Enjoying the Journey

Dear Church Member…

What if you received a letter from the Founder of the church? In fact, you have it in your hands each time you hold the Word of God! The Lord has written in black and white exactly what He designed and desires for His church to be. The New Testament is the divine manual on the local assembly. In our day the church is being minimized and marginalized by society. Satan and his minions are on the attack. Many Christians have taken a passive, take-it-or-leave-it approach. This is not the time for believers to take a step back from church! We live on the edge of eternity and now is the time for every church member to find their place…

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4 Things You Can Do To Help Your Pastor At This Time

These are unusual days for everyone and unique days to serve in a church. Over the last few weeks I have spent a great deal of time talking and praying with pastors who are doing their best, under God, to lead their churches through this crisis time. While these faithful pastors are working to help God’s people, we should also be thinking about how God’s people can help God’s pastors. Remember, we are all in this together! Be prayerful. The most effective use of our words is always in talking to the One who can do something about it! In Hebrews 13 we are encouraged to “remember…follow…obey…and submit” to spiritual leaders (Hebrews 13:7, 17). However, one of the most overlooked…

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What To Do When The Crisis Has Passed

Perhaps like me you are beginning to get impatient or bored with the current state of things in our nation. A little stir crazy? We must remember that, like everything in this world, “this too shall pass.” Soon the crisis will be over. The great question is not: “Will the crisis every pass?” but, rather, “What will God’s people do when the crisis has passed?” This could be – should be – a new beginning for the work of God in this world. Remember that it was after the breaking up of the early church in Jerusalem that the greatest gospel advance in the history of the church took place! O, Lord, cause that to be the case in our…

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Thank God For Faithful Church Members

American culture has invaded American churches. The desire for novelty, the tendency to boredom, the love for entertainment – all are now very prominent in the average local church. One by-product of this is the frequent migration of church members from one church to another. It is common for churches to “trade” members with some regularity. This concept is foreign to the New Testament. In the first century church believers were just happy to have a local body of believers with which to fellowship. In the midst of a pagan society they were grateful to be part of a church, however imperfect and inconvenient it may have been. Like everything else in our world it is easy to begin to…

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Thank God for My Pastor

For the last two decades I have had the joy of being under the same faithful pastor.  Recently I spent some time reflecting on what a joy it is just to have a pastor.  Growing up in a pastor’s home has helped me to realize that pastors are real people too!  They hurt and grieve.  They get tired and weary.  Yet in the midst of all of that they are called upon to minister to many other hurting, grieving people. Yes, pastors are a special group.  Their lives are wrapped up in everyone else’s lives.  Their homes are in many ways invaded by every one else’s family.  Their time is not theirs – it belongs to the flock that God…

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