Praying Through the Month of Ramadan
May 16th - June 14th For Christians, Ramadan is an opportunity for concentrated prayer on behalf of our Muslim neighbors. Seek God on behalf of the 1.6 billion Muslims around the world. To help you pray, there are some verses and prayer prompts for each day of Ramadan. Click HERE to begin. Click HERE for another, more detailed prayer option that focuses on a different people/culture each day. Larry
My Father is Shockingly Happy with Me
When you and I, Christians, look to our Heavenly Father, he doesn't look back with eyes that remember our shameful moments. My "history," as far as God is concerned, is Jesus' perfect life. Even as he [God the father] chose us in him [Jesus, his Son] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him... -- Ephesians 1:4 He who knows my heart only sees His Son's perfect heart in mine. We trust God, the one who is capable of this miracle: To the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies
About That Holy War…
As we run into the topic of divine war or “holy war” in the book of Joshua, here are 2 articles that I have found very helpful concerning the morality of God’s actions in waging war against the people of the land of Canaan. This is a topic often raised by skeptics of our faith. Hopefully these resources can help you help your friends with their concerns and questions: R-Rated_ Preaching Holy War _ Preaching Today The Old Testament, "Holy War" and Christian Morality
Paint Your Treasure in Hues of Gold and Purple. (Wear Out That Highlighter.)
In the Survey of God’s Goodness in Joshua 1-5, Pastor Larry Trotter described himself as a treasure hunter: When you open your Bible, look for God. [Among] lots of fascinating, wonderful, delightful things in the Bible — God’s will, Geography, Culture, Language, Poetry, Literature, all kinds of things you can learn about, but I want to suggest right at the center of it all, we should open our Bibles to look for God. I look for insights into who God is, to what he’s like. I’m looking for what the pages of scripture show me is good and beautiful about
No More Mr. Nice God? The Destruction of Jericho
This past Sunday (4/8/18), I (Carson) mentioned that I would post a couple of articles that deal with the difficult moral issues surrounding the Canaanite conquest. First, here's a link to a relatively brief article found in the Apologetics Study Bible by Mark Durie. What Did Jesus Have to Do With Violence Second, if you are more into video-watching instead of article-reading, the Bible project video has a few helpful points regarding the destruction of Jericho. (And an article to boot in case you accidentally find yourself reading!) Judgement or Cruelty And lastly, here's a few thoughts of my own
Passion Week Devotional
If you would like a guide to help you reflect on the events of the last week of Jesus’ life leading up to Easter, here is a helpful free devotional from John Piper that has a brief reading for each day of this extraordinary week: Love To the Uttermost
Forsaken And Cursed For Us…
On Sunday (3/11/18) we explored the significance of Jesus' cry in Matt. 27, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” If you would like to read more about the forsakenness/cursedness of Jesus on our behalf on the cross, this link to a sermon by R.C. Sproul is a powerful and weighty exploration of those themes. You can read it here: Far As the Curse is Found Or you can watch it here: The Curse Motif of the Atonement
Short Scripture Prayers
Over the years I have complied a list of short Scripture Prayers that are useful in my own praying. You can easily write the ones you would like to use onto a 3X5 and carry them with you or you can pull them up on your phone or even commit them to memory! They are good stimulus to praying God’s good and perfect will for our friends and family and for our own souls. Enjoy! Short Prayers for Meditation
Vll: the Last Words of Jesus
This is the title to our new series on Sunday mornings at NW. During the season of Lent (which began this past Wednesday), we will be reflecting together on the last sayings of Jesus while on the cross. They are, as you would imagine, words that reveal to us the very heart of Jesus for us that we are then to share with others. I’ve linked a short devotional on the seven last words of Jesus written by the folks at Breakpoint.org. I hope it will help you ready yourself for worship each Sunday as we consider together…"that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may
The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering
(That all peoples of the earth may know Him) What is Lottie Moon? It’s not a phase of the lunar calendar or a new drink at Starbucks. The question should be: who is Lottie Moon? Lottie Moon is the namesake of the international missions’ offering taken annually at Christmas time in Southern Baptist Churches (SBC) around the world to fund the work of Southern Baptist missionaries. Lottie Moon was a hard-working, deep-loving, young lady who left America in 1873 to do missionary work in China so that all the people might know her Savior, Jesus Christ. Why was the offering
