Growing to Maturity

Last week Elizabeth and Anna reached 15 months old. The pace of their growth has blown me away, but especially the last three months. It seems like every week, there is an important new development in their growth. It has been fascinating (and fun) for my wife and I to watch the girls rapidly mature. […]

Tozer’s Ordination Prayer

This Sunday (December 4th), I will be ordained into gospel ministry. Today I was reminded of A.W. Tozer’s prayer following his ordination service. On August 18, 1920 (Tozer was 23) at the Beulah Beach Conference Center west of Cleveland, Tozer was set apart for gospel ministry. Afterwards he found a quiet place where he could […]

Satan’s Strategy

By Pastor David Jeremiah Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary defines intervention as the “interference of one state in the affairs of another.” Satan has his own “intervention” program. He loves to intervene in the lives of Christians so he can cause them to do his will instead of the will of God. Blaise Pascal is reported […]

Laboring in Vain

Today I drove past an unfinished church in Mansfield, Ohio. I am not quite sure what happened, but for several years this church has sat vacant. The structure is mostly completed, but little work has been done on the interior of the building. As far as I know, there are no plans to re-start the […]

Henry Scougal – The Life of God in the Soul of Man

Mistakes about religion I cannot speak of religion, but I must lament, that among so many pretenders to it, so few understand what it means: some placing it in the understanding, in orthodox notions and opinions; and all the account they can give of their religion is, that they are of this and the other […]

Self-Importance: An Unbiblical World-View

By Walter Chantry Self-importance has a way of creeping into our hearts. Once there, it secretly influences every thought, even our spiritual desires and prayers. There comes a tendency to assume that we have a specially significant role to play in the Kingdom of God. Surely if the Lord is about to do something important […]

Loving the World Around Us (Part 4)

Recently we had a guest speaker at our church who reminded us that when we understand God’s amazing grace and mercy in our lives, how could we not have a burden to share the gospel? When truly believe that Jesus is the hope of the world, how could we not be compelled to share that […]

Loving our Fellow Christians (Part 3)

In the second of this four-part series we looked at “loving God.” In this post, we are going to look at one of the natural outcomes of genuine love for God. If we truly love God and are born of God, it will result in loving our fellow Christians. As 1 John 4:20-21 explains, “If […]

Loving God (Part 2)

The bible says, “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) God’s love always precedes our love. That is why this is number 2 and not 3 or 4 in the love process. Keep in mind that loving God is not simply a matter of doing our best to keep the moral law. […]

Knowing that God loves us (Part 1)

What an amazing thing to think that the Creator of the universe knows me and loves me. Have you ever stopped to ponder that? God actually likes me. God is fond of me. God calls me His friend. God will never leave me nor forsake me because I am His child. This blows me away. […]