Posted on Nov 6, 2025 in HomePage, Pastor's Blog |
“I know the experience of being in need and of having more than enough; I have learned the secret to being content in any and every circumstance, whether full or hungry or whether having plenty or being poor. 13 I can endure all these things through the power of the one who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:12-13, CEB).
The second Noble Truth of Buddhism stipulates that all suffering is caused by wanting. Our cravings as humans lead to discontent. From a Buddhist perspective, desire is the enemy of human happiness.
Posted on Nov 5, 2025 in HomePage, Pastor's Blog |
“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8, NRSV).
Sociologist, Richard Flory, recently wrote an article entitled, “Our Many Jesuses.” He conducted interviews with several evangelical Christians across America and discovered a distinctive, yet subtle, difference in their beliefs. In short, Flory found that many Christians find themselves in one of two camps.
Posted on Nov 4, 2025 in HomePage, Pastor's Blog |
“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered King Nebuchadnezzar, “Your threat means nothing to us. If you throw us in the fire, the God we serve can rescue us from your roaring furnace and anything else you might cook up, O king. But even if he doesn’t, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference, O king. We still wouldn’t serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up” (Daniel 3:16-18, MSG).
On August 12, 1990, a Russian attack submarine called The Kursk suffered a series of catastrophic explosions. The Kursk was patrolling the waters of the Barents Sea. 118 crewmen were killed over a period of several days. Twenty-three of these men managed to survive for several hours after the first explosion. One of them was a twenty-seven-year-old captain by the name of Lieutenant Dmitry Kolesnikov. He wrote a note to his wife while waiting to die. Two words from that note were displayed in a black frame next to his coffin at his funeral service. He wrote: “Mustn’t Despair.” “Mustn’t despair”.
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Posted on Oct 30, 2025 in HomePage, Pastor's Blog |
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“Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.” (1 Peter 1:21, NLT).
Several years ago, a study was conducted by psychologist Roy Baumeister. His purpose was to study the limits of human willpower. Baumeister had one group of people exert their willpower by resisting the temptation to eat delicious, fresh, warm, gooey, chocolate chip cookies by eating radishes. The other group did not have to resist eating the cookies at all. Then, all of the subjects were assigned complex math problems to solve in order to measure how long people will exercise willpower to persevere through frustration. The people who had to resist eating chocolate chip cookies gave up on the math assignment much more quickly than the others. In conclusion, Roy Baumeister determined that the human power of will is easily fatigued. We can use our will to overcome a habit for a few moments. But, over the long haul, our habits will always beat our willpower.
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Posted on Oct 29, 2025 in HomePage, Pastor's Blog |
“If one of you wanted to build a tower, wouldn’t you first sit down and calculate the cost, to determine whether you have enough money to complete it? Otherwise, when you have laid the foundation but couldn’t finish the tower, all who see it will begin to belittle you. They will say, ‘Here’s the person who began construction and couldn’t complete it!’” (Luke 14:28-30, CEB).
The New Testament describes anxiety as a divided mind. Thoughts are split between present happenings and what may or may not happen in the future. Yet, how does one distinguish the difference between feeling anxious about the future and planning for the future?
Posted on Oct 14, 2025 in HomePage, Pastor's Blog |
Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing” (1 Peter 3:9, NLT).
In their book The Power of Moments, Chip and Dan Heath describe an experiment in which participants underwent three painful trials. In the first, they submerged a hand for sixty seconds in a bucket filled with frigid, 57-degree water.
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