Church News (Page 62)
I Surrender
By Not Known It is not glorious to surrender! In a warring context, to surrender means subjection to hostile forces. In a sporting contest, to ‘surrender’ means losing to a better competitor. In a relational conflict, to ‘surrender’ means admitting to an error of sorts. These moments make one feel disarmed, disenfranchised, or even disgraced by a…
Faithful Leaders
By Not Known There are good leaders and there are leaders who lead followers astray. Good leaders lead from the inside. Leaders who lead others astray lead from the outside: leading by their performances, driven by their achievements and celebrating only their own successes. Good leaders, on the other hand, keep their followers away from envies and jealousies:…
Imperfect Models All
By Not Known When we read about Abraham we think of him as a Biblical super-hero – a man of tremendous faith who left his homeland to venture into the complete unknown, simply because God said so. He also demonstrated great obedience ― when God tested Abraham by telling him to sacrifice his only son Isaac, Abraham promptly set out the very next morning.…
True Repentance
By Not Known The Jews at Jerusalem were described as “cut to the heart” after hearing Peter’s sermon at Pentecost in Acts 2:37. The Greek here means “to pierce through” – not making merely a surface cut but effecting a deep cut. In other words, the word of God through Peter’s message had pierced the thoughts and…
Hopelessly Religious!
By Not Known Are you one of those who feels guilty when you miss your daily quiet time, or weekly Sunday church, or monthly Holy Communion ever so often? Interestingly, any faith as a religion has a way of disquieting the impious, and assuring the disciplined. Is your (ir)religiousness a friend or a foe to your relationship with God? On numerous occasions while sharing…
Are You a Moral Person?
By Not Known When one city decided to give out free condoms to students age 12 and older, one parent wrote, “I’m so happy, I can’t wait to celebrate.” Did this parent think that the problem with teen pregnancy was going to end with this? Instead, wouldn’t giving out free condoms be the equivalent of saying to the children of that city that it…
Praying and Persevering
By Not Known Nehemiah was a prayer warrior as well as a practical worker. He was not “so heavenly minded, that he was of no earthly good”. When we read through the book of Nehemiah, we see the man in differing and trying circumstances, but the common thread of prayerfulness runs right through. Nehemiah prayed when he heard DISASTROUS NEWS (1:3-11). The…
By Not Known A song from the musicale “The King and I” goes like this:“Getting to know you, getting to know all about you, Getting to like you, getting to hope you like me…” The character from the musicale who sings this is an English teacher who has just arrived in Thailand to tutor the King’s children and desires to bridge the…
Praying Together
By Not Known The Sanhedrin – “the rulers, elders and teachers of the law” – just had to take the evidence as it stood. Right before their eyes was the crippled beggar completely healed, with the Jewish onlookers praising God for what had taken place as five thousand amongst them had just turned to Christ (Acts 4:4). There was absolutely no way for…
‘Just’ Faith
By Not Known “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (Heb 11:1) Living by faith and not by sight is a Christian dictum that we have been taught to embrace. But when it comes to situations of injustice where we desire wrong to be put right, I wonder how Christians might live by that same dictum. Does faith in a just God…