Tag: indianola
-
Faith is Self Evident
James, the brother of our Lord, has some hard words for those who do not live out their “faith”. He calls it dead. He asks if such faith can save anyone. He declares that such faith is useless. These are hard words. It gets even harder when he says that a person is justified by…
-
At Calvary – Episode 132 – Why Is Hell Okay?
In Paradise Lost, Milton puts these words in the mouth of Satan, ““Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven.” However, the Satan in Paradise Lost is as mistaken as some people are. No one rules in Hell but God. Hell is the absolute rule of God absent His love, mercy and grace. Those who…
-
Valley Walking
Mountains and valleys. We seem, as spiritual beings, to desire the mountain top experience with God. In Acts chapter 10, Peter has quite a mountain top experience with God. His vision of 3 sheets of animals shows him that all people can receive the gospel. This vision profoundly clarifies Peter’s understanding of the gospel message. …
-
At Calvary – Episode 131 – God’s Choices and My Choices
If God is in charge, do our choices matter? There are many people who answer that question by making God smaller. They reduce the sovereignty of God to either God is in charge of everything but man’s free will OR God is sovereign over what He knows, but the future is in flux. I think…
-
Love First
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. – 1 John 4:10 Think about that. This is love. It isn’t that we loved God and so He loved us. He loved us first! Of all the differences between…
-
At Calvary – Episode 130 – Spiritual Gifts 101
The Bible tells us that we have spiritual gifts. They are part of what makes the church what it is. Each believer is empowered by the Holy Spirit for the building up of our fellow believers and doing the work of ministry together. Just one question… how do I know my spiritual gift? Let’s think…
-
Trusting Peace
At this time of year we hear a lot of talk about peace. We have sung Silent Night. We have thought of the baby in the manger and the stillness of Christmas morning. Yet, even in these scenes there is the reminder that all is not still. The animals would have made noise. The visit…
-
At Calvary – Episode 129 – Where We Came From – The Glory of Grace
Our fathers in the faith unapologetically reminded their people where they came from. They did not do it for guilt’s sake. They weren’t trying to make those Christians they loved feel guilty or simply relive the past. No, they did it for glory’s sake. Our past isn’t primarily about us. Like our present and our…
-
God Behind the Scenes
I was thinking last week about the dark things that we sometimes miss seeing when we talk about the first Christmas. We overlook that Joseph was about to abandon Mary. We tend to not talk about the babies that were killed by Harod. We gloss over Simeon’s blessing in the temple that includes declaring that…
-
The Struggles of Faith
But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. Luke 2:19 Sometimes we forget how much of a struggle Christmas was for the first people who experienced it. I think of the struggle of Mary and Joseph as they made their way to Bethlehem. I think of the struggles of everyone who was…
Pastor John D Jakes 