Needed Today: A Ministry of Encouragement
Be honest: when was the last time you said something or gave something or wrote something or did something with the single motive of encouraging someone else?
Be honest: when was the last time you said something or gave something or wrote something or did something with the single motive of encouraging someone else?
It’s impossible to measure the worth of mutual encouragement. Whether spoken or written, a few encouraging words can make an enormous difference in the outcome of a single event or, in fact, someone’s entire life.
How would you define hope? In what way would your definition apply to a local church? What if hope were missing from a congregation? Would anybody notice? We’ll think about these and other things as we allow Peter’s words to guide us into the truth about hope. These passages of Scripture suggest several ingredients that must be present if hope is to remain a vital part of a church’s life.
When we’ve been wronged, it’s tough to see things from the other person’s perspective. But when we do that, it’s grace in action. Grace lived out in our everyday lives revolutionizes our relationships.
To truly learn from Abraham’s life, we must think what he thought, hear what he heard, feel what he felt, go where he went, and most of all, learn what he learned. Among the many benefits of studying the life of a man of God is the opportunity to discover truths about the God of that man.
The apostles certainly had their share of adventure! After receiving the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room on the day of Pentecost, they embarked on the journey of a lifetime. Empowered and emboldened by the Spirit, they preached the Gospel and performed extraordinary miracles, touching others’ lives as they went. Let’s take a look at how they effectively ministered to others so we can discover some positive principles to use in our own lives.
Many Christians have good intentions about reading the Bible, but struggle to understand what it actually says. Chuck Swindoll explains how to observe and interpret God’s Word.
Many of us are currently enduring a crisis. Yes, crisis changes the course of our lives. But what we often forget is that the changes can open doors to a life better than what would have been if the crisis had not happened.
We’ve probably all been in situations—maybe on a plane or at a convention—when the topic of religion came up and we had to face the inevitable dialogue with a nonbeliever. We’ve usually ended up feeling awkward and uncomfortable, and we've walked away wondering, What could I have said or done not only to win a hearing but to keep a hearing? Acts 8 has some answers for the apprehensive evangelist.
Evangelism and discipleship were never designed to be ministries limited to “the pros.” Many of us grow up believing that serving God is for somebody else. Let’s take some time to examine the truth.