What is the purpose of your life? What is the purpose of the church? We affectionately refer to our congregation as “PBL”—an abbreviation for, “Palm Beach Lakes.” But, truly, “PBL” represents the purpose for all of us. Our purpose is to “Please God.” Like Jesus (John 8:29), we need to “make it our aim…to be well pleasing to Him” (2 Cor. 5:9) in all that we…

In the Star Wars saga, Anakin Skywalker struggled between two masters – his Jedi Master and his Sith Master, Emperor Palpatine. For a time, he tried to serve both the Dark Side and the Light Side (i.e., the Force). Ultimately, he yielded to Darth Sidious, being deceived that it would save his wife, Padme. That proved to be his ruin. Obviously, this is fiction. But,…

Don’t you love new beginnings? Fresh starts? There is none GREATER than when one obeys the gospel and becomes a child of God. We often call the moment when someone is “baptized into Christ” (Gal. 3:27), “The GREATEST decision of his/her life,” because it is. When one dies to sin and is buried into His death, there is no event GREATER than being “raised” to “walk…

Sometimes, it appears, Christians seem to go through their days without doing a whole lot, in an active sense, for the Lord. There seems to be a mindset of something like this, “I’m a good Christian. I don’t do anything really bad. I’m a good person overall. That’s what it means for me to be a Christian.” But, is that what it means to be a…

Paul commended the Christians in Thessalonica, shortly after they had been converted to Christ. For what? He praised them for “how you turned to God from idols…” (1 Thess. 2:9). At one time, they had worshiped pieces of stone or wood, and maybe were even the ones who fashioned those pieces of stone or wood into some kind of image (Isa. 44:10). They were literally…

Who are “the best of the best”? Commander Mike Metcalf, in Top Gun, told the pilots, “Gentlemen, you are the top 1% of all naval aviators – the elite, the best of the best.” Chief Zed, in Men in Black, told the recruits, “You’re all here because you’re the best of the best.” Of course, all of that is fiction. In the real world, who are…

Perhaps the word “special” has been so overused (and misused) that it has lost “specialness” when it comes to God’s use of that word in the Bible. In both the Old Testament and the New Testament, God identified His people as “special.” What does that involve? God identifies His people as “a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth”…

There is something special about the church! God said so (1 Pet. 2:9; Acts 20:28)!  There is something special about the church getting together! God said so (Acts 12:12; 1 Cor. 14:26; Heb. 10:24-25)! And, in my opinion, there is something special about Wednesday nights. That seven days between Sundays—between the times that the church gets to see each other and be with each other…