This is a very important issue and seems to be a problem for churches across the nation. Both Yates and Hammett make some great points and there are some overlap in how to correct the issue of declining membership. Both authors spoke to something equivalent to new members classes, and with the church covenant or confession. Which would be great because it engages the believers and gives them the foundation on what the church believes, teaches and practices. This foundation is fundamental for a faithful
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1 Thessalonians 5:2-3 “For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.” 1 Enoch 62:3-4 “On the day of judgment, all the kings, governors, high officials, and the landlords will see and recognize him -- how he sits on his throne of glory, and righteousness is judged before him, and that no nonsensical talk shall
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“Be it unto me as you have said.” And, with those words Christmas came to the world. Let’s not underestimate what it cost Mary to say that! Soon there would be no way for Mary to hide the fact that she was with child. What would people think? What would they say? What sort of whispering would go on behind her back? What sort of scornful looks would she have to endure? How would Joseph respond to her when he finds out that she is with child, especially since in that time when she would face death
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the violence against Christians is more than genocide and should be correctly described as persecution. During a question-and-answer session on Saturday at the Villa Nazareth University College in Rome, Pope Francis answered seven questions from the students. Some of the topics the pontiff discussed included persecution, economy, and being witnesses for God, the Catholic News Agency reports. “I want to say clearly, I do not like it when one speaks of a genocide of Christians, for instance in the
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Tim Beal’s opening statement of the convocation argued that this is “the end of the word as we know it.” A revolution he claims to be as big as the Gutenberg press. Beal’s three main arguments were a diagnose of what has happened to the word, the fact that the word cannot be saved and there are ways to rediscover scripture. The biblical word is constantly changing due to society; however, education can prepare people to know the difference between the real word and tainted word. God never changes
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Paul tells the story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar. In this story, “Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the freeborn woman” (Gal. 4:22); the slave woman was Hagar and the freeborn was Sarah. God proposed that Abraham would have a child with Sarah, his wife. Instead, he committed an action that went against God’s wishes of having a child with Sarah. Abraham, had a child with Hagar; with this action, Abraham wanted to make God’s promise through his own works and by this it
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“Many are daily coming from the east, west, north, and south…” (Edwards 44). In 1741, Jonathan Edwards was an abrupt pastor to the Puritans. The mission of the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was to make the unconverted men into believers of Christ. In the sermon, Edwards tried to reach his congregation through the words he spoke, the way he presented his sermon, and through the emotions the Puritans felt during the sermon. Throughout Edwards’ sermon, he establishes the use of the rhetorical
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Wednesday. This man claims to be a Christian, and may be heard saying things like “God loves me” and “I feel blessed by God today.” He knows the pastor of his church very well, and he even invited the pastor and his family over for dinner on occasion. This man also loves to get drunk in his favorite bar. He watches pornography when his wife is not home. He only prays when he is in trouble, and the same conditions apply to reading his Bible. Is this man really a Christian? A man like this is not hard to
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Paul tells the Colossians chapter 3: 5-9, we learn how to slay the earthly and to forget about earthly desires that contaminate our Spirit. Jewish and Christians are concerned about sexual immorality, impurity, lust, greed, and idolatry. Due to these sinful we God’s wrath is coming. Paul understands that people used to live a more sinful life, but it is time to put all of those lustful desires away since our bodies will be renewed. This is for Jews and Gentiles, whether if the person is circumcised
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kingdom of God here on earth. This book seeks to merge, what is the ultimate Christian hope and how said hope effects and energizes our present reality. Wright purports that the common held beliefs that we westerners have about life after death come from a mashing of different belief systems. The idea that Jesus will come back and rapture our souls up onto a cloud and transport us to heaven is not a historical Christian understanding and lacks hope for our present reality. Wright completely rejects
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