PASTOR STEVE'S BLOG

Galatians 4:21-31 It is written that Abraham had two sons; one born of the flesh and one born of the Spirit. The one represents the natural man who is a slave to sin, and the other represents the spiritual man, born of the Spirit and set free from sin. When Sarai was in unbelief, she encouraged Abram, her husband, to have a child with her handmaid Hagar. God has given a promise to Abram that he would have a son, but Sarai was in unbelif. She tried to accomplish God's promise through the flesh. Ishmael was the son born to Abram through his ill-advised union with Hagar. In Genesis 17:15, Sarai was given a new name, "Sarah", which reflected the genuine faith she grew to possess. In Genesis 18:9-15, two angels and the Lord Himself showed up at Abraham's tent. Sarah heard them speaking of how God would bless her with a child in her old age. "Is anything too difficult for the Lord?" This was Sarah's moment of faith. Within one year, the Lord did for Sarah as H...

Luke 19:10 As Jesus passed through Jericho, there was a rich tax-collector named Zaccheus who was trying to see Jesus. The crowd blocked his view, because he was not very tall. But his faith enabled him to rise above the difficulty; Zaccheus ran and climbed up a tree in order to see Jesus.  Jesus made eye contact with him and said, “Zaccheus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”  So he received the Lord with joy. When he stood before Jesus, Zaccheus began to confess his wrongdoing and repent from it.  He even offered restitution to anyone whom he had wronged.  “I’ll give back, I’ll restore, even what I am falsely accused of." Jesus declared of this man, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham.”   When we find Jesus, we must not allow the crowd to distract our attention from Him. If, like Zaccheus, we confess our sins and repent, we too become true sons and daughters of Abrah...

Luke 5:4-11 A multitude pressed in and around Jesus to hear the word of God. There were two boats close by, so He got into one of the boats and continued to teach the people. When he finished speaking, He addressed Simon Peter, the fisherman, who probably owned one of the boats. Jesus said, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." The Lord wants to bring in a "catch," a harvest greater than we can imagine!  There will be times when He will tell us also to "launch out into the deep," to trust Him at His word, to do things that may seem to be a bit risky. Simon answered with natural thinking, “We have worked hard all night, laboring out of necessity. We are expert fishermen, yet we caught nothing last night. But You are a great Bible Teacher and out of respect for You, we will let down the nets, even though You probably don't know how to fish.”  When they had done what Jesus said, they caught a quantity of fish so lar...

2 Kings 4:38-41: "And Elisha returned to Gilgal, and there was a famine in the land. Now the sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and he said to his servant, 'Put on the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.' So one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered from it a lapful of wild gourds, and came and sliced them into the pot of stew, though they did not know what they were. Then they served it to the men to eat. Now it happened, as they were eating the stew, that they cried out and said, 'Man of God, there is death in the pot!' And they could not eat it. So he said, 'Then bring some flour.' And he put it into the pot, and said, 'Serve it to the people, that they may eat.' And there was nothing harmful in the pot." Have you ever been spiritually famished? Someone offers you a meal with a wild gourd, maybe a wild doctrine or a strange teaching which you haven't heard or seen a...

On the Day of Pentecost, Peter preached his first sermon after the Holy Spirit had come upon him. After the message, an exhortation to be saved from this perverse generation was given. A baptism was offered to those who gladly received his word, and about 3,000 souls were added to the church. The Lord confirmed His word after it had been spoken.   “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, the breaking of bread and in prayers.” These four things should be the evidence of God having worked within our hearts, and may well be referred to as the "Prescription for Healthy Christian Living": 1. The apostles’ doctrine – what the apostles taught, foundational, not just church doctrine. 2. Fellowship – Koinonia – they loved to hang out with each other after the teaching.   Their hearts were kindred with one another. 3. The breaking of bread – both communion of the Lord’s supper and breaking bread from house to house with gladness ...