Pastor Marc Bertrand

"Can/should a Christian who is a virgin marry someone who is not a virgin?" The ideal situation for Christian marriage is, of course, when both parties are virgins, having understood that marriage is the only place in God’s eyes for sexual relations. But we don’t live in an ideal world. Many times, a person raised in a godly home and saved from childhood wishes to marry someone who was saved in h is or her 20s or 30s and who brings to the Christian marriage a past lived according to worldly standards. While God puts our sins as far from us as the east is from the west when we come to Him in repentance and faith in Christ (Psalm 103:12), people have long memories and forgetting someone’s past may not be easy. The inability to forgive and forget the past mistakes of one of the marriage partners will definitely influence the marriage negatively. Before entering a marriage with someone with a sexual past, it’s crucial to understand that salvation and forgiveness of sin are given...

True Name of God What is it? What is the true name of God? Before we answer that, it would help to talk about language. There are about 7000 languages spoken today. Since God is omniscient, He knows them all. Before the tower of Babel, thousands of years before Jesus walked on earth, people spoke only one language (Genesis 11:1-9). No one knows what language that was. It might have died out then   and there. Even if a descendant language exists, no speaker of it would understand its ancient ancestor. Languages change every generation. That makes literature several hundred years old difficult to read. Literature several thousand years old is impossible to understand today without special information. What language does God speak? Every language. What language did He speak before humans existed? No one knows. Maybe He spoke a near infinite number of languages. Maybe He didn’t even speak like we understand the term. After all, God doesn’t have a tongue, lips, teeth, and vocal cords ...

3000 Died - 3000 Saved It is interesting to note that on the day Moses came down from the mountain 3000 were slain, but on the day the church was established in Mount Zion, 3000 were saved. The law of Moses was a law of spiritual death because nobody could keep it perfectly, but the law of Christ is a law of life because it provides for the forgiveness of our sins. Exodus 32:28 And the children  of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.​ Acts 2:41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.​ Romans 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: God's grace is more than enough for any problem or need. "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness"... II Corinthians 12:9 Thank you, dear Abba, for your grace in every time of my eve...

A Prayer for Enjoying the Sabbath Rest of the Gospel Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest. Heb. 4:1-3 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest. Heb. 4:9-11 Heavenly Father, on this Lord’s Day morning, I rejoice in the magnificent paradox these Scriptures present: We’re to strive to enter your rest. What a glorious irony—work hard to rest well, stay restless till we rest fully, work hard to cease working. Yet no real surprise, because the gospel contradicts the fundamental way I’ve been trained to approach every sphere of life—athletics, education, finan...

The Meaning Behind The Menorah. If you look at the ancient buildings and archaeological findings in Israel, you will notice that the symbol of the menorah appears time and time again. For millennia, it was the symbol of the people of Israel, long before the Star of David. But historians don’t really know why this symbol rather than any other. Perhaps the New Covenant has some answers? The menora h has always been God’s idea. It first appears in Exodus chapter 25, as God instructs them how to make it: “You are to make a menorah of pure gold. It is to be made of hammered work; its base, shaft, cups, ring of outer leaves and petals are to be of one piece with it. It is to have six branches extending from its sides, three branches of the menorah on one side of it and three on the other. On one branch are to be three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with a ring of outer leaves and petals; likewise on the opposite branch three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with a ring of out...

Overcoming the Fear of Death. Most of us fear death, don't we? We may say we believe in eternal life, in a heaven that is a life of bliss, a life much better than this world. But we act as if we fear death, and our actions speak louder than our words. We act only slightly different from people who claim to have no belief at all in heaven and hell. Isn't it amazing that, centuries ago, Christians  sometimes celebrated a believer's funeral as his "birthday," the person's entry day into heaven? They celebrated because they really believed it was so. We need to go back to the Bible. It reminds us many times that nothing, not even death, can snatch God's people from him. Even when I walk through the dark valley of death, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Psalm 23:4 As for me, God will redeem my life. He will snatch me from the power of death. Psalm 49:15 He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign LORD will wipe away all tears. Isaiah 25:8...

For My Own Sake When I really need to hear the voice of God in my life, I find myself escaping into the words of Isaiah. I’m intrigued by God’s words, His active speaking through dialogue, which always strikes me. One morning, I stumbled across what is now my favorite verse, Isaiah 43:25, NIV, “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. ” I stared at this verse as my heart dove out of my chest and into these words, deeper and deeper, and swaddled itself in the insane amount of intentional love I found there. I tend to fall into that category of folks who know they’re forgiven and receive it but still can’t shake the “wretch like me” attitude. As I stared at this verse, God took that attitude, turned it on its head, and shook it until understanding wove itself through every thread of my heart. I pictured God saying these words to me. Like He was suddenly sitting in my tiny room with me, leaning over my Bible and saying, “For my...