Intercession and Spiritual Warfare Pastor Keith Hassell Introduction Intercessors are a great gift to the body of Christ. As a pastor I am thankful for every person who feels a special calling to intercede for me and for the church I pastor. I recognize that intercessors have played a key role in what…

Thomas S. Myers THE PRICE OF forgiveness Ephesians 1:7 Ephesians 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace What is redemption? What does it mean? The word "redemption" has been etched in stained glass. Its meaning has been…

“Men loved the darkness instead of light.” What a word. It’s not that men haven’t seen the light. They have. They chose the dark. The proof’s in the pudding: “their deeds were evil.” More than just choosing darkness, men actively hate the light. They hate the light because it ruins their lives. “Everyone…

How do we respond when we've lost the battle against Satan?

Our Christ, who established all proper boundaries, came to us to destroy the boundaries which we have created. We have, and continue, to build boundaries that we ourselves cannot overcome and it has taken the very God of all things to do so. Through our choices, we determine that some humans are worth less than others, creating barriers of racism, classism and hierarchies of value that divide and destroy. By our careless actions, we establish hollow religion which, rather than drawing us to God, actually turns us from true relationship with Him! By our sin, we invited the barrier of death into all mankind.

We all need and long to have someone in our life who will be courageous enough to tell us difficult truth when necessary. We want someone direct but not harsh; straightforward yet not “blasting away”. That balance is hard to find. But when we find it, such people become a treasured part of our lives…

Salvation from the Wrath of God A term for God’s displeasure with human beings and their sinful actions. The word “wrath” is a concept represented by many different words and idioms in the original languages of the Bible, all of which express the notion of justifiable anger for unjust actions. In the…

What is an “Acceptable Sacrifice” to God? A contrite and broken heart as we only have our brokeness to offer!

Recite John 15:12-23 God’s Forgiveness, My Example Introduction – It all starts with God. Specifically, our understanding of forgiveness must always begin with God’s forgiveness of us. You remember last week, we found that Paul knew Philemon well enough to be able to say some pretty good things about…

Two men went to church one Sunday morning to pray. One was a life-long Lutheran. The other was a drug-dealer. As the Lutheran came up to the communion rail he was saying to himself, “I thank God that I come from a good Lutheran family. My grandfather built this church. My father never missed a service.…