Luke 15:11-32 We are all prodigals until we come to God, our Father, and confess our sins to Him. God’s forgiving love is the only power that gives prodigals a new and real life. We become prodigals when we run away from God’s life plan for us and the love He has for us. In the scripture lesson for today we read about two sons and their father. Now the father had a deep love for his sons, but in…..

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Mark 3:22-30 A divided home is caused by evil forces that are alive in the life of the people in that home.  These evil forces can come from dishonesty, economics, drug abuse, lying, and other things. A divided church is caused by the evil that has invaded the life of the people in that church.  These evil forces can be about who has power and control.  It can be over Biblical authority or lack of Christian leadership.  A divided nation…..

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Luke 2:41-52 What do you need from God that would change your life?  Many things have happened in our lives in the past twelve months.  Many changes have come to us, to our communities, to our faith communities and nation.  Many of the changes have been blessings; families have spent more time together and gotten to know more about each other’s lives.  We have spent more time sharing our meal times talking with one another. Many of the changes have…..

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Luke 2:21-35 In The Velveteen Rabbit, Margery Williams tells us how the Skin Horse had the experience that made him real.  She also uses the Skin Horse to tell the troubled Velveteen Rabbit how to become real.  When the Velveteen Rabbit became real, it was the experience of knowing that it was loved.  Then the Velveteen Rabbit became real like the Skin Horse. The year 2020 is almost history.  Did you discover that you were real or becoming real in…..

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Luke 2:1-20 It was the Christmas season of 1947.  It had been a tough year on the farm.  The boll weevil had been attacking our cotton crop and had reduced the production of our cash crop for the farm.  My oldest sister and I went out and found a cedar tree for our Christmas tree that year.  We did not have high expectations for Christmas gifts that year.  I had put in a request for a football, but I did…..

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Luke 1:39-55 What fills our daily agenda? We live just one day at a time and each day we fill the agenda of that day with many things. But as we look at the agenda for each day we have lived, we ask ourselves how much joy have we derived from what we had on our agenda. In the “people’s business” that I have been in since 1964 when I got my local preachers’ license, I have seen too few…..

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Luke 1:5-23 In our own lives, and as a nation, we face events and times when things look hopeless.  In the spring of 1958, I was single, working, and living in my parents’ home.  I had a closet full of nice clothes; shirts, pants, jackets, coats, and shoes.  But one day, I experienced how fast a life can change.  Lightning struck our home that day and started a fire.  We had no rural fire department.  That night I stood on…..

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Isaiah 52:1-12 On this first Sunday of Advent in 2020, Iets focus on one of the many gifts God gives, and this gift is available to each of us.  It is the gift of inner peace that comes to us by faith in Jesus Christ.  Volumes of human history are written about the turmoil and chaos that we humans have created by the way we have chosen to live.   The prophet Isaiah’s ministry lasted over fifty years from 740-687 BC. …..

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Colossians 2:6-15 The year 2020 has been a hard time in many ways for our nation. For some businesses, churches, families, and individuals the virus created some very bad and sad times. When we start looking for a reason to give thanks, we find it hard to have a thankful heart. We become like Snoopy in his Joe Cool outfit with his dark sunglasses thinking about Thanksgiving. Joe Cool is standing outside trying to wrangle an invitation to a Thanksgiving…..

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Philippians 4:2-9 God’s game plan for our lives is for us to know the source of true joy, happiness, and love that is written in His biblical plan. We have people saying and thinking about why the church is so interested in telling others how they should live. The church has the book that contains God’s game plan for our lives. God set apart the people of faith for one purpose, and that is to share His game plan. The…..

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