When a desire is elevated to a demand, an idol is talking.

Challenge: Turn indicatives (statements) into interrogatives (questions). If you leave them as statements (judgments), you will remain stuck where you are in your thinking. Questions manifest greater humility.

“I will defend and defend the belief that the deepest reality of human life that we must impress upon children is NOT that life is hard and death is inevitable and they need to get used to sadness and darkness and make the best of it. The deepest reality is joy. The prize hidden under the scratch-and-win card of life is a beauty so big that no happy ending in a story can even come close to approximating it. War is a horrific stain on the floor of an extravagant ballroom. Tears are temporary; laughter is eternal.

“The matter of the heart is the heart of the matter.”

“We don’t fall into sinful habits, or jump into sinful habits; we slide into them.”

—Pastor William Ultch, Faith Bible Fellowship, Troy Grove, Illinois (quoting George Sweeting in a sermon last week)

By: Jeff S.

April 15th is quickly approaching and you may be scurrying to get those taxes mailed off to Uncle Sam.  Did you know that another deadline is the same day?

• Self-control
• Converts
• Lips
• Good works
• Children

Answer: The Bible associates all of them with fruit.

Mary Kassian, our speaker for the 2013 Women's Ministry Spring Conference, recently wrote:

"It's one thing to know what to do. It's another to actually do it." Or, put another way: "It's one thing to know the shoe fits. It's another to actually wear it." 

All of the following can be found in God’s word, according to Psalm 119. 

Do you want ...

To have more understanding than your teachers? (v. 99)

To understand more than the aged? (v. 100)

To be wiser than your enemies? (v. 98)

To have an answer for those that taunt you? (v. 42)

To not sin against the only one who can damn you for it? (v. 11)

To keep your way pure? (v. 9)

MOMS Theme Verse for 2012-2013: Be doers of the word, looking to Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith. (James 1:22 & Hebrews 12:2)

At a recent elder meeting, Klass Van Zee led devotions after first handing each elder a copy of Stuart Scott’s 32-page booklet, From Pride to Humility: A Biblical Perspective.

We cannot come to God without humility. “Those who think too much of themselves don’t think enough.”

Stuart’s concise volume lists 30 manifestations of pride and 24 manifestations of humility. If you paused to make a list of manifestations of pride in your own life, what would be on your list? Pride doesn’t die once, but must die daily.