Victory News (Page 3)
Victory News – April 8, 2022
PASTOR’S MESSAGE Hi Friends, Happy Holy Week! This week, we are celebrating the most important events in the history of the world. This is the week that Jesus marched into Jerusalem, broke bread with his disciples, broke down the divide between heaven and earth, and broke free of mortality. This week is the climax of all human history. It is the undoing of all that has gone wrong. It is the defeat of death. You wouldn’t know all this just…
Victory News – April 1, 2022
PASTOR’S MESSAGE Hi Friends, This past week, I picked up some trash outside of church by the highway. There was a white packing strap out there about a half inch wide and about fifteen feet long. Some of the trash was light, some was a little heavy, and some was smelly. I needed to wash my hands when I got back inside. Like the trash I picked up, the trash talk of negativity and criticism dirty the landscape of our…
Victory News – March 25, 2022
PASTOR’S MESSAGE Hi Friends, The American work ethic is a unique value that has not been shared by most civilizations. Neither the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, nor the Romans believed in the value of hard work. So how did they get things done? Slaves. It was slaves who built the Egyptian pyramids. Slaves taught their children in Greek schools. And slaves worked the land for the Romans. It was the Christians who were the first to see that all work, even…
Victory News – March 18, 2022
PASTOR’S MESSAGE Hi Friends, When was the last time you turned on your living room TV, only to have people committing adultery show up on your screen and infiltrate the sacred space of your heart? When was the last time you turned on the radio in your car and you heard the lyrics celebrating sex outside of marriage? Many live by a creed of sexual autonomy: my body is my own, and my sexual desires (whatever they are) are normal…
Victory News – March 11, 2022
PASTOR’S MESSAGE Hi Friends, This week, we will be looking at the Fifth Commandment: You shall not murder. At first glance, this commandment seems self-explanatory. But is it really? Why do we give special rights and protections to humans? What makes humans so special? There is only one place where we can find an answer to that question: the Word of God. Only the Word of God gives an accurate appraisal of our worth. When God created humans, He said…
Victory News – March 4, 2022
PASTOR’S MESSAGE Hi Friends, As a teenager, I knew all about parenting. Parenting is easy, I convinced myself. I was clear on how my parents were blowing it. The catch was that I wasn’t a parent yet; in other words, I was clueless about what parenting was really like. I took for granted so much of what my parents did for me. All the laundry, all the sleepless nights, all the trouble I got into harassing my sister, all the…
Victory News – February 25, 2022
PASTOR’S MESSAGE Hi Friends, I remember when the first energy drink hit the market: Red Bull. Red Bull promised to give you all the energy you needed to get through your day. But Red Bull has been eclipsed by the multitude of higher octane options. Now you can buy KickStart, Monster, Bang, Relentless, Full Throttle, Celcius, Rockstar, and many more. All of them promise to give even more energy than the next. In fact, they promise to push our bodies so…
Victory News – February 18, 2022
PASTOR’S MESSAGE Hi Friends, Recently I was driving through the mountains in Northern Arizona. There are some really steep grades around Flagstaff. And with steep grades come dramatic dropoffs. If you have ever driven through mountainous regions, you know there are guardrails in place to keep you from going over the edge. The guardrails are not there to keep you from enjoying the view or to keep you from having fun. The guardrails are put up out of love and…
Victory News – February 11, 2022
PASTOR’S MESSAGE Hi Friends, The Christian hope is most clearly seen at a Christian funeral. At first glance, both secular and Christian funerals have a lot in common. Either type of funeral will have flowers, music, readings, and eulogies. At both, you will hear people say things like, “He is in a better place” or “At least she isn’t suffering anymore.” But there is still a difference between the two. And it is most clearly seen at the graveside committal…
Victory News – February 4, 2022
PASTOR’S MESSAGE Hi Friends, Have you ever asked someone in amazement, “How did you know to do that?” And they shrug their shoulders because they just did it. Or maybe someone has asked you, “How can you do that so easily?” And you are perplexed. You don’t know how. You just do it. It comes naturally or, maybe better said, supernaturally. Some people seem more gifted than others. They might excel in music, sports, academics, or business. Some might even…
Victory News – January 28, 2022
PASTOR’S MESSAGE Hi Friends, When I was a young boy, I always thought the Lord’s Supper was a strange practice. Why stop preaching, singing, and praying to eat a wafer and a thimbleful of wine? But over the years, the more I study the Scriptures and the more I walk with Jesus, the more I see the power in this seemingly foolish meal. The Lord’s Supper, or Holy Communion, is a meal that brings us together (which is the meaning…
Victory News – January 21, 2022
PASTOR’S MESSAGE Hi Friends, My family and I took a vote on who makes the best French fries. One family member incorrectly said, “Arby’s curly fries are the best.” Good answer, but wrong. Another misguided answer was Chick-fil-A. I voted for the one that is correct and has always been correct – at least to me: McDonalds. We all have preferences. The problem becomes when we try to make our preferences what everybody must do or agree with. Preferences are…