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The twelve apostles included "John" (Matt. 10:2). Seek to maintain a proper balance between truth and love. Some people picture John as overly sentimental and egotistical, lying with his head on Jesus' shoulder and constantly referring to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. But that's not an accurate characterization of one of the "Son of thunder"! He loved Jesus deeply and was amazed that Jesus loved him—especially after he wanted to burn up the Samaritans and then secure a prominent place for himself in Christ's kingdom. Calling himself "the disciple whom Jesus loved" (e.g., John 21:20) was simply his...

Psalm 74 O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt. Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs. A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees. But now...

Pope Francis said today that he would set up a commission to study whether or not he can find more ways to confuse and frustrate the living crap out of people, revealing an openness to re-examining the church’s long-held insistence on not speaking off-the-cuff. His move was hailed as a breakthrough by those in the media who have clamored for years to be given more stuff to speculate on, and who cite research showing that a pope whose speeches were scripted and thought out produced nothing for the media to report on, and therefore, pointless. But the idea will face...

“‘And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock’” (Matthew 7:25). Faithfulness in discipleship will mean we are prepared for the worst possible adversity and trial. People are often unprepared for life’s unexpected upheavals. This was vividly illustrated by the once-in-500-year floods that struck the Northern Plains of the United States in the spring of 1997. One community on the Red River in North Dakota was especially devastated by the surprising events. After working diligently for days to...

The twelve apostles included "James the son of Zebedee" (Matt. 10:2). Zeal without sensitivity can destroy your life and ministry. There's the story of a Norwegian pastor whose motto was "All or nothing!" His life and preaching were stern, strong, powerful, uncompromising, and utterly insensitive. Reportedly the people in his church didn't care much for him because he didn't care much for them. In his zeal and ambition to advance the kingdom and uphold God's standard, he neglected everything else—including his own family. One day his little daughter became so ill the doctor warned him that if he didn't move...

In this author's humble opinion these are the 20 clearest signs that the end of the age is quite literally imminent: 1. In a technical sense the Gospel has now been preached to every nation on earth in fulfillment of Mark 13:10.  Some scholars argue that we must interpret the Greek word for "nation" strictly as an individual ethnic group, but even if that is the correct interpretation, this prophecy was likely fulfilled sometime toward the end of the 20th century or the beginning of this century.  There are certainly still several isolated tribes where the Gospel has not been...

A major Evangelical figure in the US says that Catholics were right about The PillOne surprising effect of the rise of same-sex marriage in the United States may be a convergence between evangelicals and the Catholic Church. The best evidence for this is a recent book by Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and one of the nation’s most prominent Evangelical thinkers. In We Cannot Be Silent: Speaking Truth to a Culture Redefining Sex, Marriage, & The Very Meaning of Right & Wrong, he tackles the challenge of same-sex marriage. From a scriptural point of view, the idea...

“God has not given us a spirit of timidity [fear], but of power and love and discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7). The true follower of Christ has no reason to fear potential sufferings and trials. Concerning frustration and fear at the 1992 Winter Olympics, speed skater Dan Jansen said, “What happened was I skated a race that I can only describe as tentative. I looked good. I didn’t slip. Yet something kept me from going flat out.” The favored Jansen, haunted by well-publicized failures to win medals in 1988 or 1992, finally overcame his fear and triumphed in 1994 in the...

The twelve apostles included "James the son of Zebedee" (Matt. 10:2). God can use overzealous and ambitious people for His glory. Like Peter and Andrew, James and John were fishermen. One day as Jesus walked the shores of the Sea of Galilee, He saw them in a boat with their father Zebedee and some hired servants. When Jesus called them to follow Him, they immediately left the boat and went with Him (Mark 1:19- 20). James and John were zealous and ambitious men—so much so that Jesus nicknamed them "Boanerges," which means, "Sons of Thunder" (Mark 3:17). At times their...

“But let the brother of humble circumstances glory in his high position; and let the rich man glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away” (James 1:9-10). God does not exempt any believer, rich or poor, from trials and suffering. There is a basic principle of life that we all know to be true—namely, that trials and sufferings do not exclude privileged people. This is a humbling truth that we don’t always like to acknowledge, yet it operates before us regularly in such things as natural disasters. No one can deny that large-scale floods, hurricanes, or...

The twelve apostles included "Andrew" (Matt. 10:2). Andrew is a picture of all believers who humbly minister behind the scenes. It's been said that no one likes playing second fiddle, but that wasn't Andrew's perspective at all. Growing up in the shadow of an aggressive, outspoken brother like Peter would be a challenge for anyone. Even in the biblical record Andrew is known as "Simon Peter's brother" (e.g., John 1:40). Yet when Andrew met Jesus, his first response was to tell Peter, knowing full well that once Peter became a disciple he probably would run the group. But Andrew was...

“‘But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living’” (Job 28:12-13). God’s wisdom is our source for understanding life and all its trials. The supernatural wisdom believers need in order to understand their trials is simply not available from our society. During Job’s ordeal he soon learned the utter inadequacy both of his reason and his friends’ misguided advice. That led him to the profound conclusion that the Lord’s wisdom is the only source for comprehending life and all its...

The twelve apostles included "Andrew" (Matt. 10:2). Leading others to Christ should be a top priority in your life. Andrew was Peter's brother and a native of Bethsaida of Galilee. From the very start we see him leading people to Christ—beginning with his own brother. The gospel of John records his first encounter with Jesus: "John [the Baptist] was standing with two of his disciples (Andrew and John), and he looked upon Jesus as He walked, and said, 'Behold, the Lamb of God!' And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. . . . One of the...

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) – The pastor of a church in southeast Albuquerque says someone broke in, robbed and vandalized the building. It happened at the Sandia Church of the Nazarene near Central and Wyoming between Friday night and early Saturday morning. The church says the burglars broke doors and equipment, even making off with several laptops.

FOLEY, AL- Calvary Baptist Church on West Magnolia Avenue was hit by thieves last week. The burglars broke into the church office, damaged an A/C unit, stole $135 from the safe, took a laptop and destroyed a desktop computer. Pastor John Pratt documented the damage on his smart phone. Not only did the thieves steal from a house of worship, they also vandalized it. The crooks grabbed fire extinguishers off the walls and sprayed the chemicals all over the building, including inside the church nursery.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - A central Arkansas church was targeted yet again by vandals. The vandalism took place at Christ Little Rock on South Hughes Street. The graffiti was spray painted on the church's electronic sign. This isn't the first time the church has been tagged. Pastor Dan Hauser says it happens every few months. In fact, it happened just last week, but he refuses to give up hope.

JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) — A Jackson Church is working to bounce back after two of its vans were vandalized overnight. It happened here at Voice of Calvary Ministries in Jackson on Capitol Street. The church doesn’t know who did it, but we are told it’s going to cost hundreds of dollars to repair the vans. Their vans are used for several of their outreach ministries.When they got in Wednesday morning , they found several windows busted out. Someone even ruptured one of the gas tanks on one of those vans and took a battery. We talked to them today about...

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WKRN) – A small Murfreesboro church congregation found it cleaning up broken glass after vandals busted out a side window. The vandals struck just before daybreak Tuesday but were scared away by the alarm system at the church. Another nearby business has also been the target of vandals, and now police have placed extra patrol in the area. It was a restless night for Path of Life Ministries Pastor Billy Brooks. “[I was] sound asleep,” Brooks said from his home in Tullahoma. “I got a phone call around 3:30 this morning.”

KNOXVILLE (WATE) – Three Ridges Baptist Church in north Knox County is now scarred after someone vandalized their building, Pastor Darryl Wilson can only look at the damage and wonder why? “Heartbreaking, heartbreaking…It hurts us but we’ll keep going,” he said. The person responsible busted out windows and spray-painted a vulgar message on the church doors. “Of course it’s frustrating for a small church like us,” said Pastor Wilson. It’s frustrating because the church has to spend money out of its own pockets to fix the damage, pastor Wilson says the church will eventually re-paint the doors and replace the...

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). God entrusts comfort to us, often through trials, so that we may comfort others. The nation of Ireland is nicknamed the “Emerald Isle” for good reason—it contains some of the greenest countryside of any location on earth. In visiting there I have noticed that abundant...