First John 1:7 says that “if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.” And James 5:16 tells us to “confess our sins to one another, that we may be healed.” One of the ways we follow Jesus together is by finding a trustworthy brother or sister and talking to them about the specific ways we’re sinning and struggling. James says this brings healing into our lives. John says it creates fellowship. Relationships full of the light of truth open [...]

“Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:24-25   In this article, I will make four observations from this text specifically related to the ministry of encouragement in a local church: First, the writer of Hebrews contrasts “not neglecting to meet together” with “encouraging one another.” We know this because he uses the conjunction “but” [...]

God’s will for your life is in the Bible, but not in the way you may expect. One of the ways we discover God’s will for our lives is by learning the principles of God’s word.  For example, the Bible doesn’t tell us who we should marry, but it does tell us a lot about marriage and purity and what kind of person we should marry.  The Bible doesn’t tell us where we should work, but it does teach us about the nature of work, about laziness, about submission [...]

Abraham Lincoln is probably the best known and most loved president in the history of the United States of America. His rise to prominence, however, was totally unpredictable. He was a nobody from nowhere. He was born in Kentucky to poor, subsistence farming, Reformed Baptist parents who moved to southern Indiana where he spent most of his childhood working on his father’s farm instead of going to school. His mother died when he was nine and his father was verbally and physically abusive. His sister died in childbirth when [...]

On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress passed a resolution that declared that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states.” Two days later, on July 4, 1776, the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. We honor this day with barbeque and fireworks because it marked the beginning of our new nation. The Declaration of Independence, however, did not lay out the specifics about how we would be governed. The Articles of Confederation were supposed to do that. They were drafted in 1777 [...]