God’s Encouraging Word … when I am lonely Shortly after we were married, my wife and I planned a trip to Spain.  In order to take advantage of some frequent-flyer miles, I decided to travel there a few days early by myself.  Being young and naïve, I figured I could learn…

God’s Encouraging Word … when I am fearful about the future 2018 is here.  For some, it’s scary how quickly 2017 disappeared.  For others, they can’t wait to turn the page because this is the year they plan to graduate or perhaps get married.  In either case, however, who of us…

Confession of Faith If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. – Romans 10:9 Did you ever wonder what made the early Christians willing to confess their faith in Jesus even when it…

Sing for Joy to the Lord Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. – Psalm 95:1-2 Many of us like to sing. Even if…

Holy Communion The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This…

Living with Real Purpose We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. – Ephesians 2:10 Your life matters. You are living for a reason. Your life has purpose. Without purpose, life is boring and meaningless; there is…

The Struggle Against Sin I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. … What a wretched man I…

The Purpose of the Bible Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. – Romans 15:4 Every book has a purpose. Whether it’s a cookbook, music book, history book, novel, science book,…

Christian Confidence “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.” – Jeremiah 17:7 I have a vivid memory from the first grade. I was an awkward, chubby kid. Each day, my only hope was to get through class, and get through recess, so that…

Know the Truth “Your word is truth.” – John 17:17 Human beings have never stopped desiring to search for the truth. And who can blame us? As we swim our way through life, so often we find ourselves in deep water over our heads, water that has a muddy bottom…