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"Father, Forgive My Tears... I Will Trust You"

4/29/2016

Without a doubt: It was uncomfortable for the Children of Israel to be in the wilderness ..

But look at what God had just delivered them from! Years of oppression and slavery ... being whipped and tortured ... and yet God delivered them from all of this and Pharaoh and his army!

But now they were in the wilderness and were wondering, "How are we going to make it?" Since they didn't know the future - and all they could see was the desert sand, and a little bit of food (manna) and water ... they were afraid they were going to die right there. Their fear and torment in the moment, caused them to doubt God and His great love and faithfulness toward them (sorry for the difficulty in the journey, but there weren't jet planes, cruise ships or Uber back then to make the trip any easier).

The truth was (although it was impossible for them to see it in the moment): Their lives were shifting - and the discomfort was about to bring about a change far greater than they could ever imagine - a place that would fulfill their deepest of dreams - coming out of a place of bondage and preparing to enter a Promised Land!

All they had to do was cut God a break and TRUST GOD through a few days of discomfort ... Instead: They whined. They complained. They yelled at God and said, "Did you bring us out here to die?"

Today... in light of my life, and my uncomfortable and fearful circumstances... I am asking God to forgive my whining and crying heart... and I am choosing instead to say, "You are loving. You are good. And, while I don't know what the last chapter holds ... I signed up to follow You and to trust You - and I am not going to quit now. I pray I haven't been disqualified from this test yet because of the fear and whimper that originally rose from my heart... because, the truth is: I can't wait to see what You have ahead!"

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It's So True... Love Never Fails!

4/26/2016

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For the longest time, I spent my days in fear about whether what I said or what I did might offend someone or hurt someone's feelings. Oftentimes, I would just stand in a corner of a room filled with people and not say a thing, for fear that I might offend someone or say the wrong thing.
Of course, I realize a lot of people might hear me share something like this and they would be like, "Tom, lighten up! What's the big deal?"
I realize now, that a lot of my fear was instilled in me by physical abuse in my childhood ... for whenever I crossed my drunken father, it might mean a beating that would threaten my very life (at least, to me it felt that way!).
Nonetheless, as I grew older, whenever I offended someone - or hurt someone's feelings - I especially felt guilty and heartbroken about what I had done. For that reason, I was (for the most part) a very well-behaved young man. But, I was always overwhelmed by a sense of fear, that I might say or do something wrong.
   Then I discovered the beauty of 1 Corinthians 13, the "Love Chapter" in the Bible.

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag
   and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek
   its own, is not provoked,does not take into account a wrong
   suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,
   endures all things. Love never fails... now (abide) faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Cor 13:4-8 and 13)

  I would later learn the joy of replacing the word "love" with the name "God" in each instance of the passage ... and thus, become amazingly overwhelmed by the goodness and greatness of God's great love for me. For, God is patient. God is kind. And, I realized we could do that switch, because scripture also tells us that "God is love" (1 John 4:8), and love is who God is!
   Of course, I wanted to love like God loved - so I would take this exercise and replace my name wherever the word "love" is found. Reading it like this: "Tom is patient. Tom is kind... Tom does not take into account a wrong suffered..." Ouch! It's tough for me to love like God loves!
   But then I realized: in my own strength it is impossible to love like God loves!
   Later, there was a movement where everyone asked the question, "What Would Jesus Say?" and "What Would Jesus Do?" There were bracelets with WWJS and WWJD that people wore as reminders to speak like Jesus and to act like Jesus. And these were wonderful reminders... but even then... it seemed so hard to catch myself from those moments of acting in my flesh and hurting someone's feelings.
   Then, I discovered the key!... Found earlier in 1 Corinthians the beauty of who you are in the heart and eyes of God is expressed ... "Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16).
   That means: God's very presence lives and dwells inside of you. If you have given your life to Christ and accepted Him as your Savior ... now His presence lives inside of you by the power of the Holy Spirit!
So...
This truth has totally changed my perspective (most of the time!) ... for now I have discovered that when I let God's love fill my heart - and I let His love overflow through my words and my actions - then God's love flows through me in this moment, and amazing things happen as they are ignited by the Spirit of God!
His love, flowing in, around, and through my life ... never fails!

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Dark? Chaotic? God's about to turn the light on!

4/12/2016

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In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. (Genesis 1:1-5)

"Formless and void," in the Hebrew, means "dark and full of chaos." This is the one verse that allows, theologically, for a season of "millions of years" that Carl Sagan and other scientists allude to, in regards to the earth's existence. This would mean the earth could have been here in a state of darkness and chaos, and God said, "Let there be light," and order came... and the creation of the world, as we know it, came into being.

   Notice the "Spirit of the Lord is moving over the surface of the waters." The imagery here is of a bird, flapping its wings and hovering over where it will land ... like the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus like a dove when He was baptized in the Jordan River (see Luke 3:21-22). Here is God's presence, in the Beginning - waiting to find the place to land - and He is stirring things up over the surface of the waters. Hovering ... waiting ... for just the right moment to touch ground and change the entire situation of darkness and chaos, into a place where God's miracle power can go to work!

Then God says, "Let there be light" ... and a holy separation occurs between light and darkness. And notice: The sun and moon aren't mentioned until a few verses later (In Genesis 1:14!) Could it be this is a separation on the earth between where the Kingdom of Light (the Kingdom of God) existed and where the kingdom of darkness would be pushed back?

   From this point on, there is divine order that enters the world (separation of light from darkness, of land and sea) ... there is new creation of plants and animals, and this beautiful world is re-made into something wonderful that are enjoying (howbeit, even now, in a fallen state) ... and man and woman are created to tend the garden, while ruling and having dominion of His creation. God is going to work and making something miraculously beautiful, where once there was darkness and chaos.

   What would something like this mean to you and me?
God loves to come to dark and chaotic places and bring order and new life... HIS life... into that very place.
His Spirit is hovering and waiting for a place to land - waiting for the welcoming moment for such a miracle work like this to occur.
Could it be that the dark and chaotic place we are sensing, is actually a place of stirring as we are under the "hovering wings of the dove" of the Holy Spirit ... and the shifting in our lives could actually mean big changes from the Lord are soon to take place?

This message gives me hope. And, if you are in a place of "darkness and chaos" in your life, call upon Jesus - the presence of God - to come in and bring divine order and blessing into your situation. Invite Him in to bring a change! And, if this is you...

     Hang on ... hang on ... the minute you invite Him in, God's gonna make something beautiful in, around, and through your life. It's coming!

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The Journey of Becoming Spiritually Crossfit

12/29/2015

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When it comes to weight control and getting in shape, programs like Medifast and Crossfit talk about it being more than just going on a diet - or taking on an exercise regimen - but seeing it as a change in lifestyle and how you look at the choices in your daily life.

The same is true in regard to walking in the Kingdom of God. Just as people get obsessed with "what they eat" for their body - and how they work out ... I get obsessed with my focus on Jesus. He is with me. He is here with me right now, by the power of the Holy Spirit. He wants to speak and share His heart, and touch my life and the lives of those around me, every day ... every moment. The more I exercise this, the more I see... the more my spiritual muscles become strengthened to see God empowered and intervening in the world around me.

That is why reading the Word of God is important... and how worship music renews my soul... and why spending time focusing on Jesus brings more peace and joy to my heart. I feel better when I do these things. AND, I love it when the miraculous realm of heaven invades my world - or the lives of those around me - as Jesus touches all of our lives with His love and miraculous healing strength, in a precious holy moment of His divine intervention.

There is a spiritual diet in what you take in to your soul and spirit - what you take in through your eyes and through your ears. And, the funny thing is, a lot of our modern movies show how MANY people are hungering for spiritual things to be in their life as well, but simply don't know where or how to get their hunger fulfilled. Recent blockbuster hits like Star Wars (with Jedi powers) and Heroes, shows there is a dream within many to accomplish things beyond our natural means ... but sadly, few have come to Jesus and the Kingdom of God to have that hunger fulfilled.

There is a God-given dream inside of you, that is just waiting to be born - a gifting that would make an impact and effect the world around you - but like eating cake gives our natural senses a "quick fix" of satisfaction instead of the long-term health of going "vegan" ... we make moral and spiritual choices that tear us down, instead of building us up.

Oftentimes, a person doesn't want to be told, "Going on a diet would do you good" (we get angry and upset, "How dare you tell me that! Who are you to judge me like that?"), even though the person is sharing an observation out of love and concern for your life.

That is why: You have to come to the conviction of "why" this is good for you - and "why" the sacrifice of time and effort to grow in this, is really worth it for you - if the change is ever going to happen.

Please know: God is not upset in regard to this process of personal discovery. But rather, like a loving parent, He is patiently and eagerly awaiting the moment when we will come to our senses and choose to feast on His Word and His love ... and lavishly enjoy the blessings of the Kingdom of God that will truly satisfy and make us strong.

This is the spiritual version of our journey to becoming "Crossfit."

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May Christ Be Born in US This Christmas...

12/18/2015

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Near the start of December, every year .... ever since I was 10 years old ... my Heavenly Father has the tradition of giving me a Christmas present that lasts me throughout the Christmas Season.

He gives me a different element of the Nativity Scene to ponder and enjoy the wonder and meaning surrounding His incredible, miraculous birth ... something to chew on and meditate upon throughout the Christmas season.

One year, there was the star... another year, the shepherds... then Mary... and Joseph... and then (and many of you were with me when God gave me this), He had me ponder on "the mud" of the stable! Every year, it has been different ... every year, exciting and surprising, and as creative as the Spirit of God can be ... as I stand in awe of the wonder of God and His infinite greatness and love toward us!

This year, I invited you to join me on my journey, as we have looked at my Christmas present from God: "Mission Impossible" and the incredible mysterious ways of God and His workings in our lives... and our human response to how impossible it appears. We have explored our human nature to always be asking God, "How?" and the unbelief we fight regarding the wonderful news and promises of God that He is attempting to speak to our hearts.

We looked at Zacharias in the Holy Temple... face to face with the angel, Gabriel, and the great news that he and his wife will have a child in their old age. Instead of rejoicing, Zach asks, "How?"

We looked at Mary, facing that same wonderful angel... hearing the news of the Savior's birth... and she asks, "How can this be?"

We looked at the prophetic promises of God ... "Born in Bethelem," "Will come out of Egypt," and "He shall be called a Nazarene" ... and how God's great news is usually wrapped up with a bunch of mysterious questions regarding, "God how are You going to work this out in my life?" These elements aren't contradictions or biblical errors - but rather, they work like a "shroud of truth" that veil us from knowing the end, before experiencing the beginning of our journey. Then, at the end of our journey, we look back and we stand in wonder and say, "Oh that is how you were going to make this all happen in my life!"

This Christmas present from God also caused us to look at how one person's favor is another person's labor pain... and how, even living in God's blessing doesn't mean you will be excluded from living a life with heart ache and suffering.

So, now I ask you: What do we come away with, in pondering all of this?

That God wants us to have a relationship with Him. And, as with any loving relationship, to have love you must have trust. So... God oftentimes doesn't tell us the "how" He is going to work our God-given dream out in our lives, because He wants us to grow closer to His heart as we learn how to trust Him - and walk beside Him - through the various seasons of our lives and receiving God's promises.

In the process, we get to watch His miracle hand at work in providing for us along the way.

This Christmas, may the wonder of Jesus' birth come alive to you and your family in a new and fresh way... and may you be blessed with the Good News of God's great love for you!

Merry Christmas!

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To Everything There is a Season

10/26/2015

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  Don't you just love the Fall?
After a long summer of 100-degree days, you suddenly open the door to those crisp 70 degree mornings and the sight of dew on the ground ... something is changing.
You're driving down the road in the evening, and suddenly the thought hits you: "I'm gonna roll down the windows and enjoy the cool of the evening. There's a world out there to be experienced! ... something is changing.
You look at the leaves on the trees, turning magnificent colors - red, yellow, brown (okay, I realize it's more a magnificent red, stunning yellow and dullish dying brown). But the landscape is giving you the signs ... something is changing.
You walk into the stores, and suddenly apples and raspberries are an affordable treat - you begin to think of soups, stews and pies. Your tastebuds are hankering for new things to taste, see and smell ... something is changing.
What does it take to notice the change of the seasons? You must be looking for the signs of the times. Otherwise, the change will simply go right past you - unnoticed - and you will go on with life as if nothing ever happened.
   In God's Living Room, there has been an increase in interesting phenomena. We have seen people receive healing ... one lady with heart problems suddenly had them lift and go away with prayer - and after a week, she is still healed! Another man had a "crease" in his cornea that suddenly was healed and he can see clearly - so he took his wife out to see the Grand Canyon! Others are saying they are growing closer to the Lord - feeling more and moe of His presence in their daily lives - hearing His voice come alive for them through the Word of God and through prayer. There is more joy - more peace - more love from God - and more opportunities to share His goodness and life with others than was ever realized before...
It's clear: Something is changing.
   God's Word is making life more fulfilling.
   The love of Jesus is become more and more real to us - compelling us to love and pray and minister to others, so they can know His joy too.
   The Kingdom of God is coming alive in our lives.
   People are looking for the signs of the presence of God coming alive in our hearts and our daily lives...
   It's a new season.

There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every[a]event under heaven--

A time to give birth and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
A time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.
A time to search and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate;
A time for war and a time for peace.

What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils? I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves. He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart...
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-11)

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The Sound of a Mighty Rushing Wind...

7/25/2015

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While worshiping the Lord and praying a couple of weeks ago, I had a vision ... a picture if you will... come to my mind's eye and it grabbed my attention.

In it I saw "water spouts" - tornadoes out over the ocean - rising up into the air. In my heart, I heard the words, "Deep calls to deep" and I had the sense of a magnetic pull that was growing between the depths of the heart of God's people and the depths of Heaven.

In looking up the phrase, "Deep calls to deep," I was led to Psalm 42, which begins:

As the deer pants for streams of water,
    so my soul pants for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
    When can I go and meet with God?
My tears have been my food
    day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
    “Where is your God?”
These things I remember
    as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
    under the protection of the Mighty One
with shouts of joy and praise
    among the festive throng.
Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.
My soul is downcast within me;
    therefore I will remember you...
Deep calls to deep
    in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
    have swept over me.
By day the Lord directs his love,
    at night his song is with me--

This Psalm captures the cries of many Believers in the United States of America right now. So much shifting - so much changing - and a cry of "God, where are you?"

And yet, back to the picture I had in prayer, I am reminded that to have a "water spout" - or a cyclone - in the middle of the ocean, you must have the clash of two storm systems - a High Pressure Front and a Low Pressure Front. And, like Acts, Chapter 2, I think (if we listen with spiritual ears) we can hear the sound of a mighty wind that is rising right now...

Today, across the globe, there is an increase in pressure and the heat is increasing. This "High Pressure System" is causing a tremendous stir in the natural realm of our lives and upon the world - and living in our society. At the same time, I believe, there is also a "Low Pressure System" that is rising up too. A call for God's people to spend time on their knees and in greater intimacy with the Lord. Deep is calling unto deep. The depths of our hearts are calling out for more of God in our daily lives - and, in the process, we are calling down more of Heaven to invade our earthly realm ... for God's presence to come and invade our world with His love - giving birth to healing, life, and signs and wonders in our daily lives.

This is an exciting time in which we live! As things appear to be getting darker spiritually throughout our world and our land - this is a time in which the light of God is going to shine brighter - and brighter - as we become immersed in the love of Jesus for us ... wrapped in His presence in worship and in prayer... and watching it rise up like a water spout, pouring forth rivers of Living Water with those around us!

These two pressure fronts are combining to cause us... the church... to become wellsprings of Living Water, as we draw closer to the heart of God. God's Living Room was created to be a place - a neutral site - to help nurture your walk of intimacy with the Lord.

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It's ALL About HIS Love... "Receive It!"

2/19/2015

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It's ALL about Jesus' love.

It begins with me being touched to the core of my being by my Heavenly Father's amazing love for me through His Son, Jesus Christ. Realizing that I am cleansed through the Cross ... of all guilt and shame ... free of ALL the lies and fears of the enemy that were created to hold me back ... able to break every shackle of thought that limits the dreams that God has placed inside of me... and that Jesus loves me FOR ME and not what I can do for Him. Just me, for being me. He loves me for WHO I am... that deep love that even my wife can't fulfill in my heart, He supplies to who I am. My Heavenly Father loves me as HIS CHILD. I am treasure. I am someone that God would give His life to know. And just like I long for the very best for my children, as an earthly Father ... our Heavenly Father yearns to walk each step of the journey of this life with me, as a Heavenly Father, excited over each step of the journey ... lovingly taking my hand and helping me each step of the way, and cheering me on, as I take in and acknowledge His love and presence with me, and sharing my life WITH Him.

Then, out of this great love... I begin to look at others and realize they are just a shell of the incredible potential of Jesus' love that He is wanting to pour out for them. And their pains... their struggles... their heartbreaks... their identity crisis... is all just like a Disney fairy tale, where they are royalty and have yet to discover it. They are Cinderella in the ashes, waiting for the Prince of Peace to come and deliver them from the oppression they are under - so they might shine as the remarkable child of God that THEY ARE. Jesus' love is just waiting to sweep them away - to lift them out of the ashes of their despair - and to deliver them from a life of doldrums, to one where Buena Vista COLOR sweeps their soul with joy and laughter and a meaning to life that was beyond their furthest dreams. Their purpose comes from being loved by the Beloved of God AND NOT found in what they are doing with their hands in living this life by some career.

Oh yes... I am drunk on the Heavenly Father's amazing love for us today. I am beginning to see it is ALL about God's amazing love for us. And, dare I say it (listen to the theologians gasp) even the Song of Solomon makes amazing sense to me now... as I am the lover being drawn by God to the awareness of the beauty of being loved and treasured by someone so amazing as God Himself! He is the love who is seeking me out....

“I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride;
I have gathered my myrrh along with my balsam.
I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey;
I have drunk my wine and my milk.
Eat, friends;
Drink and imbibe deeply, O lovers.”
“I was asleep but my heart was awake.
A voice! My beloved was knocking..."
(Song of Solomon 5:1-2)

I hear the knock. I answer and open the door of my heart to God, and God alone. Drink. Eat, my friends. The Heavenly Father wants you to drink of His amazing love FOR YOU today.

You will never be the same.

- TDS

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God's Living Room... What is it?

1/1/2015

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People ask me... "Where did you get the name... 'God's Living Room?' What does that mean?"

I realize, if people are looking for something like the "First Church of Phoenix," you could never recognize it in this name. I mean, "Is it even a church?"

The answer is: YOU are the Church. YOU are God's Living Room.

"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body." (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

YOU are the "living room" where God's presence resides.
YOU are the place where God wants to appear in and speak through.
YOU are the place where other people can come to meet with God.

We have tried to make "meeting with God" about a place - but the truth is, if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, then He is in you and with you (see John 14:17). Wherever you are, that's where the Lord wants to meet with you. The key is: "Have you learned to hear His voice and to walk in fellowship with Him?"

You are God's Living Room.

And yet... it should also be noted... that this amazing world which God has made, this is God's "living" room, a place where you can see God's handiwork all around you and stand in awe of His glory.

"...God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse." (Romans 1:19-20)

This wonderful world is the Garden God created for you to having fellowship with Him in the cool of the day (like Adam and Eve, in Genesis 3:8). This world is God's Living Room.

Then, when we join believers together, a unique thing happens... God is also in our midst. When believer's meet, their unity becomes God's Living Room.

“Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” (Matthew 18:19-20)

God's Living Room is not about creating a church ... it's about "being" the church.

The name came from a dream. In it, I saw a one room church building that was filled with couches. The people who sat in them, felt relaxed - and they could "be themselves." While I spoke up front, the banter was funny, real and filled with the presence of Jesus ... you could feel Him with us.

When I woke up, I realized this is the way God designed "church" to be... a place where the grace of God and the love of God through the Cross makes you know you are a loved and accepted the way you are.

God's Living Room is a place where you can come and experience God ... where you can enjoy your Heavenly Father's presence and the love of Jesus... and be changed by the Spirit of God.

It is a place where you can receive training to hear the Lord's voice ... to grow in His Word... to experience healing through prayer... to touch God and meet with Him as you worship... and to be a part of experiencing revival and giving it away.

After all, God's presence is in you - and He is with you. Our goal is to create an environment, and to invite teachers, to help you experience just that! The things you experience here will change your life - and then, we want you to take it back to your family and wherever you fellowship, so you can experience more of God there too!

"But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23-24)

Have you have been searching for God in a church and not found Him yet? Maybe you need to look for Him in His living room - God's Living Room...

Let's touch the heart of God - and discover the love of Jesus - and experience the presence of His Holy Spirit, together...

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Forward>>

"Father, Forgive My Tears... I Will Trust You"

It's So True... Love Never Fails!

Dark? Chaotic? God's about to turn the light on!

The Journey of Becoming Spiritually Crossfit

May Christ Be Born in US This Christmas...

To Everything There is a Season

The Sound of a Mighty Rushing Wind...

It's ALL About HIS Love... "Receive It!"

God's Living Room... What is it?

Pastor Tom

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