Leading Forward

Courage

2018-05-22T09:00:00.000-04:00

Read Psalm 27:1-5, 13-14 We all need courage at different times in our life. I remember try to summon the courage to jump off the high dive at the Harrison Bay State Park swimming pool when I was a kid. I walked toward the end of the board only to turn around and walk back. I did this over and over until peer pressure got the best of me. It takes courage to jump off the high dive at the

Open My Eyes

2018-05-15T05:00:00.000-04:00

The Bible uses countless natural things to teach us spiritual truths. Egypt worshipped the false god of the sun called Ra. God was able to deny Egypt their false god in a way that would have been rather frightening. He caused the land of Egypt to go dark for three days. It was so dark no one could see each other and no one moved. Have you ever experienced total, complete, utter darkness? I

God's Unrelenting Mercy

2018-05-08T14:02:00.000-04:00

Read Jonah 4: 1-11 Jonah had a problem with God that many of us have today. Jonah could not grasp God’s unrelenting grace, mercy, and compassion for ALL people. The pagan people of Nineveh lived in wickedness giving in to idolatry, prostitution, and witchcraft. Jonah grew up fearing the Ninevites and wanted to see God destroy them. So when God called Jonah to preach to these pagans, he ran

Here Am I

2018-05-03T13:05:00.001-04:00

Read Isaiah 6:1-8 In our passage today Isaiah shares how God called him to take on a new and most challenging task, calling the nation of Judah back to God. The first five chapters of Isaiah record the sinfulness of the people of Judah, including greed, arrogance, drunkenness, injustice, oppression and murder. Because of their complete failure to follow the commands of God, judgment would be

God Is...

2018-04-23T14:13:00.000-04:00

Read Psalm 139:1-10 The pagans of the Psalmist David’s day worshiped impersonal gods, and these pagans believed their gods were even hostile or indifferent to man. However, David knew he served a deeply personal God who examines our heart and knows everything about us. The opening verses say, “He searches and knows me.” We serve an omniscient God who is all-knowing, limitless in his

Sisterhood

2016-03-08T14:58:00.003-05:00

Think for a moment about your women’s networks. I look back over my life and can trace my history by looking at my girlfriends. There were my neighborhood and school girl friends: Becky and Theresa. There were my church friends: Janet and Pam and Liz and Debbie. Then there were my college friends: five of us - Susan, Brenda, Sandy, Sharon and me. We sang together throughout

Strength in High Places

2015-12-14T14:54:00.001-05:00

The prophet Habakkuk was troubled and confused about the corruption he saw all around. Habakkuk urgently cried out to God for help. He asked God why evil people prosper while the righteous suffer. God answers, telling the prophet that although it seems as though the wicked triumph, eventually they will be judged, and righteousness will prevail. God promised Habakkuk that in his time all

Watchman and Watchtower

2015-11-23T15:37:00.000-05:00

Today we are concerned about the horrible acts of violence and murder that are taking place around the world by Islamic extremists. Some wonder how a good God can allow such atrocities to exist. I am reminded that the prophet Habakkuk questioned God about similar atrocities he witnessed from the Babylonians as they attached Judah. Let’s see what we can learn from Habakkuk. Habakkuk was

Be Silent Before God

2015-11-17T12:35:00.001-05:00

Being silent before God teaches us to rest in Him and enjoy His presence. It gives us an opportunity to meditate on who he is – to stop focusing on ourselves and our own activities. ...let all the earth be silent before him. Habakkuk 2:20 Occasionally when we sit before God in silence we hear Him speak through thoughts or remembered Bible passages. Solitude is a

Habakkuk: Relevant Today

2015-10-31T13:25:00.000-04:00

This book of Habakkuk records the prophet’s dialogue with God concerning the things Habakkuk questions. The prophet Habakkuk was saddened by the violence and corruption he saw around him and he poured out his heart to God. He was able to ask God hard questions—in this case, he essentially asked, “God, how can you punish Judah for its sins by using Babylon, when Babylon’s sins are even&

Heifer or Lamb?

2015-10-12T14:28:00.000-04:00

In Hosea 4 the prophet Hosea tells of the moral and spiritual decay of Israel. He describes the punishment that awaits the people and pleads with them to return to God. Verse 16 says, Israel is stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. In the next chapter Hosea says the leaders of Israel are so stubborn, “Your deeds won’t let you return to your God.” I wander if God looks at us, and thinks, “Yet

Prone to Wander

2015-10-05T13:12:00.001-04:00

The Message version of Isaiah 53:6 says, “We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.” This verse reminds me of the lines in the hymn, “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing:” “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it— Prone to leave the God I love.” When we’re prone to wander we have a natural tendency to stray from the path we’re on and go

Conquer Your Fears

2015-08-24T15:13:00.001-04:00

In his book Simplify, Bill Hybels provide great insight to conquering fears. He says we all have certain fears that others might find funny or irrational; but they are real fears, debilitating fears, fears that keep you imprisoned to Satan’s lies, and they are anything but funny. Constructive Fear – Anxiety while driving an icy road; fear might keep your foot light on the pedal; fretting

Joyless Reaction or Joyful Response

2015-07-30T12:51:00.000-04:00

The Apostle Paul tells us that living a joyful life is God’s will for us. “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Even though it is God’s will, he still gives us the free will to choose it or reject it. We have the free will to determine how we respond to every situation we experience.

Controlling Your Emotional Life

2015-07-12T09:31:00.002-04:00

Tommy Newberry, author of The 4:8 Principle and 40 Days to a Joy-filled Life, says to master our emotional life, we must understand 3 simple maxims that explain the mental dynamics of emotional health. Law of Attention – Whatever you dwell upon becomes increasingly prominent in our own mind. You will always feel what you dwell on. We have emotional reactions to what we think.

Thank-Filled Life = Joy-filled Life

2015-06-09T10:54:00.001-04:00

Oh, how I love a party. My family loves to mark birthdays, holidays, and other special occasions with big celebrations. The honoree selects the menu, and we always have a theme and color scheme. We take plenty of pictures, laugh, and tell tall tales on each other. I recently married and was blessed with a bridal shower given by the Women of Worth Bible study that I lead. What a celebration!

Created for Fellowship

2015-04-07T12:28:00.000-04:00

In his book What on Earth Am I Here for?, Rick Warren reminds us that we are called to belong, not just believe. He says our relationship with Christ is personal but not private. This kind of fellowship is called koinonia. Koinonia is a Greek word that occurs 20 times in the Bible. Koinonia’s primary meaning is “fellowship, sharing in common, communion.” The first occurrence of koinonia is

Real Worship

2015-02-22T08:42:00.001-05:00

What gives us pleasure? I find pleasure in looking into my grandchildren’s sweet faces and seeing those big blue happy eyes. I recently experience pleasure listening to an orchestra concert and heard plenty of old tunes from the big band era. God created us for his pleasure. Our first purpose in life it to bring enjoyment to God. Bringing pleasure to God is called “worship.”

Life As a Metaphor

2015-02-10T15:22:00.003-05:00

If your life were a metaphor, what would it be? Forest Gump’s mama taught him, “Life is a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.” How do you describe life? Is it a game? A dream? A cabaret? A dance? A battle? A mystery? How we view life speaks volumes about how we shape our decision and what we think, feel, say, and do? In his book What on Earth Am I Here For? Rick Warren

Spiritual Christmas Gift List

2014-12-22T12:28:00.000-05:00

Gift giving is a Christmas tradition ever since the Wise Men went bearing gifts to the baby Jesus. You all may have gift giving traditions in your family. We do. The whole family – all 20 of us – go to my parents house on Christmas morning as we have for my whole life. We eat breakfast - pretty much the same menu for 60 years. Egg dish, biscuits, ham, fruit, something sweet and

Mary and Joseph: Life Interrupted

2014-12-18T10:05:00.000-05:00

Mary and Joseph had a life interrupted, so to speak. This happily engaged couple must have been in the middle of wedding plans when their lives took a sudden turn. You know what it’s like to be engaged - picking out the location, the cake, the guest list, and making all the other hundreds decisions betrothed couples make. Then…the angel visits. Suddenly, their lives center on very

Women of Christmas: Elizabeth

2014-12-09T10:03:00.000-05:00

The gospel writer Luke uses the story of Elizabeth and Zechariah, parents of John the Baptist, to set the stage for the birth of Jesus. This couple had lived a long and happy life together seemingly content even though they didn’t have the child they longed for. Elizabeth’s barrenness is seen as a disgrace and the couple endure years of people attempting to dishonor them or shun them. However,

2014-11-13T15:36:00.000-05:00

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. I Corinthians 13:11 This passage calls on us to put away three childish behaviors: talking like a child, thinking like a child, and reasoning like a child. In our relationships do we fall back into childish habits of speaking, thinking, and

2014-10-28T12:54:00.000-04:00

In her book Fool Proofing Your Life, Jan Silvious says a biblical fool has these three characteristics: 1. Always thinks he is right The way of a fool is right in his own eye, But a wise man is he who listens

Sin of Rebellion

2014-09-16T12:24:00.001-04:00

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was placed in the Garden for a specific reason. It was a boundary. It was the one area of the Garden reserved for God. God placed this tree in the center of the garden and told Adam and Eve not to eat its fruit. Doing so would mean that they would have knowledge or awareness of not only good things but also evil things. The Hebrew word for evil that is