I seldom pick up hitch-hikers, but made an exception for a young man in his 30’s looking for a drive into town. He had just learned that his wife, whom he thought was paying their mortgage, had used the money for several months to support her gambling addiction. They were losing their home. Gambling and often accompanying addiction is taking a huge toll in the lives of many, in a variety of ways. People are losing jobs, homes, families, and, in some cases, their lives. But perhaps the worst gamble of all is the gamble that there is no God, no accountability, and no hereafter. Jesus warned, “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his own soul? ”And Paul warned, “Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” Please, don’t gamble. Invite Christ in and play the game of life safely.

Pastor Alex Rockwell

Last month, a man flashed a gun several times on a crowded commuter train in San Francisco, but passengers were so absorbed in their phones and tablets they didn’t notice until he randomly shot and killed a university student. Although they were in close proximity, they were completely engrossed in texting, oblivious to the obvious danger. It is easy to rush through life being controlled by the tyranny of the immediate and neglect our souls. We are tuned to the present and forget the future. The Bible is filled with clear warnings such as, “what shall it profit a man if he gains the world and loses his own soul?” And Paul warned “Now is the time of God’s favor…now is the day of salvation.” Another New Testament passage asks, “how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” But are we listening???

Pastor Alex Rockwell

Privacy is mostly an illusion, according to a recent issue of Time magazine. We may assume no one sees or hears our private moments, but the rise of technology is quickly changing that. Video cameras, satellites and drones, smart phones relaying information about their owners, license plate cameras all track car movements. While all this can be unnerving, there is something which is even more sobering, and of which we should all be aware. The God of the universe is ever present, all seeing, all knowing. The Psalmist put it this way. “O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You understand my thoughts afar, and are acquainted with all my ways.” If we’re trying to hide from our Maker, that knowledge is frightening. But if we have come to Christ and God is our Father, it makes for peace and security.

Pastor Alex Rockwell

The cover of a recent Time magazine read, “Can Google Solve Death” It explains, “The search giant is launching a venture to extend the human life span. The authors give what they call the worldview that “there is no problem that can’t be addressed by the application of liberal amounts of technology and everything is solvable…,” However, not surprisingly the question of death goes unanswered. That’s because the Bible, the final authority on death tells us“…it is appointed for men to die…” Perhaps our Lord made the most riveting statement of all, when He said, just before raising Lazarus from the dead, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” He was acknowledging the reality of death, but making it clear that when we put our faith in Him, and what He did for us on the Cross,” though the wages of sin is death,” happily “the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Pastor Alex Rockwell

In Pueblo Colorado a man claiming to be a police officer approached an undercover detective and demanded he hand over drugs as part of a police drug bust. But when he ordered the detective to “give him the drugs,” the real detective showed his own credentials and arrested him for impersonating of a peace officer. There are also many fakers who pretend to be genuine Christians. They fool others, but Jesus warned that He is not fooled. Matthew records, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ The only real Christian is the one who has sincerely invited Jesus Christ into his or her life. Are you real or fake?

Pastor Alex Rockwell

Bugarach is a small picturesque village in southern France. It is believed to have inspired Steven Spielberg’s film, Close Encounter of the Third Kind and Jules’ Verne’s novel A Journey to the Center of the Earth. But last year, it was back in the news being seen as a last refuge for people who believe the world is soon going to come to an apocalyptic end.. And Jesus spoke of “signs in the sun, in the moon and in the stars …men’s hearts failing them from fear … of those thing which are coming on the earth… But as sincere as these folks were, the village of Bugarach is not the answer to their fears. There is only one safe haven It is not a place or a religion. It is a person, Jesus Christ, who said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” And He invites, “Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

Pastor Alex Rockwell

The Province is writing off more than a quarter of a million dollars owed to government, as a result of unpaid taxes by a individuals and business. Finance Minister Wes Sheridan says it’s because those involved just cannot meet their financial obligations. Sheridan said, “Your heart goes out to many of them.” And that is exactly where every single one of us finds ourselves in relation to our sin debt. We are unable to pay it. Paul describes our condition as being “all under sin.” And he explains that it’s because “…there is none righteous, no not one.” But fortunately, we learn later that, “…when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son….to redeem those who were under the law.” You and I owe a sin debt to God, but He has paid the debt for us, and offers to write it off. All we need do is ask. If you’d like to do that, here is a prayer you can pray right now- “God be merciful to me, a sinner, and save me for Jesus’ sake.”

Pastor Alex Rockwell

Michael, a young boy playing in the streets of Florence, Italy, was seen to be making beautiful models out of mud by an artist, Domenico Del Ghirlandajo. He invited the boy to his studio to study art seriously. Soon the boy learned all that Ghirlandajo could teach him and sent him on for further studies. But he never forgot his old Master. Much later in life, he paid him a visit and left a gift for him- a beautiful drawing of the two hands which had taught him how to draw. We might not have heard of Ghirlandajo, but most of us have heard of his student, Michaelangelo. This story beautifully illustrates God’s love. He the great artist reached down, loved us, and offers forgiveness to all who will receive it. Paul put it as follows: “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” So let’s tell all of His loving nail-pierced hands, never forgetting the great price He paid on Calvary’s cross for us.

Pastor Alex Rockwell

Ten years ago, hurricane Juan blasted the Maritime Provinces, causing great havoc and loss of life. Among those who went through it was a young woman trying to reach home during the storm. As she neared her residence, tree littered streets made it impossible her to take her car any further. As she attempted to walk, a group of students saw her and shouted, “Wires are down” danger.” They then invited the woman to take refuge with them for the rest of the night as the storm raged. “Now” she says, “My attitude toward storms has changed. I pack up, and hunker down.” And life storms can also be terrifying. The Psalmist wrote of them, “They cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He stilled the storm….it grew calm and He guided them to their desired haven.” And the hymn-writer asks, “Will your anchor hold in the storms of life ?” Only when we have Christ, the anchor of souls, in our lives are we ready to say “yes” with confidence.

Pastor Alex Rockwell

In Bromsgrove England, employees in a shoemaker’s shop were always complaining they were cold. The door to the shop needed o stay open to let solvent fumes escape, so temperatures could get as low as 8 degrees. The owner, Martin Connellan bought his employees heavy parkas, but they still weren’t warm enough. So he hired hypnotist James Kerwin, who proved you can retrain people’s thinking. Within five minutes, Kerwin convinced the employees to think the place was toasty warm. The temperature remained the same, but the people were deceived. In fact, they complained it was too hot – and it is often that way regarding our relationship with God. Paul, in the New Testament, warned people, who had refused to come to God through faith in Christ. He told them, that “… their minds the god of this world (Satan) has blinded….” And later he cautioned, “Do not be deceived…whatever one sows, that he will also reap”

Pastor Alex Rockwell