Red Rocks Baptist Church

When we choose to live in our own strength and by our own rules, we are not following our Head. When a church is disconnected from the Head, it will wither and die. As our Head, Jesus wants a vibrant and healthy body. He wants us to be a healthy church, and he is working constantly to make that happen.

The qualifications of a deacon calls for him to be a man with proven integrity who leads his family well. Our church should follow the early church's process of selecting scripturally qualified men to be deacons.

There are many churches who approach the office of deacon like this—with no guidance, training or job description. The apostles worked with the congregation to appoint seven "helpers" to meet the member care need that threatened to both upset the unity of the church and distract the apostles from their ministry.

Naturally we have one of two wrong responses to escalating pressure. Either we shy away from conflict and shut down when opposition intensifies, which mutes our witness. Or we explode on the opposition and become argumentative, harsh and unkind, which throws away our testimony. When opposition intensifies, God's Spirit grants us courage to overcomefear and accomplish our mission.

James gives us a description of what godly wisdom looks like and how we can avoid worldly wisdom.

Even today, Satan can subvert the church and try to destroy Christ's body from the inside (using spiritual trojan horses). We must not be ignorant of Satan's tactics and schemes.

Following Jesus with our finances is first and foremost a matter of faith, believing that heavenly treasure is greater than earthly wealth and that God can provide for our needs better than the money in the bank.

The NT's teaching about "grace giving" calls believers to imitate Jesus' generosity by freely and joyfully using God's resources to contribute to His kingdom work. Many Christians don't practice biblical stewardship because they haven't been taught what the Bible says about giving.

Do you talk about Jesus as often or as regularly as you want? Peter, John and the healed lame man boldly declared the power of Jesus' name and turned the tables on the religious leaders, putting them on trial at a higher court before a greater Authority. The fuel that propels us to faithfully talk about Jesus is to regularly be with Jesus, communing deeply with Him.