I know a man who left his children furniture he'd made; and a saintly grandmother whose children treasure her quilts. You're sure to leave behind a legacy. The question is how lasting will it be, and how beneficial? For Christians, I can't think of a greater legacy than to have helped others come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
The point of Bible study is not for you to collect pearls of wisdom to savor and enjoy, but to "preach the word, in season and out." It's not to make you a saint, but to equip you to "do the work of an evangelist and so fulfill your ministry."
Timothy is what we hope for our children today – that from the earliest days of childhood, they'll know themselves to be children of God. Horace Bushnell, a 19th Century Congregational minister said it best: "A child should grow up as a Christian and never know himself as otherwise."
Our conscience—our intuition—is only as trustworthy as its training. People do terrible things without a bad conscience, because they have not learned the difference between right and wrong—good and evil. An untrained conscience is not a trustworthy monitor. An untrained intuition is not a trustworthy guide.
If we know the Bible, it has great power to help us when we need help the most. It can help us through every crisis--if we know it. If we don't know it, it is like gold buried under the beach. We can't spend gold until we find it and dig it up. We can't use the Bible to help us through difficult times until we open its pages and learn what it says.
What spiritual disciplines do you observe? Do you read your Bible daily? Do you take time to pray? Are you intentional about doing good deeds for others? You have to be disciplined if you expect to lead a life of faith. You have to be on your toes ready to respond when a crisis occurs, to know what to do and what to say when all hell breaks loose.
Jessica, Daniel, Haydn and Joel, continue in your baptism. Continue to live and serve as one his children. Be strengthened with the knowledge that God loves you and will always walk with you. Be strong through the grace that is ours in union with Christ Jesus.
Sermon Philemon 15-17 When People Separate Check out these helpful resources Biblical Commentary Sermons Children's Sermons Hymn Lists Philemon 15-17 When People Separate Pastor Vince Gerhardy There is a story about a congregation that was plagued with conflict. The ides could never agree on anything. It so happened that the congregation needed to call [...]
Here's the sermon in a nutshell: We live in a world filled with all manner of class distinctions; yet, there are to be no class distinctions in the Church of Jesus Christ. Our point of reference is a runaway slave named Onesimus.
Edwin Bliss, a sociologist, writes, "We live in a culture that worships comfort.... Unfortunately it has created an impression that the goal of life can be to attain a total absence of struggle or strain. But it's the difficult challenges in life that are ultimately the making of us.... It's the hard journeys that are always the ones that matter."