There is a popular notion circulating social media, books, and conferences that insists God created women to be delicate. As a result of this belief, some women adopt the mantra “I must take time for myself.” They equate self-care with selfishness. Yet, I’ve spent half my life serving in church ministry and have spent the other half on the fringes of Christianity. I see self-care differently. Self-care, done properly, is not a bad thing....
At the time I wrote this article I was 23 years old and had been a believer since the age of 17. All that I knew about being a Christian was what I had picked up from the adults around me, my own experiences and reading. Even as a young woman, I realised that I would not survive in this world without the help of our Lord Jesus Christ so I can only imagine how much more difficult it must be for the young people....
We all face times when our confidence in God and his promises are shaken. Though we know God is faithful and wants to give us great and precious promises (1 Peter 5:4, KJV), still it can feel like our world has been turned upside down. The outcome of these circumstances often leaves us feeling hurt, angry, or even scared. This week on the blog, I have invited my friend Gina Collins to share some of her experiences with us, how she re-discovered her confdence in God in the midst of those times when her world has fallen apart....
This is part of a series in which I will be answering some of the difficult questions we face as Christians, from an exegetical, Biblical perspective. In this particular series on “Is It My…”, you can read the article on the widows and orphans. Answer The Old Testament is filled with many exhortations to care for widows, orphans, and strangers (Heb. gēr). The book of James provides us with the most explicit New Testament charge to do so; James 1:27 says, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world....
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. (Colossians 3:1-2) We are to love each other and do good to one another, without fail Let us be sympathetic, feeling for and showing concern for our fellow believers, to make their burdens our own and to share them....
It’s no secret that when people talk about heaven, they don’t always refer to the same thing. Depending on their religious background, or lack thereof, heaven can be a city, a state of mind, a location or a condition of being—even a place where one is reunited with a deceased loved one. The Bible itself reflects this diversity in how it talks about the “heavens.” Does the Bible present a unified view of heaven, or not?...
Why should Christians evaluate what their lives are built on? There is no higher purpose in life than to know the living God and be in His family (Titus 3:5). This is His highest priority for us to fulfill. We have the chance right now to put our lives in order, to get this priority right with Him. What will be important on the Day of Judgment? What will we really want and desire when we arrive in heaven?...
Many people are confused by what the Bible teaches about the end-times. What does Jesus teach us about the end-times? He teaches us about God’s End-Times Plan, which can be summarized in a sentence – Jesus is the goal of God’s End-Times Plan. In this study, we will be looking at the book of Revelation, which John was told to write by Jesus (Revelation 1:1) shortly before the death of the last Roman Emperor, Domitian....
The church has a great opportunity to be the main transformative force in society today. But it’s going to take people of action, people like you. Why? Because the current spiritual landscape of our world is showing that people are losing their religion. More people today are becoming Spiritual but Not Religious (SBNR), which means there is a natural phenomenon occurring where people are becoming more attracted to an authentic, lived out faith in comparison to the “religiously bound” approaches to God that have become more commonplace in modern-day Christianity....
One of my goals for this blog is to begin to answer the question, “what does a great church look like”? And not just that but how do we create a great church. I want to explore and introduce you to a process that I’ve been apart of that can help you to do just that. And by doing that I hope to give you clarity on the three steps to making your church successful....