If you have your Bibles, I’d invite you to turn with me to Matthew 19:1-12.  Jesus has been speaking to his disciples, in an extended series of lessons in Matthew, chapter 18. Now, in Matthew 19, He’s left Galilee, He’s in the border regions of Judea just on the other side of the Jordan ministering to multitudes.

Psalm 130 teaches us how great and amazing salvation is. The wages of sin is death. That truth alone is a constant reminder of how terrible sin is.

America is a force for peace and prosperity in the world. We use our military strength to promote peace. Our economy is driven by innovation, competition, and hard work that leads the world in gross domestic product (GDP). Importantly, we are the face of modern democracy and a beacon to the world for liberty and freedom.

After Republicans clinched their narrower-than-expected new House majority in November’s midterm elections, the only relevant questions for Congress-watchers seemed to pertain to what Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) impending House speakership would look like. 

If you have your Bibles, I would invite you to turn with me to Matthew 18:21-35. Jesus’ disciples must have been stunned by this discourse having started with the less than innocent question as to who was greatest, wanting to know who had primacy, who had priority amongst His disciples.

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

In one of the most famous editorials ever written, “Is There a Santa Claus?,” a little girl from New York was given the definitive answer to the question.

The Ridgeland Public Library is at it again openly promoting homosexuality in prominent book displays, this time a children’s book about gay Santa and his equally jolly husband.

In recent years, left-wing ideologues seem to have been elected to office in states like California, Oregon, New York and Illinois. There they have raised taxes, imposed radical curriculums in the classroom, and in some cases even attempted to defund the police.

Please turn in your Bibles to Matthew 18:1-6. In this passage, Jesus is going to direct the disciples’s attention precisely to the issue of their own humility.

In Acts 28 Paul finally arrives at Rome, as the Lord Jesus had promised.

It should surprise no one that former Madison County engineer Rudy Warnock and three Canton officials have been indicted by a federal grand jury on bribery charges stemming from Warnock’s reign of terror at Canton Municipal Utilities from 2016 to 2017. 

Did you know that in Mississippi – the state that led the charge to overturn Roe v. Wade – elective abortions are both illegal and a constitutional right at the same time? 

Please turn in your Bibles to Matthew 17:24-27. Jesus returns to Capernaum after a long time away and the tax collectors are waiting. Out of respect for the Lord Jesus Christ, they come to Peter, and ask him a question.

In Acts 27 the apostle Paul is in Roman custody and is delivered over to a centurion named Julius to be transported to Rome.

The first recorded Thanksgiving was celebrated on December 4, 1619, at Berkeley Hundred, a plantation on the northern banks of the James River about 20 miles upstream from Jamestown, the first permanent settlement of the Colony of Virginia.

Please turn in your Bibles to Matthew 17:22-23. In this passage we come to the second great announcement of Jesus' impending suffering, death and resurrection.

In Acts 26:19-32 the apostle Paul concludes his testimony before King Agrippa, Governor Festus, and many other dignitaries in Caesarea.

There are no saviors or miracles in democracy, only a grueling, soul-sucking, forever war of attrition. That is the enduring lesson of the 2022 midterms, as it is every election.

It’s no secret, especially for our size, that Mississippi is the trial lawyer capital of America. Some have coined the term “jackpot justice” referring to these individuals getting rich off your misfortune.