Understanding Grace Imagine you have a great emotional reservoir inside you the shape of a heart. And imagine as you grew up, the more you received the stable, caring love from both parents, the more that heart was filled up. If that’s you, then you probably have a reasonable understanding of grace. You’re not trying
The Real Challenges The capture of Wycliffe missionary, Chet Bitterman, in March, 1981, created little media attention in Western countries. He was kept in captivity by a Columbian guerrilla group called M-19 for seven weeks, while his wife, Brenda, and their two daughters waited in Bogota. The guerrilla group demanded Wycliffe Bible translators leave Columbia.
Ministry Pentecostal churches too easily fall into the trap of calling ministry “spiritual” and elevating it if it involves a speaking ministry, and relegating anything else as “natural” and less important, if it doesn’t. Ministry is serving. That’s what the word means. In whatever way I serve another person, I’m ministering to them. That might
Know the Holy Spirit I will ask the Father and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. Can we
Chuck Colson “I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead; then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Every one was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. They would not have endured
Baptism of Fire How do we make our lives count for God? There’s no one line answer, but if the book of Acts is anything to go on, we have to be willing to face a baptism of fire. Paul and Barnabus head off to Cyprus on the first leg of what we now call
The Power of Praise “Restore to me the joy of your salvation And grant me a willing spirit to sustain me Then I will teach transgressors your way And sinners will turn back to you” Psalm 51:12,13 It was midnight. Two Christians who to the outside world must have looked like they had lost everything,
Daily Wisdom The length of our days is seventy years or eighty if we have the strength … Teach us to number our days aright that we may gain a heart of wisdom Psalm 90:10,12 Almost 1600 years back Augustine wrote “You have made us for yourself, and our hearts find no rest until they
A God-Shaped Man Worldwide, the most recognisable Christian face for the past fifty years has been Billy Graham’s. Raised on the family farm in North Carolina, Billy cleared out cow stalls, forked manure, pitched hay and learnt to milk the cow herd. His mother and father were descended from Scottish pioneers of Presbyterian persuasion and
A Special People I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, as you know, O Lord. I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly Psalm 40:9,10 The satisfaction of
