A Call to Steadfastness

KERRY ANDERSON | GUEST Being in the same church for twenty years truly illuminates the saying “being in it for the long haul.” As with all churches, ours has seen difficult times, sweet times, sad times, challenging times, divided times, and unified times. By the grace of God, we’re currently in a season of growth within a warm, happy church culture where body life is thriving. I’ve witnessed God’s hard but refining fire many times over the years and feel grateful for the blessings and answered prayers we’re experiencing now. Time to sit back and relax! Take our feet off the ministry gas pedal and coast for a while. I mean, what is there to do when peace and unity abound but to soak it all in and take a break, right? It sounds tempting, but we know better. What encouragement do you give to a healthy church that seems to be pleasantly rolling along? It turns out, it's the same encouragement that every church needs no matter what their situation is. It’s the same encouragement our church needed in every season through which the Lord brought us. A look at three churches in Scripture shows us the universal call to this command. A Call to Steadfastness To the messy church at Corinth, Paul writes, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58). This church was in chaos. So, after reminding them of the hope of the resurrection, Paul calls them to persevere and be steadfast in following Christ because their work will bring eternal results...

A Call to Steadfastness2024-07-04T15:32:17+00:00

When the Church Today Isn’t the Church You Remember

MEGAN HILL | GUEST The old men of Ezra’s day may have had aging bodies, but their minds were sharp and their hearts still sought the Lord. They could remember Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 6:1–8:11) like they had walked through it yesterday. Walls lined with cedar, floors covered in cypress, everything overlayed in gold. Carvings of cherubim and gourds and lions and palm trees and flowers. And, most precious of all, the ark of the Lord that had gone with God’s people since their exodus from Egypt. Everyone who remembered it agreed it was a magnificent temple, filled with the Lord’s presence. But that temple was gone—destroyed by the Babylonians decades ago—and in its place was the bare foundation of a new temple. The old men could already tell this temple wouldn’t compare with the one they remembered from childhood. God’s people no longer had Solomon’s wealth or his workforce. They labored under threats from their enemies. And, worst of all, they no longer had the ark. As the old men looked at the fresh foundation, they could only cry: “But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundations of this house being laid.” (Ezra 3:12) When the church you have isn’t the same as the church you remember, it hurts...

When the Church Today Isn’t the Church You Remember2024-05-01T15:47:12+00:00
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