Sunday, March 31, 2002
Eternal life is not something to be considered a “fringe benefit” of Christianity. When Jesus rose from the dead it became Christianity!
-Eph 2:4-10 NIV
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Saturday, March 30, 2002
Someone once asked, “How much blood did Jesus lose when He died on the cross?” Whether it was one gallon, one quart, one pint, one cup or one tablespoon it wouldn’t have mattered. One drop would have been enough to cleanse us from our sins.
-Eph 2:13 NIV
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
-1 John 1:7 NIV
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
Friday, March 29, 2002
The road to Calvary wasn’t paved with gold or smooth like glass. And it wasn’t hard and smooth like concrete or asphalt. It was paved with the sin of the world, the jagged edges of each of our lives. It was a rugged journey to say the least. It started before creation and carried through Adam, the Patriarchs, the prophets, the disciples and through each of us. Jesus walked that lonely road because of His great, unfailing love for each of us. And the cross is the symbol of His sacrificial great love for us.
-Gal 2:19-21 NIV
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
Thursday, March 28, 2002
We never walk alone if we are walking with God! Even the blind can see the way when they are lead by the hand of God. And even the deaf can hear his voice to guide them. Why then are so many who are neither blind nor deaf walking alone?
-Ps 84:11-12 NIV
For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. 12 O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.
Wednesday, March 27, 2002
When Jesus faced the cross, His followers began to scatter. The same ones who praised him and laid down Palm branches in the streets only days earlier were nowhere to be found. It is difficult to understand but many people have been choosing themselves over following Christ ever since. In each of our lives there are times that we have to choose to speak out or step out and act on our faith or not. When you face the decision to act on your faith, don’t follow the crowd. Follow Christ!
-Rom 15:5-6 NIV
May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, 6 so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Tuesday, March 26, 2002
As an upper Midwest, small town guy who was raised primarily around fair skinned, light haired, blue-eyed people, I discovered years ago that my world and understanding was badly in need of enlarging. Although there were Native Americans who lived around us, attended school with us and we even had an entire family live with us for a period of time my understanding was quite limited beyond my little world. Over the years I have developed dear friends of different races, colors, cultures and other religions. And I have learned a very important thing. Love is not restricted by any of these.
When we see the devastation on television from a far off land whether it is a hurricane, volcano or starvation we see the agony of those who are left. But do we feel it? I heard a pastor once say, “Love is feeling another persons pain in you.” Many people somehow think that because people live in a far off land or look different that they do not feel pain from death of friends and loved ones. That somehow they just don’t have those same kinds of feelings that we do because they are of different races, color, cultures or religions. Nothing could be further from the truth.
When tragedy strikes someone close to us we feel pain. The same is true around the world whether it be Bosnia, Africa, Russia, India or Vietnam. When 911 occurred our whole nation mourned. It is no different for other peoples around the world. So the next time you see suffering and tragedy on the six o’ clock news remember, these people hurt the same way you would if you experienced what they are presently going through. Love and the pain of loss of loved ones has no boundaries. Neither does God’s love for people.
-Ps 103:19 NIV
The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.
Monday, March 25, 2002
It’s a little hard to believe that Easter Sunday is only six days away and we still have over a foot of snow on the ground with daytime high temperatures below freezing. But the beauty of this is that we know that spring is really around the corner. So it was with that Good Friday over two thousand years ago. That Friday was a dark, discouraging cold day in the hearts of those who loved Jesus and had committed their lives to Him. But Sunday was coming and the event of the ages took place; Jesus rose from the dead bring new life, eternal life to believers and ushering in the church!
I have said it before and I will probably say it many times again in my lifetime. During the darkest hours of life something good is coming. Expect a miracle! God is the same God of the Bible that did miracles. One of the greatest miracles is a smile from the peace of God in the life of a brokenhearted person. What could be greater than peace through pain?
-Phil 4:4-7 NIV
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Sunday, March 24, 2002
Someone once asked, “How could those people do that to Jesus? What did he ever do that should have caused people to incite against Him to sentence Him to death? And why didn’t anyone rescue Him from the cross?” The answer is not simple but it can be summed up in the fact that Jesus was obedient to His Heavenly Father, even to the point of death. Obedience is a word that is often forgotten in the Christian vocabulary these days but we are called to a life of obedience, a small matter considering the greatness of forgiveness of sin. Obedience brings us closer to the Master.
-Phil 2:8-11 NIV
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Saturday, March 23, 2002
When people see the future in their past it is time to redirect their lives. Many people make the same mistakes over and over again and find positive change difficult. This repetitive life cycle is commonplace but it can be broken with God’s help. If your past is making it difficult for you to change your future draw near to God and allow Him to re-create you. It’s worked for millions of others and it can work for you!
-2 Cor 5:17 NIV
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
Friday, March 22, 2002
Last summer I visited a flower garden in St. Cloud, Minnesota. It was a breathtaking experience because there were so many flowers and they were so beautiful. I have been to and driven through St. Cloud literally hundreds of times but I never took the time to “smell the roses.” Now when I think of St. Cloud I think of the beautiful flower gardens.
So it is with life. It becomes what we experience. And, if we always live and play within the struggles, disappointments and heartaches of life then that’s what life becomes to us. That’s why it is so important to take the time to smell the roses so that we may gain and live the positive. And the most fragrant rose of all is the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Take time to smell the rose!
-Song 2:1 NIV
I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.
Thursday, March 21, 2002
A couple of weeks ago I took a friend on a tour of several churches in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area that were floundering. Their buildings were in need of maintenance and repair and the congregations had diminished to less than 50 on Sunday mornings. What seems to be so hard to comprehend is that no one seems to know what to do about it. Many churches have lost their youth and young families and they don’t even know why. But, when you walk through the doors of most dying churches, it doesn’t take long for the message to ring loud and clear. And that message is, “We are not committed nor have we prioritized kids ministry!”
In the last five years I have been in well over one hundred churches with seating of 250 or so but with attendance in the 100 range or less. I used to actually make notes and journal what I saw but it got pretty boring because I saw the same thing everywhere. The church funds were spent on adults, adult ministry and missions. A very small amount of money is being spent on Children’s ministry in most churches. Yes, I know, adults pay the bills but they attend churches that are committed to children’s ministries! It’s about time that somebody gets it! Look at the budget in your church for children’s ministry and see for yourself.
More than likely a church this size has no paid youth pastor or director. Take a look at the youth budget while you are at it. My guess is that you will find a budget of $600 or less and that they spent $200 or less of it last year. And then go look into the youth room. Everyone keeps hauling their old worn out furniture into the youth rooms of our churches. Get the message?
The world has spoken loudly that children are not important. After all, there have been over forty million (40,000,000) children who have died in the womb by abortion in America alone since Rowe vs Wade. But in the church, children are supposed to be jewels of God and a priority of our mission. If we fail to instill the message of the cross into the next generation we fail them. But not only do we fail them but we also fail ourselves and God.
I challenge you to challenge your church to redirect major portions of its ministry, workers and its money into children’s ministry! Enough said, I could write of God’s love of kids forever!
-Mark 10:13-16 NIV
13 People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.
Wednesday, March 20, 2002
Singing is always pleasurable whether you are singing in church, while you walk or in the shower, in tune or not. It doesn’t matter. It’s just great to sing. But this is not the case in our spiritual life. If we are not in tune with God we loose the pleasure of it all. So, how do we get in tune with God? Just like a great choir or quartet, they warm up and get on pitch before they start singing. Start each day in the harmony of prayer and do it periodically through the day to help keep you in tune with God. You and God, you can make beautiful music (life) together!
-2 Cor 6:15-16 NIV
What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
Tuesday, March 19, 2002
Sunday I was not speaking in any church and we visited a church with our daughter, her husband and our little 6-month-old grandson. I held him the whole time during the service. For the first half of the service he sat up and took it all in. Then he yawned, closed his eyes and fell sound asleep when the pastor began to speak. Sound familiar? People may not fall asleep but they do tune out the pastor.
Sermons are of no value unless there are heard, absorbed and nurtured. Unfortunately, once in awhile they have to be endured!
-Mark 4:9-20 NIV
Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11 He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that,
“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'”
13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop-thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”
Sunday, March 17, 2002
The joy of the Lord is my strength and the peace of the Lord is my existence.
-Prov 16:7 NIV
When a man’s ways are pleasing to the LORD, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him.
Saturday, March 16, 2002
A lot of people are trying to light their path in life on their own only to discover that their batteries keep going dead and they walk in darkness. If this were not true, then our churches would be full on Sunday with people getting their batteries recharged so they could walk in the light!
-Ps 89:15 NIV
Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD.
Friday, March 15, 2002
Recently I was having breakfast with a couple people at a local restaurant when one of them said she wanted a bottle of water because she didn’t drink the local water because it tasted so terrible. For some reason it struck me how different water is from place to place. A few days later I was in a new building and the water was dripping in the sink, turning it an unbelievable rust color. A number of years ago I was at a house in North Dakota and the owner turned the water on, lit a match and flames came out of the faucet! And having been one who has lived most of this life in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin where the lakes and rivers are quite clear, it has always startled me to see the muddy water people swim in around the country. Yes, the quality and the taste of the water has everything to do with the quality and type of soil is has been filtered through. And the contaminated water we have today has almost made filtering essential.
So it is with children! How they turn out has everything to do with the quality and type of home (soil) they have been raised in. In the church we are like a filter but polluted water will eventually always plug the filter. We have got to change hearts and then we have got to change homes!
-1 Cor 7:14 NIV
For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.
Thursday, March 14, 2002
To be generous is to be fulfilled. Giving is part of the natural cycle of man and is necessary to maintain a healthy well-being. Giving is also part of Godliness. This is no better demonstrated than by God Himself who gave his one and only Son to die on Calvary that we may be forgiven.
-2 Cor 9:10-11 NIV
Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
Wednesday, March 13, 2002
To teach people about Christ is to teach people how to live. Then, and then alone, does the world become a better place in which to exist.
-Prov 13:14 NIV
The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death.
Tuesday, March 12, 2002
There are milestones in each of our lives that we pass. Often they are very unnoticed. Then as we grow older we refer to those as when I was this or when I did that. Maybe it is a good thing that these milestones come and go without much fanfare because many people do not handle change very well.
In our spiritual lives we also have milestones that sometimes go relatively unnoticed by others and us but not by God. Obviously, the first milestone is conviction. That’s when we recognize our need for God. Then there is repentance, being sorry for our sins. Then comes salvation, being forgiven for our sins. And we follow that with believer’s baptism. But what happens next?
My Baptist friends would say we will “grow in grace”. My Pentecostal friends will say we need to be “baptized in the Spirit.” They say the problem is “Acts 2:4 and no more!” My holiness friends say we need to be “sanctified.” But they say the problem is that people have become saved, sanctified and petrified. But from my perspective it doesn’t matter what you call a second work of grace but what matters is that you experience it. I would relate it to a time in ones life where they want more of God than anything else and that experience may manifest itself in different ways. Yes, I still believe in a crisis experience, meaning that you will know when it happens. But we still must “grow in grace.”
Many people testify as to accepting Christ, their baptism and their 2nd work of grace (baptized in the Spirit, sanctification, etc.) and that is good. But if your faith is built only on your milestones you could spend a lot of time in the spiritual desert because it can be years between these experiences. The fact is our spiritual life must be measured in inches not miles. We must walk with God each day, let him teach us and show His expressions of His love for us. I we only measure our faith in milestones we will miss 63360 inches of spiritual growth in between!
P.S. What is the final milestone? Entering heaven’s gates to spend eternity with Christ.
-2 Peter 3:18 NIV
18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
Monday, March 11, 2002
I love to watch car salespeople do their jobs. They sit in the showroom or stand outside I the lot waiting for a prospect to roll in. I drove into a dealership this week to see one of our daughters who was getting the oil changed in her car. As I drove in with my dirty 1994 car, a salesman from the other side of the lot eyed me up and rapidly started heading my way. As I got out of my car he walked toward me just as if he happened to be ‘just walking by.’ He asked if he could help me and I told him no, that I was just looking for my daughter who was getting the oil changed in her car. He abruptly turned and went inside the showroom and began to watch television, completely ignoring me both times I walked by him. The message was that I wasn’t important unless I was a customer that day.
The professional salesperson would have asked me if I wanted to look at something while I was there that he would be glad to take the time to show me. He would have also given me a card and dropped me a note the next saying he would like to help me when I am ready to buy. He would have left the bridge to our relationship open rather closing it down.
So it is with evangelism. When we witness we should not treat people like they are not important just because they rejected our efforts at sharing Christ. We should leave the bridge to our relationship in place and followup with a note saying that we are available at any time that they would like to learn more or ask questions about our faith in Christ. Sometimes it is is easy to forget that we may be the only bridge that person knows of leading to Christ!
-Ps 71:15-18 NIV
15 My mouth will tell of your righteousness, of your salvation all day long, though I know not its measure. 16 I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign LORD; I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone. 17 Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. 18 Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.
Sunday, March 10, 2002
When I was a kid my mother and her friends used to watch “Soap Operas.” They were full of all kinds of messed up people usually trying to find happiness through sex, alcohol or drugs. Marital unfaithfulness and divorce was commonplace. And everyone seemed to have troubled kids. But in recent years the “Soap Operas” have declined in viewers. I think it is because people don’t have to watch them on television anymore. We get to watch them in real life! And many people have their own “Soap Opera” they live every day. But praise God, Jesus came and died on Calvary so we wouldn’t have to live “Soap Opera” lives.
-Rom 8:5-17 NIV
Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
12 Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation-but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14 because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Saturday, March 9, 2002
My great grandfather hardly spoke a work of English and, even though we couldn’t understand Swedish, we all knew what he was saying. It wasn’t the words he was saying but his expression that made us understand him.
So it is with God. Even when we feel like He is not speaking we know what He is saying by His expression. So, what is God’s expression that we may so clearly see? Look around and as in the words of the old hymn;
“Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings see what God has done!”
-Ps 103:2-5 NIV
Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits– 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Friday, March 8, 2002
Discerning God’s will beyond the obvious is extremely difficult to do, at least I find it so. The obvious and most important is to commit your life to Him and live for Him. From there it is being a Godly example to your family and others. But then there is that thing called “Ministry.” For some, it may be trying to determine whether God wants them to perform their ministry as a businessperson. For others, perhaps God wants them to perform their ministry as an employee of a large corporation or small company. And still others, God may call to be teachers, counselors, pastors or some other full time Christian service. Does it matter? No and yes. It doesn’t matter what you are doing for a living a long as you are obedient to God and carry on your ministry wherever God puts you. Together, we make up the “Body of Christ.”
-1 Cor 12:24-27 NIV
But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
Thursday, March 7, 2002
When I was a teenager there was a restaurant in town that was right across from the high school called Muriel and Paul’s. It was a rather quaint place that looked like and may have formerly been someone’s home. No one that I knew ever ate there. They opened in the early evenings and those that ate there usually drive nice cars. I always thought that the only people that ate there were from the Twin Cities. That was probably not true. When I was in high school we had an unbelievable surprise. Our high school basketball team was going to have dinner at Muriel and Paul’s.
I’ll never forget walking in that evening. Although I had lived in town for seven years I had never been inside Muriel and Paul’s. I am not sure what I was expecting, perhaps a touch of elegance or mystery. But inside was a simply decorated room with tables and chairs that were very basic. My impression of Muriel and Paul’s was totally wrong. Once inside I recognized that there was nothing special about the decor but rather people came here because they had great food and personal service.
So it is with how we judge people. We can have an impression of them for years and never be close enough to them or spend enough time with them to see whom they are inside. This happens to all of us far too often. Until that time, be careful not to judge others.
-Matt 7:1-2 NIV
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Wednesday, March 6, 2002
God would have us all commit our lives to him. The key here is what is our life? Most of our lives are multifaceted. We have our life from the time we get up until we leave or those around us leave for their day.
Then we have our life from what is commonly called the workday or school day. That takes us into another world usually involving other people.
Then we have our activities life. That’s the one that involves friends, sports, civic organizations or whatever else takes us away from our families.
And we have our church life and again, different responsibilities, activities and people.
And still we have our family life. As you can see there is plenty going on before we get to the point of family life and sadly, it is often neglected.
Finally, we have our spiritual life. This is the private communion with God that each of us sorely needs every day. Unfortunately, it is usually the most neglected in everyday life.
As I consider the multifaceted life that each of us lead it is no wonder that we do a juggling act trying to get correct balance in all areas. The fact is, we cannot get correct balance without first prioritizing our lives. And living a “prioritized life” is essential to living a “Godly life.”
So, the old question of who came first, the chicken or the egg is not as hard to answer as it may appear; “Neither, God came first.” And that’s the same way it is when it comes to prioritizing our lives.
-Matt 6:33 NIV
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Tuesday, March 5, 2002
Happiness is not found in the approval of man but in obedience to God!
-2 John 6 NIV
And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
Monday, March 4, 2002
A lot of people these days are lost in a state of constant turmoil, confusion and unhappiness, unable to find peace. The trail to peace may seem like it is covered with the brush and hard to find because it is not heavily traveled. And it may be in a direction that is somewhat hidden and unexpected but the trail is easily found and can be followed throughout your lifetime. It starts and ends with God’s Word. It provides a path where you are found and never lost!
-Ps 119:105 NIV
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
Sunday, March 3, 2002
This morning I was the guest speaker at a church. I shared the message of forgiveness through the shed blood of Jesus and did an old-fashioned altar call, inviting people to come forward to accept Christ and receive forgiveness. One at a time, four teenage girls came forward to receive Christ. I asked ladies from the church to come and pray with them. Four ladies got up and took the girls into an adjoining room and prayed with them as they accepted Christ. After greeting the congregation on their way out I stepped into the room to share a few words with the girls. There were tears of repentance and joy as Christ had become very real to them.
In a short time the four ladies came out of the room. It seemed as if they were walking on air as the excitement within them could hardly be contained. They had just witnessed new birth, new creations in Christ. As I saw their overflowing joy I realized that there was something missing in a lot of Christians lives and in a lot of churches; they never lead anyone to Christ or never see conversions in the church. And if they have it is too long between them. We need the enthusiasm and joy that leading people brings to us individually and as a church. As individuals and as a church, we must never quit presenting the gospel and confronting people about where they will spend eternity.
-Mark 16:15-17 NIV
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Saturday, March 2, 2002
The news is really quite depressing in these days of drive by shootings, child molesters, mass murderers, pedophiliacs and a host of other unbelievable sick acts. We can’t begin to understand the depravity that goes on in people’s minds to kill each other and commit some of these other heinous acts of degradation and violence. I have never been one to look for Satan behind every bush but perhaps it is time for the church to consider what role the powers of evil have in all these things we are seeing today. None dare preach it but our battle is still not against flesh and blood!
-Eph 6:12 NIV
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Friday, March 1, 2002
If we could look back in time for just a moment and speculate, what do you think that Jesus was thinking about those days just before His death? As I consider that question only one thing comes to mind. I think He looked out there in the great somewhere and saw each of us. And with a love far beyond our comprehension and so great He declared that we, each of us, was worth suffering and dying for on Calvary. And then I think, “If He was willing to die for me, surely I can live for Him!”
-1 John 4:9-10 NIV
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
