THE BLOG
Category
Topic
- Anxiety 2
- Beauty 1
- Bible 4
- Blessings 1
- Body of Christ 1
- Burden 1
- CEO 1
- Christian Living 91
- Christlikeness 6
- Christmas 9
- Commandments 1
- Community 1
- Conflict 1
- Cults 1
- Culture 1
- DDM 1
- Death 1
- Discipleship 3
- Emotions 4
- Eternity 2
- Evangelism 6
- Faith 2
- Forgive 2
- Freedom 1
- Fusion 1
- Gather 1
- God 1
- Gospel 2
- Gratitude 1
- Hebrews 11 1
- Holiness 1
- Holy Spirit 1
- Homosexuality 1
- Humility 1
- Israel 2
- Jesus 5
- Joy 2
- King of Glory 1
- Lying 1
- Missions 1
- Outreach 1
- Pastor Jeff 1
- Perspective 2
- Prayer 7
- Psalm 119 3
- Reading 1
- Salvation 13
- Sanctification 1
- Satan 1
- Scripture 2
Eyes Wide Open
Two words seem to jump out at you in God’s Word from time to time: “Beware” and “Do not be deceived.” They are important warnings designed to grab our attention about the dangers in living out the Christian life.
I used to play a game as a kid where you would close your eyes and then let a friend guide you with their voice. You had to trust them. But sometimes you had some prankster friends who would guide you into a puddle or ditch or into rose bushes or other potentially harmful places. You thought their guidance could be trusted until you found yourself in a mess.
Be a Spiritual Optimist
What is an optimist? Well, it depends on who you ask:
One husband was overheard saying, “an optimist is a person who keeps his car’s motor running while his wife goes shopping.” (I hope the ladies are laughing.)
Another quipped, “How can you easily spot an optimist? It’s like an older person buying green bananas.”
Still another offered this interesting view, “An optimist is someone who, after being pushed off a bridge, says, ‘so far so good.’”
Two Opportunities to help missions
Two Opportunities to Help our Missionaries
Matching Gift Opportunity for South Africa Missions Project, building fund for Tugela Ferry Church, Beginning October 30.
Special Need for Bona Demo, wife of Edi Demo who leads the Illyricum Movement Church Planting Ministry in Albania. Bona will need a kidney transplant sometime between December 2022 and February 2023.
Our Full Meal Deal
I have always loved Dairy Queen, not only for their Dilly Bars, Peanut Buster Parfaits, and all the mouth-watering flavors of their famous Blizzards, but I miss the great taste and bargain of the Full Meal Deals. The Full Meal Deal was an ‘80s promotion that offered a hamburger, crunchy fries, a sundae, and a drink for—wait for it—$2.79. Oh my, those were the days.
As good as the Full Meal Deal was in my life, it only briefly satisfied my hunger pangs for a few hours and then I was hungering and thirsting for some more sustenance. In fact, The Full Meal Deal did nothing for my mental, emotional, or spiritual life. It might have been a meal and a good deal, but it was never really full in the sense that it satisfied my life.
The Importance of “Again”
One of the words that is often used in our vocabulary, but probably not carefully contemplated, is the word “again.” Kids use it: “Do I have to make my bed again?” Parents use it: “Don’t make me tell you again.” Citizens use it: “Are gas prices really going up again?” Everyone uses it: “I can’t believe this is happening again” and so it goes.
A Gospel Ministry Tool Box
As disciples of Christ, we are called to be “fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19), not keepers of aquariums. We are to “always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (1 Peter 3:15), and like Paul, to ask the Lord to help us “make it clear in the way I ought to speak” (Colossians 4:4).As we think about our diverse and growing community, here are some practical tools to help us all be better prepared for gospel conversations with:
Wake-Up Call!
This last week, we posted an excellent read on the shocking responses found in “The State of Theology Survey.”
Well, it seems it rattled more than a few cages.
John Stonestreet, president of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, author, and daily voice of Breakpoint, a nationally syndicated commentary on the culture, said this: “This year’s State of Theology study’s results show that not just Americans but evangelicals in particular are increasingly muddy on core truths such as the nature and character of God, the reality of human sin, the role of the Church in the world, and the exclusivity and divinity of Jesus Christ.” That is an understatement when you understand that these truths are at the center of everything we are called to believe. Read "What 'The State of Theology' Tells Us" (John Stonestreet & Kasey Leander).
GOOD NEWS in the Ultimate Game
Who doesn’t want to win in life? The good news for every believer is we are promised ultimate victory and we can walk in that victory right now despite all the relentless opposition we face.
One of my favorite verses in Scripture is 1 Corinthians 15:57: “but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Practicing Mutual Discipleship
I grew up in a neighborhood that was always busy with friends. Whenever one of us headed outside we were immediately joined by several others itching to play a sport or hang out. One activity that we really enjoyed was skateboarding. Skateboarding, before the internet age, meant that we actually had to make up our own tricks or that we learned new ones from watching others at the skatepark. As soon as one of us figured out a trick, we would show each other how to do it (usually after we won a game or 2 of S.K.A.T.E. if I’m being honest).
