What does your church offer? When someone asks that question, they’re usually asking about what programs and ministries the church has to offer. Now churches should be able to tell people about the various ministries that occur each week, but it would be really cool to see a different first response to that question… “Well…we…
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Before we can answer the question, we have to make sure something is clear: the gospel calls churches into existence. That is, the gospel creates churches. Think about it… The gospel is the good news that Jesus has come into our world, lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have…
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I’ve been working my way through Rico Tice’s new book, Honest Evangelism. It’s been both encouraging and convicting. Rico is a pastor at a church in London and one of his primary responsibilities is evangelism. Yet he would be the first to admit evangelism doesn’t come easy for him. It doesn’t come easy for me either….
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Over the years in pastoral ministry, I have been asked on countless occasions, “What do I do when I just don’t have a desire to read the Bible?” I understand the frustration. I’ve lived it. As a Christian, it feels unChristian to even be in that spot. You might think to yourself, “What’s wrong with…
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By most accounts, the apostle Paul seemed to be a pretty passionate guy. He was willing to endure lashings, stonings, and verbal abuse for the sake of the gospel. He traveled the Mediterranean world planting churches. He wasn’t afraid to go the extra mile. But there is only one thing he himself said he “strenuously…
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Words. They are everywhere. Life without them would be…well…confusing. Think about how pervasive language is. Just today, I used language in the preparation of a sermon. I used it to correspond with dozens of individuals. I used language to give an instruction to a fellow staff person in our church. Not only is language pervasive,…
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When there is a conflict between external circumstances and internal desires, discontentment is often the result. The more of life I live and see, the more I’m convinced discontentment is close to the root of many of our problems. So how do we deal with it? 1. Show some humility If discontentment results from our…
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Perhaps the most famous biblical story is David and Goliath. So many people understand this to be a call for us to trust God in the face of the giants we face, but the Bible isn’t about us. It’s about Jesus Christ. So if the story of David and Goliath is ultimately about him, we…
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Job is one of the most read stories in all the world even to this day. You know the story. Job is a very godly man whom God himself speaks highly of. God permits Satan to ravage Job’s life. Once wealthy, he becomes impoverished. He loses everything. Once blessed with ten children, all ten are…
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Joseph and his brothers marry and have children and their children have children until they become a great nation: Israel. So great have their numbers become in Egypt that the king of Egypt enslaves them in forced labor enforced by brutality and oppression. God sees the injustice his people have to endure and has compassion…
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