Author: Pastor Bailey

“… but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden …’” (Genesis 3:3) In the garden of Eden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil represented the possible choices people could make to do the wrong thing — the opposite of whatever…

“Jesus said … ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.’ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.” (John 5:8-9) A lame man at Bethesda met Jesus. When Jesus asked him, “Do you want to get well?” the man had an opportunity to say, “Yes!” and to be healed…

“I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him …” (Isaiah 57:18) Are you asking, “Is it too late for God to do something with me?” It’s never too late for God! In Scripture we read about broken people God raised up in marvelous ways.…

“He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” (2 Corinthians 12:9) The apostle Paul was dedicated to God. But Paul had a “thorn in the flesh” — possibly a disease that bothered him quite a lot. He called it “a messenger of Satan, to torment”…

“But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.’” (Luke 19:8) Zacchaeus got rich by taking more taxes from people than his Roman masters…

“Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” (2 Corinthians 1:9) The apostle Paul and his missionary companions experienced many hardships in their travels. For example, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1, “We were under great…

“Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.” (Proverbs 4:27) Many of us fail, not because we aren’t talented, determined, or passionate, but because we get “sidetracked”. God told the prophet Habakkuk, “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it” (Habakkuk…

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” (1 John 5:14) Sometimes we pray “Just” prayers. We say, “Lord, we just ask you to protect us, or provide for us … If you’d just help us in this situation, we’d be so…

“‘This son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.” (Luke 15:24) Jesus taught about the kingdom of God with many parables. In this story about a lost son, we learn some important things about God’s love. A man had two sons, and the…