Message (Page 17)
Sunday Nights (1)
At times, thought is given about Sunday nights. Discussions are held. Do we continue to have services on Sunday nights? People vote by their attendance and attendance is low. So, do we cancel Sunday night services like many churches have done? I love Sunday nights…they are special…that is why we continue having them. Recently, Pastor Jeremy Freeman wrote about Sunday nights. His church does have a Sunday night worship. Jeremy expressed five reasons he believes Sunday Night worship services are…
Urgency
My mind set is not always one of urgency. Sometimes I like to loiter and dawdle, just killing time. While that in and of it self is not wrong or bad, it is wrong not to have a sense of urgency with regard to my faith in Christ and His return. Paul had that sense when sharing his faith with the Gentiles. He would not wait for another opportunity but was faithful in using the present one to share Christ.…
Gratitude
In our lives, God is so good to us and we fail to even acknowledge it. I think one of the basic reasons why we are ungrateful is that we simply take life and its blessings for granted. It is like our health, until we loose our good health, it never occurs to us to thank God for it. We take our daily blessings for granted. We should thank God for so many things. One year, a postmaster counted the…
Do you ever feel like just giving up? You feel like you just want to throw in the towel and walk away. I am sure you have at one point or another. Sometimes it seems like no matter how hard we try we just are not having the impact we want in our life and those around us. It is at these times when I have to remind myself that I cannot change anyone. God has instructed me to live…
Lost and Found
I have preached that before we ever seek God…He seeks us. In our lostness…God seeks us and wants a personal relationship with us. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God is love…He personifies it. God loves…He demonstrates it. God cares for and loves all of us…even those who are lost and separated from Him. If you have…
Living our Lives for Christ
This passage from Romans 14:22-23 reads as follows: The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. When I have read this passage in the past my first thought has been the literal one with regard to…
Our Throw Away Society
In our society today, when a cheap appliance breaks, we just throw it away and buy another one. It’s not worth fixing. On the other hand, when an expensive item is damaged or needs repair, we don’t discard it or throw it away. No, we repair it…we restore it. Have you thought about the fact that’s what God does for us? When we mess up his lives, God doesn’t throw us away. No, He desires to restore us. This reminds…
The Message
The Message paraphrase for Romans 12:1-2 reads as follows: So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the…
Racial Issues
It seems like we cannot go a day without seeing a newspaper headline, a Facebook post, a tweet on Twitter, or a newscast on TV that doesn’t deal with racial issues. Our country continues to be divided, not only politically, but racially. Juan Sanchez of Lifeway recently wrote “racial divide is a sin problem…I don’t believe reconciliation will occur apart from the gospel.” Epheisans 1 tells us that God’s plan is to exalt Jesus and to unite all things under…
Situations
Have you ever thought you had the right answer? Have you been convinced that your way was not just the best way, but also the only way to get things done? Maybe you have come upon a situation that has you torn apart and you can’t make sense of it. Life is full of situations like this and if we are free to admit it we have had these thoughts, feelings and sensations before. Our question is even in times…