In the popular comic strip “Peanuts”, Lucy tells Linus that children cannot live at home forever. They grow up and move away, and that when Linus left, she would get his room. But…Linus reminded Lucy that someday she too would have to leave home. Lucy quickly turned the T.V. up loud, crawled into her chair with a bowl of ice cream and refused to think about it. Just a comic strip, but with an important insight for us all. Many of us like Lucy while quite capable of pointing out problems in others, refuse to accept the unpleasant realities in our own lives. And, like Lucy, many refuse to accept our own faults and failures, and especially the truth that we are sinners by nature and choice and are totally unprepared to meet our Maker. We all need to face the reality of the next life.. To do that we will need to accept our spiritual poverty and ask God for forgiveness , and an entrance into heaven.. He invites us to “seek the Lord while He may be found,” and to “call upon Him while He is near.”

Pastor Alex Rockwell

There is on-going controversy in the U.S. over the right to bear arms. But in Garden City New York, a rifle-toting convenience store owner showed mercy to a would-be robber. Upon seeing the man collapse into tears and claim he was only committing the crime to support his starving family, the store owner, then provided the bat-yielding man with forty dollars and some food, and got a promise from the man that he would never steal again. Yes, I know, the man may have been lying, and just a good actor. But this was a rare and beautiful story which illustrates the fact that there is still some compassion left in this cold world. It clearly illustrates the wonderful grace of God, or undeserved favor. This “good Samaritan” withheld justice and gave mercy. The New Testament puts it this way,”… God, who is rich in mercy because of the great love with which He loved us.,.” Then we read, “by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Have you experienced this grace?

Pastor Alex Rockwell

Civil war in Syria; military takeover in Egypt; and of course the on-going terrorist attacks and threats by Al Queda. But yet, there is hope, for better days ahead. The Bible tells us that current vents will culminate with God’s intervention and the literal return of Jesus Christ to this planet to set up His kingdom. While nobody knows when, there are many sign posts in the world today which indicate the second coming of Christ may not be very far away.” But whether Christ’s coming is soon, or not until many years, true believers can have the assurance that Christ will return. John’s gospel records the promise of Jesus to Christians. “….I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself.” To be ready for our Savior’s coming, we need only to heed Christ’s invitation “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Pastor Alex Rockwell

We all make decisions from time to time. Some are big, some small. But Rick Osborne, who was in Charlottetown for a speaking engagement this summer made a huge decision that changed his life. Osborne, once one of Canada’s most wanted criminals was in prison and on the verge of suicide. But the Gideons, a Christian organization that distributes God’s Word, had placed a Bible in the prison cell where he was serving time. Mr. Osborne read it, and made the decision to ask Christ to take over his life. The result was dramatic. He was transformed by the power of the gospel. He earned a university degree while in prison. He now travels, speaking to youth about the dangers of gangs, drugs and criminal activity. He is a living testimony to Paul’s words to the Corinthian believers when he wrote, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature, he is a new creation; old t hings have passed away; behold all things have become new.”

Pastor Alex Rockwell

Recently I read of a woman thought the wrinkled old baseball card she owned might be worth ten dollars. After posting it on E-Bay, she began to wonder if it might be more valuable, so she consulted a professional evaluator. It was an 1869 card showing the Cincinatti Red Stockings, baseball’s first fully professional baseball team, possibly the first baseball card ever produced. It sold for $75,000. The story teaches us that the true value of an object is not always evident from the outward appearance. The famous and rich and the beautiful are not counted the most valuable in God’s sight. Even the most despised, the poorest, the lowliest are precious and valuable to Him We read, “God so loved the world that He gave His only son, that whoever believes on Him should not perish but have everlasting life”. All, regardless of appearance, education, or social status, are special in the sight of our Lord. That’s because though” man looks on the outward appearance, God looks on the heart.”

Pastor Alex Rockwell

There are more than 100 communication satellites that are orbiting the Earth. The satellites receive signals from transmitter dishes and send the signals to other stations on Earth. This is how information is sent between countries around the world. Some portable telephones are linked to satellites so that the person using the phone can make a call from anywhere in the world. But these devices are, nothing compared to the wonderful line that you and I have to another world. We never get a busy signal, , are never told that there is trouble on the line and we’ll have to wait to get through. I refer to the wonderful communication called prayer. Jeremiah referred to this line when he was inspired to write, “Call unto me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things which you do not know.” When we call with a sincere and humble heart, we always receive a welcome from the One who loves us best. Jesus offers forgiveness,, cleansing and a home in heaven .

Pastor Alex Rockwell

Now that we’re in the 21st century, there are flying cars, jet packs, waterproof living rooms and a pool on every rooftop. Those are some of the fanciful predictions for how we’d be living today. But many of the utopian predictions about daily life in the 21st century did not come true. While dreamers and inventors are to be encouraged, and many did see their dreams and inventions did come to pass, it is prudent to remember that not everything new is necessarily good, nor is everything old necessarily bad. For example the Bible is old, but it is still with us, still true. The famous 119th Psalm says, Forever O Lord, your Word is settled in heaven. The Bible, God’s inspired Word has been, and always will be unchanging and completely dependable. It’s message is as relevant today as when it was written. King david prayed, “Lead me in your truth and teach me for you are the God of my salvation. That is an excellent prayer for all of us. d

Pastor Alex Rockwell

This world and everything in it is all the result of a gigantic accident. The universe runs smoothly with no intelligent designer. It all evolved. At least that’s what many believe. But not all intelligent educated people believe that. Dr. Stephen C. Meyer, who holds a PH.D from Cambridge University is a scholar in the philosophy of science and the author of Signature in the Cell: The Evidence for Intelligent Design. In it he wrote, “The DNA in every cell of every creature shows unmistakable evidence of having been deliberately designed by an intelligent being.” But we don’t have to be scholars to learn that the Intelligent Designer is the God of the Bible. The book of Genesis states, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” And another brilliant man, Daniel Webster, when asked what was the greatest thought He’d ever had, quickly replied, “My personal accountability to God.” Amos of old gave sage advice when he wrote, Prepare to meet your God.

Pastor Alex Rockwell

Did you know that a worker bee has eyes with about 7,000 lenses, hair that has an electrostatic charge that attracts pollen, and when the bee locates food, it alerts other bees of the location by a series of dance moves? Bees have wing hooks which can attach each set of wings together during flight for maximum efficiency? Did you know that bees are equipped with every detail necessary for survival? And they’re necessary to humans, for without pollination, our food supply would be seriously affected. And yet, in spite of this amazing creature, some apparently intelligent people say that bees got that way by accident. But Genesis chapter one says “So God created every living thing that moves…” but He also said, “the fool has said in his heart, there is no God.” Yes, there is an intelligent, designing God, and we’ll all give account to Him one day.

Pastor Alex Rockwell

"If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.” But not always. Visitors to a zoo in China got a big surprise when a “lion” started barking. Turns out it was no lion, but just a Tibetan mastiff, a large, hairy breed of dog — which more closely resembles the king of the jungle than does perhaps any other domestic canine. Apparently, officials in a city zoo decided to make the switch and send the enclosure’s regular resident, an African lion, away to a breeding center When the Liu family went to to the zoo in People’s Park, their disappointed son said the lion was barking like a dog. The truth is that the only way to be a lion, or a dog or a duck, is to be born one. And similarly, since we are all born as sinners, we may talk and look like Christians, but the only way to become one is to be spiritually re-born. That’s what Jesus meant when He said, “…unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Pastor Alex Rockwell