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Jesus was not the king the Jews were looking for - born in a stable to poor parents and destined for a life of humility and servitude. Today, He’s not the God some people are looking for, either. Nevertheless, the King is coming and we don’t want to miss the hour of His visitation!

God did a lot to prepare the way for Jesus, making plans from the very beginning and sending prophets along the way. We did nothing to prepare for His first coming but sin. Pastor Dennis reminds us of the importance of preparing for His second coming.

“If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land.” God’s blessings cannot be earned, but they are conditional upon our obedience to Him, our faith in Him and our willingness to humbly comply with His will.

Emotions are good in their proper place - God wired us with them to enhance our lives. Our emotions are not intended to lead us, though. Emotions are always changing and are impossible to tame. Devotion, on the other hand, is a more permanent thing - we will remain devoted to something tomorrow that we are devoted to today. Devotion is required to make the world operate and it’s required to be married to your faith if you are to truly serve God!

No matter who we are and what our past is, God is seeking us out to fill us with His Spirit, turning these worthless earthen vessels into great treasures!

Indecision is the wrong decision. This is a must-see, as we choose sides in today’s world.

We have all become accustomed to spending time apart due to the very necessary practice of quarantine. We must be careful not to become accustomed to growing apart - physically and spiritually. We need each other, we need to be gathered together!

Pastor Dennis Walton, Associate Pastor Jeff Conger, Brother Steve Russell and Brother Matt Knapp each share about how God's people can work together to become more than just a collection of people with a common cause, becoming an effective body of Christ.

When the plague of darkness fell upon the land of Egypt, the Egyptians were struggling to make it through three days of total, oppressive darkness. The Israelites in the land of Goshen, however, had light in their homes. God provides for us in the darkness!

When the temple was consecrated, God sent fire down from Heaven to light the fire for the altar of burnt offerings. The priests were to keep that fire burning all the time and any fire for sacrifice or for burning incense in the temple was to be taken from that fire God had initially started. Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu got fire from their own source, strange fire that God had not ordained and they were destroyed by fire from Heaven. Nadab and Abihu had the idea that they would worship God in their own way, but God wants us to do things His way - with our whole heart, in spirit and in truth.

An expression is the process of taking something you think or feel inside and making it known. Worship is the expression of honor and adoration. There was a time when the worship of God occurred in the temple and there were years of hard work put into having that place prepared for that purpose. Today, the temple of God is in the body of the believer! Let your body and mind be a temple of praise and worship to God!

The message of the Bible is extremely simple but we have a way of making simple things difficult. In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees made serving God harder than it needed to be. While Jesus dealt compassionately with people - he was kind to prostitutes and tax collectors - but He dealt harshly with the Pharisees. He called them hypocrites because, while they held religiously to their ritual traditions, the love of God was absent from their hearts. Let us live our lives in a way that honors God and deals kindly with people, because that is the heart of the gospel.

The Earth is in the perfect position to support life. At the perfect moment, a baby’s heart begins to beat, supporting the child’s life. A seed contains life that sprouts out at the perfect moment. Why? Because God set it into motion and sustains it! God brings light and life to everything He touches!

Fear God and keep His commandments. We know that’s what we are supposed to do, but it sounds kind of rough. We fear spiders and snakes, but that’s not the way we fear God. We honor God’s authority and power, understanding that He alone stands in judgment of the way we have lived our lives. Our future is in His hands, so to be a God-fearing Christian is to have respect and reverence for Him.

Satan is very real and is in the world to cause as much pandemonium and chaos as he possibly can. As much as God wants to be in your life, the devil wants to be in your life, too! The child of God need not be afraid, however, for God has prepared for you a secret hiding place!

We hear a lot of voices - there are always people who are eager to provide advice, there are the desires of our fleshly bodies, and there are also spiritual voices guiding us to what is good and what is evil. In a world full of voices, we want to exercise discernment and tune in to the voice of God. Listen to find instruction in discerning the spirit of God among the voices of influence we hear every day.

Everyone gets discouraged sometimes. The more discouraged we are, the less effective we’re going to be for the Kingdom of God. However, God can take our discouragement and turn it into encouragement, putting us back on our feet again!

It takes some work on our part to figure out where we’re going to abide. We choose a town, and then a neighborhood, and then we find the right house. Our spiritual life requires a thoughtful approach to where we will abide, too. We have to choose the belief systems where our thoughts are going to live, where our mind is going to abide. Where we vacation is not where we live. If we’re only spiritual on Sunday morning, then that’s not where we abide, it’s where we vacation! If we choose to allow God to be in control of our lives and our thoughts, we need not fear anything that the world can bring against us!

This message should be a comfort to us - God has given us a peek at what eternity is going to be like! We’re not going to be floating around on clouds plucking harps - there will be a new heaven and a new earth on which we will live. The word pictures painted for us by John in the book of Revelation are not necessarily a detailed, complete description, but they do demonstrate that there will be a future for us that is beautiful and so much better than what we have now!

We all have good intentions, but we are weak... fortunately God doesn't give up on us because of our failures or weaknesses! He mends and heals us and gives us new life and purpose. He holds off His wrath against our sin, extending His grace instead. There is never a time when God withdraws and doesn't care anymore. There is always hope!