Why I Love Camp
Lord willing, we’ll be on our way Sunday morning to this year’s session of Camp Bandina. I love going to a Christian camp. I don’t love it because the counselors there are perfect, but because they’re servants of the Perfect One. As counselors, we all bring our faults and flaws right along with us, but we get a chance to serve God by teaching His perfect love and His perfect ways to the campers. I don’t love it because it’s…
Philippines Mission Letter: May 2021
Click/tap for full PDF Dear Brethren, May the Lord bless you always and your loved ones with good health, peace, and joy. We continue to have guests on the Lord’s day as our brethren encourage their relatives and friends to give what is God’s. We have been studying with some of them already on weekdays. We pray that they will continue to worship with us also. Last month, a brother in Christ had lost his mother. As we mourned and…
Reverence
The writer of Hebrews urged readers to ”. . . have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Heb. 12:28). The Greek word for reverence signifies, first of all, caution, then godly fear. One English dictionary tells us it is “profound respect mingled with fear and affection.” In order to serve God acceptably, we must do so with reverence. Therefore, we must understand how reverence is produced and maintained. It is an internal trait.…
The Five-Finger Prayer Help
I want to be a person who prays more, but I just don’t know what to pray for! The truth is that nobody except Jesus is an expert at prayer (Luke 11:1; 18:1). Yet, there are a number of helps that can cause us to think more about the blessings God gives us—as well, the opportunities we have to ask God to make a difference in our world. Consider this old illustration of just using your hand to remind you…
What to Do in the Interim
With the departure of the Albers family, there is a hole left in the work of Graeber Road. While we pray for Troy, Amy, and Remi in their new home in Sunray, we also need to be praying for the work and the next associate preacher of Graeber Road. Consider that we are now in an interim time period. Interim means temporary/provisional. How long that may be is not known, however, what we can do in this interim is absolutely…
Philippines Mission Letter: April 2021
Click/tap for full PDF Dear Brethren, Last month our young people were able to enjoy a whole day youth fellowship. We invited some of the youth from our neighboring congregation and our young people also brought some of their friends and relatives to join and participate in the said event. We had two speakers who spoke on the subject of social media. The youth had really enjoyed the fellowship and all the activities. They grouped themselves into three and each…
Is There a God?
How one will answer this question WILL mold and shape their view of life, for the rest of their life and usher them into eternity. If God does not exist, then our lives will cease to have meaning outside of ourselves and there will be no absolute standard of right or wrong for us. On the other hand, if one comes to know that there is a God, then determining His will and His revelation He has made becomes an…
Spiritual Growth
Spiritual growth is not like physical growth. We know that a child does not have to plan how to grow or work at growing. No parent is ever asked, “What is your secret for making your child need longer jeans and bigger shoes?” While physical growth is a natural process, spiritual growth is not. The writer of Hebrews chided those who first read the letter, in chapter 5, by telling them they should have grown enough to be teachers, yet…
When the World Ends
Your gadgets will be worthless. “In a moment,” the Bible says, “in the twinkling of an eye” the end will come. There will not be time to call friends or loved ones. There will not be time to send one final email to say goodbye or “prepare to meet thy God.” Our cell phones, our laptops, and our gadgets which now seem so powerful and time-consuming will all be rendered useless with the coming power of an omnipotent God! For…
Philippines Mission Letter: March 2021
Click/tap for full PDF Dear Brethren, The Lord continues to bless and guide us in carrying out the great commission. We appreciate so much the continued help and willingness of our brethren to go with us to evangelize those that they have been able to schedule for a Bible study. They even accompany us in our follow up lessons with the new converts. Both the adults and young people in our congregation are giving us prospects to teach the Lord’s…
Mistakes
The dictionary defines the word “mistake” this way: “a misunderstanding of the meaning or implication of something; a wrong action or statement proceeding from faulty judgment or inadequate knowledge.” Most of us would admit that we know plenty about mistakes, without having to consult a dictionary, because of personal experience. We know that mistakes can be of various kinds. Ever call someone by the wrong name? Ever make a mistake in your checkbook? Ever pick up something you thought wasn’t…
A Slip of the Tongue & A Clued-In Seven-Year-Old
“Daddy, you said a bad word when you were preaching,” he whispered to me. Immediately, I stopped what I was doing and turned to face him to give my full attention. “What did I say, son?” He turned away from me and said, “you said the word, ‘gee’.” It is true that sometimes I’m given to filler words that creep unaware into my speech. I have no excuse for saying it and I certainly didn’t try to justify it to…