read one everydayThere has been much talk about the Church and the New Apostolic Church that is on the rise. So I just wanted to share with you some of the distinguishing marks of the New Apostolic Church that is here and steadily revealing itself. So here we go.
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After observing the riots in the Middle East and seeing the anger of Muslims over a cartoon of Muhammed, it prompted me to write this article.
Having seen all of that hate expressed over this cartoon also reminded me that hatred is never the path to true peace and happiness.
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For those that know me, you know that I am a former US Army soldier. I’m very proud of this fact, and it’s one of the reasons that I support both the military personnel in Iraq, as well as the war in Iraq.
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As pastoral staff, most of us have had the opportunity to go and visit someone in the hospital. It can be a pleasant experience as they welcome you with a smile, or they may cry as you offer prayer and comfort. It can also be awkward. For those members in your church, all of these situations can be frightening. Despite the fact that yesterday you were easily conversing as you hit golf balls together, today, he sees you coming and plunges under the covers. Do people really want you to come see them in that scanty gown? Should you bring a card? A gift?
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1 in 3 people in the U.S. have a chronic condition. If it’s not you, it’s someone near you.
Too often, a chronic illness, such as fibromyalgia, or a chronic condition like back pain from a car accident, is invisible. Those who live with chronic illnesses do everything they can to look presentable, get to church, and sit through the service. But as someone with rheumatoid arthritis, I recently grasped onto the pew in front of me to balance my knees that need joint replacements, and nearly laughed as the worship song said, “I will stand in spite of pain.” Surrounded by a church I loved, I still felt lonely and misunderstood.
Read more on 6 Ways to Let Those with Chronically Illness in Your Church Know You Care…
Elizabeth Kubler Ross wrote about the five stages of catastrophic loss in her book,” On Death and Dying”. While she was speaking to the terminally ill patient, most people have found that the stages she defines work as well for almost any kind of grief.
Read more on The Stages of Grief…
I think we, no, I should say I, often forget that grieving is an extremely individual process. No one can really experience grief in the way I do, and no one can experience it in the way you do. When the Lord says in Matthew 5:4, Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted, it seems to me he acknowledges that the comfort will be whatever works for the person and their state of grief.
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We don’t have to be in this world long before we experience pain, failure, disappointment, frustration or a myriad of other means of suffering that cause us to grieve. We’re destined to suffer. God clearly warns us in His written word that we can expect trouble from the day we’re born to the day we die.
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No one could have been more amazed than this devout atheist when I was first in AA and discovered through the exercises discussed in the book Getting to Know God, that there was a God, a good God, a loving God, even a joyful God. As an atheist, as I looked at the
world, I thought God could be any variety of attributes, none of them good. With desperate circumstances so prevalent like poverty, famine, man’s cruelty to man, I could only think that God, if he were, was psychotic or sadistic, certainly not a God, if he were which he wasn’t, that I would be interested in getting to know.
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In God’s plan for every believer is peace, hope, and a good
future (Jeremiah. 29:11). It is His will that we live
abundant and prosperous lives but the enemy will try to
destroy every ounce of peace and hope we have by bringing
doubt into our minds.
Read more on The Power in Applying God’s Word…