Ministries (Page 197)

Quieting the Critic June 14, 2018 Read: Nehemiah 4:1–6 | Bible in a Year: Ezra 9–10; Acts 1 Hear us, our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Nehemiah 4:4 I work with a team to put on an annual community event. We spend eleven months plotting many details to ensure the event’s success. We choose the date and venue. We set ticket prices. We select everything from food vendors to sound technicians. As…

Humble Love June 13, 2018 Read: Philippians 2:1–11 | Bible in a Year: Ezra 6–8; John 21 The greatest among you will be your servant. Matthew 23:11 When Benjamin Franklin was a young man he made a list of twelve virtues he desired to grow in over the course of his life. He showed it to a friend, who suggested he add “humility” to it. Franklin liked the idea. He then added some guidelines to help him with each item…

 Called by Name Read: John 20:11–18 | Bible in a Year: Ezra 3–5; John 20 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” John 20:16 Advertisers have concluded that the most attention-grabbing word that viewers react to is their own name. Thus a television channel in the UK has introduced personalized advertisements with their online streaming services. We might enjoy hearing our name on television, but it doesn’t mean much without the…

Advice from My Father June 11, 2018 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5 After being laid off from an editorial job, I prayed, asking for God to help me find a new one. But when weeks went by and nothing came of my attempts at networking and filling out applications, I began to pout. “Don’t You know how important it is that I have a job?” I asked God,…

A Warm Welcome June 10, 2018 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 1 Peter 4:9 “Who will hug everybody?” That was one of the questions our friend Steve asked after he got the news that he had cancer and realized he would be away from our church for a while. Steve is the kind of man who makes everyone feel welcome—with a friendly greeting, a warm handshake, and even a “holy hug” for some—to adapt an application from Romans…

The Perfect Father June 9, 2018 Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me. Psalm 27:10 Standing in the crowded store aisle, I struggled to find the perfect Father’s Day card. Although we had reconciled after years of a strained connection, I had never felt close to my dad. The woman next to me groaned and shoved the card she’d been reading back into the display. “Why can’t they make cards for people who don’t have…