Youth, you are not the center of the world. You are not even the center of the church. But you are very important to us. You are important to us as your fathers and mothers. You are important to us as your grandparents. You are important to us on whom leadership responsibilities have been placed. We were once young also. We had ideals, we had dreams and we had ideas. We would fix the problems we observed in families and…
Faith is an expression of confidence. The Hebrew writer says that the person that comes to God must believe that He is – that God exists. It is a confidence that God not only exists, but a confidence that he responds to those who diligently seek Him. (Heb. 11:6) Christians are called “believers”. Repeatedly we encounter the concept of belief in the New Testament. When a new Christian is baptized we ask them, “Do you believe that Jesus Christ is…
We are called to walk in the light that is in Jesus Christ John 8:12- “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” Eph. 5:8-11- “8. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of the light: 9. (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and…
Next, we will begin to examine a few scriptures that directly address the Christian’s walk. In the example that Jesus shared about the shepherd and the sheep we noted that Jesus said the sheep follow the shepherd. How should we understand this “following” idea? In a physical sense we can follow someone without engaging our mind much at all. We just simply watch with our eyes and follow with our feet. Sometimes believers make statements like, “We just need…
In the Christian’s walk of faith sometimes realities are encountered that, on the surface, seem to be contradictory. The Apostle Paul says, “We are His workmanship”. Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments”. What then is the effective reality that brings the Christian to faithfulness? Is it God working in me, or is it me, choosing to follow Jesus? We recognize that Jesus’ words and Paul’s statement are both true. Both truths need to be acknowledged, lest we…