January 4, 2021
by Sam Ford
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Category:
Gospel Life
Does anyone make meaningful annual resolutions anymore? There are important resolutions to make, physically, socially, economically, etc. Most resolutions feel like emotional reactions to all the mistakes we made the previous years. In an effort to correct our bulging waistlines, our broken relationships, or our beleaguered balance sheets, we determine to "do better," or...
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November 25, 2020
by Sam Ford
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Category:
Gospel Life
For some, 2020 has made it more difficult to be thankful. Everything that once brought us life feels disrupted. Difficult circumstances we cannot control have robbed us of what we could otherwise enjoy. The worst thing we can do is grumble out loud (and online) or dispute silently within ourselves. I have learned the hard way how this kind of approach makes things worse. W...
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August 31, 2020
by Sam Ford
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Category:
Gospel Life
***Below are a few pastoral comments shared in our most recent member meeting***
Without question, many of us feel separated and disconnected. This long trial has tested our patience, our discernment and our love. As I have said more than once, even if we have not been exposed TO the virus, many have been exposed BY this pandemic. I wanted to take a few minutes to sp...
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August 17, 2020
by Sam Ford
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Category:
Gospel Life
It feels like we are living in the middle of the book of Judges.
If you feel desparing, or downright scared, about our current cultural climate, you would do well skim through the book of Judges. The book of Judges is one of the most disturbing narratives in Scripture, recording of some of most disturbing people who ever lived, who do some of the most disturbing thing...
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May 21, 2020
by Sam Ford
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Category:
Gospel Life
Making decisions can be hard, especially when things are not black and white. Decisions in the gray often generate deeps feelings of ambivalence where two options appear equally positive and negative.
Our current pandemic has created a very gray environment. Not only has number of decisions we have to make been exponentially increased, the process of decision-making ...
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May 14, 2020
by Sam Ford
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Category:
Gospel Life
In recent weeks, I have had more than one conversation about how this COVID-19 pandemic is negatively impacting the church. Every new restrictions brings two new conspiracies and three new opinions. Sides are being chosen, teams are being made, post are being "liked" and people are being "unfriended."...
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May 7, 2020
by Sam Ford
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Category:
Gospel Life
Even if we have not been exposed TO Covid-19, we have all be exposed BY it. As time goes on, who we truly are and what we truly believe is being revealed. All suffering and trials do this. Paul Tripp in his book, Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands rightly notes:
"We don't radically change in a moment of trial. No, trials expose what we've always been. Trials bare th...
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May 5, 2020
by Mary Lynn Spear
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Category:
Gospel Life
Already, we have a ‘before’. Just as certainly, there will be an ‘after’.
What it meant to live before Covid-19 is already going to print in history. What it will mean to live after, has yet to be written. A thousand threads will be woven across a globally connected world to create what this will be, and we all are eager to arrive there.
Who will we be, as in...
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May 3, 2020
by Sam Ford
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Category:
Gospel Life
"The only hope you have is to accept the fact that you are already dead. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you will be able to function as a soldier is supposed to function. All war depends upon it."...
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April 24, 2020
by Sam Ford
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Category:
Gospel Life
Everyone has an opinion about how to confront the COVID-19 pandemic. Conspiracy theories abound regarding the motives of decision-makers but, apart from those who believe the earth is flat, I am convinced that the "powers that be" are doing their best to do what they believe is best. Every decision-maker has a definition of best, and everyone impacted by their decisions ...
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April 16, 2020
by Sam Ford
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Category:
Gospel Life
In a world where we are told what is "essential", Jesus reminds us of the one truly essential thing....
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April 15, 2020
by Sam Ford
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Category:
Gospel Life
The Resurrection of Jesus is the most important event in the history of the world. Even though the tomb is still empty, Christians often live as if Jesus is still dead and buried. Some Christians find themselves stuck on a perpetual Friday, enslaved to their guilt and shame. Other find their way to Saturday, hoping what Jesus said is true, but living as if they don't reall...
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