Treasure Hunting

So have you started your Christmas shopping yet? Friday was the largest shopping day of the year for retailers and has earned the title “Black Friday.” The police department in Philadelphia is credited with coining the term due to the heavy traffic jams in the city on this busy shopping day. For online retailers, the Monday after Thanksgiving is known as “Cyber Monday” and is usually the peak of their virtual traffic. So what drives all of this frantic activity? It is the desire to obtain the perfect gifts for family and friends, and to do so at a bargain!

Sometimes we miss some special gifts tucked into God’s Word. They are hidden to us because the culture of the Bible is foreign to us and the original languages of the Bible are quite different than English. It takes a little extra effort to find treasures that are perfect for our lives. Tonight we will continue our treasure hunt as we seek to find some hidden treasures from God’s Word. We will step deep into that which is beneath the surface to find nuggets of truth. So join us tonight at six; it will be more fun than Christmas shopping!

Living out of a suitcase

For most of the week just past I have been staying in a hotel and I have been living out of a suitcase. I am glad to being back in Charleston, in my own home, sleeping in my own bed, and today to be back with you. But there is something one can learn from living out of a suitcase. I am (for a brief time anyway) able to live quite well with only a limited amount of stuff, and even at that I usually pack more stuff than I really need. But maybe I am not the only one who is a little “over packed.”

In 1 Peter 2:11 the apostle Peter appealed for believers to live a life of purity because believers are “Pilgrims” or travelers in this world. In essence, this side of heaven, we are all “living out of a suitcase.” Our real home is with our Lord --our present location is only temporary. But during this trip we often overload ourselves with baggage we were never meant to carry. Our God really wants us to travel light by casting our burdens of worry and care on him (1 Peter 5:7). As we look at another portion of God’s Word that provides for us some amazing reasons to trust God, I hope you will leave with a little less baggage today. It is my prayer that God will cause you to trust Him more today. Will join me in praying that God will help us all do a little unpacking?