Opinion

Do The Sins of Our Parents Affect Us?

Justin Young
18 May 2011
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 “….For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments,” Exodus 20:5-6 (NKJV – emphasis mine). It is often said that people are a product of their environment.  While I definitely don’t believe that anyone can be freed from personal responsibility by blaming their upbringing, I certainly do believe that the environment in which one is raised does have a significant influence on their behavior.  Obese […]

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The Impotence of Personal Power

Dr. Tommy Boland
11 May 2011
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personal

There was a season in my life when I was immersed in the field of personal development. I was a serious student of some of the most popular and sought after self-help teachers in the world. I studied the stuff; I taught it; I believed it! I had amassed a sizeable library of audio and print resources, not to mention a plethora of motivational posters, paper weights and desk-top pictures. (I probably still have a few coffee cups left over from those days!) Then Jesus showed up and taught me that I was trusting in a faulty power source. Colossians […]

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The Search For God

Marisa Zeppieri Caruana
4 May 2011
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Amazingly, they’ve figured out all of the mysteries of the universe on their own! The fact that we can’t accurately predict the weather on most days is apparently irrelevant. They trust their wisdom and understanding above God. There are messages about these types of people all throughout the Bible. 1 Corinthians 1:19 says, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.” Proverbs 8:13 tells us that God hates arrogance and pride. Some philosophy’s and movements today have people believing that the only person they need to rely on and worry about is “themselves”. […]

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Dealing with a Bully

Dr. John Hawkins
27 Apr 2011
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When I think of bullies my mind flashes back to the 7th grade. I was walking home from school with my cousin and her friend who were 9th graders. In front of us was another 7th grader, the size of a 9th grader. He had obviously hit puberty quicker than me. What I noticed was that he was picking on a much smaller child in elementary school; he kept tripping him. I don’t know why, perhaps it was some innate sense of justice, a desire to impress my cousin and her friend, or the feeling that it was the manly […]

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Heaven is for Real: Just Maybe the Real Thing

Marisa Zeppieri Caruana
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I remember picking up Heaven is for Real at the bookstore and being a bit skeptical. Haven’t we all heard a story or two of people dying for a short period of time and sharing their experience of Heaven…or Hell. I questioned how accurate a young child could recall an event like this, if it did actually happen. Doubts aside, I started to read the book the following day. Written in a simple, yet compelling manner, I couldn’t put it down and finished it in one sitting! After reading the book I am completely convinced that four year old Colton […]

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Looking for Mr. or Mrs. Right?

Cory Nickols
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Do you want to get married? Are you looking for that one special person you can spend the rest of your life with? Sure, most of us are. It can be the most rewarding relationship filled with love, joy and an adventure to fulfill each others’ dreams and aspirations. Unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of Americans and people across the globe are sure they have made the right decision when tying the knot, but find out months or years later the painful consequences of their choice – a relationship ending in divorce. While there is no formula for finding the love […]

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Saying

Allen Baumgarten
8 Apr 2011
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It is no overstatement to say that Jesus is the greatest example of the revelation of God’s grace, character and plans for us. Never did two feet ever grace the shores of the Sea of Galilee like those that later carried a wooden cross through Jerusalem to procure our salvation. During His Life, Jesus faced and conquered the very temptations that you and I face every day. And, by saying “no” to those temptations, Jesus demonstrated for us the opportunity to live a holy life through the power of the Holy Spirit. In Luke 4, we read of a rather […]

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There’s More to Life than Increasing Its Speed!

Dr. Tommy Boland
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speed

“There’s more to life,” Mahatma Gandhi once said, “than increasing its speed.”  That one statement has done a lot to help keep my priorities straight. There was a time when I found my identity in the pace of my performance.  I figured if a fast pace was good…ramming speed was better.  It was better for one thing and that was driving me to continue doubting, denying and dodging God’s love for me while I was doubling my efforts.    When I am challenged my default mode is to speed up.  And in my frantic pace, my grumbling and complaining was no […]

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Do You Have The Right Perspective?

Cory Nickols
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In life, we can go through circumstances and feel like we are seeing clearly, but in actuality we are incorrect in our assessment of the situation. The Bible says, “For as he thinks in his heart so is he,” (Proverbs 23:7 Amplified). This means that we can believe something to be true, even if it is not true and it can become a reality to us. This happened to the Israelites when God asked them to possess the land of Canaan. God asked Moses to send 12 spies in to survey the land and bring back samples of the land’s […]

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Motivating Your Child to Try

Bob Barnes
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More times than I can count I have heard a frustrated parent say, “I know my child can do better, but he just doesn’t seem to try!” Parents want to know the answer to the same question: How do you motivate a child to do their best?  There are a few questions parents need to answer before they work on motivating the child.  As a parent, what is my motivation for motivating my child?  Do I want my child to do his best for me (the parent’s self-esteem) or for his self-esteem?  Am I interested in seeing great effort or […]

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