Posts from 2024 (Page 2)

In his book, When God Builds A Church, Bob Russell tells this story: A little over thirty years ago, the number one, drive-time, radio disk-jockey in Detroit was a woman – Liz Curtis. They called her “Motor City Mama.” She wasn’t exactly a modern “shock jock” on air, but her day to day life was so wild that Howard Stern once told her: “Liz, you’ve got to clean up your act.” In 1981, Liz moved to Louisville, Kentucky and a…

8 Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah. 9 Men of low degree are only vanity and men of rank are a lie; In the balances they go up; They are together lighter than breath. 10 Do not trust in oppression And do not vainly hope in robbery; If riches increase, do not set your heart upon them. 11 Once God has spoken; Twice I have…

What a Difference You Make! In Ephesians 4, Paul discusses various ministries the grace of God entrust to Christians. Ministries such as evangelists, pastors and teachers. Vs. 16 says, “…from whom [Christ] the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” The ministry of our Shepherds and Preachers are often more visible than…

Malachi 3:3 says: “He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver.” This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study. That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn’t mention…

Then I Said to them, “You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.” 18 And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king’s words that he had spoken to me. So they said, “Let us rise up and build.” Then…

Earnest Shackleton and his men sailed for Antarctica on the very day that England declared war on Germany in WWI. At their first port of call the party sent word they would abandon their expedition and offered themselves and the ship to their country. But Shackleton received a cable from a man who could see the ultimate value of the venture even in the moment of a national struggle for survival. The message was a single word: “Proceed,” and it…

It was an emergency situation. At least it was for a 6-year-old Florida boy who felt like he needed to call 911 to report it. When the responding officer arrived, the little boy told him his emergency: he was lonely, and needed a friend. Officer White told him that he would be the boy’s friend, brought him a stuffed animal, and let him sit in the police car. Being lonely and needing a friend is a common occurrence. Knowing what…

This week our nation celebrates Freedom – Independence – the ability to live and worship freely. We cherish the word “Freedom”, yet we recognize that securing that Freedom and maintaining that Freedom has come at a great Price! Those patriots who fought to secure these Freedoms knew the great cost involved. And so, as they closed the Declaration of Independence, they included these words: And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine…

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.“ Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.“ His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do…

After Mary’s scary episode where she and Joseph “lost” the Son of God, when they found and heard Jesus in the temple give His reason why He did what He did, the Bible says, “they did not understand…but His mother kept all these things in her heart” (Luke 2:51-52). We treasure things and people because of significance. Christians ought to cherish above all else: Young people who grow into faithful Christians. Paul picked Timothy to be a “true son in…

Wednesday morning, as I drove in, I noticed dark feathers flopping around on the parking lot. It looked like a bird had a broken wing and was trying to right himself. The wings kept fluttering, but the bird silhouette that is normal for a bird never emerged. I immediately wondered what happened: was it a baby who had fallen out of the nest? Was it a bird who had a spinal injury by flying into a glass door? As I…

“Jesus loves me, this I KNOW.“ God loves all humanity and there is a sense in which all who are on the earth are His children as His creation (Ps. 8:3-8; Acts 17:28-29). Yet, the ones who call on Him as Father, through Jesus Christ, truly are His children (cf. Jn. 1:12; Acts 2:21, 38; Eph. 1:5; 5:1-8). How do I know Jesus loves me? Look at ways the Bible tells me so: God’s nature is evidence of His love…