Church Family: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his wife Fanny Elizabeth had two boys and four girls during the mid 1800s. They had another daughter that died as an infant. Fanny tragically died after her dress caught on fire while taking a nap. Henry awakened and tried to extinguish the flames with a rug and then his own body, but Fanny had already suffered severe burns. She died the next morning (...  Read More

Church Family:Do you ever get through the Christmas season and think, "well I missed the point of Christmas again"? Do you miss what makes the birth of Jesus so miraculous? Do you pause to consider the depths of Christmas being the celebration of God becoming man so that we may be conformed to the image of God in Christ (Rom. 8:29; 2 Cor. 3:18)? Christmas is the celebration of the spectacular, won...  Read More

Church Family: The train wreck of Nehemiah 13 is so very discouraging. When you read the last chapter in Nehemiah you wish that the LORD had led Nehemiah to end his letter at Nehemiah 12. In his last chapter, Nehemiah is throwing furniture (13:8), threatening physical violence upon merchants (13:22), speaking curses on people, beating them up and pulling their hair out (13:25). Buy why? Why is the...  Read More

Church Family:Have you ever heard the phrase, "complainers are going to complain?" Sometimes we have a tendency to find fault or express dissatisfaction regardless of any circumstance. Have you ever found yourself in the complaining rut? Complaining is a heart issue that results when we live our lives as if we are the center of this universe. We then focus on how we feel and what we want. Then whe...  Read More

Church Family: When you look at your children, grandchildren or the younger generation in our church and community do you ever think, "Oh LORD, they are up against so much in this culture, only by Your Hand, LORD, will they daily pursue You with holy, loving, delight-filled lives." Well, of course that is true, but we are the ones God uses do His work to encourage generational faithfulness to the ...  Read More

Church Family: So what does observing the Sabbath mean for God’s people today? Are Christians still responsible to observe the Sabbath today? If so, how? Sabbath simply means "cease from work." What kind of work is God referring to?The Original Sabbath:After creating the world and everything in it, including man and woman, God “rested” from His work. He set aside the seventh day to be a day in whi...  Read More

Church Family: God has promised to give you a flourishing, thriving life by loving and obeying His Law (Ps. 1). God’s Law was given to us a loving guide to lead us away from destruction and into maximum blessing from God. God did not give His Law to make us miserable prisoners of gloom. He gave us His Law so that we would live thriving lives in this sinful world.In Nehemiah 10, God’s people had be...  Read More

Church Family: God's power is yours through prayer. God's encouragement is yours through prayer. God's wisdom is yours through prayer. God's purpose is yours through prayer. God's joy is yours through prayer. God's forgiveness is yours through prayer. God's reconciliation is yours through prayer. The list goes on and on. What is the greatest thing that you can do for your spouse, children, neighbo...  Read More

Church Family: You get bad news and life changes quickly. Where do you find your strength to be steadfast in your faith? The greatest strength on earth that you will find in difficult times is the joy of the LORD. God is eternally, essentially, and entirely joyful and He wants His joy to be your strength in every circumstance you find yourself. “The joy of the LORD is your strength” (Neh. 8:10). T...  Read More

Church Family: Each day brings hardships of its own. Each day’s struggles make it difficult to remember the primary reason that God created you. You were created to respond to every hardship in a way that shows off the glory of God. Or you could also say, you were created to respond to all of life as worship unto God. Now you may be saying, blah blah blah Steve, you don't understand what I am goin...  Read More

Church family,What creates anxiety within you?What keeps you up at night?What are the things in your life that you worry about?Do you think God cares about what you care about? That's the ultimate question.And the answer is found in Psalm 127. This Psalm answers these questions and many more for the believer:It answers the question, why does my building seem to be in vain?It answers the question, ...  Read More

Church Family: Do you fear man more than you fear God? You may be asking, what is the fear of man? The fear of man is the tendency to adjust your life around the opinions and approval of others. The fear of man is being controlled by what others think about you. So, there are really two dimensions of the fear of man. You fear the rejection of others but you also require their approval.In Nehemiah ...  Read More

Church Family: If a brother or sister in Christ called you one day and asked to come over to your house to rebuke you, would you be excited about the meeting? That would definitely be an awkward way of asking for a meeting and would most likely produce some anxiety and loss of sleep but a rebuke really is a grace of God. God is very clear that a loving rebuke of a brother and sister in the family ...  Read More

Church Family: As a child of God, a follower of Jesus Christ you will sooner or later be opposed and criticized. You may be opposed by family, friends, co-workers or those even within your own church. Have you ever considered what truths may be intertwined in the words of those who oppose you?Nehemiah found himself in an escalation of opposition in Nehemiah 4, as he steadfastly continued to pour h...  Read More

Church Family:True or False: If I have no opposition in my life, I must be doing the will of God.True or False: If I am facing solid opposition in my life, I should quit because what I am doing must not be God’s will.Well, hopefully you answered False to both statements. Both statements are terribly wrong and unbiblical as we can clearly see in the life of Nehemiah.Wherever and whenever you see th...  Read More

Church Family: Where do you want to be used by God, at the Tower of Ovens or down at the Dung Gate? The Tower of Ovens is most likely along the baker’s street in Jerusalem (Jer. 27:21) where much baking of Israel’s delicacies took place. Or you could serve at the Dung Gate where all the city’s stinky, nasty refuse was carried out and dumped. Or maybe you would like the Fish Gate, or the Sheep Gate...  Read More

Church Family: Anger - Fear - Confusion - Defeat - Withdrawal. This can be the general pattern to our reaction to any opposition that comes against us as a Christian. This reaction of defeat is the exact opposite of what God calls us to.After four months of preparation and prayer, Nehemiah was sent from the comforts of Susa and the Kings palace to the rubble of Jerusalem. Once sent, it took Nehemi...  Read More

Church Family: “The average man doesn’t want to be free. He wants to be safe” (H.L. Mencken, 1926). Is that true in your life? Does a desire for a perceived safety get in the way of you being free to obey God’s call upon you to obey Him even with risk? What is risk? Risk is defined as “an action that exposes you to the possibility of loss or injury.”Nehemiah finds himself at the intersection of re...  Read More

Church Family: Do you find yourself completely immersed in anxiety and worry that makes it impossible to do anything productive? You may be at work trying to focus on tasks or at home trying to spend time with your family, but you find yourself unable to shake the thoughts in your heart and mind that consume you with worry and anxiety. Anxiety and worry can be life dominating and consuming. Many t...  Read More

Church Family: I have taken a quick trip to Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania to lead a wedding ceremony for a couple in our church, Aaron and Geneva Woods. God willing, I will return Saturday night for worship with you Sunday. Brett Rayl, our missionary in Japan, will be with us Sunday bringing us a message from God's Word. I have asked him to send us a peek into Sunday's sermon. Brett writes:Friends o...  Read More

Church Family: How many times do you confess your sins and yet continue to do the same sin over and over? You read or hear God’s Word and are repulsed by your sin; your friend brings a sin to your attention and are convicted; your spouse asks you to stop speaking that way and you are condemned; the Holy Spirit once again produces within you a heart-wrenching conviction because you continue to do t...  Read More

Church Family: Do you hate your sin? Do you justify sin? Do you excuse your sin? Do you see other’s sin before your own? Do you psychologize your sin to the point of your sin losing its sinfulness? Do you feel the sting of your sin? Do you feel the weight of your sin? Do you weep before God over your sin?Ezra gives us a perfect understanding of how we are to look at our sinfulness as he responds t...  Read More

Church Family: Is trusting God opposed to living by facts? In other words, should we always be practical Christians who are responsible and cautious, not prone to take risks, always sniffing out facts and figures and possibilities to do an analysis to determine success or failure before we move forward in faith? Or should we be bold, daring and entrepreneurial in our faith moving forward trusting ...  Read More

“The Hand of God!” What does that even mean? God is Spirit (John 4:24) without physical hands but He gives this picture to His children who have hands to help us understand His powerful loving relationship that is available to us. Just as an earthly father lovingly leads his children with encouragement, prompts, favor, discipline and even a powerful boost of his own strength, so also a child of Go...  Read More