Jeremiah 18:1-17 The rise and fall of great nations have some very common elements.  I want to focus on two of these common elements – greed and power.  Looking at these two elements in our lives we see the same old outcome for us in the greed factor and power factor.  It is hard for us to see the wreckage that these two elements cause.  In the absence of faith and trust in God, our maker and creator, we are…..

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Jeremiah 19:1-15 Our human history contains more reruns than reruns of television movies.  Using the human mind and plan we have tried to blow up the faith and freedom that comes from our creator God.  Today I want us to look at the landmine of our disobedience to God’s plan for his human family. The prophet Jeremiah was born in the priest city of Anathoth and called to be a prophet around 627 BC when he was but twenty years…..

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John 3:1-17 Many of us live our lives based just on the bottom line of things, events and money.  Charlie Brown says to his sister Sally, “I’m going to try to sell Christmas wreaths from door to door.”  Sally responds, “So you are getting on the ole commercial bandwagon, eh?  Going after those big holiday bucks, huh?”  Charlie leaves the house to start selling and Sally comes out to the porch and says to him, “Need any help?”  Charlie must…..

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John 8:31-59 This virus has caused us a great deal of concern about out health and physical condition.  We are doing many things to protect ourselves from the coronavirus.  We are staying away from each other and wearing masks, gloves, washing and cleaning our hands with solutions that kill germs.  We are trying to do the things that the medical people are telling us to do so we can have life.  In our culture we are concerned about our physical…..

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Mark 6:7-13 We have some land that has been in the family for more than a hundred and fifty years.  After I retired the first time, I had the pine timber cut off part of the land.  A person with a bulldozer pushed out the stumps.  Then I hired a person with a root rake to pull out the roots.  The deer population forced me to have a fence built around approximately two acres of this land. I love to…..

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Luke 24:13-34 It does not take long for us to discover the “Why” questions.  Even young children have a long list of why questions. Why do I need to take a bath?  Why do I need to brush my teeth? Why do I need to go to bed? Why do I need to get up?  Why do I need to study? Why do I need to go to school? Etc. We adults have a list of why questions.  Why did…..

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John 20:1-21 Easter comes this Lord’s year of 2020.  Even as our nation deals with a death-dealing coronavirus and church buildings are closed, Easter still comes.  Even with many of our businesses closed and very few new clothes being worn, Easter comes. Even with no big family gatherings and no big dinners of ham and potato salad, Easter still comes.  Even as our immediate family stays inside our homes hoping we won’t spread the virus or catch this death-dealing virus,…..

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Matthew 21:1-11 Henry David Thoreau posed this thought to us.  “It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants.”  The question is what are we busy about? Just what are we doing with our time and life?  We are as the author of the Raspberry Kingdom, Renee Hermanson says,  when an hour is as precious as the money in our wallet:  “When the days are too short and the calendar is pockmarked with notation of meetings, appointments and…..

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Luke 20:9-19 Charlie Brown is sitting on a bench.  He says, “Rats! What could be worse than a long walk home after losing the first game of the season?”  Then it happens as he walks home with bat in hand, it begins to pour down a hard rain on him. Charlie never won a baseball game in fifty years of the comic strip.   In fifty years, you can bank on that being true. Charles Schulz never let it happen…..

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John 5:31-47 We face all kinds of situations and tests in life.  How we respond to the tests and situations gives us a picture of what kind of person we are.   Peppermint Patty and Marcie are taking a test.  Patty is talking to herself, “True! False! True! Maybe!  Who knows? Why Not? Could be! True again. Absolutely false!  A sure thing! Now and then! Who cares? True again! If the Good Lord is willing and the creeks don’t rise!”   At…..

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