A group text message from a pastor friend came in this week with this arresting phrase… “Gratitude is spiritual warfare.” (1) Reading those words brought a liberating conviction in my “glass-half-empty” heart. As I took a prayer walk armed with the weapon of gratitude, I first...
The Way of Holiness This Sunday at Grace Community Church we will continue our sermon series from Isaiah by considering the two roads that lead to two destinations found in chapters 34 and 35. Read these chapters this weekend and pray for our time together. In Isaiah...
It’s November. That means it’s time for the annual Grace Missions emphasis and offering. For the next two weeks, we will hear a sampling of our mission activity and giving. In November and December, everything that is given to the Grace Missions Fund will go...
This Sunday at Grace Community Church we will hear a message of grievance and grace from Isaiah 28-31. Five “woes” are pronounced concerning the sins of God’s people, with promises of grace and the call to repentance and trust woven throughout. Do you hear the...
“You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” -Isaiah 26:3 This is a welcome verse for people with the normal struggles of following Christ in a broken and busy world where peace eludes us. The problem is...
The Bible shapes our perspective on life and events. This is true of the chapters in Isaiah about God’s judgment of the nations and the world (Isaiah 13-23) and in light of the terrorist attacks on the nation of Israel. The judgments pronounced on the nations...
The feedback I received from last week’s Words of Grace lets me know that I am not alone in asking why I pray. Apparently, that question resonates with some of you. Gratefully, you are still praying. Last week I mentioned three reasons to pray having to do with...
If you have taken prayer seriously and given significant time to pray about the concerns of life and God’s work in your life, then you have likely asked yourself, “Why am I praying?” That question is not theoretical in nature. You are not asking about the...
In Isaiah 6, the prophet recorded his own words twice. First, at the sight of the Lord seated on a throne and the sound of the seraphim calling out, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts”, Isaiah said, “Woe is me! For I am lost.” Then, after...
Built into the well-known vision that Isaiah had of the holiness of God is the lesser-observed contrast between two very different kings. Isaiah 6 begins with the death of King Uzziah as the backdrop for the message that the Lord is the one true and living King...
