Luke 19:1-4 “Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.” Zacchaeus, surely, we could’ve made a better song to encapsulate wha...  Read More

Nothing happens by accident. Every encounter you have with someone is part of the pre-determined plan of a Sovereign God. When Jesus passed through Jericho, he met a man. More importantly a man met him. Think about the time when you “met” Jesus for the very first time. Maybe it was through a loving conversation with a coworker. Maybe it was through a tragedy, and someone shared the hope of Jesus w...  Read More

Main Point and Overview:     Everyone is “chasing after” something.  Whether it’s power or prosperity or pleasure or prominence, the human heart is never quite satisfied even when “achieving” these pursuits. It seems like there is always something “bigger and better” next to pursue. What if we saw the meaning of life in a different light? This Easter season we might need to chart a new course. The...  Read More

Last month Emmanuel rolled out “Operation 3:16”. We were challenged to commit to prayer every day at 3:16pm in preparation for Easter; praying for unsaved friends, family members, or coworkers and committing to inviting others to church.  Just curious, how did that go? Did you attack this with a sense of urgency, boldness and hopefulness? Or maybe you threw in the towel thinking that there is no h...  Read More

Many years ago, the Marine Corps had an advertising campaign with the tag line “Pain is weakness leaving the body.” It represents the Marine ethos. Pain is part of the process of becoming stronger, resilient, and effective. I was an Air Force guy, and as a branch of service we were always made fun of by our sister services as not being as physically fit. We were, in a jokingly way, referred to as ...  Read More

I don’t know about you, but I often find myself “people watching” when out in public. You never know what you will see so it's never the same. Just like snowflakes, we are all different. How we hold things, to standing, to interactions all vastly different. We all know we live in a very dark world and there is evil all around us. The mainstream media push the negative stories as normal and then wh...  Read More