Encouragement From God's Word "Today, we are not called into a soft and gentle ministry - we are called to transformative ministry in the 'real world" - and today, in the "real world," there is no whole house of prayer that truly welcomes all people. We are called into a violent time, a time of upheaval - much of it stemming from societal norms that don't allow us to grasp that God has created us all so very different...to be beautiful and fabulous and challenging - to one another, and to God. There is work for us to do.Taken from the CTS Commencement 2000 Charge, by the Rev. W. Dow Edgerton, Ph.D
Devotional Study For Growth Romans 8:26-30Key Thoughts from this passage: 1. God's plan is Beneficial 2. God is Interactive within that plan 3. The plan of God is Inclusive 4. God's plan has a pattern for Harmony Key thoughts for meditation: 1. Why do we find it difficult to accept and believe that "all things work together"? 2. What is something that felt or seemed bad, which happened to you, and God turned around and used for his purposes? "But as for you, you thought evil against me; but God meant it for good." Genesis 50:20
Message From the Pastor 1 Peter 1:17 challenges us to live our lives in the reverence of an awesome and holy God who will some day judge our works on thie earth. Peter uses the word "fear" to express the motivation we should possess in "conduct" of our daily lives. The word, however should not conjure dread in the Christian mind. For, we should know His love, experientially. "Fear" is the same word which prefaced statements throughout the canon with great promise. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." [Proverbs 1:7] Our reverence, the "fear" which we should contain due to our awe of God (His being, His mercy and grace, and His sacrifice), should provoke us to lead lives which would cause Him to be pleased when we stand before Him. This is the hope of Peter, and a challenge to myself. Let this verse be your meditation and your goal
Inspirational Study for The Week I Peter 1:1,2What an awesome beginning to a letter for the displaced. And, according to the opening sentences of 1 Peter, all those who are chosen should consider themselves out of place. Hebrews 11:13-16 and 40 echo the thoughts of these two verses. For, in Christ, through our faith, we too are heirs to that a better place which the writer of Hebrews reminds us is a promise of God for those who believe. Those who reside as aliens. Although Peter was comforting those believers who had lost homes, families, jobs, and land in order to follow Christ, the writer of Hebrews emphasized the fact that all of those who have been adopted into God's family through faith in His son are living on this earth with a temporary visa! We all are far away from home. Our home is a better place. No longer living in physical separation from our Father, God. Jesus told the disciples, I go to prepare a place for you (John 14:2). It is that place we should call home. In faith, we are true citizens of Heaven. Our residence in America, or our birth certificate making us United States citizens, would only serve to remind us that we are ambassadors of Christ, with opportunity to reach those who share the common bond of humanity. All else is a distraction. How can we forget that one day we will be going home?