From a basic knowledge of church history, we can begin to recognize, understand, and avoid the traps that continue to cause many Christian movements to stumble. This is good and necessary, but we also need to understand the foundations for the coming kingdom which have been laid by our spiritual fathers and mothers so we can see more clearly what we are called to do in our own generation, and to carry this forward in preparing the way for the Lord. This is the building of the highway for our God.

Before we began our study of the works of the flesh and growing in the fruit of the Spirit, we were studying what it means to possess our Promised Land. I want to return to this with a brief reminder of what we covered there so we can begin again where we left off.

From Death to Life

Last week we discussed how persecution and trials are not only to be expected, but are to be embraced as opportunities to enter more fully into the kingdom of God. These are allowed as tests of our faith, and to purify our faith. The fear of God and the fear of man cannot coexist. One or the other will rule our lives. Persecutions, slander, and other attacks help to deliver us from and sift out of our lives the things that would cause us to compromise our most valuable treasure—our devotion to God. Consider again what Paul wrote in Galatians 1:10:

We continue our study this week with Ephesians 6:2-3:

This week we continue the study of our calling with Ephesians 2:8-9:

The Spiritual Lessons of Katrina:
The most common question I have been asked about this tragedy is, “Is this storm judgment from God?” Without question the answer to this is “yes,” but it is very important that we understand why it is.

        A few weeks ago, President Putin of Russia wrote a controversial op-ed to America that was stimulated by the crisis in Syria. In his article, he took exception to the phrase “American exceptionalism.” That is understandable, especially with the problem of how this is translated into other languages.

I am going to begin a series of bulletins on "The Worst That Can Happen," and "The Best That Can Happen," but first I need to address the following important issue.

          Our God is so big and so wonderful we will be marveling at Him for all of eternity, so it is good to get started! Because the first commandment is to love Him above all things, the ultimate issue by which it will be determined if we are successful human beings or not will be by how much we love God. Therefore, this should be the greatest devotion of our lives.

Before proceeding, I would like to address one more little stumbling block that hinders some Christians from sound financial planning. Because the Law of Moses forbade God's people from charging interest to a fellow Israelite, many feel that it is not right to do so today. If this is something you wrestle with, please consider this: The Lord's own teaching in the Parable of the Talents condemns those who do not at least get interest for what they have been entrusted with, and that does not conflict with the Law of Moses.