Each week our pastors study diligently to deliver practical, thought-provoking messages from the Word of God.
Pain and suffering may change direction, but neither can change the heart. Suffering only hardens a heart that has rejected God. We must allow His goodness to lead us to repentance because His wrath will not. And God's wrath is a terrible thing to experience.
Read MoreWhat you know should inform what you do. Israel was failing to remember their relationship with God. The relationship they had known should have informed their behavior, but they had forgotten. We must remember.
Read MoreGod's final judgment is looming just over the horizon of human history. Our Good is holy, and He despises the sin in our hearts and in His world. Our sin and our rejection of His salvation offends Him. The day of God's wrath is coming. He will judge the world and make all things right. In light of this reality, what manner of person ought you to be?
Read MoreDoctrinal, biblical teaching is of vital importance for our children. It plays a vital role in developing a love for God in the hearts of our children. However, happiness helps. Happiness can create a special affection in their hearts for the things of God if connected with the things of God.
Read MoreEvery person has an innate desire to be accepted and included. Jesus was amazingly approachable. He was a friend of sinners. He was a conduit of God's grace. We need to be the same.
Read MoreOne day very soon, the Lord is going to return, and He will execute revenge on all of those who’ve oppressed His people. But He’s not just returning to make things right; He’s also bringing with Him a reward for those who have done good. We must make it a goal every day of our lives to remember that that day is coming very soon and we need to be ready for it.
Read MoreIt is in the nature of all of us to be selfish. However, by keeping in our selfishness, we lose. This is a principle of God’s world. We impoverish ourselves by hoarding when we should be generous.
Read MoreHumanity has been given the amazing opportunity to choose God. However, humanity has largely refused Him collectively and individually. We will all be held eternally accountable for the choice we make.
Read MoreWe need to guard against always seeing evil in others and not in ourselves. Sometimes the greatest evil in our hearts is the way we see other people. Instead of seeing the faults of others and wishing judgment on them, we ought to try to make a difference in the world.
Read MoreTrue Christians entrust their care to Christ, no matter what the world brings their way. True followers of Christ are not fair-weather believers. No matter what life brings us, it has passed through the hands of our savior, and we are protected. We are to rest in that fact. Our contrast with the world should not change because our way of life is threatened.
Read MoreAs a church family, we are instructed to give to the work of the Lord equally. If one member (or group of members) gives more than another, less is being accomplished, and some are being over burdened. Christ desires everyone to be involved in accomplishing his mission for the church.
Read MoreWe have a choice before us regarding our giving. Our choice will reflect what we esteem, what’s important to us. We make choices about what’s important to us every moment of every day. We choose what to invest our limited resources in.
Read MoreThe word of God repeatedly warns us against believing the deceptive teachings of false prophets. There is perhaps no greater danger to God’s people than the intentional mixing of truth and falsehood. As God’s timetable for our planet draws to a conclusion, there will be a proliferation of those who will teach a compromised version of God’s word for selfish gain and self aggrandizement. The apex of all those who distort the truth of the Bible will be the Antichrist and his false prophet.
Read MoreWe can't go into God's presence and expect Him to receive our worship if we dishonor and abuse those He loves and those who are created in His image. Your treatment of others is a reflection of your estimation of the value of God.
Read MoreThe inevitable cannot be escaped. Life in a fallen world has inevitable hardship and hurt. We can't escape all things, but by the grace of God, we can survive all things. The things that hurt us do not have to destroy us. We win by dying in faith. A world of darkness and God-hating is inevitable. Be prepared for the inevitability of hardship, and be ready to endure it in faith.
Read MoreThe second great offense in the book of Malachi was that the priests were allowing the first to take place. They were accepting and facilitating faulty worship. Because the Levites were provided for by the people, they were literally hurting themselves by accepting the pathetic offerings from the people. So the people were being lead to stumble, and by their stumbling they were hurting those who were leading. Our failure to do right hurts ourselves and others. We diminish our lives and the lives of others by failing to uphold the truth.
Read MoreEven against the most hostile attack, God is greater. We overcome our spiritual deficit and fate not though ourselves or anything we do, but by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was that event on the cross that allows us to stand before God one day cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. Nothing Satan can do will take that away. It does not matter if it looks like Satan is winning both on earth and in our lives, we don’t have to be discouraged because we know that God is greater and that He has already won. However, even though Satan’s doom is sure, that does not mean he is not fighting and causing casualties. What are you doing to help the winning side? You can’t win a war you won’t fight in. We need to be soldiers in this life.
Read MoreWhen God's people act out of duty versus devotion, they're always going to do the bare minimum. This was the state of the nation of Israel in Malachi's day. God was not being honored. He was not even receiving the base levels of honor that were willingly given to men. The small amount God was given was a weariness to the nation. The fact that the pathetic gifts were a weariness was actually the bigger problem. God wasn't just concerned about the gift, but He was also concerned about the attitude of giver.
Read MoreThe Bible teaches that pride always goes before destruction and a fall. The greatest and most consequential of these falls was and is the fall of Satan. He went from spectacular and exalted to enemy of God and adversary of men. He is full of animosity toward God and every part of his kingdom, including us. We have a spiritual adversary who targets us with his vitriol and hatred. A lack of awareness and caution leaves us extremely vulnerable. Our thinking and philosophies must be grounded in Truth. If Satan can get you to believe a lie, he has, in some measure, won.
Read MoreAt this point in Israel’s history, the nation of Israel was still under the power of Persia, and they were discontent. They felt that God hadn’t really come through for them. They wanted to move on as a nation as God had said they would. Instead of serving God in the midst of their unfavorable circumstances, they became very apathetic. God in turn sends messengers to address the nation’s condition. God, in His first message, reminds the nation of His love. When God chooses you, you’re chosen. That choice does not change. He loves His children because He chose them. Those who are God’s choice never stop being the objects of His love.
Read More
