“He said to them: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth’”
Author: Gary Combs
Raison d’être
“For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). “To be or not to be” (Shakespeare, Hamlet)? What is our purpose? Why do we exist? Or as the French would ask, “What is our raison d’être?” (Our “reason of being, reason for existence, purpose).
Finding family
“… You belong to God’s family” (Ephesians 2:19 NCV). “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life” (Matthew 19:29). When we first learned that the company I worked for was transferring
Is your hope alive?
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3-5 NIV). “I hope so.” I said. I often respond that way when I wish something would happen,
After the storm
“Without warning, a furious storm came up” (Matthew 8:24). We’ve been living in Wilson, North Carolina since 1987. Since then, we’ve seen our fair share of storms. But last Saturday’s F2 tornado was a new experience. Moving from the hills of Virginia, we weren’t accustomed to the annual reality of “hurricane season,” but after living here for
Two weeks to remember
“They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” (John 12:13)! This coming Sunday we begin our remembrance of Passion Week with what Christians call Palm Sunday. So called because the crowds present on that day 2,000 years ago cut palm
Staying on when God opens doors
“I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door for effective work has opened to me” (1 Corinthians 16:8-9). We have been praying for over 19 years that God would open a door for us to reach the city of Wilson for Christ. Through the years our church has met in homes, schools,
Why do “bridge” events?
“Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew…To those not having the law I became like one not having the law …To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become
Don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone
“The women said to Naomi: ‘Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer’” (Ruth 4:14). Have you ever noticed that you really don’t appreciate something until it’s gone? We have this terrible tendency to take things for granted. We start off taking our parents for granted. “I must
Down to the threshing floor
“So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do” (Ruth 3:6). “His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Luke 3:17). The threshing floor was