by Pastor Mark Downey

Scripture Reading: II Thes. 2:10-12

From the KJV we read about “strong delusion” and that was my original title for this message.  However, upon reviewing other translations, instead of the word ‘delusion’ was the word ‘error.’  The Ferrar Fenton read “the energy of error”; the Christogenea NT read, “an operation of error” and still others said, “a working of error,” “a deluding influence,” and “a misleading influence.”  I wondered how could there be such a disparity of terms and what are these verses really talking about.  It obviously has something to do with the contest between truth and lies.  Common sense here tells us that the best safeguard against error or more poignantly the delusion (the mental condition in which you believe something that is not true) is “the love of the truth.”

by Pastor Mark Downey

I no sooner commenced to sitting down with a yellow legal note pad to write down this message, when a bird in the backyard began squawking. I wondered, "What's his problem." It sounded like some kind of warning, rather than the happy chirping of an early bird catching a worm. Perhaps another animal was encroaching upon his meal.

I love how the Holy Spirit works. Before I began to write anything about tribulation, the sounds of God's creation gave me a sermon example from the get-go. Through this otherwise mundane morning activity of nature, it came to my mind of a situation we had last year in our driveway.

by Pastor Mark Downey

The progressive understanding of God's will is learning how to yield ourselves completely to God. Our actions determine our destiny.

Part 1:  Any White person can mature spiritually if they develop practical action steps and everyday habits. As we deal with things in life, we learn to use the Word of God as our standard of measure. 

Part 2: As we see the vision of overcoming the adversary, we mature in Christ as we approach a closer proximity to the Kingdom. But we need the glue that connects our people; that bonding agent which is the shining light of glory.

by Pastor Mark Downey

I read recently that scientists had discovered that goldfish had a memory retention of two seconds.  So you could imagine two goldfish in a bowl complete with castle and plants talking to each other.  First goldfish, “Look at that castle.”  Second goldfish, “What is a castle?”  First goldfish, “Why do you ask?”  Second goldfish, “Ask what?”  There are an increasing number of people like that in our society.  But, goldfish swim all their lives in that bowl and are unaware of the water they swim in.  Some people are completely oblivious to the intellectual and spiritual sea we swim in with all of the philosophical undercurrents and riptides.  That ocean of information has been spawned by mass media and various mediums of persuasion.  When Daniel (12:4) spoke of “an increase in knowledge”, he may have been alluding to an information overload.  Because of this saturation bombing of the mind, the world is in a state of confusion and chaos.  And this is by design to mold public opinion like putty.