GuineaField

The Bible is a precious, God-breathed message to you.   In that sense it is very personal.   Which of the following two examples best illustrates your involvement in the Bible on a daily basis?   John Newton (Author of Amazing Grace) loved and pursued the same woman his entire life.   He waited years till he was able to marry her and lived devotedly to her until her death.   John expressed his love to his wife Polly through love letters.   Polly expressed her love by saving these letters and after both of them died the letters were published in a widely celebrated collection in the 1700s.   Consider another example.   I found one of my friends late one night burning some papers in a bonfire.   “What are you doing?”   I asked.   “It’s over.”   He said, with a wry smile on his face.   And with that he emptied the contents of a little box of love letters into the fire.   This was his way of burning his bridges and getting over a difficult ending to a long relationship.   There w

There are many noble ministry activities for a church to tackle.   Many of these are of a tangible/physical nature.  And many churches are able to do extensive good and profound help in their community by giving to those physical needs.   These ministries may be known for one or another of these good moral activities.   As a compassionate community we (the church) are naturally going to love others and that love will be demonstrated by taking care of people’s physical needs.   However, a problem can come when this becomes the church’s main priority.   Taking care of a city’s homeless, or a communities’ lepers are Christ-like activities; and yet, if they are not means to a greater end then they fall short of the church’s main priority.   Our priority must be the Word of Christ – sharing the truths of the Bible that will transform people to love and worship the one true God.   If we fall short of this then our ministry, no matter how helpful, is not Christian ministry in the truest sen

The Pleasantness of a Religious Life Matthew Henry   This was a wonderful little book that the Lord used in my life recently.   Its theme has been repeated for generations… all the way back to the first followers of Jesus: “So Jesus said to the Twelve, ‘Do you want to go away as well?’   Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life’” (John 6:67-68). It goes back to Moses: “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,   choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:24-25). And it was first experience by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. It has been promoted through the ages by those who have experienced the joy of God.   I’ll summarize the theme in my own words.   A life pursuing the enjoyments of God is a life of satisfaction and fulfillment far beyond a life pursing the enjoyments found i