The story in Acts 12:1-17 illustrates how God works in response to the prayers of his people. Though all appeared hopeless for Peter, the body of believers did all that they could for him – they prayed. What made the prayers of these first century Christians so effective? Their secret is found in verse 5….

You have probably heard what has been called “The Lord’s Prayer”. Jesus gave us this prayer to show us how to pray. Incidentally, just because we call this prayer “The Lord’s Prayer” doesn’t mean that Jesus prayed it for himself. He had no reason to ask for forgiveness because he never sinned. Instead, it is…

1 John 5:4-5 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. There is something within the Christian which makes him or her able to overcome the world. The term “world” comes from the Greek word kosmos and refers to the world apart from…

Good morning! It’s a beautiful day in the mountains around Cloudcroft, 9,000 ft. above stress level:) Yesterday we tested our live-stream capabilities as we attempted to live-stream our sermon on our Facebook page. Since this was a trial run I did not tell everyone we were doing it because we were not sure how well…

Psalm 46:1-3 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. This is a triumphant confession of fearless trust in God, though…

1 John 5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. Here, John has in mind a natural law of human life. Family love is a part of nature. The child naturally loves his parents; and he just as naturally…

Luke 17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”  During times of uncertainty, it is natural for folks to get anxious, scared, and worried. It is in times like these that we need to ask God to increase our faith. Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we…

The book of 1 John (NIV) uses the word love 43 times, 32 times from verse 7 of chapter 4 through verse 4 of chapter 5. 1 John 4:7-12 contains possibly the most profound biblical passage dealing with love. It combines the implications of love for Christian conduct with a discussion of God’s nature. John,…

In Acts 7:54-60 we read about the stoning of Stephen. Stephen was stoned by a group of Hellenistic Jews for preaching the gospel. One of the young men in the crowd that day giving his approval of Stephen’s murder, was a young man named Saul. Acts 8:1 And Saul approved of their killing him. On…