Colossians: A Study Guide for Women
We're excited to make available a new Bible study resource for women!...
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Fruit Picking: Fighting for Patience
So how do you fight for patience? By trusting God according to his Word: all that he is for you, all that he’s done for you and all that he will do for you....
Fruit Picking: Kindling Kindness
Let’s kindle kindness in all of our relationships. Let’s be who we are....
June Series: Fruit Picking
We need to control the self, because the self produces desires in us that if not put to death will kill us and damage others....
God's Grace & Union School of Theology
Although I was initially apprehensive about going back to school, the depth of Bible teaching offered through Union has blessed me in the following three ways....
The Bible Deserves the Benefit of the Doubt
given the Bible’s long track record of withstanding critical scrutiny, it certainly deserves the benefit of the doubt from those wondering about those issues that do still await complete answers....
Read Individual Passages in Light of the Whole Bible
Take the time, then, to read all of Scripture. If you’ve never read the entire Bible from cover to cover, then do so! ...
The Bible Rewards Hard Work
Therefore, another lesson we can draw from difficult biblical passages is that the Bible not only demands, but also rewards, hard work in study....
Biblical Genealogies Remind Us That The Bible Isn’t A Twenty-First Century Document
The age of the Bible has practical implications for how we read it. Its books were written using literary rules and conventions that were different, thousands of years ago, than they are today. When we encounter biblical difficulties, one of the very first things we need to ask is whether the sheer distance in time and culture between ourselves and the biblical writer is contributing to a misunderstanding. We need to resist the temptation to impose modern expectations and assumptions on the text....
Why You Should Read Biblical Genealogies
What difference can biblical genealogies possibly make in my life? Why do they matter? Here are a few reasons why they are, far from being dusty and irrelevant relics, actually divinely ordained means of encouragement and growth....
The Christian’s Devotional Struggle at Easter
Our religious observances do not save us. Christ saves us. He alone is our salvation. It is not a combination of our faith and our religious observances, as the Roman Catholic Church teaches. Rather, Christ alone saves and all our guilty sin has been born by Christ on the cross, while his resurrection seals the forgiveness of our guilt forever....
Decisions, Decisions: Praying, Discerning and Deciding
As life goes on we are repeatedly faced with choices. And as we are confronted with choices we can be tempted in various ways. We can seek to escape them. Or we can make our choice based on our own worldly wisdom. Or we can rashly make a choice without even thinking. By contrast, we ought to learn to pray, discern and decide....
The Christian's Passport
Their passport is a two-part gift. First, the Scripture says that believing in him is something granted. Second, is the other part of the gift that must be included. It has been granted to you, not only to be believe, but to suffer for his sake. ...
When God Pours Out Blessings, Part 10
David talks in First Chronicles 29 about uprightness of heart, but why does he do that? Why does the heart matter when looking at good deeds like a Temple offering? ...
To Believe and To Suffer in Seedtime and Harvest
The Christian life might not be romantic or nostalgic but its real. Our organic connection to Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection is better than all of the hoped for clean eating and living that hopeless shoppers pursue. ...
When God Pours Out Blessings, Part 9
Human beings have an innate longing for meaning and significance. As we continue to pray after David's example in First Chronicles 29 we wrestle with the need for us to confess our mortality and shortness of days to God, and live in light of them....
When God Pours Out Blessings, Part 8
Even our willingness and ability to do things for God are gifts from his hand. In this article we look at and pray in light of this truth as David presents it in his prayer, found in First Chronicles 29....
When God Pours Out Blessings, Part 7
God provides all that we have. As we continue to pray through First Chronicles 29 in celebration of a year in our own building, we look at how David acknowledged God's provision of all things as an example for our own prayers....
When God Pours Out Blessings, Part 5
As we remember God's provision in the life of our own church one year ago, when we took possession of a building of our own for the first time, we look at the example of David's model prayer in First Chronicles 29. In this article we consider how David opened his prayer--with blessing and praise....
When God Pours Out Blessings, Part 6
Gratitude is a crucial attitude of the Christian life. As we continue to mark our first anniversary in a building of our own, we seek to imitate David's example of thanksgiving in prayer found in First Chronicles 29....
When God Pours Out Blessings, Part 4
As we continue to celebrate our first year owning our own church building, we are meditating on and praying through First Chronicles 29. How does the Christian look at a text like First Chronicles 29, or indeed any Old Testament story or promise or command? The answer is the classic Sunday School answer: “Jesus!”...
When God Pours Out Blessings, Part 3
As we at Calvary Grace continue to mark our first anniversary as "homeowners" in a building of our own, we consider the miracle of Israel's offering for the Temple in First Chronicles 29:1-9, and mark its meaning....
When God Pours Out Blessings, Part 1
Sometimes God provides spectacularly in the life of an individual or a church. On Calvary Grace's first anniversary as "homeowners" in a building of its own, we pause to consider the example of King David's Israel after God ordains a staggering offering by his people for his Temple, seeking wisdom on how to pray after God pours out blessings....
When God Pours Out Blessings, Part 2
We can’t understand the amazing prayer offered in First Chronicles 29 unless we first understand the man who offered it. In this article, we’re going to look at King David, a "man on a mission." We’ll review what brought him to that moment, in order to help us grasp why he prayed the way he did....
Resources for Gathering One2One
We’ll wrap up this newsletter series by introducing three new e-book Ministry Guides you can download to help you with this ministry, along with providing (all in one place) the links to the Study Outlines introduced over the past month...
Gathering One-2-One For Bible Reading
To get you started reading the Bible one-to-one, what follows is a simple method of Bible study called the COMA method. COMA studies a Bible passage in four steps: Context, Observation, Meaning, and Application....
Gathering One-2-One For Prayer
ACTS stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. When gathering one-to-one for prayer, you simply take turns, each praying a prayer of adoration, then each praying a prayer of confession, and so on....
Gathering One2One For Sermon Application - Be An Expositional Listener!
Sermon listening is a central part of the Christian life, and so why not learn more about it? Christopher Ash has written a very short but very useful booklet called Listen Up! A practical guide to listening to sermons, filled with useful tips and challenging questions that will help you “take care…how you hear” (Luke 8:18). After getting started with Gathering One2One, we strongly urge you to find and use this book....
How Do I Get Started Gathering One-2-One?
Here’s some steps to follow, both before the first meeting, and at that first meeting together....
Who Should I Find to Gather One-To-One With?
Try to build up one another, and build up the church, by building fellowship across the whole congregation one-to-one around God’s Word!...
Resources to Enhance your Biblical Study - Part 3: Online Resources
Continuing our series on free resources to enhance biblical and theological study, I’m turning this week to look at a number of websites that are very helpful. This is really a sampling and certainly not an exhaustive list, but as long as you have a computer and an internet connection, you will have more solid stuff available to read than you will even find time for…...
Keep ReadingResources to Enhance your Biblical Study - Part 2: Electronic Bible Study and Library Software
Last time, I reviewed a couple of free e-book resources. This week’s focus is on Bible study library software (I know I said I’d look at web-based resources, but I thought this would be useful covered first!)...
Keep ReadingFour Ways to Know Your Bible Better
Since we believe Paul when he said, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim 3.16), then we all want to know our bibles better. Obviously, the starting point for this is to read the bible. But there are some things that can help us to do that. Here are four ways to know you...
Keep ReadingThe Booth of David
In the sermon I gave on Sunday, July 29 I highlighted the temporariness of the Booth of David and also stated that the Booth of David is Christ. This may have led some to think of Christ as being temporary. Those who know me know that I would never say such a thing. Let me explain one more time....
Keep ReadingFoundations for a Good Library: Some Recommended Books
We are commanded to love the Lord with all our mind (Matthew 22:37), and so the cultivation of our knowledge and understanding is a critical part of our discipleship. Now, it certainly can’t constitute all or even most of our walk with God; after all, we are warned in the Scriptures that “knowledge puffs up” (1 Corinthians 8:1). But while the pursuit of knowledge by ...
Keep ReadingCalling Down Fire
Is it a bad thing to pray for God’s fire to fall, or to use the image of fire in our worship? ...
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