Joy for Today

Hi all! This is just a quick notification that this week's episode will be available later this week! We didn't want you to be sooo disappointed and think something happened to Pastor Mike or myself. Thank you for...

If you have ever been wronged by someone else, you share something with basically everyone else on the planet! But how do you respond when those wrongs occur? What thoughts or emotions spring up when you are offended or...

What kind of character do your words display? Are you a person whom others can trust? The Bible says that out of the abundance of our hearts our mouths speak. So, what is in our hearts that is coming out as words when...

There are few realms of life that we need more grace to perform well than that of marriage. Marriage is more than a contract; it is a covenant commitment to another person for life. There are so many opinions and...

Jesus continues to correct the perspective of what true righteousness is as we progress through His Sermon on the Mount. It is not just the outward action that God states must be right, but also the desire and...

The righteousness that Jesus describes in the Sermon on the Mount is much higher than any human standard! In fact, in Matthew 5:21-26, Jesus helps us to understand that God is not just concerned with our outward actions...

It is amazing how often the Bible contradicts and corrects our incorrect way of thinking! At the time of the Sermon on the Mount, people considered the "righteousness" of the religious leaders to be paramount. Jesus...

Every day is filled with decisions. Most of these are small choices we are faced with, but every so often we are confronted with larger decisions. Both the seemingly smaller decisions and the large ones are important as...

How do you grow in your Christian walk? In Colossians 1, God provides some helpful measurement mark for believers to evaluate our progress! He also reminds us that we are not to be walking under our own strength, but...

It is usually a blessing to hear that others are praying for us, and that is certainly the case as we read Paul's prayer requests for the people in Colossae. In opposition to some false teachers who were attempting to...

The United States is definitely a nation that has experienced the blessings of the Lord! As we celebrated 250 years as a country, it has been easy to think about how often God has provided for our well-being. But even...

Not only did Jesus say that Christians are the "salt of the earth," but also that we are "the light of the world." These two word pictures help us to see the responsibility we have in a dark and confused world. We are...

It is a sobering thought that God knows all about us, especially when the context is about our parenting! Our world desperately needs godly leadership, and that must begin in the home with our family. One of the most...

Did you know that Jesus calls His believers "the salt of the earth?" He uses that word picture to describe what our influence should be on the world around us. Instead of being conformed to the world, we are to allow...

We spend most of our lives attempting to avoid conflict and persecution. Yet the Bible promises that if we are living according to the truth of God's Word, persecution will come. Jesus was honest with His followers, but...