20-Year Anniversary Sermon (John 3:5-16)

“You must be born from above”, said Jesus. “The wind blows where it wills. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit… Truly, truly I say to you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony… Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

The Stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:55-60)

But filled with the Holy Spirit, [Stephen] gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he died. (Acts 7:55-60).

Christmas Day 2010

In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. Through him all things were made, and apart from him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and that life brought light to humanity. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never overcome it!” (John 1:1-5).

God With Us

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:18-25).

Choices of a Blessed Man

Life is full of choices, everything from what time you will get out of bed in the morning and what you will have for breakfast to the person you will marry and what career you will choose. Many daily choices become habits and are no longer viewed in terms of a choice, but an established routine. Major decisions can be life changing. Have you considered what determines those choices for you? Do you flip a coin? Do you seek counsel? Do you fret and worry? Do you procrastinate – sometimes waiting so late to make a decision that the right choice disappears? How do you approach the choices of your life?

Erastianism, the Preferred Doctrine of Tyrants, Is Rejected by the Westminster Assembly

The Stuart and Tudor monarchs of the 16th and 17th centuries adored the doctrine of the divine right of kings, which they formulated out of doctrines popularized by Thomas Erastus. Erastus taught a doctrine first established by Marsilius of Padua, which he espoused in his book Defensor Pacis. Marsilius of Padua taught that all visible government was placed in the purview of the civil magistrate.

The Difference Between Fatalism and Determinism

It is common for people who disagree with Calvinism and Reformed Theology to accuse those who believe in such things as being “Fatalistic.” This is a major false accusation that results from people failing to understand what Calvinism really teaches in the first place. Calvinism teaches what is called “Determinism” and unfortunately many people get this term mixed up with “Fatalism” and use them interchangeably assuming that they mean the exact same thing. They do not mean the exact same thing and there is one major difference between the two.

GPS, A Second Per Century, Proving Einstein’s Laws and Creation Taking 6 Days – Now, Re Darwinism?

Totalling only a single second per century (from daily corrections of the atomic clocks aboard the common GPS satellites – to match Earth clocks), however it proves that “time passage” is not universally constant. Science says our Universe was created 13.7 billion years ago, initiated by the Big Bang (Earth’s age, about a billion years) – all solidly, scientifically proven. But the Bible says the world was created in just six days – clear evidence to almost all the most highly educated of our civilization – that the Bible is obviously only a childish religious myth. Dr. Richard Dawkins in his “The Blind Watchmaker” puts it: “Pretend as they will to scientific credentials, the anti-evolution propagandists are always religiously motivated”; he rationalizes Darwinism in his book and denigrates as “backwoodsmen” “those who seek to deny the truth of Evolution”; his bedrock-foundation argument is: “the Earth is thousands of millions of years old”. Thus, Dr, Dawkins and common wisdom maintain that the Bible is mere religious fantasy, a biblical “day” being only symbolic, not 24-hours in length.

You Live Then You Die But Can You Die Twice?

God originally created man to live forever. Now man has to make a choice between life or death. We can choose eternal life with God or the lake of fire. Some choose this passing world which only brings temporary happiness and the inevitable, Death.

The In’s and Out’s of Buying Large Buddha Statues for Sale

Purchasing a Large Buddha Statue is a considerable undertaking. Firstly, it is relative on what you consider large? For the sake of discussion in this article we suggest large Buddha Statues for sale begins at 36 inches high or three feet tall; and weighting at 50 lbs upwards.

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton And Mysticism?

We haven’t spoken in this account of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton about any visions, locutions or mysticism. Quite honestly, that’s because we haven’t come across anything of that nature. And Mother Seton had always been a very down-to-earth, practical woman. However, the time was to come when the Lord would decide when the community would be built, where it would be built, and how it would be financed

Believing in Some Religion or Even Being Religious Is Not Enough and We Need to Know Why

‘Time to think about Our Greatest Need’ was the title of a leaflet handed out in Inverness. What is our greatest need in these critical times? Life would be much easier, if only our greatest need could be met. But, thinking on the theme of that specific tract, let me ask you as to what you consider our greatest need might be in these present days. We need to be forgiven. Forgiveness is our greatest need. Without forgiveness we are in terrible danger. God is holy and just. He hates sin and must punish it. Jesus paid for our forgiveness. When Jesus died on the cross he willingly shed his blood to wash away our sin. Is all this not a bit old fashioned? Yes it is, but we came into this world in an old fashioned way and we will go out of this world in an old fashioned way.