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Pilgrims Pathway Ministries exists to glorify God and exalt Jesus Christ. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe and the scriptures make it clear that Christ is able to save to the uttermost all who come to Him through repentance and faith. God commands that His people are to be holy as He is holy and love Him with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. By the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and the power of the Holy Spirit victory over sin is available to all ...
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This message defines what community looks like and how it is played out today from a biblical sense. A community has a common identity and purpose, where each person sells their own individuality and sets aside their own personal desires. They are knit and joined together in affections, their mind, desires, and thoughts. Human nature may desire to …
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Paul in this passage is finishing his third missionary trip and is heading to Jerusalem where he knows that chains and suffering await him. He sends for the leaders in Ephesus to meet him in Miletus to show them the gravity of the time, and the burden he has for the Gospel to be proclaimed. He had seen great works of God when he was in Ephesus, pre…
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At times, God will awaken us to the brevity of life, and to the reality that we can never take back time that has passed. Moses prays to God that He would teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. As Christians, we have a profound calling on our lives, and this prayer for us is to lead us away from idleness and towards the sim…
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Paul reflects on his past with a purpose to motivate the church to move forward. Paul had many reasons to boast in his own flesh, but in all of those, there was no hope of salvation. Only faith in Christ could profit him, so he was willing to let go of everything else. He had to count all else as loss so that he could move forward in the work that …
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The word of the Lord comes through Haggai during the feast of tabernacles, where the people held feasts remembering how the Lord had delivered them from Egypt. It was about one month since the people had started building a new temple for the Lord, but now they were getting discouraged. They started comparing this new temple with the old temple of S…
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The legacy of a leader is seen in the people that he’s influenced. God looks for people who look to serve others and who think little of themselves to be leaders. Paul was this type of leader to Timothy. He challenged Timothy to imitate him as he imitated Christ. And now as Paul was leaving this earth, Timothy had a mission--to carry on the vision …
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We’ve all faced strained relationships--with family, co-workers, friends, etc. But when our relationship with God is strained, we experience the deepest anxiety. This is because we were not intended to be separate from God. Being out of union with God is usually due to sin, but God’s forgiveness can enable us to be brought back into a right relatio…
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The book of Haggai starts at a time when the Israelites had started to rebuild the temple, but because of opposition, they stopped. They were unwilling to work because they thought that the time had not yet come to rebuild the temple. Instead, they were focused on their own lives and houses. Haggai speaks to them the word from God, to stir them up …
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Our faith must be challenged and refined by the Scriptures. We must examine what we believe and allow God to expose areas that must be addressed and challenged so that we may have sound faith and foundational beliefs. In this passage, Jesus challenges what the people believed and what hindered them from embracing God’s intentions for their lives. L…
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Paul describes to the Corinthian church how the church is the body. Each person is a member of the body and is necessary to the body because each serves a different part. Christ is the Head of the body, and without the Head, the church does not exist. Each member must be baptized into one body--buried with Christ in baptism, and then raised through…
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In Matthew 23, Christ ends His ministry to the Jewish leaders by rebuking them because they are unwilling to come to Him. In the next chapter, Jesus leaves the temple because God has deserted it. Jesus’ disciples, however, were still focused on the exterior things and wanted to show Jesus the temple because they didn’t realize that God had abandone…
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This sermon describes the ongoing preparation and transformation in our hearts by the Gospel. The Gospel challenges our desires and thinking into an intimacy and conformity to Christ. Our own desires keep us from God and from embracing the call of Christ, so we must have our desires realigned. In the passage, Jesus challenges those listening about …
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This sermon describes Christ’s journey to Jerusalem. He journeyed to the cross with joy, not for death, but for the glory that would follow. He set out resolutely, not afraid of what He would face. Christ’s disciples also journeyed with Him, but they went with the spirit of pride, wrath, vengeance, and self-preservation. Christ went with the desire…
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Paul describes the role of the Gospel in one’s life to expose sin and wrong thinking. We are to come into the light and allow the Gospel to show us our imperfections and redeem how we define our own lives. The redeeming power of the Gospel reveals to us that we are now bondservants to Jesus. Our lives are common pots of clay, and it’s through the a…
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Paul writes to the church at Ephesus to preserve the unity between the Jews and the Gentiles. It is only the Gospel that brings unity between God and humans, as well as between humans. Paul describes the benefits of unity which include blessings and graces of the Holy Spirit, redemption, and the forgiveness of sins. The work of God starts with, and…
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What is unity? It is the state of harmony and oneness, where we forsake our differences and abandon our prejudices in order to be friends. This type of unity must be worked for with effort. Jesus calls us to this unity with Himself, and with the body of Christ around us. He establishes the role of believers with Himself, describing our submission t…
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Jesus’ resurrection shows us the power of redemption. His empty grave is an invitation to new life, but this new life comes at a cost. If we want to have fellowship with Christ in His glorification, we need to have fellowship with Him in the cross. We must come to terms with the cross in order to know the resurrection life. Will you accept these te…
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The passage begins in the second year of Saul’s reign. The Philistines were oppressing the Israelites, so the Israelites waged war against them; however the Philistines came against them with a large army and surrounded them. Before the battle, Saul had made offerings to the Lord that only the high priest Samuel was suppose to offer. Samuel rebuked…
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The Israelites desired a king like all the other nations. From all outward appearances, Saul was the perfect choice for king. Samuel knew, though, that this would divert their eyes from looking to and depending on God, but the Israelites were resolved to have a king. Sometimes God frustrates us in His love by not giving us something we desire, and …
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Jesus challenges the intent of the heart of the people He is speaking to. He addresses the expectations of their ideas of what the Kingdom of God is, as well as our vulnerability because good soil has to be soft to receive and take anything in. To hear the Gospel is to comprehend or understand. God grants the ability to hear to those who are willin…
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The LORD was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind. Elisha joins Elijah when he goes up from Gilgal. Before leaving he tells Elisha to stay behind, but Elisha responds that he will not. The sons of the prophets at both Bethel and Jericho tell Elisha that Elijah was going to be taken away. They did not see the event in the sacred light …
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Christians need to constantly examine themselves to determine where it is that they stand. Discipleship is for those who are willing to set themselves aside for the Kingdom of God. We must be willing to lay aside our lives for the Kingdom of God. We must not give ourselves to the goal of another kingdom. Often, the focus is on an earthly and secula…
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Much had taken place in the life of Joseph to bring him to this moment, much suffering, trial, hardship, and difficulty. Upon his command all of his servants leave and Joseph reveals his identity to his brothers, and he wept aloud. This was the moment that all of his trials had brought him to, from the moment that his brothers had sold him into sla…
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In every generation God chooses specific people for a specific purpose. They are to arise and enter by faith into the work God has prepared them to do. The time of wandering in the desert was a time of preparation and now they are to cross over the Jordan. Joshua and the people were a testimony of Moses. God had used Moses to prepare Joshua and Cal…
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Israel was fading into spiritual darkness at this time. It was a time of moral darkness and rebellion. The word of the Lord was rare and there was no widespread revelation. The sons of Eli were corrupt and did not know the Lord. They looked at the priestly office as gain for themselves. Eli was very old and incapable of controlling his own sons. Sa…
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Paul gave the right to his own life away when he came to Christ. He laid aside the temptations to advance in this life and he let go of the comforts of this world. Paul was willing to count the things of this world as loss for the sake of Christ. He knew he could trust God for all the provision he needed to fulfill the vision God had called him to.…
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The response that Christ receives in each area of His ministry was dependent on the people’s response to His grace; it was dependent on faith. In Nazareth the people expected Him to do mighty works there simply because He was raised in their city. When Christ told them He would not do so they attempted to kill Him and throw Him over a cliff. In Cap…
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Faith has been the source of every work of the Church. Faith grasps the promises of God and holds onto them. Faith is belief in God that forms the substance of our lives, which is produced through testing. If we endure on the path set before us we will have true and genuine faith through perseverance. One man with God is a majority. From one life o…
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The way of salvation is not closed to us. If we knock the door will be opened. God is willing to forgive all who come to Him. If a sinner comes the way God has shown we will be forgiven. God invites us to accept Him as the Lord of our lives. God simply knocks and gives us the power to respond to His knock by grace. He does not force us but we may r…
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This widow was faithful to God but still suffered oppression. The unjust judge had no sympathy for the woman. Day after day the widow haunted him. The woman was determined and persistent. She caused a great annoyance to come upon the judge. Men always ought to pray and not lose heart. When life doesn’t make sense we must remember this. Let us not b…
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Where there is no vision, the people perish. Opposition to the work of the LORD increases as the success of the LORD’s work increases. This was the case as Nehemiah and the Jews were successful at rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. The enemies of the Jews, such as Sanballat, began to mock the Jews. They sought to discredit them and destroy the work…
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The world that Christ was born into was a world of darkness. The message of Christmas is that God came to give illumination and hope. A people in darkness were given a great light. It was a fulfillment of a promise to bring restoration and life. What we see in the Christmas message is the fulfillment of the promise. In our time we can only cling to…
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God is the God of all comfort. He is the Father of mercies. He cares and encourages, consoles, and gives us the grace to persevere. It does not mean that we avoid suffering, but He gives us strength to go through the suffering. God comforts us in our tribulation so we could comfort those in trouble. God wants to comfort us and then He wants us to c…
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Nehemiah was a cupbearer for Artaxerxes I of Persia. He was an officer of high rank and was held in high esteem by the most powerful person on the face of the earth. But here he is sad in the presence of Artaxerxes. Nehemiah was merely showing on his face the much deeper anguish and sorrow of his heart. The sadness of Nehemiah began when he heard a…
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The Scriptures have been given to us so we can continue to have the LORD prepare us for the life to come. Life creates a longing to depart and see what Christ has prepared for us. We should desire to see eternity. As we draw nearer to the LORD and walk closer and closer to Him we will not be consumed with the cares and worries of this life. All wil…
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God sees the human population in rebellion against Him. All have turned away from the LORD. The sin of the first Adam has spread to all. It has caused a deep scarlet stain. It is our sin that God has a problem with. All sin deserves the wrath of God. Reason is supposed to come by divine light and revelation from the LORD. God wants us to reason wit…
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Jesus was seen as a threat to the religious kingdom of the Jews. Therefore, He is accused of blasphemy and condemned to death. But then the same group of people refuses to enter into the Praetorium of Pilate because they were afraid that they would become defiled. The same group of people who had just spit in the face of Christ, beat Him, and struc…
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The only hope for mankind is repentance and to live with God as their goal. There are so many who seek to distract the people of God from their focus on Him. God is longsuffering because His mercy and because He wills for all to come to repentance. We must enter in to what God has called us to. We must see the goodness and mercy of God working. We …
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We are to surrender entirely to God and obey His teaching. Christ spoke directly by the authority of the Father, His ways and thoughts were of Him who sent Him. The conflict is to know the doctrine; man must be willing to know the doctrine of God. There must be obedient submission. Every faithful believer will see the truth of Christ’s words, every…
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What is recorded in this passage is true worship. True worship exalts God for who He is and exalts the work that God has done. True worship focuses on the LORD and praises Him for what He has done. God has done this work to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt. He alone deserves all the praise and all the glory. The children of Israel simply had to …
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Hezekiah had become king after the death of his wicked father King Ahaz. The Kingdom of Judah had come to a very low place. Hezekiah was not willing to follow the ways of his father. His first step was not to build up his own kingdom. Instead, he sets out to do is undo what his father had done. His desire was for reformation. He had zeal for God an…
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There is a banquet and you have all been invited, but one must open the door. God gave Christ that all who comes to Him may be saved. None will be turned away who come to Him. God calls sinners to repentance so they could be saved. We must step out of self and into faith in Christ. God’s purpose and desire is for all to come into His house. To be u…
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The spies and the people of Israel had lost sight of God and His promises. They had become focused on themselves and their own inability to enter the Promised Land. And they rebelled against the LORD. They complained in their tents. They came to false theological conclusions about who God is and about trials. They focused on their own inability to …
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There is nothing that shows our devotion to God more than being poured out. The life of the Christian is to be a life that is poured out and broken for others. It is God working through us; it is not something we do. God is longing for lives to be given to Him; our calling is to be given entirely to Him. We are to pursue being filled to the uttermo…
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The life of Christ is to be duplicated by every believer. All will live a life of persecution and trial but will not be forsaken. Although the grace of God has been given to all, not all will come to faith. We must obey. Believers must not go back to willful sin. We must renounce the hidden things of shame. It is the light of God that shines on us …
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The hour had come. Christ knew what was to come, and yet He is gripped by this fervent desire even in the midst of the realization of His coming suffering. He did not fervently desire the suffering. He fervently desires the kingdom. But He knows that He must suffer for the kingdom of God to come. It was the love of Christ that overwhelmed Him with …
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There is a challenge in these verses. It is not about the sentimentality of these words. This is about Christians. Love is the greatest goal of the Christian life. We are to give our lives as a sacrifice for others. Through our death, life will come to others. Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies it will abide alone. We are to be no…
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Correct thinking requires a correct heart. The heart stores all the mind allows to be stored there. Out of the heart proceeds all sin, what we say results from what is stored in the heart. As we think in our hearts, so we are. We are responsible for what we think about. It doesn’t matter what we say, it matters what we do. We must allow God to take…
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Abraham is called to leave his country, his family, and his father’s house to go to a place that God will show him. But God had not shown him yet; this was so he would walk by faith and not by sight. Each part of the command corresponded to a promise that was dependent upon Abraham’s obedience. Abraham would lose much in exile but he will gain in t…
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This is a challenge for the body of Christ to be united and for each one to take their part in the work of the Lord. We must consecrate ourselves to this work together and He will bring the increase. Now is the time and season to take up the work of God. We are to carry out this calling to build the Kingdom of God. God desires our commitment, He is…
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