This Sunday's Inspirational Message is:

Fruit In Keeping With Repentance

On this Second Sunday of Advent, the Church has always heard one voice rising above the noise of the season: the voice of John the Baptist crying in the wilderness, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"

While the world rushes toward Christmas with lights and lists, the lectionary pulls us into the desert for a moment, because true preparation for the coming King is never superficial. It begins in the heart. John doesn't offer sentimental comfort; he offers life-changing hope. Repentance, he says, must produce fruit—real, visible, lasting evidence that the King is reshaping us from the inside out.

In today's message, we'll walk straight through Matthew 3:1–12 and ask the question Advent forces on every honest heart: Am I truly ready for Jesus to come—not just to a manger 2,000 years ago, but to my life today, and when He returns in glory?

If you long for more than a frantic December, if you want Christmas to change you instead of just entertain you, open your Bible with me to Matthew 3 and let's get ready together.

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Once again, thanks for joining us in our time of worshiping the Lord through His Word!

If you enjoyed this episode and want to help support this ministry, please share it with others and post about it on social media.

"Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible. 1995. LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

The music "Be Thou My Vision" and "Revive Us Again" arranged and played by Don Wigton. Used by Permission.

This Sunday's Inspirational Message is:

Ready For The Day

Today we light the first Advent candle—the candle of hope, the prophecy candle—and we open our Bibles to one of the most sobering and stirring passages in the New Testament: Matthew 24:36–44.

Jesus tells us plainly that He is coming back at an hour we do not expect, and He uses words like "thief" and "flood" and "one taken, one left." If we're honest, those images can make our hearts race a little. But here's the thing—they're meant to wake us up, not scare us to death. They're meant to fill us with holy expectation.

Because Jesus is coming at an hour we do not expect, we live every ordinary day as people who are awake, watchful, and working for His kingdom.

We'll walk through three clear movements in the text:

1. The rock-solid Certainty of His coming

2. The deliberate Uncertainty of the timing

3. The daily Urgency of readiness

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Once again, thanks for joining us in our time of worshiping the Lord through His Word!

If you enjoyed this episode and want to help support this ministry, please share it with others and post about it on social media.

"Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible. 1995. LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

The music "Be Thou My Vision" and "Revive Us Again" arranged and played by Don Wigton. Used by Permission.

"Welcome to Words To Live By. This is Pastor Warren. Life isn't always easy, and we all face trials that test our faith. But in God's Word, we find promises that steady our hearts and truths that guide our steps."

In this episode we will consider John 14:27 NAS95:

"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful."."

There are moments in life when our hearts feel anything but peaceful. Illness, loss, fear, and uncertainty can swirl around us like a storm. The disciples knew that feeling well. In John 14, Jesus was preparing them for His departure. Their world was about to be shaken. Everything familiar was about to change. Yet into that rising anxiety, Jesus spoke these tender words: "My peace I give to you."

Jesus didn't promise a life free from trouble. In fact, He told His disciples plainly that trouble would come. But He offered a peace deeper than any circumstance, a peace untouched by chaos, fear, or suffering. This peace wasn't something they had to earn. It wasn't fragile or dependent on outward calm. It was His peace—the very calm of Christ Himself—given as a gift.

When Jesus said, "not as the world gives," He was contrasting His peace with the kind the world offers. The world gives peace through escape, distraction, or temporary relief—peace that fades the moment reality returns. But Christ gives a peace that steadies the heart even while the storm still rages. It doesn't depend on our strength but on His presence.

This Sunday's Inspirational Message is:

The Preeminence of Christ

Today we're in Colossians 1:13–20, one of the highest mountain peaks in all of Scripture. Paul takes us straight to the throne of the preeminent Christ—the One who rescued us from the dominion of darkness, the One by whom and for whom everything exists, the One in whom all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, the One who reconciled all things by the blood of His cross.

Here's the big idea we'll keep coming back to: Jesus Christ is supreme over creation, supreme over the new creation, and therefore supreme over every square inch of our lives. The proposition is simple and life-changing: Because Christ is preeminent in everything, we must gladly give Him first place in everything.

During the next minutes we'll look at three points in the text:

1. He has delivered us and transferred us (vv. 13–14)
2. He is the Creator and Sustainer who holds all things together (vv. 15–17)
3. He is the Head of the church and the Reconciler of all things (vv. 18–20)

Then we'll land on some very practical ways this supreme Christ changes how we wake up tomorrow morning, how we face cancer or any other trial, how we treat our spouse, how we spend our money, and how we speak about Jesus to our neighbors.

* * * * *

Once again, thanks for joining us in our time of worshiping the Lord through His Word!

If you enjoyed this episode and want to help support this ministry, please share it with others and post about it on social media.

"Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible. 1995. LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

The music "Be Thou My Vision" and "Revive Us Again" arranged and played by Don Wigton. Used by Permission.

"Welcome to Words To Live By. This is Pastor Warren. Life isn't always easy, and we all face trials that test our faith. But in God's Word, we find promises that steady our hearts and truths that guide our steps."

In this episode we will consider Isaiah 43:2:

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you." (NASB95)

Life brings moments that feel like drowning. The waters rise, the pressure builds, and the current seems too strong to stand against. Whether it's illness, loss, fear, or deep uncertainty, every heart eventually faces the flood.

But in this promise from Isaiah, God speaks into the storm: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you."

Notice God doesn't say if you pass through the waters. He says when. Trouble is not optional—it's part of living in a broken world.

Yet the beauty of this verse is not the avoidance of hardship, but the assurance of God's presence in it.

This Sunday's Inspirational Message is:

The Day Is Coming!

Today we're digging into a passage that has both weight and hope: Malachi 4:1-6. We'll walk together through the final admonition of the Old Testament, exploring the coming "day of the Lord," the promise for those who fear His name, the call to remember God's statutes, and the hope of restoration through the one sent before that great day.

Here's the thing — this passage doesn't simply belong in ancient history; it speaks to us here, now, in our lives, our families, our community. I'm aware, myself, as I go through my health journey, how life sometimes feels fragile, how time sometimes seems shorter; and in that awareness I find this passage deeply comforting and challenging.

It's comforting because we belong to God, and He assures us of healing and restoration.

It's challenging because He warns us of a day coming, a day we cannot avoid, a day we need to be ready for.

* * * * *

Once again, thanks for joining us in our time of worshiping the Lord through His Word!

If you enjoyed this episode and want to help support this ministry, please share it with others and post about it on social media.

"Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible. 1995. LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

The music "Be Thou My Vision" and "Revive Us Again" arranged and played by Don Wigton. Used by Permission.

"Welcome to Words To Live By. This is Pastor Warren. Life isn't always easy, and we all face trials that test our faith. But in God's Word, we find promises that steady our hearts and truths that guide our steps."

In this episode we will consider Psalm 34:18:

"The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." (NASB95)

Heartbreak has a way of silencing the room. Sometimes life strikes so deeply that even prayer feels hard to form. Grief, sickness, disappointment, and loss—each can leave us feeling hollow and alone. Yet into that emptiness, God speaks a gentle, unchanging promise: "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."

David wrote these words during one of the darkest chapters of his life. He was fleeing from danger, uncertain of the future, hiding in caves. Fear and fatigue were constant companions. And it's right there—when everything felt uncertain—that he discovered a truth we all need:

God draws closest to us when life hurts the most.

This Sunday's Inspirational Message is:

Standing Firm Until He Comes

Today we're opening God's Word to 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8—a passage about calmness in confusion, truth in the face of deception, and endurance when the world seems to shake. Paul writes to believers who were frightened, convinced that the day of the Lord had already come. Some were anxious, some disillusioned, some even giving up hope. But Paul reminds them—and us—that God has not lost control.

We'll walk through three major truths:

1. The call to not be shaken, to stay anchored when rumors and fears swirl.

2. The revelation of lawlessness and the mysterious restrainer—reminding us that evil is real but never sovereign.

3. And finally, the glorious triumph of Christ, who will destroy wickedness simply by the breath of His mouth.

* * * * *

Once again, thanks for joining us in our time of worshiping the Lord through His Word!

If you enjoyed this episode and want to help support this ministry, please share it with others and post about it on social media.

"Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible. 1995. LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

The music "Be Thou My Vision" and "Revive Us Again" arranged and played by Don Wigton. Used by Permission.