darkness

Changing the Skylight

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” – Matthew 6:22,23 Jesus tells us, “The eye is the lamp of the body.” It is our eyes that perceive light! Then He states, and I paraphrase, “If your eyes are bad, your body will be full of darkness.” What is Jesus emphasizing in this story? Picture yourself sitting in a house with friends. The house is full of light, but the electricity is not on. The light that fills the room is generated by a skylight powered by nature and is usually made of transparent or translucent glass. Jesus is saying that your eyes are almost like a skylight to the

January 8, 2023 No Comments

Sudden Resurrection

“On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead?’” – Luke 24:1-5 What an awesome truth we celebrated this past Sunday! I can’t stop thinking about it! Though the road to the cross was dark and filled with pain and His death was bloody and horrible, Jesus’ resurrection overcame it all! Naturally, when His mother and friend came to the tomb to tend to

April 20, 2022 1 Comment

Keep Hope Alive!

“If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” – 2 Timothy 2:13 We’ve been looking at the story of Joseph and how getting to where he needed to be was a long process that required unexpected twists and turns, many of which looked like anything but the fulfillment of a destiny. His story is encouraging to us because it teaches us about God’s redemptive sovereignty. You see, the Lord is not holding our sins against us. We can count on the cross for our forgiveness and know that as we put our trust in Him, He will get us to where we need to go. Even when we are faithless, He is faithful! This reminds me of my son, Cohen, who just loves Disneyland. To him, it really is the happiest place on earth. I remember a few years ago, he didn’t understand the concept of

April 18, 2022 1 Comment

Enduring Injustice

“Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.” – Colossians 3:22 Throughout the course of history, many people have read the verse above and taken it out of context. It’s horrifying to think that before the Civil War, pastors were using this passage in Colossians to teach that God condones slavery. However, nothing could be further from the truth! Satan loves to take the Word of the Lord and twist it into something evil, after all, what better way to deceive than to cloak darkness in light? The reality of these verses is that the Apostle Paul is teaching us how to endure a bad lot in life, even if what is being done to us goes against the heart of Jesus. Slavery is not

April 11, 2022 No Comments

Attack Precedes Victory

“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” – Exodus 14:14 We talked yesterday about the fact that we have an enemy and that he is serious about taking down believers before his final demise. Today, I want to share another thought about that — the devil may have his eye on you because God has set you apart to do great things. Most of you know of my grandfather Dr. Robert H. Schuller. He was a great man of God and although he didn’t often preach about Satan, behind the scenes, he talked about spiritual warfare, the Holy Spirit, and angels all the time. There was one particular encounter with him on this subject that I vividly recall. It was when I was in college and I was totally on fire for God. He was getting older and he sometimes needed help, so I was

February 20, 2022 No Comments

Jesus Won the War

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” – Ephesians 6:10-12 I believe that as Christians, you and I are in a war with the enemy. It’s imperative to acknowledge that we have an enemy and that he comes to steal and destroy. However, though it sounds contradictory, I don’t want you to be afraid of him because he’s a defeated foe. Don’t tune out teaching about your adversary, but on the other hand, don’t feel discouraged, oppressed or worried about his influence in your life. As a believer in Jesus Christ, baptized into His

February 18, 2022 No Comments

Winter from Two Perspectives

“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, will never cease.” – Genesis 8:22 After the holidays, many of us are disappointed. We pack up the Christmas decorations, our hearts heavy with the knowledge that the festivities and celebrations are done. January, on the other hand, is brimming with potential and the promise of new beginnings. This is why I think winter is only a matter of perspective. I relocated to Oklahoma from California when I was a teenager, as I’ve already mentioned. It was a difficult adjustment for me, especially since it was my first time dealing with the brutal and piercing cold of winter. Then there was a snow day, and I got to skip school. I had never experienced a snow day before, and I recall thinking to myself at the time, “well, maybe this isn’t so

January 15, 2022 4 Comments

History’s Cornerstone

“For in Scripture it says: ‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’” – 1 Peter 2:6 Today I have some excellent news for you: things may be becoming darker, but you’re becoming brighter. Even if the days are becoming colder, you’re getting warmer, because I think God works His greatest miracles in our lives when we’re at our lowest. Because of One Man, who changed the path of history from the moment of His birth, redemption is attainable. Everything changed in year zero, as you can see. The two epochs of human history, BC and AD, center around one thing: Christmas. Although BC stands for “Before Christ,” we can refer to it as “Before Christmas” for our purposes because it essentially implies the same thing. Year one corresponds to the birth of Jesus,

December 17, 2021 1 Comment

Winter is a Gift

“He made the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun knows when to go down.” – Psalm 104:19 If you’re anything like me, you are now completely immersed in the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, which is (hopefully) filled with time with family and friends, the warmth of excellent food, the glow of decorations, and the shine of lights. It is, however, winter, which is naturally the coldest and darkest season of the year. As a result, the warmth of Christmas counters the chill of winter. The question I pose to you today is which one will you embrace? As we enter this season, there is a natural tendency to be negative. You might even hear that suicides are at an all-time high in December, but did you know that isn’t the case? It’s an old myth because the biggest rates of suicide occur in the spring.

December 16, 2021 2 Comments

Holy Healing

“Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” – John 12:24 Today, I’d like to share with you about the Paschal Mystery, an ancient Christian principle that we don’t often discuss, unless perhaps during Easter. In essence, to become Paschal is to become anti-fragile, and this occurs when we recognize that in our salvation, we were given the gift of redemption, not just of our souls, but also of all of our earthly circumstances. This means that whenever we are hurt, attacked, or have a dream die, if we respond in faith, fresh life will eventually emerge from the unpleasant experience. Things that die in Christ come back to life with even more strength! You were given death when you were baptized into Christ. Did you realize that?

December 2, 2021 No Comments

Changing the Skylight

Sudden Resurrection

Keep Hope Alive!

Enduring Injustice

Attack Precedes Victory

Jesus Won the War

Winter from Two Perspectives

History’s Cornerstone

Winter is a Gift

Holy Healing

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