"Over the years," writes pastor Roger Barrier, "I have developed a checklist to help me distinguish when God is speaking to me. It is not complete or foolproof. No one point, of course, is sufficient in itself to prove or disprove the voice of God. But these principles have helped me discern more accurately the voice of God."
God tends to speak gently. Remember how God spoke ...
ARTICLE Better Group Prayer How "vectoring" adds depth and strength to conversation with God. Ben Patterson
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When our kids were young, it was a big deal just to get them to wait their turn to speak in dinner conversations. When that happened we were pleased, but we still had a long way to go.
The conversations, though orderly, were a string of non sequiturs. Dan would go into excruciating detail telling us his dream of the night before. Joel would politely wait his turn to tell us, immediately afterward, ...
I slipped into his room late one evening as I arrived home from work only to find him wide awake, snuggled under the covers.
"Hey Dad, it's Wednesday," my 12-year-old said. "Tonight was our date night, Dad! You forgot!"
Somewhere between the deadlines and the donors and the to-do list, I'd forgotten the most important ministry God had entrusted to me, that of my family. It had been weeks since my wife ...
I never cease to be amazed at the incredible paradox of seeing many unhappy people in a world that has so much to offer surprises me even more is the sight of so many Christians who have succumbed to busyness, unhappiness, tightness, and boredom. Many suffer from a nagging sense of guilt that no matter how much they do it is never quite enough.
Words like wonder, joy, rest, and freedom have become ...
Why is it that many of our pastors—the people we respect and admire most—lead lonely lives?
And why do many lay leaders feel frustrated in their attempts to build a friendship with their pastor?
On the one hand, there is a tendency in every congregation to canonize the pastor in a way that Catholics wisely reserve for those long dead. We don't often argue politics, complain about the schools, ask ...
ARTICLE Sharper Definition How a small congregation was reinvigorated by making membership mean something specific. Brian Metke
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After 18 years of ministry, I've become convinced that the way to lead a dormant church into exuberant, committed discipleship is not by lowering the bar, but by raising it.
Our members are required to participate in at least one specific ministry, attend a weekly Bible-study class, and tithe regularly. We call it "intentional Christianity."
Trinity's mission statement sums up the bottom line: "To help ...
DEVOTIONS Courage Stepping into something frightening Mark Galli
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They will reply, "Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?" And he will answer, "I assure you , when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me." And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life. Matthew 25:44-46
[Jesus] sat down and called the twelve disciples over to him. Then he said, "Anyone who wants to be the first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else."
Mark 9:35
It's hard to glamorize the disciples of Jesus when you pay attention to the Scriptures. Today's passage is a response to their ongoing argument about who was the greatest among them. When Jesus asked them about it, they kept ...
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