Always Be Prepared

Dr. Tommy Boland
1 Jul 2018
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prepared

“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15 NIV). As a pastor, I am confronted often with questions about the Christian faith. Some come from the saints of God and some come from skeptics. But regardless of where they come from, the Bible makes it clear that we are to be prepared to answer. The term for this is called “apologetics,” and the technical definition would be this – it consists of reasoned responses to questions […]

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The Difference-Making Dad

Dr. Tommy Boland
1 Jun 2018
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(Scroll down to leave a comment on how dads make a difference.) This month we celebrate Father’s Day, first observed in the United States on June 19, 1910, in Spokane Washington. It was Mrs. John Dodd who in 1909 wanted to honor her father, William Smart, a Civil War veteran who raised six children alone after his wife died in childbirth. To be sure, Mrs. Dodd understood the biblical mandate to “Honor your father” (Exodus 20:12), which appears throughout the Bible and includes mother as well. Perhaps we did not have a father like William Smart who seemed to be […]

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difference-making dad

The Servant of Sickness

Dr. Tommy Boland
1 May 2018
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sickness

“Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word” (Psalm 119:67). Sickness Is sickness always an attack of the spiritual forces of evil in this world? If we are looking for the root cause of sickness then the answer is a resounding YES. Going all the way back to the encounter between Satan and Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when sin entered into humanity through the willful rebellion of Adam and Eve against the revealed will of God, sickness was now a byproduct of the sinful condition. But now that sickness has entered […]

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Redeemed to Live a Risen Life

Dr. Tommy Boland
6 Mar 2018
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Because Easter is on April 1st, I am writing a word of encouragement rooted in the Resurrection for the month of March. It is my prayer that these words will meet you in your deepest place of need as it relates to living the life God has called you to live, by grace, through faith, in our Lord Jesus Christ. “I want to know Christ — yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,” (Philippians 3:10). Three pillars to a risen life For all those who are in Christ, […]

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risen life

New Beginnings

Dr. Tommy Boland
1 Jan 2018
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beginning

I think you would agree, there is something quite special about the gift of new beginnings God gives to us. Of course, each day is a new beginning where God gives to us the opportunity to live life in a way that brings greater glory to Him than we did the day before. God also gives us a variety of new beginnings contained within each new day: A new goal A new vision A new calling A new address A new friendship A new relationship A new opportunity A new possibility A new year We are standing at the threshold […]

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God With Us

Dr. Tommy Boland
6 Dec 2017
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As for the Boland family, this is indeed the most wonderful time of the year. We absolutely love everything about the Christmas season: the sights, the sounds, the smells and most importantly… Our Savior. I would like our meditation this month to lead us back, by faith, to Bethlehem, and in the company of the shepherd’s, gaze upon the one wrapped in swaddling bands and lying in a manger who was to be called Immanuel, God with us. Imannuel, God with us “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, […]

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god with us

Sacrifice of Thanksgiving

Dr. Tommy Boland
1 Nov 2017
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sacrifice of thanksgiving

“Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving… The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me” (Psalm 50:14, 23 ESV). This month we celebrate Thanksgiving, so I would like to give you a word of encouragement that is rooted in the words of the psalmist above, as well as in a number of other places throughout sacred Scripture. Now, at first glance, a “sacrifice of thanksgiving” seems to be incongruent. How could being thankful for receiving some blessing be a sacrifice? It seems like such a natural response. We receive a blessing, and we respond with thanksgiving. But clearly […]

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When a Stone is Better than Bread

Dr. Tommy Boland
1 Oct 2017
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“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?” (Matthew 7:9). In His Sermon on the Mount, the child in Jesus’ example asked his father for bread, which is something that is right, good and necessary. And we would expect a loving father to give what is right, good and necessary to his child. But I have a very important question to ask you right now: “When is getting a stone better than getting bread?” The answer of course is – when it is our Savior who is giving us the stone. Why? Because it […]

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stone

Cosmic Compassion

Dr. Tommy Boland
8 Aug 2017
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cosmic

“Record my misery; list my tears on your scroll – are they not in your record?” (Psalm 56:8). How do you see God? Sadly, far too many of us see Him as some distant deity, a “blind watchmaker,” disengaged from His creation and uninterested in them individually. Yet this verse makes it crystal clear that nothing could be further from the truth. Several of the best Bible translations render the middle section of Psalm 56:8, “Put my tears in your bottle.” Now, how is that for cosmic compassion?! How blessed we are to have a God who is not like […]

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The Sword of Suffering

Dr. Tommy Boland
3 Jul 2017
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“And a sword will pierce your own soul too” (Luke 2:35). These were the prophetic words that Simeon, a righteous man who had been waiting for the promised Messiah, spoke to Mary, the mother of the child Jesus. Simeon’s prophecy was fulfilled when Mary witnessed the awful process of crucifixion carried out in the life of her son, our Lord Jesus Christ. At the deepest level, Simeon’s inspired words are spoken to all the saints of God. When we submit our will to the will of God, as Mary did, we should count on the sword of suffering piercing our […]

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