My family is home!!! I brought Crystal and Hailey home from the hospital this afternoon. Oh, what a feeling! Crystal has had a long, difficult week. Every day, she would have good periods and bad periods. But she has recovered from the surgery well enough for her doctor to send her home. She will still need to get a lots of rest of the next week or two. Keep her in your prayers. Hailey is doing fine. No problems, except for a lovesick dad who keeps fussing over her. She is beautiful. And I praise God for adding her to...

There is a new addition to the Charles family!!! Crystal gave birth yesterday (3/24) to our new daughter at 3:14 pm. She is a little early, but both Crystal and the baby are doing fine. She was born at 7 pounds and 3 ounces, 20 and 1/2 inches. She looks like... Well, we're not sure who see looks like yet. The process went smoothly, with no complications. Praise God! As Crystal was still in surgery, I laid the baby on her chest. And she began to lick Crystal's face.She was not out of the womb two hours before she found...

'- Easter Sunday at MSMBC. It is always a special time. Today was no exception. What a great day! - Today was the first time in some weeks that I preached multiple services. It is what I have done for years now. And I found myself getting into a groove quite easily, like the whole riding a bike thing. - This is the third week I have preached with sinus problems and cold symptoms. I have not really felt up to preaching the past several weeks. And it was discouraging to be feeling this way on Easter weekend. But the...

Here is my sermon skeleton from yesterday. TITLE: "Power to Reach Your Full Potential" TEXT: Hebrews 13:20 THEME: A benediction and doxology for divine help POINT: God helps those who trust in Jesus. OUTLINE: I. God has done great things for us through Jesus Christ (13:20).There are three fundamental reasons why you can trust God to do for you what you cannot do for yourself: A. God is the God of peace. B. God raised up our Lord Jesus from the dead. C. God established an eternal covenant with us by the blood of Jesus. 1. Blood: We are completely...

I was looking for a good quote to post today in celebration of Easter. And I found the manuscript to a message I preached about five years ago, entitled, "Why the Resurrestion Matters." It was a part of a four-message series on the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus that I called, "Why Jesus Matters." What follows are the opening paragraphs of the resurrection message: Let me begin this sermon by telling you the most important and intimate things I can tell you about myself: I am, unabashedly, a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ. I wake up every...

I am writing this post from the Indianapolis airport. I have been in town to preach three nights at the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, where Dr. Theron Williams is the pastor. It has been a tough week of preaching. First of all, I think I became homesick the moment the plane left LAX Monday morning. I have been struggling with cold symptoms all week. And the weather here has been horrible. I (wisely) did not leave my room all week expect to preach. Although the weather has been cold, I found Mt. Carmel to be a warm congregation. I met...

As a self-appointed "missionary" for Apple's Mac computers, I could not help but report on this news brief from this morning's USA Today newspaper entitled, "Charlie Rose saves laptop, not face": "Why has Charlie Rose been sporting a black eye and bandage over part of his forehead? On Monday, the PBS host tripped in a pothole while walking on 59th Street in Manhattan. He was carrying a newly purchased MacBook Air laptop and made the decision to protect the computer. Producers say he hit the pavement face first. The MacBook is fine." - by Ann Oldenburg with staff and wire...

'- This is the second weekend in a row where I have suffered with a sore throat and an aching body. I think I may be fighting off a cold, with varying degrees of success. I pressed through on the previous Sunday. And I really did not want to do it again. But I did. And I was not at my best this Sunday. - Our children sang in our morning worship service. It was great! Hats off to Phil Placenti, our children's division pastor, for preparing our children to sing. - A group of the young ladies performed an...

Last night, Anthony Kidd, who pastors the Westside Bible Church, ministered the word in our Wednesday Night Midweek Service. Over the past year, Pastor Kidd and I met and began a new friendship. And I have developed a great deal of respect and admiration for him in the short time we have known one another. Likewise, Westside Church meets at the school a few blocks away from our new location. So it was important to me that we quickly establish a fellowship between our two congregations, especially with both congregations being like-minded evangelicals. Pastor Kidd brought a message on James...

In 2006, I had the opportunity to speak in the annual men’s conference hosted by the Los Angeles Bible Training School. I was asked to present a message that I had preached in my exposition of Colossians at Mt. Sinai Church, where I serve. The message was based upon Colossians 3:5-9. I entitled it, “Putting Sin to Death.” In this message, I try to challenge the church to be intentional, strategic, and militant in the battle for godliness and against sin - particularly sexual sin. It is a very important message that I really worked hard on. But when I...

'- I was not feeling well today. I am battling the early symptoms of a cold. And I found it hard to pull myself together. But at no point this morning did I feel that I should not preach today, even though I was not feeling up to it. - Crystal did not rest well last night. But she felt strong enough to attend service this morning. I am always more relaxed (in contrast to anxious) when Crystal is present when I am preaching. - There seemed to be quite a few guests in worship today. I saw many new...

Here is my sermon skeleton from yesterday's message on Psalm 23. The audio of the message should be on the MSMBC website some time this week. Title: "Living with Confidence in God" Text: Psalm 23 Theme: A song of confident trust in the Lord Point: God is worthy of your trust. Purpose: The purpose of this message is to exhort end encourage the hearer to live with confidence in the Lord, because he is worthy of our complete trust. Outline: I. The Lord watches over those who trust him (23:2-3) A. The Lord watches over the physical needs of those...