Immediately after Jesus as baptized by John the Baptist, he was led away by the Spirit into the desert where he was tested for forty days and forty nights. While he was there, he was hungry, lonely, and away from his normal spiritual rhythms of worship. This time  created perfect ground for the devil to tempt him in many ways. But with the help of the Holy Spirit and God’s Word hidden in his heart, he was able to avoid falling into sin. The Good News is

Jesus’s baptism is a great example of how Jesus modeled being a beloved child of God. Before preaching or teaching a word. Before doing any miracles. Before answering all the demands for his time and attention. He retreated into the wilderness to be baptized by John the Baptist. Not because he needed forgiveness for his sin, but because he enters the baptism waters with us and says, “I am with you. I love you. And I will accomplish all I desire in you

People rely on many different sources to guide them in life. This true whether it is horoscopes, counselors, pastors or priests, or their own intuition. This week we see how pagan astrologers came looking for the One born King of the Jews. Unlike the professional religious leaders in Jerusalem, they were curious, seeking, and dedicated toward finding this Messiah. Sometimes it takes outsiders to draw our attention to the things of God that we plainly miss in our

Any news channel today has the same underlying message to us... “Be Afraid.  Be Afraid.  Be Afraid.” In truth, there is much in our world that might cause us to be afraid. But the heavenly news to the shepherds and to us on the blessed night that Jesus Christ had been born changed those messages to “Do Not Fear.  Do Not Fear.  Do Not Fear.”  Christ has come and is for us. And if Christ is for us, then who

Other than Jesus, Joseph is by far my favorite person in the Christmas story. I love how he selflessly accepts this call by God to become Jesus’ earthly step-father. While Jesus may not share his DNA, he does receive Joseph’s character. So this message is dedicated to all the fathers, grandfathers, adoptive fathers, step-fathers, and step-in-fathers and the important role they play in the lives of young people around them.  

I don’t know about you, but in my experience whenever God calls, He rarely provides any details. Where will we go? How will everything work out? Who will take care of us? These questions can fuel our uncertainty, anxiety and fear. In this week's Advent Story, a young virgin named Mary was called by God to become mother of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World. But instead of being crippled by fear, Mary offers herself to God’s plan,

All of the great cathedrals in Europe took hundreds of years to build. Their architects had to begin knowing that they would never see them completed. Some took as long as seven and a half generations to be built. That is faith. We can certainly believe that there must have been days when they questioned if they had done the right thing or whether it was worth it all. Advent is a season that reminds us that when we are running out

I once heard it said that “Fear is never a good basis for making sound decisions. But faith is.” This is such good advice as we prepare our hearts to celebrate the birth of Jesus. And in a world gripped with fear, we long for God to break in. The Good News is that Jesus has broken in and promises to be with us always. So, we should always walk in faith and not fear.  

In this season of Thanksgiving, one of the many things for which I am grateful is Christ the King Sunday. It’s the last Sunday of the liturgical calendar just before the start of the Advent Season where we acknowledge that Jesus is King and that we belong to his kingdom. We remember that as members of Jesus’ Kingdom that we operate under a different ethos than the world’s or Caesar’s kingdom. If you need to get fired up about your faith in Chri

Sailors understand the power of the wind. Unless they raise the boat’s sails, the wind would never be caught in order to propel them through the water. The same is true with the Holy Spirit. Unless we make ourselves available to the Holy Spirit’s filling, we will never experience the Spirit’s power in and through our lives. Being filled is not a one and done event, but something is ongoing throughout our lives.