At a time when the world is experiencing so much anger, chaos, lawlessness, frustration and such a bleak future, God's overarching plan for humanity is more vital and critical for us to understand and apply individually than ever before. The Gospel is a message of hope and encouragement that highlights God’s love and mercy for everything He has created. It emphasizes His desire for the creation, the earth and all its inhabitants to dwell in peace and harmony with Him. It also highlights … [Read more...] about The Gospel: God’s Plan for Humanity
Reconciliation
Leaven and Reconciliation
The original instructions given to ancient Israel regarding the first two Holy Days of the annual Holy Day cycle clearly emphasize the isolation of leaven. This applied to both the restriction of eating it and its removal from their dwellings (Exodus 12:15-20). The fact that the days of Unleavened Bread follow immediately after the Passover is important. Christ’s sacrifice paid the penalty for our sins and opened the way for us to come into a close, reconciled relationship with Christ and the … [Read more...] about Leaven and Reconciliation
Prophecy’s Relevance Today
As events in this world move along at a rapid pace, there’s an ever-growing interest in prophecy. We don’t want to get into the position of forcing parts of prophecy to come together to fit like a puzzle, but to take what is revealed to us by God, progressively putting them together to make an image that is factual according to scripture, not an interpretation of man. Peter is a particularly good place to start: " knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private … [Read more...] about Prophecy’s Relevance Today
Adjusting Our Focus
All around us the world is coming unraveled. Many elements of our society believe right is wrong and wrong is right. Morality of any form is out the door as a basis for all our institutions. Our economies have been pushed into the worst recession in a generation, with our government convinced that they can spend their way out of debt. Food supply disruptions causing shortages could result in millions of deaths this year alone in the poorest of countries. It is easy for … [Read more...] about Adjusting Our Focus
The True Nature of God’s Governance
As followers of Christ, we need to understand the true nature of God's governance within the God Family and to practice it correctly. We also need to define and develop an understanding of how God intends His 'shepherds' to nurture and feed Christ’s flock in accord with the spiritual nature of governance (1 Peter 5:1–4). The Apostle Peter, to whom Jesus said, “tend and feed my sheep,” teaches us to clothe ourselves with humility toward one another (1 Peter 5:5). Peter’s instruction reminds us … [Read more...] about The True Nature of God’s Governance
The Nature of Peace
This world does not reflect the nature of a loving God. The relationship between the Creator and His creation has been broken. However, this condition has a limited allotment of time before God moves to restore all things to Himself. Everything seen and unseen was created for a purpose and existed under the loving care and direction of God. But peace in the creation was destroyed through angelic rebellion which has led to a state of hostility toward God and toward other peoples and … [Read more...] about The Nature of Peace
True Peace
Most people on the planet prefer peace in relationships, in finances and from government interference. Fortunately, peace is especially important to God. From His perspective peace is closely connected to the concept of reconciliation. Something that God has always desired for humanity. God tells us that those who develop the qualities of "peacemaker" will be blessed (Matthew 5:9). Individually we may have little to no power to influence peace between nations; however, we can have power … [Read more...] about True Peace