by Tim Grissom | Feb 28, 2024 | God's Kingdom First, Obedience, Say Yes to God
By our nature (our new nature, that is), believers are citizens of a not-yet world. Our focus and our affections are set “on things above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2 ESV). We live in one world while waiting for the new one to come. How then do we...
by John Avant | Feb 27, 2024 | Presidents Column
“You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9 ESV). “Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor...
by John Avant | Jan 30, 2024 | Presidents Column
“Goodness, unless deeply rooted, diminishes with age” (François Fénelon). I have thought a lot about that quote as we move into the new year. It’s from a rather obscure theologian who lived more than 300 years ago, but it speaks right into my soul today. One of the...
by Tim Grissom | Jan 30, 2024 | Obedience, Say Yes to God
We like the idea of freedom, and we should. Freedom is a good thing. A truly wonderful thing. It is glorious to come out from under bondage, to be released from captivity, to enter a life that has no unjust restraints. In part of the letter he wrote to the believers...
by John Avant | Dec 29, 2023 | Presidents Column
More than twenty years ago, our little Boston terrier died at Christmas time. I grieved so much. And then I got the flu. It was not looking like a very good Christmas. I was lying there in my living room, sick, when Donna said that someone had come by to visit. I was...
by Tim Grissom | Dec 29, 2023 | God's Kingdom First, Say Yes to God
Leave the past in the past. Sounds wise, doesn’t it? But aren’t there some things from the past that are worth carrying into the future? And not just worth carrying, but actually necessary? Certain memories can encourage us when our faith is weak. Lessons we’ve...
by John Avant | Nov 30, 2023 | Presidents Column
“I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11 ESV). Don’t you love that verse? I sure do. But it’s shocking to realize that the one who heard these words from the Lord had...
by Tim Grissom | Nov 30, 2023 | God's Kingdom First, Say Yes to God
Psalm 139 closes with a prayer for God to lead His children “in the everlasting way,” or as one Bible translation reads, “along the path of everlasting life.” The Psalmist’s choice of wording is significant, reminding God’s children that there is a fixed destination...
by John Avant | Oct 30, 2023 | Church Leadership, Disciples, Personal Growth, Presidents Column, Say Yes to God
I sometimes think that my second greatest enemy in the spiritual battles I fight is me. Of course, my greatest enemy is the same attacker we see in Genesis 3 in the first spiritual battle of history. What was his strategy? To persuade Eve and then Adam to pursue...
by Tim Grissom | Sep 29, 2023 | Humility, Say Yes to God, Six Responses to God
James 4:11–12 is one of those Bible passages that doesn’t need much study or explanation to get its meaning: “Don’t criticize each other.” Any questions? James says it in an almost in-your-face kind of way, a straight-for-the-heart admonition in see-through wrapping....
