On Sunday nights in 2018, we have focused on going through the Bible. We have read it and reached the end. What do you do when you get to the end and you know what the Bible says? Why should you keep reading the Bible even if you have read it before?
Sometimes, you find yourself in front of a threshold. It is something unfamiliar, something even uncomfortable. Do you cross it? Why? Peter knew that feeling. He saw animals that were not to be eaten yet God told him to eat. Then, he told him to do something else he had never done. Do we have the courage to respond as Peter did?
Truth has become a casualty of the moment. When needed, we shave the truth, or at least, cross our fingers behind our back. It is a sign we don’t want to really tell the truth. The 9th commandment directs honesty. Dishonesty comes in many forms but honesty has one form—tell the truth in love all the time.
In a nation granted rights under their government, we are used to saying, "I have my rights." Our human side flexes our wills and no one can make us do anything. Yet, Paul had to address the question about the Corinthians who said, "we have the right to do anything." As Christians are rights the most important thing or something else? How do our rights affect others? More importantly, how do they affect eternity?
Every mother has momentos. They really are moments treasured in the heart. Mary, the mother of Jesus had them. What is the mother's best moment?
Too many times we wait until the future is present and then we panic. The breakfast program had a great start and is doing effective work feeding and helping those in Managua who are struggling. In our work in Nicaragua, we are making plans to feed the future.
The secular world misunderstands the “why” of the crucifixion. Why did Jesus have to die? It has to do with our sin when it enters the purity of God. God must make us “right” because no one…no one…is right. We attempt to be good, but never good enough. Those who experience justification also knows how to respond to that justification.
We tend to climb the mountain where the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20 with a mind full of pre-conceived notions. Perhaps the men who heard it saw it more of a challenge than a commission. What was required then as well as now is more messengers. Our annual contribution to raise funds for missions at Waterview is designed to get more messengers into the world.
What do Baby Boomers bring to and need from the church as we gray and age? We need reasons not slogans, a role to play, and need to finish our race.
