Good morning on this Saturday, January 16th. Many of you have urged me to continue the messages on Proverbs after I return from vacation in early February. I certainly have appreciated the testimonies of how the sermons have proven so helpful in your Christian walk and personal relationships. Tomorrow's message is Making Wise Decisions and The Reward Factor, then Pastor Ed and Pastor Tim respectively will be speaking during my absence. Upon my return, I'll be preaching the following messages from Proverbs:
February 7th - Financial Freedom Vs. Financial Folly
February 14th - Financial Freedom Vs. Financial Folly - Part 2
February 21st - Keys To Wise Communication
February 28th - Effectively Using Life's Great Source of Improvement (Handling Criticism)
March 7th - Dan Brown Guest Speaker
March 14th - The Most Destructive Force In Relationships
March 21st - A Sure Formula For Defeat
March 28th - Solomon's Ultimate Secret Of Success
April 4th - Easter
I hope you will not miss any of these messages because every one of them is the product of the wisest of men, King Solomon giving advice on the various issues of our lives. If we apply his instruction, we will live all live better, happier, productive lives.
Mel Brown

Good morning on this Saturday, January 9th. This is turning out to be a cold and snowy winter! Frigid is a good word to describe it. Last fall I was listening to a long-term weather forecast and was pleased to hear the forecaster predict that we were going to have an El Nino related mild winter. Clearly that forecast has not proven to be accurate. Long-term weather forecasts are not the only predictions about the future which are often wrong; the well-known psychics who predict the important events which will take place during the year are only right about 50% of the time at best. The physicist Niels Bohr was so right when he said, "Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." The Biblical standard for a prophet of God was 100% accuracy in predictions about important events made many hundreds of years in the future dealing with specific people, places and events. Hundreds of such predictions made over approximately 1000 years by many prophets of God have been minutely fulfilled - that cannot be explained away by mere chance and can only be possible by the revelation of an omniscient God. The accuracy of prophecies in God's Word which have already been fulfilled can only serve to reinforce our faith in the accuracy of Biblical prophecies yet to be fulfilled. Christ words ring true when He said, "Thy Word is truth" (John 17:17). Tomorrow's sermon from Proverbs is entitled, The Control Which Produces Great Results. I hope you'll be there.
Mel Brown

Good morning on this first Saturday of 2010. Happy New Year! In studying how they celebrated the new year in Old Testament times, I discovered a series of steps the Old Testament saints followed to get their new year off to a Godly and productive start. First they searched their hearts for things which were dishonoring to God in their lives, confessed them, and placed them before God for His cleansing and forgiveness. As part of the process, they committed themselves to forsake these wayward ways. Next, they examined their interpersonal relationships to see if they have wronged anyone and damaged a relationship by their attitudes and actions. If so they went to that person, asked forgiveness for their offense, and attempted to reconcile with them and restore the relationship. Finally, they reviewed God's blessings on their life during the previous year and spent time praising and thanking God for those many blessings. They therefore healed their relationship with the Lord and others and saw to it that there was nothing between them and the Lord or any other person which was unforgiven or would hinder their spiritual life in the coming year. Why not follow these steps as a personal spiritual prescription for 2010?
It will surely help each of us to start the new year right. Tomorrow's sermon is again from the book of Proverbs and is entitled, Profiting From Conflict. I hope I'll see you there.
Mel Brown