Hiawatha church of Christ

             Their hearts were filled with great anticipation as they were approaching the tomb. They said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” (Mark 16:3). When they arrived at the tomb, the stone they had been concerned about had already been rolled away. They entered the tomb expecting to find the body of Jesus. Instead, they were alarmed by the presence of a man in a long white robe who was sitting there. He said to the women, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen!” (Mark 16:6a) The resurrection of Jesus is the foundation for our faith today. Paul said that without the resurrection of Christ, we are still lost in our sins, our preaching in empty, our faith is in vain, and those who have died before us have perished. Thankfully, Paul continued his letter by affirming the validity of Jesus’ resurrection. This gives us our great hope and joy for the future. ...

       The earth shook with violent force. The foundation of the prison was shaken to the point that the doors were opened, and the prisoner’s restraints were loosened. The prison guard was aroused out of sleep. When he saw the prison doors opened his heart sank. Certainly, the prisoners were long gone by now. There was no hope of retrieving them. Failure to perform his duties resulted in a slow, painful death. A death he did not want. With a lump in his throat, he drew his sword. Never again would he see his beloved family. Instead, this prison would be the last thing his eyes would ever behold. As he was about to lunge onto the sword, he heard a voice crying out, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.” (Acts 16:28).   He was astonished to see Paul and the other prisoners still inside. He turned to Paul and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” There are several great takeaways we receive from this incident. One that stands out is the difference we...

       In the book of Proverbs, we read that where there is no vision the people perish. Vision is an absolute necessity if one is to accomplish anything worthwhile in life. Without vision, there is no goal. Without a goal, there is no purpose. Having a vision for the future is like having a target you do not intend to miss. Like a marksman taking careful aim at his target, we too must take careful aim if we are to accomplish great things for the Lord. There are various goals we should take careful aim at. One is increasing our relationships with one another. The only way this can be accomplished is through effective communication with each other. We can do this in a variety of ways including phone calls, personal visits, and through the positive side of social media. Equally, we grow in our relationship with one another through worshipping God together. The Hebrew writer stated, “…not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but ...

  The Christian life has been compared to a variety of things. One in particular is that of a walk. A walk in the context of the Christian faith involves the way we live and conduct ourselves throughout our lives. The manor in which we live will either reflect Christ or it will reflect the ways of the world. Paul wrote, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called” (Ephesians 4:1). There are a multitude of ways we must walk to be pleasing unto the Lord. We will consider a few. Bearing with one another. Walking worthy before the Lord strongly involves our conduct with one another. Paul continued, “ with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2). Bearing with one another is not possible apart from a humble mindset. It is the humble mindset that keeps us from thinking too highly of ourselves. It also enables us to focus on the needs of others rather than ...

       Paul tells us in Ephesians 1:3 that all spiritual blessings are in Christ. Afterwards, he continues by talking about some of these blessings specifically. In verse seven for example, he writes, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” The power in the blood of Jesus is one of the great spiritual blessings that we enjoy in Christ. This begs the question, what all does the blood of Jesus have the power to do? Therefore, let us consider the following observations. The Power to Reconcile us to God.   In chapter two of Ephesians, Paul reminds us of our spiritual state before we came to Christ (2:1-3). He states that we were dead in our trespasses. We walked according to the ways of the world by fulfilling the lust of the flesh. All these actions we once took made us children of wrath before God. Paul then discusses the grace and mercy shown to us from God through Christ (2:4-10). Throug...