What Christian Growth Looks Like Philippians 1:9-11 When you look at a person, you can estimate the biological age. A baby crawls and cries dada, mama, gaga, googoo. A child walks and speaks innocently. A teenager has grown in height and with more vocabulary and slang. An adult is fully formed. As an adult age, there are other characteristics that show their age. The hair grows a different color or falls out. Wrinkles and age spots develop. Eyesight diminishes and... Read more
How to Be GENTLE Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.” (Galatians 5:22–23, CSB) According to Bill Farmer’s newspaper column, J. Upton Dickson was a fun-loving fellow who said he was writing a book entitled Cower Power. He also founded a group of submissive people. It was called DOORMATS. That stands for “Dependent Organization of Really Meek And Timid Souls—if there... Read more
Developing Christian Faithfulness Psalm 105:1-6 Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.” (Galatians 5:22–23, CSB) Have you ever stopped to thank someone for what they have done for you? We do it many times with people we care about. Perhaps someone came to fix something in the house. A friend came and watched your dog while you were gone. Someone who... Read more
Developing Christian Goodness Galatians 5:22-23 Mark 10:17-22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.” (Galatians 5:22–23, CSB) As we continue in our study of the Fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23, we come to the fruit of goodness. Remember that the love of God brings the joy of God that leads to the peace of God that builds in us the patience... Read more
How to Keep the Church Focused On Its Mission 2 John 7-13 In the video illustration, the people were playing the basketball game. The focus of the people was so much on the game that they never noticed the moonwalking bear. The announcer did a great mind trick on you by making you pay attention to what he wanted you to see first, then changing your perspective to see what you didn’t notice before. John warns about this in the... Read more
How to Grow a Balanced Christian Life 2 John 1-6 Truth does not need updating. There is a story of a man who came to his old friend, a music teacher, and said to him, “What’s the good news today?” The old teacher was silent as he stood up and walked across the room, picked up a hammer, and struck a tuning fork. As the note sounded out through the room, he said, “That is A. It is today; it... Read more
Working Together to Accomplish the Mission of the Church Isaiah 42:1-9 This week, you might have heard that a logo for the United States Space Force was released. The mission of the Space Force is “a military service that organizes, trains, and equips space forces in order to protect U.S. and allied interests in space and to provide space capabilities to the joint force.”1 Long before there was a Space Force, there was the Space Shuttle. I grew up in... Read more
Growing Closer to God Through the Storms of Life Psalm 29:1-11 We encountered a storm this weekend. Storms are common here in the Ozarks. I grew up on the Texas Gulf Coast. The kind of storms that you encounter there are not the same that you encounter here in the winter. The sounds of the storm late Friday night were very unique. This psalm describe the power of a storm. But more than the power of the storm, there is... Read more
Start Off On the Right Foot With God This Year 1 Kings 3:1-15 We start a new year, and many people take this time to make new starts. Some may go on after-Christmas diets. Others may make new resolutions or plans. Here, we see Solomon making a similar new start. Solomon has been coronated as the new king. One might think that Solomon has made some missteps. We see that he has married the daughter of the Pharaoh or king... Read more
God Is With Me at HOME for the Holidays Psalm 23:6 Here is a literal back-translation to English of Psalm 23 (“The Lord is My Shepherd”) as understood by the Khmus tribe of Laos:1 The Great Boss is the one who takes care of my sheep; I don’t want to own anything. The Great Boss wants me to lie down in the field. He wants me to go to the lake. He makes my good spirit come back. Even though... Read more
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