So many folks today want to draw attention to themselves. They just seem to always be screaming, “Look at me! ” Jesus dealt with a similar situation in his day. People would fast from food but not for a spiritual reason like they were supposed to. How do we know? Because while fasting, they would present themselves in a way said, “Look…

Are you a person of prayer? If you’re a Christian, you should be. But often we struggle with what to pray about. In Matthew 6:9, Jesus helps us out with a model prayer that’s often called the Lord’s prayer. Our Father, who is in heaven, hallowed be your name; your kingdom come; your will be done; on earth as it is in…

Who are you trying to impress? In this day and age of social media and self-promotion, we should be very careful. You see, when you do good in such a way that you intentionally draw the applause of the public, you already have your reward from the crowd and are actually robbing yourself of a greater reward from God. Jesus said in…

Haters gon’ hate. Amen? In this fallen world, there’s always going to be somebody hating on us. It may be because of the color of our skin or where we’re from or the things we’ve been blessed with or the talents we’ve developed. Look, we can’t control the haters, but we can control whether or not we hate back. It’s actually natural…

Have you ever heard somebody say, “I don’t get mad. I get even.” You see, inside the fallen human heart is this intense desire to retaliate and get somebody back when we have been wronged. You might even quote the Bible and say, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But revenge doesn’t make the situation better. It…

My great-grandfather Phillip Croslin was a sharecropper in southcentral KY and made a name for himself as an honest mule trader. If he said, yes, the mule is good, the mule was good. He was a man of his word. Does that kind of character seem a thing of the past? It shouldn’t be. Jesus expects it in us. He told us…

Marriage is one of God’s greatest gifts because it’s not good for a person to be alone. But sadly, about 50% of all marriages end in divorce. On this topic, Jesus essentially said in Matthew 5:31-32, “You have heard it said that divorce isn’t a big deal, but I’m here to tell you it is a huge deal.” Of course, Jesus is…

A man hiking in Utah’s Bluejohn Canyon found himself in a literal pinch. An 800-pound boulder suddenly rolled down, pinning his hand. He couldn’t free it, and after being trapped for 5 days, he had to do something drastic. And so, with a multitool, he amputated his own right hand and lived to tell the tale. You see, dangerous situations call for…

Anger can be such a destructive emotion. But as long as you don’t kill somebody, you’re cool, right? Jesus tells us that we better think again. You see, he’s not just concerned with our destructive hands, he’s also concerned with our destructive heart and our destructive mouth. Even if you never lay an angry hand on that man in real life, imagining…

I’ve seen several 10 commandments displays around our community and am so thankful they are posted here because they are God’s standard for morality. Don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t murder, don’t cheat on our spouse, don’t love something more than God, and so on. But they are a double-edged sword. Not only do they call us to do what’s right, they also…