".... intimacy with God is not easily obtained. Many things war against it. It cannot be one of our many pursuits or hobbies - or we will find it quite illusive."

"For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God," I Thess. 1:9

Compromising with our idolatrous fathers may keep some kind of peace in the family, but it will not bring them into the peace they need with God.

"....I asked, How can we be more fruitful members of His body?  How can we better fulfill our role as members of His body? One way to find out is to study all of the “one another” or “each other” commands in the New Testament."

One of the ways Jesus - our Head - has provided for us to escape and be delivered from the selfish individualism of our mostly godless culture and society is by revealing to us our corporate identity

Most of the one anothering commands are positive. A handful are negative. Though I haven't counted them, seems by far the emphasis is loving one another - something that we simply cannot do without an ever deepening relationship with our Savior. May the Holy Spirit do that deeper work in each of us in these days.

(This is the gist or outline of my World Changers/Giant Slayers class discussion this last Sunday - - May 4, 2024 on what it means to be a productive member of the body of Christ. 12 mostly elementary age boys and girls with lots of energy :) )   Question # 1. What kind of things did Jesus do in His earthly ministry?   Question # 2. Do you think Jesus still wants those things to be done for people today?   Question # 3. How can that happen since He is gone/in heaven?   “ And

(I worked off these notes for my sermon today. Here is the video link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-bRaCHz3TE) Opening Prayer The...

Any seeking of truth or discussion of truth without a humble and obedient pursuit of the knowledge of Him and an ongoing deepening relationship with Him will end in deception or the misuse of truth

"Because of our sin nature and this evil world system in which we live and because of the father of lies and his lying demons swirling around us truth is often hard to see, hard to hear and hard to heed"