THE SPIRIT OF UNDERSTANDING Have you ever been asked how you can know that God has saved you? The question may come from someone who lacks assurance of salvation themselves, so they want to understand from where you get your confidence. Or the question may come from an agnostic who wishes to challenge the basis

TALKING ABOUT JESUS Why is it easier to invite someone to church than it is to invite them to follow Jesus? Talking about church is not the most comfortable thing in our modern culture. It signals a shift in our everyday generic conversation with neighbors and coworkers, for it moves from that which we have

OVERCOMING FEAR BY DECLARING YOUR FAITH IN GOD David wrote this powerful declaration of confidence in the Lord, revealing how he faced his fears. For David, like any man, had fears, yet he overcame them by faith in God. There are at least three fears implied here, that are common to man, that David chose

REDISCOVERING GODS WORD Under the direction of King Josiah, the Levites were repairing the Temple when they found the Book of the Law. Hilkiah the priest was the one who found it. Apparently, it had been hidden in the Temple to avoid destruction by some of the wicked kings that ruled before. As a result,

THE CHURCH IS THE PEOPLE NOT THE STEEPLE In Pauls letter to the Roman believers, he gave greetings to the church that met in the home of Aquila and Priscilla. In those days there were no church buildings, so the church met in homes or in public meeting facilities, such as the Hall of Tyrannus

DO YOU HAVE OVERFLOWING HOPE? What is this overflowing hope and how can we obtain it? It is Christian hope. This is different from the hope we express as a wish. When we say, I hope it doesnt rain tomorrow, we are expressing a wish without any promise of fulfillment. But Christian hope is like

THE GIFT OF SPIRITUAL RECEPTIVITY One can have ears and eyes, yet still be deaf and blind. The Lord has made both the physical and the spiritual ability to hear and see. Both are grace. The physical is obvious, but few recognize the spiritual. The first offers awareness of the physical world, the second makes

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO PUT ON CHRIST? First, isnt there the necessity of putting off our old clothes? Certainly, this is what the Word teaches us. Some of the articles of the old clothes are listed by Paul where he teaches us to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out

LOVE AND HONOR: MARKS OF THE NEW LIFE IN CHRIST In Romans 12, Paul described how those who have offered their bodies as a living sacrifice and have received a transformed mind that knows Gods will, should live with each other. In verse 10, Paul gave two marks of how people with this new heart

ALL THINGS ARE FROM, THROUGH, AND TO GOD! Pauls benediction at the end of Romans 11 is all encompassing. It declares that all things come from God, for He is the Creator. All things exist through God, for He is the Sustainer. All things are made for Gods glory, for creation displays His invisible attributes,