I will be preaching next Sunday and I have been looking at II Timothy chapter 4.  Paul is at the end of his faith journey and he asks for three things while he is in prison.  One of those three things was a coat.   A coat!  He doesn't ask for an attorney or people to come see him.  He doesn't ask for an army to come break him out.  Prison cells back then in 60 AD weren't like the prison cells of today.  The cells were underground, carved out of stone, damp and cold without heating and air and … [Read more...]

"According to your faith it will be done unto you." - Matthew 9:29 God has established the law of expectation.  That law is we tend to get what we expect out of life.  We see what we expect to see.  We feel what we expect to feel.  For the most part, we act what we expect to act.  We achieve what we expect to achieve.  Our expectations influence all of our lives.  It influences our happiness, our health, our marriage, our careers, our relationships, our abilities.   God tells us in Matthew … [Read more...]

" All of you together are the one body of Christ and each of you is a separate and necessary part of it." - 1 Cor. 12:27 (LB) Could you imagine if your heart tells your brain that it feels like skipping a beat?  Could you imagine if your kidneys told your brain that they were taking the day off?  Your body would become ill. That is what happens at Piedmont when you don't use your talents and gifts that God has given you.  Our church body becomes ill.  All of you are separate and necessary at … [Read more...]

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." - Matthew 28:19-20 Over the past several Sundays we have talking about the last words that Jesus said to his disciples before he left earth.  Last words can be tough when you try to condense or summarize years of lessons and memories into … [Read more...]

And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for which such sacrifices God is pleased. - Hebrews 13:16 I remember one time I has to ask the church for money for the youth department.  The budget was so low and the youth department was growing and we needed funds.  I had never done that before and I was so nervous.  After the conference and elderly man named Bill Ward came up to me and said to me " Marlon don't you ever worry about money for the kids not as long as Barbara (his … [Read more...]