Forgive As You Are forgiven?

Dr. Tommy Boland
13 Sep 2016
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forgive

  Every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer, I am always struck by these words: “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12, KJV). Really? Do you really want God to forgive you in the same way you forgive others? I didn’t think so; neither do I! But what I do desire is to be able, by God’s amazing grace, to live out this truth in every area of my life. And this should be the desire of every Christian, because Christianity is all about forgiveness. You see, we are commanded to receive the vertical forgiveness that […]

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The Battle Within

Dr. Tommy Boland
2 Aug 2016
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(Scroll down to leave a comment on your battle within.) One of Satan’s most destructive schemes is to convince the believer that all is well, and there is nothing to be concerned with. “You’re doing so much better than that person over there,” the serpent slyly hisses. “You don’t need to worry about making any particular changes in your own life.” But this is not for you. The apostle Paul was keenly aware of his own sin, and he knew well that acknowledging that he was the chief of sinners — a title that you and I can also honestly […]

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Glow Stick Saints

Dr. Tommy Boland
29 Jun 2016
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glow stick

Throughout the summer months there seems to be one party after another for our youngest children to go to. The other day, our youngest child, the one we call “The Tank” returned from one of those parties with a huge bag full of typical party gifts, which included one of those glow sticks. As he was waving it around, I thought, “Now there’s a great idea for a word of encouragement!” Let’s see if I was right . . . If you are not familiar with a glow stick, it is a self-contained, short-term light source that, once activated, cannot […]

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Shortest Verse . . .  Deepest Meaning!

Dr. Tommy Boland
7 Jun 2016
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As I’ve trained student athletes over the years, I have enjoyed asking them for their favorite memory verse. Invariably, the majority of them would be quick to recite from memory the shortest verse in all of sacred Scripture, John 11:35, “Jesus wept.” Why is it the Shortest Verse? I find it quite remarkable that our Lord Jesus Christ wept. However, it’s really not extraordinary that He did weep — remember that He was not only fully God, but He was also fully man — but it is the context in which He wept that is so remarkably striking as to […]

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verse

Faithful to Forget

Dr. Tommy Boland
3 May 2016
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forget

Perhaps the title this month’s article caught your attention as a possible “typo.” You may have thought I meant to write “Faithful to Forgive.” Not so fast! To be sure, our God is absolutely, 100 percent faithful to forgive all of our sins. “If we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” (1 John 1:9, NLT). Forget and Forgive Now, inasmuch as our God is faithful to forgive, He has also absolutely, 100 percent faithful to forget all of our sins too. “…I will never […]

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Why Perfection Uses Imperfection!

Dr. Tommy Boland
5 Apr 2016
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Have you ever wondered why God the Father, who is perfect in every way, would use imperfect people to accomplish His purposes in this world? I have (perhaps because of the many glaring imperfections I see in myself), and the answer God gave me was pretty simple: that’s all He has available to Him. We read this truth throughout the pages of sacred Scripture after Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden. The apostle Paul puts a sharp point on this truth in these words: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans […]

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perfect

Just As He Said

Dr. Tommy Boland
1 Mar 2016
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just as he said

(Scroll down to leave a comment on everything that Jesus has said that came to pass. ) We celebrate Easter at the end of this month, the day a dead man named Jesus got up and walked out of the grave. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was crucified, dead and buried, to pay the penalty for the sins of all those who would put their trust in Him, by grace through faith. And on that first Easter morning, the ground began to shake, the stone was rolled away and the King of kings and the Lord of lords walked […]

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The Dash!

Dr. Tommy Boland
2 Feb 2016
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When you read the title of this month’s message, what came to mind? The word dash can define many different things, from a splash (dash) of water, to a small amount of an added ingredient for a recipe, to a footrace usually shorter than a quarter-mile. However, I have a word of wonderful encouragement contained in the word dash that comes under a totally different heading. A dash of… Picture a tombstone and you will see two dates separated by a hyphen (dash) in the middle. The first date on the left is the date of birth. The second date […]

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dash

On Your Mark…Get Set…GROW!

Dr. Tommy Boland
5 Jan 2016
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grow

(Scroll down to leave a comment on how you grow in Christ.) You stand at the threshold of yet another brand New Year. Have you considered what you would like it to look like by the time you come to the end of it, if God is pleased to give to you 365 more days of life? Have you spent any time considering what God would have you do in 2016 with all He has given you to do it with? To be sure, last year has run its course and a brand new year is calling you forward. So, […]

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Oh Come Let Us Adore Him

Dr. Tommy Boland
1 Dec 2015
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(Scroll down to leave a comment on how you adore Baby Jesus) Truly it is the most wonderful time of the year when we fix our focus on celebrating Christmas and the coming of our Savior as a baby born in a manger. The season leading up to Christmas Day is called Advent. The Latin word adventus means “coming” or “visit,” and that is exactly what our Lord Jesus Christ did. He came into this world on a voluntary visit to conquer both sin and death so that we might have eternal life. This baby was born to die. Now […]

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adore