“The mountains shake before him, The demons run and flee, At the mention of the name, King of Majesty, There is no power in Hell or any who can stand, Before the power and the presence of the Great I Am. Hallelujah, Holy, Holy, God Almighty, the Great I Am, Who is worthy, None beside Thee!”Those words from the song Great I Am by Jared Anderson always move me when Ryan leads it in worship. Life on ...  Read More

“How can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (Romans 10:14)God has ordained that people come to faith in Christ through hearing the Word of God proclaimed. Either through a preacher, a teacher, or self-study with the Bible telling them about Jesus and his salvation. P...  Read More

How should we interpret Revelation? I agree with Mark Moore (author of Quest 52) who says we ask the wrong questions. Some try to take the symbolism, match it up with the symbols in the Old Testament, and try to figure out the end times. I believe we’ve been in the end times since Jesus was resurrected, and the symbolism primarily references the spiritual battle between God and Satan. What is the ...  Read More

The summer is right around the corner!!! We wanted to get some dates to you asap so your family can attend some fun activities with us.  All of these activities are open for your entire family to attend.  Click on the links to let us know if you can make it. 5/30 GPS Family Meetup Night @ Harke Park in Lebanon.  This event will be from 6:30-7:30.  Bring your kids and enjoy the company of other GPS...  Read More

Last week we looked at Part I of Revelation (chapters 1-4) as we seek to make it more about persevering in tough times, and less about figuring out mysterious symbols to predict the future. This week we look at Part 2, which involves chapters 5-18, as the apostle John looks at the tribulation. Again, I’m including thoughts by Mark Moore from his book Quest 52, along with my own thoughts. “One of t...  Read More

Many people find the book of Revelation confusing. I’ve personally been helped a lot by the teaching of men from Ozark Christian College on this topic, such as Shane Wood, Matt Proctor, and Mark Moore. Mark Moore now is with Christ Church of the Valley in Arizona, and has written a book entitled: Quest 52, with weekly devotions about the life of Jesus that cover a year. Toward the end he covers a ...  Read More

In the previous Cross Point, I looked at how we cannot separate the teaching of Jesus from the teaching of his apostles in the New Testament. Jesus authorized them as his spokesmen once he ascended to heaven, and they (with a few apprentices) provide all the New Testament writing, even what we know about Jesus himself. They were inspired by the Holy Spirit to remember accurately and record Jesus’ ...  Read More

We live in an age when many people find fault with the church and with other Christians. There is a case to be made for that. Christians are not perfect, neither is the church, made up of disciples who must learn and grow and mature in faith and obedience. Plus, there are many who wear the name “Christian” who in fact are not. They inherited the name or chose to follow at some past point but have ...  Read More

We’ve looked at slavery from several angles in this series. Slavery in the ancient world, slavery in the modern world, slavery in the time of the Roman Empire, and now slavery and how it impacts us today. We are all slaves to the one we obey. We learned that from the words of the apostle Paul to the Roman church (6:16). We are either slaves to sin (through obedience to anything that contradicts Go...  Read More

The Bible is full of slavery. As we’ve said, it is an overarching theme of life, that we all are slaves to someone or something. We are made with free will; we can make choices. That freedom is real, but once we’ve chosen (or refuse to choose) we will discover who we will obey. The Hebrew word for slave, ebed, can speak of literal slavery to a human master, or be used metaphorically to describe be...  Read More

We ended the previous Cross Point saying, “In the end, the experience of a slave depended entirely on the master.” You might question that. Isn’t slavery always bad, regardless of the master, you might ask? Again, our thoughts about slavery in this country rely too much on the American experience. But the truth of the matter is, we are all slaves to something. From a biblical worldview perspective...  Read More

The Dahomey Kingdom of west Africa ruled during the days when African’s were being sold to the British, who in turn sold these men and women into slavery on the coasts of the United States. It was a sad situation, one African tribe would war against another African tribe, take captives, cage them, then sell them. We often imagine the “slavers” just taking these men and women, but that would requir...  Read More