Each week our pastors study diligently to deliver practical, thought-provoking messages from the Word of God.
Our response to a blessing matters. God cares how we respond to His blessing. We have all been blessed by simply knowing Christ. However, Christ said that it is more blessed to give than to receive. The blessings we have received should compel us to give to others. Through our giving, God blesses others.
Read MoreAs God blesses, we are obligated to be a blessing to others, we are to contribute to a cause outside our walls. How will the gospel go forth if we don't think outside ourselves and outside our walls?
Read MoreMission effects how we live and behave. Your heart will be effected by the mission you choose to serve. If your heart is given to a mission, that will effect what you do. Our mission effects our decisions. Deciding what our mission is in advance can have an effect on the direction of our lives.
Read MoreThere is a temptation to be ashamed of the gospel message. But there is nothing to be ashamed of; it is a powerful message. It has the power to change the world, and because of its power, we have an obligation to share it.
Read MoreJesus was busy in His ministry, but He still took the time to stop and observe. He saw people in there condition and was moved in His heart. There was no one to help them. This led Jesus to command us to pray that more people would go to help them.
Read MoreThe word of God repeatedly warns us against believing the deceptive teachings of false prophets. There is perhaps no greater danger to God’s people than the intentional mixing of truth and falsehood. As God’s timetable for our planet draws to a conclusion, there will be a proliferation of those who will teach a compromised version of God’s word for selfish gain and self aggrandizement. The apex of all those who distort the truth of the Bible will be the Antichrist and his false prophet.
Read MoreWe can't go into God's presence and expect Him to receive our worship if we dishonor and abuse those He loves and those who are created in His image. Your treatment of others is a reflection of your estimation of the value of God.
Read MoreJosiah's ambitions exceeded God's direction. We have to remember God's sovereignty. We have to do things God's way. A failure to do things God's way will mess up happy. Lean on your own understanding, and you will pay the price.
Read MoreThe inevitable cannot be escaped. Life in a fallen world has inevitable hardship and hurt. We can't escape all things, but by the grace of God, we can survive all things. The things that hurt us do not have to destroy us. We win by dying in faith. A world of darkness and God-hating is inevitable. Be prepared for the inevitability of hardship, and be ready to endure it in faith.
Read MoreThe second great offense in the book of Malachi was that the priests were allowing the first to take place. They were accepting and facilitating faulty worship. Because the Levites were provided for by the people, they were literally hurting themselves by accepting the pathetic offerings from the people. So the people were being lead to stumble, and by their stumbling they were hurting those who were leading. Our failure to do right hurts ourselves and others. We diminish our lives and the lives of others by failing to uphold the truth.
Read MoreThe temple did not and could not function apart from the service of good people. Just as the temple did not and could not, our church cannot function without the service of good people.
Read MoreEven against the most hostile attack, God is greater. We overcome our spiritual deficit and fate not though ourselves or anything we do, but by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was that event on the cross that allows us to stand before God one day cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. Nothing Satan can do will take that away. It does not matter if it looks like Satan is winning both on earth and in our lives, we don’t have to be discouraged because we know that God is greater and that He has already won. However, even though Satan’s doom is sure, that does not mean he is not fighting and causing casualties. What are you doing to help the winning side? You can’t win a war you won’t fight in. We need to be soldiers in this life.
Read MoreWhen God's people act out of duty versus devotion, they're always going to do the bare minimum. This was the state of the nation of Israel in Malachi's day. God was not being honored. He was not even receiving the base levels of honor that were willingly given to men. The small amount God was given was a weariness to the nation. The fact that the pathetic gifts were a weariness was actually the bigger problem. God wasn't just concerned about the gift, but He was also concerned about the attitude of giver.
Read MoreWe are response-able. We have the ability to effect, with our response, the outcome of many situations in our lives. There is a difference between those who act on what they are supposed to do and those who don't.
Read MoreThe Bible teaches that pride always goes before destruction and a fall. The greatest and most consequential of these falls was and is the fall of Satan. He went from spectacular and exalted to enemy of God and adversary of men. He is full of animosity toward God and every part of his kingdom, including us. We have a spiritual adversary who targets us with his vitriol and hatred. A lack of awareness and caution leaves us extremely vulnerable. Our thinking and philosophies must be grounded in Truth. If Satan can get you to believe a lie, he has, in some measure, won.
Read MoreAt this point in Israel’s history, the nation of Israel was still under the power of Persia, and they were discontent. They felt that God hadn’t really come through for them. They wanted to move on as a nation as God had said they would. Instead of serving God in the midst of their unfavorable circumstances, they became very apathetic. God in turn sends messengers to address the nation’s condition. God, in His first message, reminds the nation of His love. When God chooses you, you’re chosen. That choice does not change. He loves His children because He chose them. Those who are God’s choice never stop being the objects of His love.
Read MoreBlame and excuse are as old as man. From the beginning, mankind has had a tendency to make excuses and blame others for failure. All too often, we sit and rot in a prison that only we have a key to. As long as we continue to blame others for our captivity, we will continue to rot there. We cannot always choose what will happen to us, but there will always be a range of options when choosing how we respond to what happens to us.
Read MoreWe are either a part of the Kingdom of God, or we are a part of the kingdom of this world. Those are the only two options, and they are mutually exclusive. We're taught that this absolutism is not legitimate. We are told to reject anything that is absolutist. If we are not careful, in an effort to embrace this ideology, we may swear fealty to the kingdom of this word, one of the two. Christianity isn't a choice among many valid choices. Christianity is a Truth.
Read MoreGod will return when He intends to return. God is concerned with how we live in the interim. We ought to live in such a way that we can be blessed. We're waiting for a return, but we have to make a decision: how are we going to wait? We can waste the days of waiting, or we can be part of God's plan. Live in light of the glorious return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Read MoreGod wants us to own the responsibility the responsibility of getting necessary things done. The tendency of humanity is to make excuses. We ought to ask in each and every situation, "What can I do to be a help?" All too often, we ask, "Why isn't any one doing anything about this?" We need to own it.
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