April 2014 Blog Posts (60)

What Is Resurrection Sunday?

April 8, 2007 – Resurrection Sunday

Some interesting stats: (Pulled these from somewhere and would credit them if I could remember where I got it).

• In 2000, Americans spent nearly $1.9 billion on Easter candy.
• Ninety million chocolate Easter bunnies are produced each year.
• Adults prefer milk chocolate (65%), to dark chocolate (27%).
• Each Easter season, Americans buy more than 700 million Marshmallow…

From Gethsemane to the Grave

April 6, 2007 – Good Friday

(No “In A Minute” today)

      We will look at several things recorded in Scripture that Jesus knew as He drew near the cross starting at Gethsemane. In each of these items, there is a parallel to our lives. In each, there is a lesson to learn. I want to make one disclaimer before we begin. Our lives parallel the life of Jesus, but we are not Jesus, nor are we the Savior.

      Jesus knew…

God Loves You and He Proves It!

By Rev. Leonard R. Traina

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

What a wonderful verse. It is a verse flowing with the love of God for man and at the same time a verse that should cause us to pause and be humbled. We see three things in this verse that apply to us. We see God’s love, Jesus’ sacrifice, and our condition before…

New Life in Christ

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. (Colossians 3:12-14 NIV)

We find powerful words of encouragement in these verses. God makes…

Learning to Forgive Yourself – Part II

April 27, 2007

I believe that one of the hardest things for Christians to do is learn to forgive themselves. We have been taught the laws and precepts of God most of our lives. The expectation from many churches and people is a life without flaw. This expectation weighs upon us and causes us to experience a guilt that we were not meant to experience. The guilt I am referring to is different from the conviction of the Holy Spirit…

Learning to Forgive Yourself – Part I

April 25, 2007

We will start a two part series today on “Learning to Forgive Yourself.” Today we will look at God’s forgiveness and our assurance of salvation. Friday we will look at the steps to overcoming guilt and experiencing true forgiveness.

God’s forgiveness and our assurance of salvation:

Our text comes from the story Jesus told known as “The Prodigal Son” found in Luke 15. The…

What Are Areas of Faith?

March 8, 2007

We have examined the issue of eternal security and the degrees of faith. Today we will look at the areas of faith. I use the following term “multifaceted faith” when referring to these areas. Multifaceted faith simply means that we have degrees of faith in many different areas of our life.

This is true of our trusting in worldly things to function. This trust is a level of expectation. When I turn on…

Measurable degrees of faith

March 7, 2007

Today we will look at the measurable degrees of faith and what effect they have in relation to man and the power of God working, if any, in a situation. Before we get to the degrees I want to address two topics that impact the degrees of faith. 1) The origin of faith and, 2) How faith is expanded.

The Origin of Faith:

Faith is a gift from God. We do not wake up one day and set our…

Where Did My Faith Go?

March 6, 2007

I want to address the strength of our faith over the next three articles. Faith is not a one time receiving of Jesus and then we are good to go. Faith is measurable. Faith is either growing or shrinking. It is never stagnate. If you are like me there have been, and may be now, times when you feel as if your faith has failed you. You feel as if somehow you have lost your faith or are so weak that the next trouble which may be as weak…

Thank you for the invite and welcome I received. I have been absent from my computer a lot as I was watching the State Funeral for a very popular Federal Finance minister who passed away after only three weeks of retiring. I look forward to sharing here shortly.

My name is John, son of Zebedee and I am the youngest of my master’s followers. It had been another gruelling day in the heat. People, as usual had come from far and near to hear our master teach about God. There were those who came begging for healing, came with petitions but mostly to hear him teach such wondrous words of hope. Then there was that strange incident while we were in the home of Simon, whom Jesus had healed from a skin disease. As we were…

Sometime ago my minister challenged me to write reflections on HEBREWS which I am currently reading. Below are the first three chapters.

Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2014 10:24:33 +0000

There is something about the day that is filled with expectation—Palm Sunday.  I am getting ready for church myself this morning, reading John’s account of that day so long ago¹, wondering if children will wave palms in some part of the worship service.  Take a look at Matthew’s account:…