Word For Truth- A Good Place To Learn The Word Of God

"Why Church? Because We're Real People" Luke 16:1-13  Hypocrisy! It's the single biggest reason people say they don't go to church. According to a recent Barna Research survey, among people with no religious affiliation in the 16 to 29 year-old bracket, 85% say the biggest reason they don't go to church is because Christians are hypocritical. My response to reading that survey is that our young people are right -- Christians are hypocritical every time there is a contradiction between following Christ and how we live our daily life. What we profess during worship doesn't always match what we do the rest of the week. My challenge to our young people would be this: find me one group of people on this planet who always live up to their highest values and who never say one thing and do another. Part of being human is that we are all hypocritical to some degree which is why we begin each worship service with confession and forgiveness. Jesus knew we were ...

A Life Worthy of the Calling  Ephesians 4:1-16 I had the choice of manna in the Old testament lesson, the assurance that God provides all that we truly need from day to day... to Jesus' words in the Gospel.. "I am the bread of Life, those who come to me will never hunger and those who believe in me, will never thirst." and I said to myself.. this says it all no matter what birthday we celebrate this year. But then when I looked at the second lesson, it wouldn't leave me alone. The message was just too obvious.. St. Paul writing from prison to the church at Ephesus begs them and us to lead a life worthy of the calling to which each of us were called in our baptisms. And then Paul proceeds to tell us what that Christ like life looks like. Phrase by phrase this powerful text gets us to examine our own lives. Are these qualities that might describe you? Humility, Gentleness, patience, making allowance for other’s faults out of love, peacemaker, one who works for un...

 “Be Careful How You Live”  Ephesians 5:15-20 In St. Paul’s letters, he likes to use a negative example, followed by a positive, Christ inspired condition or action. The first negative/positive example is unwise/wise in verse 15. Verse 15 – “Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” Paul knows the Ephesians are living in a cultural melting pot along the Aegean coast in which they’ll need to be careful and wise. There are roman worshipers of Caesar, pagan philosophers, and other devils and temptations to be weary of. Here in the U.S.A., 2,000 years later, not much has changed. We are a cultural melting pot in which we need to be careful and wise. We have a modern day Nazi skinhead murdering worshipers in their temple and a troubled college student walking into a theater shooting everyone in sight. We have much to be weary of. National unity reaches its peaks in times of crisis, such as W.W. II, the...

                         “I Will Lead You Home” 1. Psalm 23:4 "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." Summer in ancient Palestine. A woolly bunch of bobbing heads follows the shepherd out of the gate. The morning sun has scarcely crested the horizon, and he is already leading his flock. Like every other day, he guides them through the gate and out into the fields. But unlike most days, the shepherd will not return home tonight. He will not rest on his bed and the sheep will not sleep in their fenced-in pasture. This is the day the shepherd takes the sheep to the high country. Today he leads his flock to the mountains. He has no other choice. Springtime grazing has left the pasture bare, so he must seek new fields. With no companion other than his sheep and no desire other than their welfare, he leads them to the d...

HOW A GOOD CONSCIENCE BRINGS BLESSINGS A good conscience can guide us on life’s journey, bringing joy and inner peace What has happened to the consciences of many today? The apostle Peter wrote: “Maintain a good conscience.” ( 1 Peter 3:16 )  A conscience that is clean in the    sight of Jehovah God is a tremendous blessing. It is not like the consciences of so many today. Paul described those “whose conscience is seared as with a branding iron.” ( 1 Timothy 4:2 ) A branding iron sears the flesh, leaving it scarred and insensitive. Many have a conscience that is, in effect, dead​—so scarred and insensitive that it no longer sends out warnings, protests, or pangs of shame or guilt over wrongdoing. “Good riddance,” many today seem to say to such feelings as guilt.  (a) Feelings of guilt or shame may have what value? (b) What can we do if our conscience continues to punish us for past sins for which we have already repented?   ...

How Can You Maintain a Good Conscience?   “Maintain a good conscience.”​— 1 PETER 3:16 . THE CONSCIENCE IS AND HOW IT WORKS What is the literal meaning of the Greek word for “conscience,” and what unique capacity in humans does it describe? In the Bible, the Greek word for “conscience” literally means “co-knowledge, or knowledge with oneself.” Unlike all other earthly creatures, we possess a God-given capacity to know ourselves. We can, in a sense, stand back and look at ourselves and make moral judgments. Acting as an internal witness bearer, or judge, our conscience can examine our actions, our attitudes, and our choices. It may guide us toward a good decision or warn us against a bad one. Afterward, it may comfort us for choosing well or punish us with sharp pangs for choosing poorly.   (a) How do we know that Adam and Eve each had a conscience, and what resulted because they ignored God’s law? (b) What examples show the conscience at work in fa...

“This Is What the Love of God Means” NOTE: please afford to read the following bible verses to have better understanding for Christ sake “This is what the love of God means that we observe his commandments; and yet his commandments are not burdensome.”​— 1 JOHN 5:3 .   What motivates you to love Jehovah God? DO YOU love God? If you have come into a dedicated relationship with Jehovah God, your answer surely is an emphatic yes​—and rightly so! It is only natural for us to love Jehovah. Our love for God is really in response to his love for us. The Bible puts it this way: “We love, because  he [Jehovah] first loved us .”​— 1 John 4:19 . Jehovah has taken the initiative to express his love for us. He provides us with a beautiful earthly home. He cares for our physical and material needs. ( Matthew 5:43-48 ) More important, he looks after our spiritual needs. He gives us his Word, the Bible. In addition, he invites us to pray to him with the assurance that he...

Does God Understand You? WHAT CREATION TEACHES US Reflect on one of the closest relationships humans can have​—that of identical twins. They share an especially intimate bond. Some twins even “know what it’s like to say something to someone who understands exactly what they mean without explanation,” says Nancy Segal, director of the Twin Studies Center and a twin herself. One woman described the relationship between her and her identical twin this way: “We just know everything about each other.” What accounts for this unique understanding? Studies suggest that while environment and parenting are factors, the especially similar genetic makeup of identical twins seems to play a critical role. CONSIDER:  The Creator of all this awesome genetic material surely has a unique understanding of the makeup of every one of us. Indeed, the psalmist David declared: “You kept me screened off in my mother’s womb. My bones were not hidden from you when I was made in secret. . ....

Does God Notice You? WHAT CREATION TEACHES US The first 60 minutes of a baby ’ s life outside the womb is a crucial period of adjustment. Why? Because mothers who bond with their newborn babies during this critical time dramatically improve the growth and development of their children. * What prompts a mother to care tenderly for her newborn baby? Professor Jeannette Crenshaw explains in The Journal of Perinatal Education that an elevated level of the hormone oxytocin “ stimulates mothering feelings after birth as a mother touches, gazes at, and breastfeeds her newborn. ” Another hormone released at this time “ helps a mother respond to her baby ” and reinforces her interaction with her baby. Why is that significant? The close bond between mother and baby was designed by our loving Creator, Jehovah God. * King David credited God with bringing him “ out of the womb ” and making him feel secure in his mother ’ s embrace. He prayed: “ I have been entrusted to your care ...

WHEN TRAGEDIES STRIKE, DO YOU EVER WONDER, ‘ WHERE WAS GOD? ’ OR IN YOUR OWN LIFE, HAS A TRAUMATIC EVENT MADE YOU QUESTION WHETHER GOD CARES ABOUT YOU PERSONALLY? Perhaps you feel as did Sheila, who lives in the United States. Raised in a deeply religious family, she says: “ From childhood on, I was drawn to God because he is our Maker. Yet, I never felt close to him. I thought he was watching me, but only from a distance. I didn ’ t feel that God hated me, but neither did I believe that he cared for me. ” Why did Sheila have doubts? She explains: “ My family faced one tragedy after another, and it seemed that God wasn ’ t helping us at all. ” Like Sheila, you may feel sure that Almighty God exists. Yet, you may wonder whether he really cares about you. The righteous man Job, who had faith in the power and wisdom of the Creator, had similar doubts. (Job 2:3; 9:4) After Job was pummeled by one tragedy after another ​— with no relief in sight —​ he asked God: “ Why do you hi...