InstaEncouragements Blog

Holiness in the Daily Grind

8/30/2019

Holiness is not a popular subject today, but it is an essential biblical quality each of us should pursue.

Nancy DeMoss in her book Holiness writes,

“Holiness isn’t exactly an easy subject to ‘sell.’ It‘s not one of the top ten topics people look for in a Christian bookstore, there aren’t a lot of hit songs about holiness; and I can count on two hands the number of messages I recall hearing on the theme.”

In the book The Hole in Our Holiness author Kevin DeYoung it states,

“The hole in our holiness is that we don’t really care much about it. …Believers want ‘community acceptance’ not to be called legalistic, prudish, narrow-minded, old fashioned, holier-than-thou, or worst of all, a fundamentalist.”

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The Epidemic of Complaining Moms

7/26/2019

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We are all complainers every now and then. It’s all too easy to see negative things in our lives and verbalize our displeasure about them. Some of us just say it like it is while others of us mask our negativity in humor or sarcasm. When we take a step back we realize that what comes out of our mouths is really coming from what is hidden in our hearts. So, complaining is an outward manifestation of an inward problem.

The children of Israel complained all the way through the Old Testament, but the root of this negativity was always the same. The real problem was that they felt God was not giving them what they needed or thought they needed.

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Dealing with Difficult People

6/28/2019

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Dealing with Difficult People: Every day it seems we meet annoying people. People who are rude, negative, judgmental or just plain mean. Jesus encountered difficult people too.

Every day it seems we meet annoying people. People who are rude, negative, judgmental or just plain mean. Jesus encountered difficult people too. Matthew 22:15-40, tells us about three religious groups that tried to entangle and discredit Him with their confrontational questions.

Herodians ask about paying taxes

First, the Herodians, Jews who favored submitting to Rome, came to Him with a political question about paying taxes to Caesar.

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The Cradle of the Gospel: Sea of Galilee

5/28/2019

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The Cradle of the Gospel: Sea of Galilee My husband and I have had the awesome privilege to travel to the Holy Land several times. It is hard to choose a favorite spot since each location has a particular Bible significance. But, of all the places we visited, the Sea of Galilee would have to be at the top of my list.

My husband and I have had the awesome privilege to travel to the Holy Land several times. It is hard to choose a favorite spot since each location has a particular Bible significance. But, of all the places we visited, the Sea of Galilee would have to be at the top of my list.

The size of this area, where Jesus spent two thirds of His earthly ministry, was surprisingly quite small. When standing on an overlooking hillside, you can see the entire shoreline of the sea (which is really more like the size of a small lake than that of a sea).

So many things happened around and on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus preached in the synagogues, healed the sick, cast out demons, fed thousands, recruited His followers, preached on the hillside, walked on the water, calmed the sea, and ate on the shore with His disciples after His resurrection. And for this reason it has been called the cradle of the Gospel.

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Are You Ready to Receive God’s Blessings

4/26/2019

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Are You Ready to Receive God’s Blessings? I love it when I commit to read through the Scriptures in a year. It is AMAZING to be able to see the scope of God’s plan from Genesis to Revelation!

I love it when I commit to read through the Scriptures in a year. It is AMAZING to be able to see the scope of God’s plan from Genesis to Revelation! In my reading, I always pause when I come to the chapters about God’s chosen people, the Israelites. I actually have a love/hate relationship with these people because they remind me so much of myself.

God chose Abraham’s descendants to be a testimony to all the other nations of God’s goodness, holiness, and power. He performed miracles on their behalf to get them out of their bondage as slaves in Egypt so they could go to the land He had promised to give to them. Unfortunately, the children of Israel did not always cooperate with God and His plan. The journey, which should have taken eleven days, ended up taking forty years!

What Went Wrong?

First, the people were not prepared to receive the blessing of a Promised Land yet.

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Parenting: the Job That Never Ends

3/29/2019

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How do we parent adult children?

I used to think that parenting was hardest when my children were so dependent on me for everything, which started when they were infants. However, as my children grew up, went off to college, and then moved out of the house I realized parenting became a whole lot harder. I know that must sound strange because I no longer dressed them, helped them with homework, transported them to ballgames, cooked their meals, or did their laundry.

So what makes parenting adult children so difficult?

You are no longer their authority.
You are no longer a part of their decision making.
You are no longer a part of everything they do.

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The Making of a Masterpiece

3/1/2019

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God has given me many ministry opportunities over the years, and one of those ministries was working in a museum of Christian art. Ironically my husband was the artist in our family; he taught art in Christian schools; and he even proposed marriage to me at an art museum.

When we moved to Greenville for my husband to pastor, our church congregation was small. To help with finances I began working at the Museum & Gallery at Bob Jones University. I received a lot of art training, gave tours, and became captivated with everything art.

The M&G collection is made up of Old Master paintings, tapestries, etchings, stained glass, and even furniture. It was interesting to learn that each art form goes through a process for completion, and there are specific tools used to accomplish the final masterpiece.

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