All the Sermons

The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it. ~Proverbs 27:12  So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. ~1 Corinthians 10:12-13  Ah, our sister Prudence is mentioned again. Do you remember her? She is the one who urges caution, to put the brakes on and think things through. What is the saying? “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” It is good to stop and think, as long as your thinking does not stall you from taking the great adventure of life that God has for you. So, how do you know? Sometimes, I think we never do.  There are times when we make wise decisions. We have taken the time to agonize and weigh the pros and cons and pray that we have made the right choice and the...

The righteous lead a blameless life, blessed are the children who come after. ~Proverbs 20:7 I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. They are always generous and lend freely. Their children will be blessed. ~Psalm 37:25-26  It’s important to remember that proverbs are not statements guaranteeing a certain outcome, rather, they are observations of the usual, predictable outcomes based on what Solomon has noticed about the behavior of man and what He knows of the promises and character of God. Solomon is not necessarily saying here, if you, as a parent, behave in a righteous manner then, your children will definitely live a better life, but that they have a better chance of also having a blessed life. But we must remember, their own choices, though influenced by our example, may reject our counsel and still go off the path. The home you provide, the love, nurture and guidance, will give your child a better chance at ...

Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin?” ~Proverbs 20:9   Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for You. You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember Your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, You were angry. How then can we be saved? All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. We all shrivel up like a leaf, and like a wind our sins sweep us away…Yet, O Lord, You are our Father. We are the clay, You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hands. ~Isaiah 64:4-6 & 8 Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. He will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God his Savior. ~Psalm 24:3-5  There is no difference, for all have ...

Many a man claims to have unfailing love, but a faithful man, who can find? ~Proverbs 20:6   You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrated His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ~Romans 5:6-8  Remember those early days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathized with those who were in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the work of God, you will rec...

The purposes of the heart are deep waters, but a person with understanding can draw them out. ~Proverbs 20:5   How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with You. Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. ~Psalm 139:18 & 23-24  People take time. In chaplaincy work, when so often, the person before me is facing a crisis, and or a difficult decision, it is common for me to practice the art of being a non-anxious presence for them. This simply means being present just for them. I’m not distracted by phone calls or texts or paperwork or my to do list or my next appointment.  Time is suspended for the moment while I just sit with them; available to pray, if that’s what they want; available to talk, available to be what they need from another human...

It is to a person’s honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel. ~Proverbs 20:3   Like one who seizes a dog by the ears is a passer-bye who meddles in a quarrel not his own. ~Proverbs 26:18  Without wood a fire goes out. Without gossip a quarrel dies down. As charcoal to embers and as wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife. ~Proverbs 26:20-21  Stone is heavy and sand a burden, but provocation by a fool is heavier than both. ~Proverbs 27:3  I will listen to what God the Lord will say; He promises peace to His people, His saints—but let them not return to folly. Surely His salvation is near those who fear Him, that His glory may dwell in our land. Love and faithfulness meet together, righteousness and peace kiss each other. Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven. The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest. Righteousness goes before Him and prepares the way ...

Stop listening to instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge. ~Proverbs 19:27   In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His Kingdom, I give you this charge: preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. ~2 Timothy 4:1-5  So, Maddie has had this habit for a long time, and we have no clue how it started, but, when we need to correct her, if she doesn’t want to hear it she will say, in a very...

Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what He has made crooked? When times are good, be happy: But when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore. a man cannot discover anything about his future. ~Ecclesiastes 7:13-15   His [Job’s] wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and Die! He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said. ~Job 2:9-12  Now listen, you who say, “today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn...

As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed. ~Proverbs 26:14   The sluggard buries his hand in the dish. He will not even bring it back to his mouth. ~Proverbs 19:24 & 26:15  A sluggard does not plow in season. So, so at harvest time he looks and finds nothing. ~Proverbs 20:4  Do not love sleep or you will grow poor. Stay awake and you will have food to spare. ~Proverbs 20:13  The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who answer discretely. ~Proverbs 26:16  He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. ~Ephesians 4:28  Am I the only one that finds it hard to get up when the alarm clock rings on Monday mornings? It can be a little bit of a struggle. It’s not bad, but I’d much rather sleep, in or wake up naturally, as I do on Saturdays. The slower pace of the weekend sure is nice.  Don’t you just love the ima...

Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing and benefits those who see the sun. Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: That wisdom preserves the life of its possessor. ~Ecclesiastes 7:11-12   Where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. ~James 3:16-17  A fool and his money may soon be parted, but no one can separate you from your hard earned wisdom. That’s why it is such a great shield. Money can be gained and lost, but wisdom is available no matter what your status is in the world. Wisdom is gained through life experience. Its beauty is in the fact that it can’t be bought. It is taught, but you have to be tuned in to the right channel or you might miss it.  James talks about two kinds of wisdom, worldly wisdom that is better known ...

Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it’s not wise to ask such questions. ~Ecclesiastes 7:10   See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you. ~Isaiah 42:9 Forget the former things. Do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. ~Isaiah 43:18-19  He told them this parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not patch the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskin will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, “the old is better.” ~Luke 5:36-39 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new cr...

Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools. ~Ecclesiastes 7:9   When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet king Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and the tambourines and lutes. As they danced, they sang: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.” Saul was very angry. This refrain galled him. “They have credited David with tens of thousands,” he thought, “but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?” And from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David. The next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully upon Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing he harp, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand and he hurled it, saying to himself, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David eluded him twice.” ~1 Samuel 18:6-11  We’ve all been there. We’ve all lost it at one time or ano...