“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word from the mouth of God.” – Matthew 4:4
You may have heard that in 2024, Bible sales rose by 22% over the previous year. That is certainly very encouraging! At our “Hope for America” livestream event, we gave away 40 Bibles. There definitely seems to be a growing hunger for God’s Word.
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“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” — John 3:16 (NIV84)
Hi, Rock Church Family! As we step into this new year, I wanted to take a moment to remind us of something. We talked about it a couple of weeks ago during our Christmas series. And honestly, for me, reminders are always a good thing (especially as I’m getting older :-)).
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“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” — Psalm 90:12 (ESV)
Here we are again, almost to New Year’s Day. Where did 2025 go? The upcoming year certainly reminds us of the swift passage of time.
I’m not sure exactly what state of mind you are in as you’re reading this devotional. I don’t know your specific excitement or trepidation for the new year. However, as a pastor, I know that many (most) (ALL?) people have seen pain and loss in 2025. Either firsthand or through the experiences of close loved ones.
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Merry Christmas, Rock Church family!
I think this December has flown by faster than the rest of the year combined! Between all the parties, shopping, school events, movie nights, and church gatherings, the Christmas season sure has a way of eating up a lot of our time and energy. (And hear me when I say NONE of those things are bad!) They are absolutely wonderful gifts.
But if we’re not careful, we can get ourselves so busy doing Christmas ‘things’ that we don’t make room for the main thing: Christ Himself.
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Lately, I’ve noticed something surprising: when you ask someone how their day is really going, people open up. Not every time. Maybe not dramatically. But often enough to stop you in your tracks.
It’s just one question.
“How are you doing?” or “How’s your day been?”
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It’s been exactly one year since my son was able to come home from the hospital. Due to many complications, what started out as appendicitis turned into forty-something days in the ICU and on the surgical recovery floor. During that time, he won over every tech, nurse, and doctor with his patience and kindness. His perseverance and long-suffering were truly amazing. I didn’t hear him complain one time.
On a typical day during his time in the hospital, I would spend the night there. My wife and the girls slept at home. In the morning, my wife would come to the hospital, and we’d take care of our son together for a few hours. Then I’d go home and sleep during the day while my wife took over at the hospital. My daughters did school, chores, etc. I’d eat dinner with the girls, and then we’d all go to the hospital, where we’d be together until my wife took the girls home. And the routine would start all over again.
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I think God has placed an innate sense of competition in our DNA (somewhere). This also includes a desire to run the race. Obviously, there’s more competition and desire in some people than others. Along with that, the race can mean a plethora of things to each of us. But one thing is certainly true. We undoubtedly all want to win. Nobody hopes to use their thumb and index finger to place an L on their forehead.
While a young boy, I believed I was very fast. As a young man, I was definitely full of myself. Consequently, I would sometimes challenge other men to a foot race. This typically happened at parties and get-togethers. I’d even challenge the occasional woman. In fact, my wife was one of them; we were both very competitive. I beat her handily, by the way. Alas, as age takes its cruel toll on us, we all slow down. Even the next generation eventually replaces professional athletes.
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“16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. 17 Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years!” — James 5:16-17
Recently, I’ve been reading in the book of James. These verses reminded me of the power of prayer in a fresh way. James shows us that we experience healing, breakthrough, and spiritual strength through two simple but important practices: confession and earnest prayer.
Verse 16 calls us to confess our sins to one another and pray for each other so that healing can flow. Confession certainly isn’t about earning forgiveness from Jesus. On the contrary, His grace already covered us at the Cross. Instead, confession is about walking in the light. It keeps the enemy from cornering us with shame and isolation. It also gives Believers permission to live in an honest, transparent, and grace-filled way. We begin to heal when we step into the light with a trusted community and invite God into our weakness.
Then James points to Elijah in verse 17. He writes of a man “as human as we are.” A man whose earnest prayers absolutely shaped the world around him. Elijah wasn’t perfect; he was simply willing. His life reminds us of something we should never forget. That fervent, faith-filled prayer from ordinary people invites extraordinary intervention from God.
Honesty opens the door to healing. Equally important, earnest prayer opens the door to God’s power. We don’t need to be spiritual giants. We just need to always surrender ourselves, be humble, and be willing to pray.
Considering this, is there something in your life He’s prompting you to confess so you can walk in the light? And how can you take steps today to pray in faith, believing He hears and responds?
Talking it out and praying with you,
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“Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” — 2 Timothy 4:2-4
A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) has been in the news A LOT! Everyone certainly has thoughts and predictions about what it means for our world.
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Imagine along with me. You wake up to find someone has delivered the Ark of the Covenant (the sacred symbol of God’s very presence) to your house for safekeeping (by Amazon). That’s exactly what happened to a man named Obed-Edom. Well, not the Amazon part.
Let me back up a bit. King David and his men were transporting the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. A tragic incident occurred when Uzzah improperly handled the Ark and died (1 Chronicles 13). King David halted the Ark’s journey and left it in the home of Obed-Edom. What happened next has always amazed me:
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