“Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.” – 1 Peter 2:17 Many churches across our nation uses this simple phrase as their church slogan: A heart for God and a heart for people. This stems from the greatest command given to us by our Lord, to love God and to love…
In a previous post we looked at the pastor as a shepherd. Part of shepherding is teaching the sheep. The scripture very plainly shows us that God gives us pastors in order to equip us for the work of the ministry. There are a lot of things that a pastor does, however, the one thing…
“Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of…
Sitting at ‘our beach’ (the rocky beach in walking distance from our house) I was looking out at the beauty of the day and listening to the kids play and every now and then reading a few paragraphs from a book. As I was sitting there and meditating a little bit, the thought came to…
There are many aspects to pastoral ministry. All aspects are of equal importance. Put together and working in harmony with one another, each aspect creates a complete pastoral ministry. I’d like to take some time to examine each of the following aspects of pastoral ministry: shepherding, teaching, oversight, and evangelizing. The first aspect to consider…
“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light: Which in time past were not a peoples, but now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but…
To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, behold I lay in…
“Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings. As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby. If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” – 1 Peter 2:1-3 _____________________________________________________________________________________ “In the sixteenth century, Martin Luther strengthened the…
“Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently. Being born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is…
There are many thoughts and ideas concerning what makes a healthy church. It is important that the church seeks sustained health rather than extreme growth spurts. Let me explain. Considering numbers is important. The main reason to consider numbers is that every number represents a soul. Therefore, it is important to work to increase the…
Pastor Chris Noland 