To preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, making disciples to advance the Kingdom of God

Month: March 2026

Family In a Far Country – Pastor Chris Black

To give a little history so that we have context to the verses we just read, we are reading about Jacob and his family. Jacob had 2 wives that were sisters, 2 handmaidens that became his wives as well and twelve sons. The wife he cherished above all was Rachel and the son he had by her, Joseph, was the apple of his eye. Joseph was honest, upright and of good character. Jacob’s other sons were deeply flawed with deep-seated jealousy and deceitfulness. They were morally unstable and had violent tendencies. They despised Joseph because of Jacob’s love for him. Jacob gifted Joseph with a multi-colored coat that his brothers stripped off him before throwing him in a pit. They eventually sold him into slavery while deceiving their father into believing that Joseph had been destroyed by a wild beast.

The Gospel of John Session 4 – Pastor Chris Black

Last week we went through chapter 3 which gives us the account of Nicodemus coming to Jesus at night with questions. Jesus went right to the heart of the matter with this statement “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”. The new birth message was way over Nicodemus’s head. He said, “How can these things be?” Jesus then gives him a sign to look for that would help him understand the mission of Christ. John 3:14-15 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. As the ministry of Christ became more widespread, the disciples of John the Baptist became envious. John explains to them that Jesus is the Son of God, that he came from above and is greater than all, and that John must decrease but Christ must increase.

When God Goes Silent – Pastor Chris Black

John 18:28-19:9
This was the first and only time that Pilate and the Lord encountered each other face to face. The religious leaders and elders of the Jews brought Jesus bound to Pilate to be judged. Pilate didn’t want to deal with Jesus at all. He first told the Jews that brought him “Take ye him, and judge him according to your law” but they refused because they replied “It is not lawful for us to put any man to death” because they did not want to defile themselves before the Passover. Pilate comes back into the judgment hall and has a dialogue with Christ that makes him uncomfortable.

The Gospel of John Session 3 – Pastor Chris Black

Last time we went through chapter 2 where the first miracle of Jesus is recorded at the marriage of Cana. Mary came to him for help when the wedding party was out of wine and he plainly said that his hour had not come (meaning his time to reveal himself to Israel). Yet he turned water into wine in such a fashion as to answer his mother’s request and still conceal himself to the guests. He also purged the temple of the moneychangers and their livestock that they were using to gouge the people coming for Passover. He turned their tables over and drove them all out with scourge made of small cords. The chapter ends with many in Jerusalem believing in his name, yet he did not commit himself to them because their faith was based on miracles instead of the man.

The Importance of Sound Doctrine Part 3: Avoiding Shipwreck – Pastor Chris Black

1Timothy 1:18-20
Paul charges Timothy in the text, meaning he lays the responsibility upon him, according to the prophecies that came beforehand concerning him. The Spirit of God revealed things through the prophets of the early church that were to be both educational and an exhortation to help Timothy in the spiritual battles he would face. Paul’s charge was concerning two points to avoid a shipwreck of faith. He said, “holding faith, and a good conscience, which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck”. Then he uses two examples, Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom we find out later had gone in the ditch doctrinally, saying that the resurrection had passed already. Their blasphemies had overthrown the faith of other saints, not in the Lord, but in the resurrection. Paul said he had delivered them to Satan, meaning that he had excommunicated them from the local church.