GuineaField

One of the most common questions that I have asked of me as a pastor revolves around knowing God's will in life.  "Should I take this job?"  "Should I marry this person?"  "What should I study in College?"  Many of these questions have no aparent moral absolute recorded in Scripture.  So, what do we do?  This booklet highlights several bilbical principles to help us come to a settled confidence of God's will in a particular decision in life.  I trust the lessons and principles will be very helpful to you. You can  view the lessons and read along on through pdf below.  Or if you would like to use the booklet for a personal or group Bible Study, you can order the study here ($3 each, and $2 shipping and handling). God's Desires in Life's Decisions by timrichmondnyc

What a privilege we have in the U.S. to be able to share the Gospel with others and worship our Heavenly Father according to God’s Word.   We are truly blessed.     If you have read much of church history or secular history, you know that the normal experience for God’s people has been one of persecution and limitation.   Even to this day a large portion of our world limits and persecutes those who follow the Bible according to conscience.   We must continue to pray for our brothers and sisters who do not enjoy similar freedoms.   Let us also commit to praying for the Lord to protect our freedom and ask for grace to use our freedoms for His Kingdom as long as we have them.   It is not easy to sense that our door of religious freedom is one that many would love to close.   In many spheres of our culture, they have closed this door nearly shut.   And although we know we can worship and serve the Lord in freedom and under...

“But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works” (Psalm 73:28). Speaking God’s Works is a prominent theme in the Songs of Israel.  I’d like to ask you to glorify our God for doing wonderful works in a tangible way by providing a house for our family.  Front Porch Thankful for believing, praying, women in my life. I’ll be honest, I have not been praying very believingly about a new house until recently.  But my mom has been praying for years, and my wife has been praying for years, and my daughters have been praying for at least a year that the Lord would provide a house for our family. When my mom recounted to me the different amenities she was praying for, I tried to stop her.  “Mom, we are in NYC.  We don’t need to think about purchasing a home.  And especially one like you are asking for.  That is for people who live in suburbia.  God has called us to pa...

I learn so much from my children; patience, endurance, self-control, cartoons, science facts, the list could go on and on.   But there is another stream of lessons that I enjoy even more.   These lessons spring from the mirror of correspondence between my relationship with my children and my relationship with my heavenly Father.   These lessons humble me almost daily. Let me share one simple lesson with you.   Asher is three and everything is a race to him.   “Race you to the door.   Race you to the car.   Race you to the table, ha-ha, I win!”   Asher is teaching both me and our neighbors in our apartment building patience by his love of racing.   You see, he is not yet a good loser or a good winner.   So even if it is a small race, there may be a noisy melt-down if he loses to me or to one of his sisters.   Our sixth floor hallway is often echoing with the screams of a losing racer because he is emotionally involved in ever...

We cannot place ourselves in the sadness of Jesus’ intimate followers - His mother, Peter, James, John, and the band of 70 or so close associates who were eagerly anticipating His political kingship over Israel.   We live in a different time and place.   Many of you are Gentiles who can identify very little with anticipating a Messianic deliverer.   And none of us have experienced a monarchy.   But these 70 crushed individuals had such hopes – very high hopes!   These people gave their livelihood to pursue a monarchy, a just monarchy with Jesus as King.   They truly believed that Jesus would overthrow the Roman treachery and re-institute a thriving Israel in their lifetime.   We know that they were still anticipating this until the end because of one of the first questions the disciples asked Jesus after His resurrection. “So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, ‘Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom ...

Nothing would be good about Good Friday if it were not for the glorious victory on Sunday.   Because of Easter, Friday’s cross is actually good.   For you and me Friday’s cross is the greatest event of history.   Because it was on that cross that the punishment for our sin was paid.   Reading the events of the Friday of Passion Week brings to light a great diversity of characters.   Picture each one in your mind.   There is Pilate the politician who tries to please both groups, the crucifiers and the crucified, vainly washing his hands.   There is Pilate’s wife who warns her husband not to give Jesus up.   There is Judas who shows his true colors and dies a violent death.   There is Simon who helps bear the cross.   There are the Pharisees who are careful not to break their ceremonial laws while murdering the innocent Messiah.   There is Peter, warming his hands, who denies and cries.   There are the women who watch and ...