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I’ve come to think that it is impossible to have faith without doubt. What could I possibly mean by that? The Bible is clear that we are to have faith and NOT doubt. When doubts arise, and if we are human beings then they will, verses pop into our minds, such as James 1:6, “But…

“The Touch of the Master’s Hand,” otherwise known as The Old Violin, is a poem written by Myra Brooks Welch in 1921.  It tells of an old, battered violin that is about to be sold as the last item at an auction for almost nothing. But just as it’s going, going, gone, a violinist steps…

The standards of our Savior have always been high…impossible, even. Forgive those who persecute you?? Love your enemies?? We all know we can only do so by the Lord’s grace. The problem is when we don’t recognize that we are NOT forgiving, that we are NOT loving our enemies. We usually have no problem seeing…

As we embark on the Via study the Mosaic staff has developed from now until Easter, keep in mind that just as a tree is known by the fruit it produces, similarly people are also known.  Galatians 5:22-23 says, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…” These…

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World  is a book that was published several years ago documenting how much more advanced we are than we think. When you look at the trajectory in several categories, across ALL continents, material conditions have vastly improved for everyone. And this includes the blimp on the radar that was…

As we begin 2024, let’s focus on starting a new year with how God enables us to embrace the Spiritual fruits listed in Galatians 5:22-23.  Isaiah 43:18-19 “The Lord says, `Forget about what has happened before.  Do not think about the past.  Instead, look at the new things I’m going to do.’    Following is an acrostic…

Our recent series has focused on the myriad of impossible ways that Jesus fulfilled Scripture, culminating in Pastor Lauren’s sermon Sunday with the image of 5,000 warehouses full of 2 million ping pong balls to capture the probability of fulfilling a prophecy. That’s amazing. It’s miraculous. However, this pales in comparison to the spiritual fulfillment…

Part of Pastor Mark’s sermon this past Sunday focused on the hope of God’s servants, as found in the last chapter of Revelation 22.  As a side note, and to clarify the difference between wishing and hoping – wishing grows out of our earthly desires; hope grows out of our faith.  Hope is oriented toward…

The Bible is chock-full of stories of God making much of those society does not. Many “heroes” in the Bible had humble beginnings, such as David or Gideon, and their society did not make much of them. But God did. And when He did, amazing things happened. Now let’s turn our attention to the directives…

December is a time when we focus on giving and receiving gifts.  Sometimes to the point that we allow the commercialization of Christmas to distort what should be a spiritual celebration into a negative experience with lots of stress. While showing our love to others through giving is important, it is secondary to the real…