Active Faith

Portraits of Grace: Allison

What do you say to a person who truly believes he or she is unlovable? How do you provide comfort when one’s suffering is like nothing you’ve ever experienced? Life can be so hard. I, too, struggle. There are days when my story, the stories of people I know and those I don’t know wedge the tiniest cracks in my faith. But if I step away and view them through different eyes, I feel hopeful. It’s when I can see even the saddest experiences and stories through the eyes of God and his grace that my wobbly knees of faith […]

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The New Capitalism: Health Care Sharing Ministries

Americans are increasingly looking for ways to realign their lives with their faith. According to a recent Pew Research Center study, 72 percent of Americans believe that the influence of religion on life in the United States is declining, and they feel this is an unfortunate direction for the country. One area in which Americans are demonstrating this interest is the way they choose to cover their family’s and employees’ health care costs. The Alliance for Health Care Sharing Ministries reports that its members, Samaritan Ministries and Medi-Share, currently share more than $180 million per year among their 240,000 participants. […]

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Young Professionals Develop Servant Leaders

Young Professionals (YP) began over dinner in August 2012 when eight friends stepped out on faith to begin a movement in South Florida. They set out to create a community of young professionals, focused on servant-leadership, who serve their employers, colleagues and community with a TEAM mentality, humility, excellence, mentorship and vision. Headed by Cam Rogers, an associate at Rogers, Morris & Ziegler, LLP and co-led by Jonathan Osborne, business litigation attorney with Gunster, the group centers on three objectives: to connect, develop and serve.   Developing relationships To young professionals, relationships are everything, so YP hosts monthly social events […]

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Celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles

For 35 years some 5,000-8,000 Christians have travelled from over 100 nations to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem. The biblical holiday, which lasts for seven days beginning on the evening of October 8, commemorates God’s supernatural provision for the Israelites during their wilderness wanderings and celebrates God’s provision. Why do Christians come to celebrate this Jewish feast? It was started by an international group of Christians living in Jerusalem who met together regularly to pray. They were in Jerusalem for academics, as journalists, representing churches, and as individuals with a personal desire or call to do so. One […]

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Building a Life You’ll Enjoy

Why do a large number of divorces occur after 25-30 years of marriage? Why are so many people bored and depressed with their life? Why do people turn to thrill seeking activities like substance abuse, affairs, dangerous hobbies or spending money they don’t have? One common denominator among all these people is they are not happy. Ask people what they want out of life, and a large percentage of the answers would be somewhere along the lines of “I just want to be happy?”  If you were given a magic lamp and three wishes, what would you wish for? What […]

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A Running Redeemer

When you are having a moment of pause in your all-to-busy schedule and you are reflecting on your Redeemer, what do you see? At Christmas, which is just around the corner, we see our new born King wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. At Easter we see our King crucified and resurrected from the dead because the grave could not hold Him. Now, have you ever, in your eye of faith, pictured a “Running Redeemer”? Well, the Scriptures paint just such a picture, and I pray that it will be a word of great comfort for you this […]

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Appreciate Your Pastor This Month

Scripture exhorts us to regard pastors and elders who rule well as worthy of double honor, especially those communicating God’s word every week. “The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching” (1 Timothy 5:17 NIV). The pastor doesn’t just give the message every week; he often is the first to visit if a congregation member is in the hospital. He calls congregants who have been absent to see if everything is fine. He has a vital role not just in preaching and teaching God’s word […]

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The Successful Christian Life

How do you live a successful Christian life? What does that even mean? One of the most common metaphors for the Christian life is running a race. This metaphor is an important reminder that true Christianity is not an easy stroll free of any difficulties; it’s a hard race filled with many obstacles. This metaphor is also a useful tool in identifying what success looks like by asking two simple questions: What hinders you in the race? And what helps you in the race? What hinders you in the race? Isolation — One of the things that can hinder Christians […]

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Goldilocks Planets Myth: BUSTED

For well over 2,000 years, since before the Apostle Paul wrote the letter to the Romans, mankind has been trying to find ways to deny the divine creation of the world and to worship the creation rather than the Creator. One manifestation of this presupposition is the research done by scientists seeking to show that the Earth and the intelligent life therein are not unique in the universe and are, therefore, a product of natural forces and random chance. On December 5, 2011, Science Daily reported that a team of researchers, including Carnegie’s Alan Boss, had discovered what could be […]

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Taking Israel Out of the Bible

New Christians struggling to study their Bible are often taught to read the scriptures as though they were written personally to them, even reciting the scriptures using one’s own name in place of the verse’s subject. While it is important to apply scripture to one’s own life, it is equally important to not ignore the original context of the scripture and the original recipient of that particular promise. For example, a special verse that brings comfort to a person who may be experiencing difficulty is Isaiah 49:16 “See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.” This […]

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