Ephesians 5:1-14 We humans have three major institutions: family, government and church. All three of these institutions are broken by the same problem. The family structure is the foundation for all of our culture. Our family life is fragmented by many things because we have forgotten the Biblical concepts and teaching on what produces a strong family. A family begins with the marriage of a man and woman that love, care and respect each other. The evidence is clear that…..
Ephesians 4:1-16 The New Testament church faced many controversies but the leaders solved these by the use of scripture. The issues that threaten the unity of the church were defeated by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. In two thousand plus years we have had divisions in the Christian Church. The first major schism was in 1054 between the sees of Rome and Constantinople. The Iconoclastic Controversy marked a further stage. Gregory III, 731-41 was the last Pope to have…..
Ephesians 3:14-21 Many of us just go along taking life and the world we live in just for granted. We move through the days of our lives not seeing God’s Spirit pour out His blessings on us. Why? Because we believe this is our world and we never look at God and say ‘Thanks” for the world you made for me to live in. Do you ever stop and think about that some day we all will reach the finish…..
Philippians 2:12-18 Who paid for our freedom? This week we celebrate the 4th of July. It is a landmark date that started us on the road to freedom. That freedom came with a price tag that has been paid by ordinary people ever since July 4th 1776. The price has been paid in many places: Kings Mountain, Cowpens, Guilford Court House, Lexington, Bunker Hill, Yorktown, Gettysburg, San Juan Hill, trenches in France, Normandy Beach, Iwo Jima, Saipan, the Battle of the…..
Acts 6:1-7 How do you resolve your problems? In today’s scripture lesson Dr. Luke writes that in the early history of the church it had problems. The church was growing fast as large numbers of people joined the People of the Way. The problem was between the Greek speaking and Hebrew speaking believers. The Greek speaking believers complained about the Hebrew speaking believers saying that the Greek speaking widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution. The only…..
Acts 2:29-41 What words that were spoken to you jolted your life? ‘You are loved? You are forgiven? You will live? You are my friend? I believe you?’ Words give new life and power to us. Words spoken from the heart can inspire us to do things we thought we could not do. In a great naval battle John Paul Jones said to the British, “We have just begun to fight “. Douglas McArthur said, “I have returned.”, as…..
Matthew 28:16-20 Is it hard for you to keep focused on the main things in living life? If you have ever done any farming or gardening, you know that if you want a good crop or garden you must do certain things. The main thing in gardening begins with soil preparation. Good soil preparation gives the things you plant a chance to sprout and grow. To keep growth going you must remember to keep cultivating the soil to keep…..
Acts 9:1-19 What encounters have you had that changed your life? A sickness, loss of a job, death of someone you loved, a son or daughter that is living a troubled life or a divorce? Many things we encounter change our lives. My dad told a story about a man that lived in his community in his growing-up years. This was the early years of the 1900’s. The men of the community would get together and cut logs…..
Luke 24:13-24 In 1857 Hans Christian Andersen wrote a fairy tale titled The Emperor’s New Clothes. In the story two weavers were great con men. They were weaving nothing on their looms, but they convinced everyone that if you could not see the material they were weaving you were a fool or stupid. We could laugh at the story, but look at the blinders we have today. We wear all kind of blinders: cultural, educational and religious blinders. …..
John 20:1-8 In the history of the NCCA men’s basketball tournament a number one seed has never lost to a sixteen seed until this year. Maryland Baltimore County, a sixteen seed that made this year’s tournament on a last second shot in their conference tournament beat the number one seed. The University of Virginia was the number one seed in the NCCA tournament. They had a record of thirty wins and two loses. Virginia had won the ACC regular…..