My family eats a lot of green beans. It’s our go to vegetable for many meals. They’re quick and easy and…it’s something I can cook…But you just don’t open a can of green beans and put them on the table…They have to be prepared correctly, and today, I’ll show you how…But the key ingredient, no matter how you prepare them, is salt.
The Sermon on the Mount: Life Inside The Kingdom (Matthew 5.1-12): Kingdom Character
We just celebrated our country’s independence last week. I got to experience this while on vacation and everyone’s spirit about the 4th of July was notable. I’m sure, while I was away, fireworks were popped here for at least 3 days…I walked around the cruise boat singing Proud to Be an American in a Caribbean accent. But if you asked many people what it looks like to be an American, you may get just that many answers. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount gives us a glimpse of what it looks like to be a citizen of God’s Kingdom…
1 Peter 3:15 – When Faith Gets Questioned: An Apologetics Presentation
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, – 1 Pe 3:15.
1. Honor Christ as Lord
Your strongest apologetic is your relationship with the Lord.
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Lois Mitchell: Pennies and a Life Well Lived
A Cebration of Life Service for Mrs. Lois Mitchell
January 9, 2026
Today we gather with heavy hearts—but also with grateful hearts. Grief and gratitude often sit side by side at moments like this. We grieve because we love. And we give thanks because God gave us the gift of Mrs. Lois for 77 years.
Mrs. Lois was many things to many people: a daughter, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a sister, a friend. But if you were to ask her family how they would summarize her life, you wouldn’t hear long speeches or grand claims. You’d hear words like caring, giving, and big-hearted. You’d hear stories about faith lived quietly and love shown consistently.
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The Surprise of Christmas
This Christmas at our house, there was a lot of smiling and a lot of thankfulness—but not a lot of surprise. Every time someone opened a gift and tried to act shocked, somebody else would say, “It was on your Amazon list.”
And as soon as that was said, the surprise was gone.
We live in a world where almost nothing catches us off guard anymore. We track packages. We make lists. We already know what’s coming.
But the first Christmas?
Nobody had a list.
Nobody expected it to happen this way.
And Luke reminds us that Christmas isn’t about God meeting expectations—it’s about God doing something far better than we imagined.
The Problem of Christmas
THE PROBLEM OF CHRISTMAS
INTRO:
It’s Christmas Movie season at my house right now. And the rule in my house right now is…If it doesn’t have something to do with Christmas it CANNOT be shown. So, Christmas movies are on repeat right now.
In every good Christmas movie, the plot is essentially the same, there is a problem that is messing up the perfect Christmas.
Holy Living: 1 John 2:17 – Choose Wisely
Indiana Jones 3 – Choose Wisely.
This verses gives a contrast between two loves, two lives, two orientations toward life.
The core verse of this epistle.
Holy Living: 1 John 2:16 Counterfeit Coconuts
In some parts of the world, people catch monkeys with a simple trap: they place a treat inside a narrow-necked jar. The monkey reaches in, grabs the food—but with its clenched fist, it can’t pull its hand out. Freedom would be as simple as letting go, but the monkey refuses, and stays stuck.
This morning we’re going to look at 3 coconuts, if you will, that keep us trapped.
The world grabs our attention with what looks like treasure. But it traps us when we refuse to let go. The flesh says “I need it,” the eyes say “I want it,” and pride says “I deserve it.”
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Holy Living: 1 John 2:15 Two Options. One Love
I know we think it’s possible to love a bunch of things at one time. And that may be the case when we talk about our family, or friends, or favorite pizza. But when those things are opposites, it is unfeasible and really impossible. This verse talks about us having one love.
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Journey Through Malachi: 3:16-4:6
16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. 17 “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18 Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.
4 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. 3 And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts. 4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. 5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
- INTRODUCTION
Important days…Waiting for a wedding…
In a few weeks, Allison and I will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. It’s an amazing feet that she hasn’t given up on me yet.
When we were getting married Allison made a three ring binder with all things wedding in it, With ideas for different things and things she didn’t want to forget.
From a guys perspective, we don’t share the same burden, or privilege, or joy, or responsibility as planning. It’s a bunch of excitement at the beginning, then it turns into a long wait.
And then, out of the blue, it seems like the wedding day is here.
And on that day, you begin the day as one thing, a Batchelor , but end it as something else, a husband.