Message (Page 20)

The choir anthem this past Sunday was simply titled “Be Christ.” It made me think about what that meant. Here are a few thoughts. Regardless of how we are treated, Be Christ. Regardless of social rank, rich, middle or poor class, Be Christ. Regardless whether friend, acquaintance or thorn in our side, Be Christ. So what does it mean to Be Christ? I John says, “God is love.” Jesus said: “Love your enemies. If you love me you will obey…

As we approach Thanksgiving, I am thankful. I am thankful for many things. I am a blessed man. I am thankful for my health. I am thankful for good transportation. I am thankful for my hot tub. I am thankful for the country, state and community that I live in. I am thankful for my wife, my family and my friends. I am thankful for my wife’s dog Molly. I am thankful for my salvation and my relationship with God.…

It is easy to get caught up in the excitement and chaos of day-to-day living. When things seemingly are out of control, our impulse is to try and fix the situation and restore order. This cannot always be done and even when we fix things, our idea of fixed may be different than another persons and thus chaos still exists. What to do? Trust in God. This is the perfect opportunity to put in practice our belief that God is…

I read recently an article by Todd Gaddis for Lifeway that suggested ten poisons that will kill any church. Todd reports that thousands of churches close their doors every year and many others are on life support. He writes that “we live in a time when churches need revitalization and renewal…the eternal destiny of people depends on the 
faithful witness of local churches.” Todd was reminded that certain poisons cause death, yet they are avoidable. Churches that die from these…

Whom or what do you reflect? You have heard people say something to the effect that “you can see the glory of God in their face.” Or remember reading about Moses and after his visits with God his face shone so bright he had to cover it before the people? I know I have said I want to reflect the glory of God and I am sure many of you have as well. What do we mean by this? To…

Last week, I shared from Gregory Koukl’s book, Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions, he suggests three things we must have to represent Jesus in today’s world: The basic knowledge necessary for the task Wisdom to present the Gospel message clearly and in a persuasive manner Character, we must embody Christian virtues, we must walk our talk. Gregory Koukl provides ten suggestions for us as to represent Jesus. I shared the first five last week. I will…

In Gregory Koukl’s book, Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions, he suggests three things we must have to represent Jesus in today’s world. First, we need the basic knowledge necessary for the task. We must definitely know the Gospel message and then know a little about how to respond to obstacles we will encounter. Sometimes this comes through practice in sharing with others. Second, we must have wisdom. We must present the Gospel message clearly and in…

Someone once said… “Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.” I like that saying. It is so true! None of us is perfect. We all have sinned. Romans 3:23 says “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We all have hurts, flaws, faults and weaknesses. Many scriptures remind us we are sinners. Psalm 51:3 says “I know my transgressions and my sin is always before me.” First John 1:8 says “If…

God hears us when we call. Those are incredibly great words to hear. To truly know that our wonderful God listens not just to us but also listens for us, is a blessing in and of itself. But the last part of that statement “when we call,” is what I am talking about. When we make the effort to call upon God and seek Him, means we have come to the place where our pride no longer gets in the…