Please read Genesis chapters 1 through 3 slowly. Picture in your mind what is happening. The account of the fall of Adam and Eve is doubtless familiar to most people who’ve grown up in the West. After recording for us the mighty acts of God in creation, Moses goes on to tell of how mankind fell from innocence and fellowship with God to a state of sinfulness and separation from God. The story opens with chapter 3. Adam and Eve are, most likely, just getting acquainted with their new world....
Tithing is the first step of Grace Giving. It was the first method used by God to teach His people stewardship. It was the first method God used to finance His Kingdom work among men. It was and is the elemental principle of giving. If the principle of tithing is not settled in your heart and life you will never move beyond it. Talk of Grace Giving can fill the airwaves but unless God’s people solidify their belief in tithing they will never move beyond its essential concepts. For the sake of space, I am not quoting the Scripture passages. Please reference each one in your copy of God’s Word. ...
The Patriarch Jacob was like many who grew up in the church. He knew about God. He'd watched his parents worship and build their lives around the biblical faith. He wasn't opposed to it. He kind of believed it too. But in reality, Jacob had not really come to God himself. If the truth were told, he was simply coasting off his father's faith....
What is Easter to you -- just another religious holiday? A time when your wife, mother, or family member pressures you to attend church with them? Perhaps for you it is a bit more meaningful, -- it is a time for tradition. At Easter the family attends church, has a festive meal, or reunion. For some, it is about the children. At Easter the children get their special spring outfits, have egg hunts, and receive their annual basket of goodies! Perhaps a review of the first Easter morning will shed light on how this historic day should be viewed by us. In your heart and mind, return with me to that bright morning. Let’s walk through it and meet the people that were there, that witnessed it for themselves, and for us. ...
What is love? What is Christian love? After all, doesn’t the Bible say that God is love? Shouldn’t love be one of the dominant characteristics of genuine Christians? The answer to each of these questions is YES. But hold on a minute! Does this mean that Christians accept all manner of sin and blasphemy against God in the name of love and if they do not they are then “unloving?” Let’s see what the Bible says about Christian love and how it really transforms us not to be like the fallen culture around us but to be like Christ. ...
Identity. What a loaded topic this has become in the last decade. With all the attention given to “understand” our identity, one would expect that we, as a culture, had learned something. But the sad reality is that we haven’t. How do I know that we have not learned from the exorbitant attention given to identity by our media, the music industry, government agencies, advertisement, and the public school system, and pop-culture? It is evidenced by not only the gender confusion being produced, but also by more subtle observations such as how people have become nearly obsessed with labeling themselves with logos, flags, tattoos, clothing, hairstyles, jewelry, and music. This is an attempt to find and secure identity in things, celebrities, sexuality, and brands. It is sad to watch as people created in the image of God seek meaning in everything but God. This is condition of lost humankind. In the Epistle to the church at Ephesus, the Apostle Paul expounds some of the great truths of Christian identity. We learn in chapter one that our identity as believers in Jesus Christ is secured by God’s choice in eternity past (1:3-6). We rejoice in the identity we’ve been given by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (2:1-9). Our identity is not just in eternity but it is also here and now as we live (2:10) so that our new identity in Jesus comes with a new purpose for life - good works. But that’s not all, not by a long shot! Our new found position in our Lord Jesus Christ includes new relationships, new foundation for life, and a new purpose for existence! As the Church of Jesus Christ, Scripture says we are…...
Did you know that marriage has a mission? Marriage is not a mere sociological invention of man instituted for the propagating and stabilizing of societies. ...
It is imperative that local congregations recover true Christian love with its doctrinal faithfulness, purifying power, and deep wells of joy flowing from Christ and His Word....
I want to encourage our congregation to make OTHERS our 2023 MISSION. Let’s be passionate and purposeful to live this year for God’s glory in ways that shine the light of the Truth of the Gospel of Christ to those around us. And, let’s do it with such humility that when they see God’s love through us they are compelled to give glory to our Heavenly Father. ...
Put away your anxiety, uncertainty, and pain. Turn from sin and dis- belief to faith and hope in the knowledge and trust that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world (1 John 13-16). Forget about the holiday stress and pressure of our culture. They do not know our God. ...
My family and I would like to thank everyone for the very warm welcome we have received since our arrival to Lexington! Coming to shepherd this congregation is such a blessing. We are thankful to our God for calling us to Coggins to lead in His Kingdom work....
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Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great 19th Century Baptist preacher, and pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle once said, “Visit many books, but live in the Bible.” With such profound counsel as a guide, before I mention a few of the more helpful books that entered my study in 2018, let me first emphasize the importance of Holy Scripture in life. ...
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Even with your New Year’s Resolutions, did you step across the threshold of midnight into 2019 any different than you had been at the end of December? Did you wake up to a new you?...
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Let’s brighten things up! It’s important that a church campus look welcoming, even inviting. Our campus should be a place that reflects our faith in our Great and Merciful God!...
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Unfortunately, today that is often not the case. Many cannot, in good conscience and obedience to the Scriptures, simply attend the closest congregation to their home because it has forsaken the faith of Jesus. So this begs the question, What makes a church a living and vibrant congregation?...
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The last few weeks have been a roller coaster ride of ups and downs. With the sudden onset of severe chest pains two months ago......
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Finding out that a bypass rather than a stint was needed ranks among the more shocking moments in my life....
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All of us want to give our children a fighting chance in life. In fact, we want better; we want them to succeed. Often this well-meaning sentiment is misguided. We parents begin filling our children’s lives with things, lessons, and classes to ensure they fit in and do well. The problem is, in a troubled culture, this strategy backfires on us. Our culture has become godl...
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