Compassionate Christianity…

A week or two ago, when Dave prayed at the close of the worship service at our church, he said something like, “God – thank you for the love that is in this room.” It made my day. That’s what should be here – always. Love is something that Christ expects to go beyond this room, beyond our church fellowship, and even beyond our Christian circles. As followers of Jesus, we’re to imitate him. That means loving as he loves.

How well does the Christian church do that?

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Even Though You’re Small, You’re Important…

Most who know me know the blessing I’ve given my children since they were small. I’ve given it to my church family for a dozen years as well. It goes like this:

There are certain things in this world that God has for you to do — and you’re just the right person to do them.

I’d like to think that was original with me, but of course, it’s not.  The concept is proclaimed throughout God’s Word.  Rick Warren expressed it very well in his book, The Purpose Driven Life. I probably first came across it as a teen when my pastor gave everyone a copy of The Four Spiritual Laws, a gospel tract that has been used countless times to help countless numbers of people come to faith in God.

Law number one goes something like this: God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.  I like that.
God loves you.  God has a plan for you.  It is true of us.  It was true of Israel  —  even the little town of Bethlehem.

In this podcast we look at this truth about Bethlehem and apply it to our own lives.

“Paying It Forward” is Really Paying it Back…

There’s a great website that offers free Bible-study software for your computer for free. The man who wrote the software, Rick Meyers, says this on the opening screen:

Introduction

“Freely you received, freely give.” (Matthew 10:8)

Jesus told us that since we’ve been blessed we should bless others. I am happy to provide a blessing to others in the form of free Bible study software!

As a Bible student and teacher I have experienced the necessary work involved in searching the Scriptures for the competent preparation of a Bible study, Sunday school lesson, or a sermon. Continue reading