I hope and pray that this will be a blessed and joyful Memorial Day for you and yours! On June 21, 2006, in the Nuristan Province of Afghanistan, Staff Sergeant Jared Monti’s sixteen-man patrol came under fire. One of his men was wounded and fell over a ridge into what the soldiers described as as […]
Last week we were chatting about the incredible, powerful force of love. In 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, Paul uses character traits and actions to describe love. He is not saying we must feel love for everyone but that we are to live in such a way that God’s love fills us and overflows to others. What […]
Charles Stanley comments, “Love is an incredibly powerful force. It causes a mother to sacrifice her sleep, time and personal ambitions for the sake of her children. A job takes on a grander purpose when a man is working to provide for the family he loves. People have even willingly gone to their deaths in […]
Scripture is clear: “You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” (James 4:14). That’s why the psalmist prayed, “Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12) Since we only have today to be ready for […]
I recently returned from our annual Men’s Retreat at Woodleaf Conference Center. Forty seven men from Auburn Grace joined 250 other men, representing eleven area churches to unpack the topic of Influence. Webster defines influence as “The capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something…” The premise is simple…we […]
God has a purpose for your life! If that weren’t true, I firmly believe that He’d have taken you home to heaven at the moment of your salvation. Do you ever wonder why He left you here? I think Galatians 5:13 is instructional, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an […]
James 1:22 says that “we are not to be merely hearers for the Word…but doers, lest we deceive ourselves.” Since Satan is the Father of Lies, deceit and its consequences are unhappy by-products. The book of James is a formula for personal growth. We note that growing in the Lord to the extent that we […]
I guess you have noticed that at the close of each Monday Blast I make this simple comment: “Make it a good one…you cannot get a moment of today back!” That general idea comes from Psalms 30. Let me share three simple principals that teach us to maximize each moment: 1. Live in the present for the […]
He is Risen…Indeed! That is the essence of our faith, isn’t it. If Jesus was still in the grave our faith is indeed in vain. At some point in time we must all embrace the truth of that claim or walk away from it. As we were reminded yesterday during services, Jesus is either Lord, […]
He is Risen! Indeed! Last week we were discussing “teachable moments”; opportunities to grow our faith through challenging times. We examined the account in Exodus 14 and 15 of God miraculously delivering His chosen people from the hands of their oppressors and then their subsequent rebellion in the face of trial. How quickly we forget […]
