God’s Ways Accomplish God’s Goals

When reading through the New Testament it jumps out how passionately the early church engaged in prayer and teaching the word. In the book of Acts, it says they devoted themselves to teaching and to prayer. The word devoted means to persevere, to be constantly diligent and steadfastly attentive to. Prayer and teaching weren’t things they occasionally squeezed in among a variety of other activities. Prayer and teaching were front and center, and they constantly engaged in these spiritual activities.

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Jesus Outlined End Time Events

(A study of Matthew 24:1-14)

While visiting the temple in Jerusalem, Jesus’ disciples pointed out how grand the buildings of the temple were, and Jesus responded that there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down (vs 2). Later, the disciples asked him about the destruction of the temple and what would be the signs of the end (vs 3).

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What They’re Not Telling You About Tithing

While listening to sermons on tithing, I’ve heard preachers say that the way people spend their money is one of the best indicators of their true values, and I believe there’s a lot of truth in this statement. But let’s switch it around and apply this statement to the church instead of the individual. I don’t think anything reveals the true values of the institutional church quite like the way it spends money.

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Open Gatherings Are Now Closed

Every Sunday morning, lots of people head out their door to “go to church”, or as some people put it, to attend a “church service”. The vast majority of these services will have a remarkable similarity, no matter what brand, denomination, or non-denomination the church is. Everyone will sit shoulder-to-shoulder, facing a stage on which a select few people will be actively involved in “ministering” to everyone else. There will probably be a greeting, a time of singing, some form of announcements, a sermon, and possibly an altar call. The style may vary to some degree but the format will be pretty much the same in every church; so much so that you would think there must be some place in the Bible that clearly outlines this particular format that everyone is following. But the reality is that nowhere in the scriptures does the Bible give any kind of support for an order of service at all, much less the particular order of service that most churches follow so religiously.

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Preaching In Today’s Church vs Preaching In The Bible

Most Christians consider preaching to be a fundamental requirement of the church, and the Sunday morning sermon is commonly revered as the most important event that takes place in the church each week. While there’s no doubt the Bible strongly endorses the ministry of God’s word, is the church’s traditional notion of preaching consistent with the way preaching is presented in the Bible?

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Sent By God (part 2) – the Apostle Paul

The apostle Paul had a dramatic and unique conversion to faith in Christ. As a young man, he was zealously persecuting Christians and was on his way to Damascus to arrest any believers he found there. On the way he was blinded by a light from heaven that was brighter than the sun, and he heard the audible voice of Jesus speaking to him ¹. Jesus told Paul he was his chosen instrument, and he was appointed to carry his name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel ². Paul’s calling occurred at his initial encounter with Christ, and this calling set the course for his entire life. Many years later, Paul would proclaim he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision ³.

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Sent By God (part 1) – the Bruce Olson story

From a logical perspective, Bruce Olson’s story is blatantly absurd. From a spiritual perspective, it’s one of the most inspiring stories I’ve ever heard.

At the age of 19, Bruce left his home in Minnesota and set out for the jungles of Venezuela with a passion to take the gospel of Christ to a primitive aboriginal tribe with the fierce reputation of killing anyone who ventured into their territory. He traveled on a one-way ticket and arrived with $70 in his pocket and no knowledge of the local language. He had no support and no connections. Who in their right mind would send a 19-year-old kid on such a foolhardy mission? Well, apparently God would. And this became evident from the powerful move of God among the jungle tribes, and then their influence for Christ on an entire nation.

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It’s Not Enough To Know Who Jesus Is

Jesus was questioning his disciples about who he was, and Peter responded, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”.¹ Jesus commended Peter, telling him “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven”.² What a wonderful moment for Peter; to be told by Jesus that God the Father had given him revelation about who Jesus is. Yet, just a few verses later we see a very different interaction between Jesus and Peter.

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The Danger Of Cherry-Picking The Scriptures

The Bible has a lot to say about the love and goodness of God, and these truths are incredibly positive and reassuring. But it’s a mistake to isolate personally encouraging scriptures and treat them as if this is all the Bible has to say about God; as if he is always this way and cannot be any other way.

The definition of cherry-picking is to choose and take only the most beneficial items from what is available. This approach to the Bible is a temptation that is quite easy to fall into, but it results in a distorted view of God himself, and an inaccurate assessment of where we personally stand with him. If we value an honest and healthy relationship with the Lord, we must persistently seek and welcome everything that God says to us throughout the scriptures.

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God’s Greatest Mystery

A mystery is something that is veiled and not easily understood. The word mystery is used over twenty times in the New Testament. One example is in the last part of Ephesians chapter five. This passage is expounding on the relationship between husbands and wives, but at the end it takes a surprising turn and finishes with an astounding revelation.

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