Church Life
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A Short Post about a Short Time
When I was a child, I thought that there was a great deal of time between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. I’m not sure why I thought that, but it took me a while to figure out that the actual time is only one week. (You may be reading these words a little past the midway point in that week.) As I think back on my misconception about that amount of time, I wonder if all of us are, in some ways, guilty of “mis-measuring” time. I’m wondering if that is true with regard to something much more important than the amount of time between December 25th and January 1st. According…
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What Verse Are You On?
If I understand correctly, this will be the final post written by one of the “Legacy Ladies” for 2019. With that in mind, I want to share a brief thought for you to consider as you finish your 2019. A month or two ago, we sang the hymn “None of Self and All of Thee.” Later that morning in Bible class the discussion led to where my brain had already gone: if I am honest with myself, what verse of that song best represents where I am spiritually? I would love to claim verse 4 which aligns with the title of the song. I don’t think I’m stuck at verse…
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Danger in Plain Sight
A couple in Australia recently got a Christmas surprise that they probably do not want to get again. They came home and noticed that some birds on their outdoor balcony were acting very strangely. In fact, the birds were acting so bizarre that one of the people decided to get some footage of the birds. As the video was being shot, they figured out why the birds were acting so weird. The other person was near the Christmas tree and saw something that was not exactly supposed to be there. In among the lights and ornaments, there was a 10-foot python! Amazingly, they left the winstrol australia snake alone and…
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When Was Jesus Actually Born?
No one knows for certain the exact year and date of Jesus’ birth. That’s right, it’s true – even the greatest scholars can only speculate using everything we know about available historical accounts and the stars in the heavens. I can tell you after a lengthy study from several sources that I personally think that I am less certain about any particular date. But I invite you as a reader of this article to investigate on your own what scholars and historians have surmised about the date of the birth of Christ. Dionysius Exiguus was a 6th-century monk who devised the A.D. dating system. A.D. does not mean “after death”…
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Are You a Christian Carnivore?
I remember hearing a phrase a few years ago that I’d never heard before. Maybe the expression is not new to you, but it was to me. A man described some people as being Christian carnivores. My first reaction to that phrase was not very positive. Usually, when I hear the word “carnivore,” my mental image is that of a bloody scene in which some wild animal quickly tears another animal limb from limb and devours it. While that word can define predators and scavengers that eat primarily or exclusively meat, it can also be used to refer to “meat-eaters” which may have better “table manners” than my mental image allows for. If all…
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And Then He Was Gone
It was on a Monday afternoon when we received word that one of our hard-working deacons had been in a terrible car crash and was gone. He was a young man, a godly man, a family man, a generous man, a compassionate man, and this list could go on forever. He was a husband and a father, but above all, he was a Christian man. He was the deacon in charge of benevolence at our congregation, and he took his job seriously. He tried to help as many people as he could and often, out of his own pocket, he would give above and beyond what the church was able to…
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When Worship and the World Collide
It happens constantly. In our hyper-busy world, there are so many things pressing for our time and attention. It used to be that worship times were pretty much free from other activities, such as school events or civic meetings. That is, simply put, no longer the case. So, what are we to do when worship and the world’s schedule collide? I can’t answer that for you, but I can tell you what I did as a kid and what we have decided as a family. Worship wins. When I was in high school, I was in the band. For a small-town band member, I was a fairly good trombone player.…
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Is Your Congregation United?
It is God who has called every Christian into fellowship through the blood of His Son, Jesus (1 Cor. 1:9). When we obey the gospel, having been immersed into the Lord’s death, it is God who puts us in His universal church (Acts 2:47; Rom. 6:3-4). Once we have received the grace of God through our obedience we then have a responsibility to serve in a local congregation of the Lord’s kingdom (Phil. 1:1). God organized individual churches according to His divine purpose for the faithfulness of every Christian and the work of the great commission. So, assuming you are a part of a local group of believers – the…
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An Important Question
The most important question that any person can ask himself or herself can actually be worded in a number of ways. Among those ways are: Am I truly a Christian? Am I saved? Am I certain that I will spend eternity in heaven? Absolutely nothing is more important than for each individual to be able to give a positive response to life’s most important question(s). However, some events in my life have caused me to wonder if there is another question that, while not the most important question, sure has become important to me. Maybe it will give you some “food for thought” as well. The question has nothing to do…
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Don’t Be Ashamed of That Name
There are certain names that are infamous. We often tell young ladies that they need to be glad their parents did not name them Jezebel, for example. Other names might just be difficult to carry at a certain time. For example, during the Civil War, there was a fairly high-ranking Union soldier who had just such a name. He led at least a few charges in battles in the southwestern portion of Missouri for the Northern army and was also a corps commander later in the war under William Tecumseh Sherman during the “march to the sea.” But his name probably caused him more than a little grief during that…
