Spiritual Disciplines: Prayer 2
In my last blog entry, I discussed the difficulties we have in actually setting aside time to pray. Another difficulty that we have in prayer is figuring out what, exactly should we be praying for? What should we be praying for ourselves? Is it selfish to pray for...
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Spiritual Disciplines: Prayer
Roadblocks to Prayer For many of us, prayer is the most difficult aspect of the Christian life. We erect so many barriers to prayer. We think, “I need to get my act together before talking with God,” We think, “I need get all these other things done so I can be free...
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Meditation
When most of us think about meditation we are likely to think of a Buddhist monk sitting crossed-legged in his bright orange robe and chanting. And that certainly is one form of meditation, though it is not Christian meditation. Sadly, many, if not most, Christians...
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Introduction to Spiritual Disciplines
Holy Living is hard if we try it on our own The hope of the Christian life is that we will be transformed into the likeness of Christ. Humans, however, have at least three serious problems in attaining to Christlikeness. The first is probably the first one you would...
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Praying for Ocoee Oaks
During my sermon on the state fo the church on July 29, 2018, I asked everyone to commit to praying for Ocoee Oaks every day during the month of August. Several people have asked for an electronic copy of the twelve specific prayers I asked you to pray. I modified...
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Eight Warning Signs Your Church May Be Drifting From God’s Mission
Today is a first. I have never sent my vast readership to another blog to listen to a podcast, but the timing of this particular post is uncanny. Last Sunday I preached on our need to change and return to our first love as a church. On Tuesday of this week I listened...
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What Bible Translation Is Best?
Ask the Preacher I am frequently asked, "Which Bible translation is the best?" This is an important question, especially if you don't read Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, the original languages of the Bible. There are some bad translations out there that we should avoid....
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LIFE Transformation Groups
[Note: This is the fourth and final installment of a series on discipleship. Click here for part one, here for part two, and here for part three.] Do you want to grow in Christ? Do you want to “feel the power of the resurrection” as Paul said? Do you want to be...
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