Growing Faith. Increasing Love

Growing Faith. Increasing Love

"Paul, Silas and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your...

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Love, Serve, Hope

Love, Serve, Hope

Paul concludes this letter to the church of Thessalonica with a prayer of hope. This young established church of new Christians had faced great opposition and persecution in the one year it had been in existence. Yet through all the severe trials they endured, the...

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Healing like Honey

Healing like Honey

We know the words that break us down and leave scars behind. Whether someone has said them to you or you have said them to yourself, you know which ones are the worst for you to hear. But have you heard the words that build you up? The ones meant to remind you that...

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Predicting vs. Preparing

Predicting vs. Preparing

As I sat down to gather information for today’s blog post on the return of Christ, I noticed that the date, April 23, 2018, was the most recently forecasted date for the end of the world.  As I sipped on my coffee and watched the birds play in the gentle rain, I could...

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Rejoice! Death Has Been Conquered!

Rejoice! Death Has Been Conquered!

Everywhere we look we see death. It is a part of every life cycle, from plants, to animals, to humans. The beautiful flowers that sit on your counter, the blooming trees in your garden, the fish in the fishbowl, or the cheetah flying across the planes of the Savanna,...

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Living to Please God

Living to Please God

"For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God..."  1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 They...

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How To Talk To Our Children In Troubling Times

How To Talk To Our Children In Troubling Times

I'm a mother of three girls. My oldest is 12, my middle daughter is 10 and my youngest is 6 and like any mother these days, I struggle with figuring out how much to tell my girls about the world in which they live. While I don't want them to be naive to the dangers of...

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You Never Know What God Is Up To…

You Never Know What God Is Up To…

Our reading in 1 Thessalonians 2:17 opens with Paul writing to the Thessalonians that he had been "torn away..." from them even though he made every effort to stay in Thessalonica and be there with his church family. When I read these words, I picture a war like scene...

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Ministering To One Another

Ministering To One Another

We all love and crave friendship. Even, if you are a serious introvert, like me, friendship is important. It is fun to talk and laugh with others, to enjoy food together and to have someone with whom you can discuss various parts of life with, like parenting,...

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Courage in a Corner of the World

Courage in a Corner of the World

This is the face of courage. Stephanie and her husband uprooted their four children from their comfortable life in the US and moved halfway across the world to answer a call from God. Her husband is a pastor and they felt called to go to Southeast Asia and live on...

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We Endure, Because We Are People of Hope

We Endure, Because We Are People of Hope

"Up from the grave He arose!" I closed my eyes as I sung the words from the depths of my soul, and I could hear my momma's off-key voice so clearly that she might as well have been sitting right next to me. All of those Easter Sundays growing up, she'd belt out that...

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1st & 2nd Thessalonians Introduction

1st & 2nd Thessalonians Introduction

As you grow in your faith and share your love for God with others, some will make fun of your faith. Not everyone believes in the truth that God is good and in the hope that Jesus is coming back. But God knew you would feel embarrassed sometimes. He knew you would...

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Living Out Authentic Faith

Living Out Authentic Faith

The world will tell you that you can ride the fence – one foot in the world and one foot in Kingdom living. But James points us to the Way, the Truth, and the only path to real living. It’s an all-in relationship with Jesus that transforms us from the inside-out. It’s...

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Run the Grace Race

Run the Grace Race

As we sit in different seasons in our lives, it’s all too easy to want to race ahead. An exciting interview might lead to a better job, which will hopefully pay for a new car, and the car will be perfect for that trip we want to take. Before you even have the...

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Lord Willing

Lord Willing

I started writing this blog two days after Christmas, on an icy West Texas morning, sitting on the side of I-20. We had just finished rendering aid at two separate rollover wrecks that we watched happen. The verses haunted - and humbled - me again as I sat at the...

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Wholehearted Devotion

Wholehearted Devotion

What has your heart? Is it your family, friends, your hobbies, career, or even your ministry? Maybe it’s a passion for art, travel, music, entertainment, or food. It’s easy to find ourselves living with half-hearted devotion to God. James urges believers to humbly...

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Seeking God’s Wisdom

Seeking God’s Wisdom

Before I was a mom, I used to think I was going to be a pretty terrific one. I mean, I read all the right books, babysat as a teenager, earned my degree in elementary education AND had the experience of teaching for a few years. From my naive perspective, I had the...

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Be Careful What You Teach

Be Careful What You Teach

Oh boy. We are tackling a big subject today that is close to everyone's heart - the sin of the tongue. This is a universal sin.  Everyone struggles and everyone falls. There isn't a single person alive who is able to perfectly control this small part of their body....

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Faith That Works

Faith That Works

What we do says a lot about what we say we believe. It’s like the premise that “actions speak louder than words.” It’s pretty easy to say we have faith in our hearts, but if that faith isn’t prompted to move, act, or produce fruit, is that genuine faith? What we...

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The Sin of Partiality

The Sin of Partiality

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. – James 2:1 We stand tall and are quick to deny it. It could never be us. Favoritism.  Prejudice.  Discrimination. “Surely not me,” we whisper under our breaths as we...

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