He is risen! It was one thing that Jesus was crucified for all the word’s sins. It is another that He rose from the dead. By Jesus’ act of offering up His life on Calvary’s cross, our sins can be forgiven. The fact that He rose again after the crucifixion shows us that we too can have new life.
A ruling by a California appeals court that parents “do not have a constitutional right to home-school their children” drew harsh criticism from religious conservatives on Friday, one of whom said the decision makes tens of thousands of parents into criminals – “the equivalent to drug dealers or pick-pockets.”
The Word of God is full of promises and blessings. Its pages contain the plan of salvation and allow us to see God’s grace, His mercy, and His everlasting loving-kindness. It is a book of commandments and instruction. It tells us of what is to come that we may prepare and of what has already been done so we may learn from past mistakes. With all that said, we cannot overlook the indisputable fact that the Word of God is also a book of war. It is a book that is full of blood.
If you have been in a church for any length of time, you have no doubt seen or experienced first hand a crisis. Things like the pastor retiring, interpersonal conflict among members, moral failure of church leaders and even changing the color of the carpet can lead to a crisis. While such crisis situations will come, the real test is how will the church handle them. Is there a plan in place or do most churches just try to cope with them as they occur?
We have all done it – made excuses as to why we might not attend any particular church service – whether we have actually acted on them or not. My pastor recently presented a humorous look at what a church might do in order to provide no excuse to miss church. They’d hold a special service called “No Excuse Sunday” which might look something like this.
