Awakened!

Dr. Mike Murphy The words he wrote must have troubled him. He saw a nation that was turning to lawlessness, a nation of people only concerned with their own selfish interest. Since the War of Independence, the nation found itself in a moral decline. The roaring waves of the First Great Awakening had now turned to nothing more than ripples. He watched as our churches were becoming empty. Church membership in this nation had fallen to just five to ten percent, and many of our churches were facing the horror of having to permanently close their doors. The Methodist were …

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Press On

Press On Philippians 3:12 “Not that I have already attained or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.” _____________________________________________________________ How encouraging that the great Apostle Paul would confess his great need for growing deeper in his pursuit of God. His admission brings me great hope and tells me much about our own Christian journeys. After he had experienced so many miraculous encounters in his life, from meeting Jesus on the Damascus Road to declaring the Gospel to the Emperor of Rome, Paul never …

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Then Face to Face

Reflections Then Face to Face For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. (I Cor. 13:12) The glass through which we NOW, “see darkly,” is natural man. Not necessarily sinful man, but natural man. Even though Christ dwells in the believer, and this equips us with the capacity to grow to see Jesus Christ, in this age, and in this body, we will never be completely free from our natural man. To one degree or another, we will see …

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May the strength of the Everlasting God carry you through whatever you’re facing — today and always

May the strength of the Everlasting God carry you through whatever you’re facing — today and always. Isaiah 40:27-31 (KJV) 27 Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? 28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, […]

Accepting God’s Plan

Accepting God’s Plan Job 24:1–25 David, in Psalm 139, makes the appropriate comment, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high, I cannot attain to it” (v. 6). If David lived today, he would write, “This blows my mind.” The vastness of God’s inscrutability has a way of doing that to us—and so it should. If nothing else, the study of Job reveals that we don’t fully understand God’s ways. We cannot explain the inexplicable. We cannot fathom the unfathomable. So let’s not try to unscrew the inscrutable. If only the men who considered themselves Job’s friends …

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Why Christ?

Why Christ? Dr. Mike Murphy “All religions are the same” “Any religion can get you to heaven” “Every religion worships the same god” We have all heard these statements over and over. We hear many discard and diminish religion, telling us that religion has no place in society. We hear many claim that religion is just a way to control men, to manipulate the world in a direction that religion wants it to move. We hear many tell us that this world has moved beyond religion, no longer in need of religion’s gods. And we hear many tell us that …

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You Can Trust God

You Can Trust God Romans 4:16-21 16 For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace; to the end that the promise may be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all 17 (as it is written, A father of many nations have I made thee) before him whom he believed, even God, who giveth life to the dead, and calleth the things that are not, as though they were. 18 …

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“Broken people . . .

“Broken people . . . We are all broken people in need of a Healer. Cracked pieces of clay, vessels with holes that leak, desperately trying to stop the hemorrhaging. Creating our own man-made dams to divert a flood that could sweep us away at any moment. Very few see–see our lives as it truly is. If only they knew–divorce, affairs, depression, grief, loneliness, addiction, abuse, hopelessness, sickness, financial struggles. We trade ourselves in for plastic smiles and performances that fool even ourselves. With well meaning hearts we somehow strive to measure up, clean up and create an image of …

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GET UP AND GROW NOW

ISAIAH 58:8-9a _____________________________________________________ “Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’” GET UP AND GROW NOW October 22, 2018 The Christian life is a progressive experience, as God continually prods and presses in our lives in order to draw us closer, cause growth and deepen our walk with Him. The Lord desires to sanctify and set the …

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Rapture/Rapio/Harpazo

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” – 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 In the passage above, Paul spells out the chronological sequence of the Rapture in seven stages. First, “the Lord Himself will descend from heaven.” At …

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The Simple Gospel

The Simple Gospel What is the gospel? — what is the true good news of God? The good news is wrapped up in a PERSON – a Person, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The good news is that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to do for human beings what human beings could not do for themselves. And what was that? God sent Christ to deliver us all from sin through His death on the Cross, and He sent Christ to usher in a new creation through His resurrection. He sent Christ to die and be raised so that …

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Worthy is the Lamb

Worthy is the Lamb Pete Garcia Ever notice how much the world hates the Jesus Christ of the Bible? Mention His name outside the confines of a Bible preaching church, and you will definitely get a reaction. (You might even get sued or arrested!) Truly, He is the most polarizing person to have ever lived here on planet Earth. There simply is no neutral ground in regards to your position of Him. One either accepts that He is God come in the flesh, or He is not. Now, people don’t mind so much the Jesus they conjure up for themselves, …

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42 – God’s Wrath & Divine Forgiveness

Jesus now speaks in heaven, by appearing in the presence of God for his people, and by presenting his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice. He speaks by His Spirit, in and to the hearts of His saints; and by his ministers in the Gospel. It is clear that He should not be refused. He is though when His Gospel is made light of, and neglected; or when men make excuses for when they will not hear it. When they do, most contradict, and blaspheme, and despise it. The simple truth is that God offers salvation to this world. Without accepting this …

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