Church Blog (Page 82)
And forgive us our debts…
I have oft repeated the story of a brother who received a phone call from a member who had long since left the church. Sadly, the person’s motives and actions had left bitterness in the mouth of more than one person. The brother was surprised when the person apologised for all actual or perceived hurts, either caused or participated in. Apparently, the former Christian had met a spiritual adviser who told them that they could make no progress without forgiving…
Give us this day our daily bread
If God knows what we want before we ask for it, why pray at all?The correct answer is, to put it bluntly: ‘Because if you don’t ask, don’t expect to get!’James says, “You don’t have because you don’t ask…and when you do ask, you ask with bad motives.”I am sure that all of James’ readers felt that barb cut deep. No one believes that their motives in prayer are questionable. But that is exactly what they are when individuals see…
Thy will be done …
Prayer brings our desires into line with God’s. We most desire that His ‘will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ Before the world began God purposed to redeem man. His will, set forth in heaven, was carried out on earth by Christ. Jesus, understanding the spiritual and physical agonies of his sacrificial death before him, closed his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane with: “Not my will, but thine be done.”In obedience to the Father’s will, he…
Thy kingdom come
How many good Christians, when praying the Lord’s Pray, have slammed on their theological brakes when coming to: “Thy Kingdom come”? It is usually at that point that the voice of their favourite teacher or preacher is heard in their heads to say, “The Kingdom has already come. Jesus was saying this before the day of Pentecost.” Of course, they are right…to a point!The ‘Church phase’ of the Kingdom, did indeed arrive with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on…
Hallowed be your name
A Christian sister told me that she had once gone to work with a fellow church member. She said that she didn’t stay in the job long. To this day I wish I hadn’t asked her why. She told me that the other Christian employee, unaware that she could hear, “blasphemed three times, in three different ways, in the space of three minutes.” She was horrified, and wondered at the spiritual state of the other Christian.The Third Commandment (Ex.20:7) plainly…
Our Father in heaven
Pray, then, in this way:“ Jesus first and foremost directs our minds to our divine Father’s dwelling place. He who made everything without help or advice from anyone on this planet on which we walk or, for that matter, anyone within the confines of the unbelievably vast night sky above us. One marvels at the efforts made by man to travel beyond our atmosphere, but we are humbled by how minuscule a distance it is when measured against the staggering…
“Don’t kid yourself!”
Whichever way you cut it, the reasons for touching that fruit in the garden of Eden had ‘Lie’ written all over it!The lines were crossed one by one. Man went from seeing, to wanting, to taking, and then to eating with relative ease. The devil really didn’t have to work that hard. Once he had gotten them past the first lingering look, the dominos fell in quick succession.Job had it right. Despite his misery, he was not going to self-medicate…
“Living in Hope.”
Four old gentlemen were sitting on a bench at the old folk’s home, when a rather attractive lady stopped nearby them. The first man asked, “Where you headed?” She said, “I have arrived. This is my new home.” The second man asked, “Where are you from?” She said, “I need to be upfront; I have just spent 25 years in prison.” The third man asked, “What were you in for?” She said, “I murdered my husband.” The fourth man said…
“Having Doubts…?”
One thing in the church is for certain, we are more comfortable with doubt than Jesus is. Jesus sees doubt as faithlessness, we see it as a natural reaction to things beyond our immediate control.We see doubt as something to be processed and slowly replaced by faith. Jesus sees doubt as the enemy of faith. He rebuked Peter for sinking in the waves because he doubted who Jesus was. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction…
“Shovel Revival.”
In my Bible College days, I was invited occasionally to preach at the Cambridge Church of Christ. David Woodrow took notes, and with much love and encouragement, he would critique my sermons. One particular lesson was obviously not that good. But in order to make sure that I was in no way discouraged David said, “Compared to last week’s visiting speaker, that was great. His lesson was incoherent. It came across as if he had written down random scripture references…