A Living Sanctuary
Our Heavenly Father desires our life to be FILLED with praise and worship. When we gather together with other believers for church services, we generally begin with songs of praise. We praise God for His love and faithfulness, and for the gift of His Son. We worship Him for His awesome majesty as we prepare […]
With Our Bodies – by Sarah Troxel
[Note: My daughter, Sarah, will soon begin her senior year in college. Many of you enjoyed her messages about urban ministry two years ago. I told Sarah she is welcome to write messages anytime; she is a gifted writer!] I will never forget a day in class last semester when my short and sweet, sixty […]
His Purpose in Pain
[Note: We just returned from our daughter’s annual check-up at St. Jude Cancer Hospital. All her tests were good and there are no signs of cancer in her body. I wrote the following message in January, 2013 when we were first told of her cancer. This was a difficult time; it’s hard to believe this […]
Clear Line of Communication
Communication is a key part of any relationship. Without proper communication, a relationship will slowly drift apart and feel isolated. This is true of friends and married couples, and certainly true in our relationship with God. Without communication, we begin to drift and will soon be unable to even recognize His voice. When faced with […]
Foundation of Truth
Six hundred years ago, there were groups of people who believed the earth was flat. In fact they didn’t just believe the earth was flat, they “knew” the earth was flat. Because of this belief, they also believed it was impossible to sail around the world. Of course, their view was warped and limited since […]
New Every Morning
God loved us so much that He gave His Son as a sacrifice for our sin that, through faith, we might be brought back into a full and intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father for all eternity. I think we often forget the magnitude of this love: we were dead and He provided us a […]
A True Heart of Thanksgiving
In the message “Praise Him Even More” we considered our command, as well as our need, to rejoice and praise in order to sustain Spiritual life. A heart that has not been transformed by the Spirit of God cannot truly praise, and a transformed heart that does not praise will surely cease to pump Spiritual […]
Praise Him Even More
I don’t recall ever being asked to explain the importance of breathing. It is pretty well accepted that breathing is a good idea and that we should do it many times every day; a lack of breathing is definitely bad for our physical health! And it is not an exaggeration to say that praise is […]
The Risk of Faith
At the beginning of Elijah’s ministry, God sent him to stay with a widow and her son. When he first arrived, Elijah asked the widow for some bread. The woman sadly said she only had enough for one final meal: “I don’t have any bread – only a handful of flour in a jar and […]
The Gift of Eternal Life
In our last few messages we have seen that being discipled is a life-long process which begins prior to Salvation with a clear presentation of the gospel and continues all the rest of our days. As Jesus was talking with Nicodemus, He began the process of discipleship by giving clear instruction on belief and eternal […]
Enter Through The Gate
In the message “A Life of Discipleship” we considered our need to be continually discipled and the vital importance of discipling others before and after Salvation. The message stated: “Receiving the Word, or even initial growth, is not Salvation.” Many people pray to “receive” salvation without an understanding of the gospel message. But without the […]
A Life of Discipleship
When Jesus told His closest followers, “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19), He wasn’t just talking about the one-time event of Salvation; He was referring to the life-long process of “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded” (Matthew 28:20). The process of discipleship actually begins prior to Salvation as we are […]