This Sunday we will look at the qualifications and assurances that God gives us to help and encourage us in our selection of Elders. Although the list of qualifications seems exhaustive, we will try to look at it in a way that doesn’t leave us exhausted.
As 2019 draws to a close and as we prepare to enter into a new decade, this is a perfect opportunity to pause and reflect: what would you like to see happen in 2020? Psalm 145 gives some amazing words as we prepare for a new year. Reminders to draw near to God in thought, in word, and in actions.
Ordinary people sometimes discover amazing things. A man bought an old $4 painting at a flea market in Adamstown, Pennsylvania thinking the frame could be fixed and reused. When he removed the canvas, he saw a folded paper stuffed in it. He opened the document and couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw a first edition printing of the Declaration of Independence, dated 1776. Would you tell anyone?
In 520 BC, Zechariah spoke a to a post-exilic nation that had returned to their homes but had not yet fully returned to God. We live in a post-Christian culture that needs a Zechariah to call us to fully return to the Lord today.
“Someone has recently pondered what the first Christmas might have been if wise women had come from the east instead of wise men. They would have asked for directions, made it to Bethlehem on time, helped with the delivery, cleaned up the stable, made a decent meal, and brought some practical gifts.” Where do you turn when the unexpected becomes your reality?
We celebrate Thanksgiving this week and yet, shouldn’t we be celebrating in thanksgiving to God every day? Don’t you have reasons for every day of life to thank God for who He is and what He has done?
While Thanksgiving appears to be a celebration of family, food, and football, the back story to Thanksgiving included difficulties, disease and death. Join us this Sunday as we take another look at Thanksgiving through the lens of Scripture.
In Leadership magazine there was a cartoon by Mary Chambers of two women in a Bible study together. One of the women says to the other, “Well, I haven’t actually died to sin, but I did feel kind of faint once.” How do we understand when Paul says in Romans 5:20, “but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”?
Have you sensed the darkness creeping in more and more? I am not talking about Daylight Savings time but the physical weariness and spiritual oppression that seems so tangible in our lives today? Join us this Sunday as we talk about both the helplessness we feel as well as the hope we can find in Christ as we look at Romans 5
If someone handed you $5.00 without any conditions, would you take it? Jia Jiang, an entrepreneur who was paralyzed by the fear of rejection, decided to face his fears by handing out $5.00 to total strangers. How does his experiment relate to our justification by faith?
Most of us have an occupation, but each of us also has a calling. Because of the daily tasks that demand our attention, it is easy to become preoccupied with our occupation and miss our calling. A journey with Peter through John 21 will help us discover what holds us back, and how to step out of our fears and into our calling.
Ken Sande, author of Peacemaker, recently said that Christians often think of the Gospel as two doors. The door of conversion by which we are saved, and the door of heaven, that assures us where we will go when we die. He went on to say, that many Christians live in between those two doors according to the law. The Apostle Paul uses the life of Abraham to show us what justification by faith looks like in our lives today.
It was two hugs that made the national news. What would cause the brother of a slain man and a District Court Judge to hug a condemned murderer? Join us this Sunday as we look at Romans 3 in “Getting Right With God.”
Excuses. We all make them whether it’s about the mess we left behind, why we were late for work or class, or the things we say to get out of a ticket or trouble. But do we have any good excuses when God is the One we are talking to? Join us this Sunday as we face the sobering reality of being in the courtroom with God as our judge.
There are so many things people have done in the name of religion to get right with God. How about you? Are you religious? Join us as we look at what it means to get right with God.