At the church board meetings on the third Thursday of each month, board members take turns sharing the evening devotion. This is one of the high points in the monthly board meetings (There is really not a low point.), and I am blessed to have such a great board. I really look forward to meeting with these men of God each month

2 Timothy 3:16-17

16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Are you a man or woman of God? In our super-spiritual saturated world we would all probably say, “Yeah, I’m a man or woman of God”. But in the Bible the phrase “man of God” meant something very significant.

God doesn’t just call us so that we will avoid hell. He calls us to be men and women of God. Let’s strive together to make that the goal of our lives.

The news has recently been filled with: teary-eyed fallen pastoral perverts, the abuse of children and subsequent corrupt cover-up by the Catholic Church, Episcopal ordination of an openly homosexual bishop who was previously a heterosexual husband and father, and raging debate in mainline Protestant churches over everything from same-sex marriage to ministers in skirts. My hope in studying 1 Timothy is that Paul’s wisdom will help straighten out God’s plan for the Church in our day as it did for the first-century Church.

Recently I asked the congregation some questions and was really awakened by the answers.

1. How many of you can remember a time in a church that God really spoke to you? I don’t just mean you got goose bumps or the hair stood up on your neck but can you remember the last time that you left a church knowing that you had been in the presence of someone greater than yourself?

What is America’s favorite holiday? Many of you will immediately think of Easter, while others think of Christmas. Still others might select New Year’s Eve, but none of these are even close. Thanksgiving? A favorite, but it’s not number one. If you define “favorite” as the day people show the most passion and excitement, many Americans’ favorite holiday is Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Black Friday gets its name because so much merchandise is sold on that day that retailers literally see their profit and loss statements move from being in the red to being solidly in the black.

“Greater love has no one than this; that he lay down his life for his friends.”
John 15:13

Charles Swindoll, in his book Growing Deep in the Christian Life, tells the true story of a man who bought fried chicken dinners for himself and his girlfriend to enjoy on a picnic one afternoon. He was in for a surprise because the person behind the counter mistakenly gave him the wrong paper bag. Earlier, [...]

…(the Lord) has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.” - 2 Timothy 1:9

 
Statistics show that 10 out of 10 people die.  I know that is an obvious statement but do we live like we are going to die?  None of us is exempt and none of us will escape!
None of us can hold back our spirit from departing.
None of us has the power to prevent the day [...]