fond of establishing his superiority in every way.

I am the oldest of the four Earley siblings. My wife and I started having children young and had three kids before any of my siblings even got started. As you can well imagine, they were the most amazing children ever born.

There was an older brother who hated giving gift cards because he felt that they were boring. He had previously frozen a gift card in ice and buried a gift card in a series of boxes and packing paper. But, he saved his greatest gift card prank for his sister.

Life is hard, and it is not always fair. However, humor can go a long way to making life more fun and meaningful. Here are some interesting quotes. “When life gives you lemons, squirt someone in the eye.” - Cathy Guisewite.

The Bible has often been described as the book that built America. As President Franklin D. Roosevelt affirmed, “We cannot read the history of our rise and development as a Nation without reckoning with the place the Bible has occupied in shaping the advances of the Republic.”

The book of Exodus tells the story of Moses as he leads the Hebrew escape from Egyptian slavery, and helps them to understand their role as God's chosen people. They must also cope with the harsh reality of survival in the desert.

Many of us are familiar with the Beatitude in Matthew 5:3 which says, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'

The local news leads off with murder and violent crime reports. The national news continually focuses on the negative impact of everything that changes. When I was growing up, the massive military build-up of the cold war was constantly under attack by the media and frightening the world.

A pastor was greatly annoyed by one of his elderly members who fell asleep during his sermon every Sunday. He told the man’s grandson that, if he could keep him awake, he would pay him a dollar a week.

It was August 1, 1997, and I had just begun a juice fast to seek guidance from God about whether it was time to move to a new church, and what kind of church God may want me to serve. What began as a three-day fast turned into the most spiritually intense seventeen days of my life.

What is truth? This is one of the most important questions any of us will ask ourselves during the course of our lives.

Scouting America will continue to have an important impact on our youth and our country into the future, if we can stay focused on teaching the things that have always been at the foundation of scouting.

Never has the command to love one another, as Jesus loves, been more needed than today.

When you want to make the most of your God-given life, I recommend giving your life back to God.

Think about the truths and beliefs you believe are worth fighting over. There certainly are some, but not as many things as we might think.

There are times in our lives when words cannot fully capture an experience we have. Can words capture the grandeur of the Grand Canyon, the miracle of childbirth or describe a religious experience to others?

Jesus shows us how to get the spiritual nourishment we need, by waiting in a quiet place and asking for God's spirit.

His life, death, and resurrection shatter the darkness of sin.

Jesus may be sitting in a judgment seat, or a forgiveness seat, but he is certainly sitting in a position to grant us a new life.

If we have prayed during the best times in our lives, we will have the courage and strength to pray when life gets hard.

The Moravians had learned that the secret of loving the souls of men was found in loving the Savior of men.

It is interesting that most of the great scientists of the past were devout Christians. Nicholas Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton all believed that we could do science because God ordered the universe in such a way that it was governed by laws that made science possible.

Do you ever wonder what Jesus prayed about? Think about the claim we make about him. Jesus is the incarnate one, fully God and fully human. This is certainly a mystery of creation. How can Jesus retain any semblance of humanity in light of his divinity?

Being thankful is such an important life attitude that I figured we can’t be reminded enough.

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Think about the ramifications if hell didn’t exist. Would unbelievers easily reject Christ with no fear of God whatsoever?

When two people are arguing, verbally to the death, we need an extreme example to remind us that we are called to live higher. Our faith in Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace demands it.

Jesus’ words, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” established that our faith is not a faith of revenge.

This theory has brought devastating death and despair on millions of people in the last 160 years.

Throughout history, humans have often wondered whether they are the only intelligent beings in this universe. One of the most recent scientific attempts is the search for extraterrestrial life. If life is out there, will it prove friend or foe?

Will you take the challenge and live for a year as if the Bible is true?