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Three times in God ’s word do we see the three words “faith, hope, and love – these three words form a tri -unity that centers our character development around God. Faith, Hope, & Love Initiates Our Response to the Gospel For three weeks in Thessalonica, Paul and Silas preached from the Old Testament scriptures reasoning that the Christ must suffer and rise from the dead. Some Jews, and many devout Greeks would be persuaded during this time. When wicked…

In sending his disciples to go and minister, Jesus told them He was sending them as “sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (Matt. 10:16). There has to be a great reason why our Lord uses four different animals in one verse to describe the relationship, qualities, and character of the people who would be speaking, and the ones to whom they would be speaking. A couple of prayers to consider as…

A church, or any organization for that matter, will never rise beyond their leaders (Matthew 10:24 -25). As a leadership leads, so the attitude of the leadership will be reflected in the members. When the leadership is excited and encouraging about an area of work, generally, so also will the congregation be excited. If the leadership is lackadaisical and uninterested, so also will be the membership. Consider the deacons and their responsibilities in this regard. The word, “deacon” as most…

Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. – Proverbs 14:34 Something I have heard many election seasons since the mid 90 ’s If “we” don ’t win this upcoming election, the nation will be destroyed. Read carefully again Proverbs 14:34. We live in a nation that is not above reproach. Yet, for many, this nation is still recognized as the greatest nation with the most freedom to worship God than any other nation on earth.…

Think of an “outsider,” not a member of Christ ’s church, who walks into our assemblies or classes. What if an outsider becomes a guest at Graeber Road? We ’ve prayed, people do show up – God has answered. A powerful thought: God has said, “Yes” to our request for an open door. The question is: are we being good stewards of the blessings he is giving us? We do not want any visitors to slip through the cracks or…

So much of Jesus ’s public ministry and so many of His conversations with people happened around the dinner table. In fact, most of Luke (1/5 of this gospel account) has to do with Jesus either going to a meal, sitting down and eating a meal, or getting up and leaving from a meal. Jesus had great opportunity to help when He sat down at the table. Consider now this and see if there is any truth to it: YOUR…

The book of Jude is addressed to Christians who needed to wake up to fight against some ungodly people with ungodly ideas among them (Jude 3 -4, 12, 16, 19). The key statement of Jude exhorts these endangered Christians to, “Contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). “Contenders” are interested in building up other Christians (20) “…building yourselves up on your most holy faith…” Those who would contend earnestly for the…

One man said, “profanity is the language of the ignorant.” For someone who has no other expression than expletives to use when they ’re angry, excited, fearful, sad, or any other emotion, they really show a lack of understanding. Remember when Peter wanted to show his ignorance of Jesus, he began to curse and swear to show that he was not with the Lord (Matt. 26:74). While this is not an article about profanity, we would do well, parents, to…

Goshen is the name of a few places in scripture. The most well -known is the land the Israelites dwelt in during their time in Egypt (Gen. 47:1 -6). Several blessings came by being in the land of Goshen. Consider three: Protection First, Goshen became an initial line of defense in keeping the Israelites separated from Egypt ’s pagan culture (Gen. 46:33). To the Egyptian, shepherds were an abomination. Ironically it was not the Israelites whose culture was an abomination,…

Have you ever been to the zoo and seen all the animals like the tigers, lions, alligators, rhinos, bears, and many others? Man’s body is no greater than the body of a beast; they are both mortal. The only difference between them and us is we have an immortal soul which lives for eternity. We have to choose how we live for the destination of our soul going to Heaven or Hell for eternity. Solomon teaches on this very subject…

VBS is almost here (6/27 -6/29)! It is truthfully one of my favorite times of year because there are some really creative and talented minds that really shine in making a great experience for our kids. It is an opportunity to really “think outside the box” and to make a lasting impression on these kids about the spirit and life of Jesus. Even if you are not directly involved in the teaching, decorating, feeding process, or anything else here is…

The temple was finally built! Worshiping God on the “high places” was intended to cease (cf. 1st Kings 3:1 -4). In 1st Kings 8, the ark of the covenant of the Lord is brought in, and the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord (1 -11). It was a time of immense celebration and joy for Israel, who had been waiting on this promise from God since the days of Moses (Deut. 12:1 -14). This was a…