Open Door Definition

At church, in addition to my participation in the worship services, I volunteered at our church’s soup kitchen, medical camps and elementary school for underprivileged children. These experiences opened my eyes to the deprivation of love and care in the world and a dire need of God’s grace for people at large so they could receive forgiveness, healing and restoration in their lives.

I decided it was time for people to know the birth of the Messiah. I called a group of angels and told them, “Go to the fields where the shepherd let their sheep graze. Tell them all about the birth of my son and send them to the stable where he lies.” “Yes my lord,” they replied smiling brightly. They flew to Earth and did my

At the meeting, we discuss many topics including the Pequot war which seems to be going well for Saybrook, and a man convicted of adultery who will be publicly whipped tomorrow morning. While walking home, I ponder to myself about predestination and wonder if I will be going to heaven or hell. When I reach the house, I go inside and have a swig of ale before heading back out to go and pick some squash. Once the kids return from school, we go and chop some more firewood since winter is approaching quickly. After deciding that we have all worked very hard today, we go inside and pray to God and read some more from the Bible. After praying and reading the Bible, we go outside to a berry patch and pick quite a few berries. Upon arriving home, my wife washes the berries and begins to fix dinner. While my wife is fixing dinner, I assign each of the boys a different chapter of the Bible to read. Once they finished reading the chapter, I quiz them on the chapter they have just read. After I am satisfied with their answers, I give them permission to sit at the table and pray until dinner is

Suddenly, all the church was singing a song, and the entire building was excited. Finally all the children went to the altar to be saved, but not Langston. He is still waiting to feel something, as well as this other boy named Westley who went to the altar couple of minutes later, not because he felt the presence of Jesus inside of him, but because he felt heat and fatigue, so he preferred to lie. While the whole congregation is prayed for Langston and his aunt is crying at his knees, he is still waiting for Jesus to come, but he did not.

After the Sermon, Fargo church members had a graceful fellowship time together. Brother Tim gave a testimony about a miracle regarding his brother's son, as he had a brain surgery a few days before Easter. It was very dangerous, so there were many doctors, and experts discussed this case a lot. Tim reflected with tears and a grateful heart that there were so many people who prayed for his nephew, and God performed this real miracle that the operation was very successful. Then the minister understood the reason of Tim's eyes filling with tears at the offering prayer segment. The minister also shared her reflection and God's work on her during the Easter retreat with Tim. When they almost finished the fellowship, there was a newcomer, named Kevin who visited the church asking for information about the Bible study.

An hour later he went back out of the room and grabbed a translator to announce that I earned wings to the job. I bet my smile was 42 yards long, due to the fact I start on Friday. On my way home, I'd been destined to stop at the grocery store to pick up some food. I walked in the store and obtained everything I need, but when I settled to the checkout line the cashier questioned my every move. I tried to ask her where the bread was, but she had a strenuous time understanding that. I signed to read my lips in a way populace should understand even if the individual was in elementary school. She was not severely equipped to read lips, though or she wasn't even paying attention. I finally scrutinized a mortal who had bread and I signed where she grasped her hand not that precious loaf of bread. Her and I wandered over to aisle six. When I enacted home, I realized it was Wednesday so, I was directed to zest to worship. That is the only place I feel safe in, considering the father knows how to sign. He also taught the lion’s share of the people in the church how to sign so there was normal

This week’s sermon was “How Do We Witness?” Do we trap a person in a theological argument and prove we are right? Do we convince someone that he/she is going directly to hell, and we know it for sure? Do we point out that we believe the Bible and other’s do not? Do we pray as loud as we can in a crowded restaurant? Do we drop to a knee in the end zone after scoring a touchdown?

I was most dissatisfied with my meditations at the beach this morning, I couldn't hear God speaking to my heart in any of what I read. So a bit frustrated at His silence, I left and found myself at Church. It was not my intention to attend, but as I drove I noticed the time and figured I might as well. So there I sat, teary eyed, as she read - 1 Corinthians 13, thinking ~ "God, when am I ever gonna get this?" And then Fr. says it... something about inserting "your name" before each statement and then in his kind manner looks directly at me (lol ~ ok God, I'm hearing you loud and clear now, thanks) and says "how about you Angela? is there a name you can insert here?" and all I can think is ..."any ones name but mine." You see, with me ....this

Huddling within the confines of the aged meeting house, the members of a particular local congregation assemble together to hear the words of their new speaker. After the song prior to the lesson winds to a close, the speaker stands up with neither a Bible nor an outline to preach from. The crowd stares intently at the man, waiting to hear the words that he will speak. Some are wondering how long the sermon will be today, others are already considering what to eat for lunch, and some are even falling asleep in the pews. He then opens his mouth and begins to speak, saying, "People, listen closely to the words I 'll be speaking to you today.

I was sitting at my desk working one morning, and felt the presence of Holy Spirit entered the room. He first shared with me, something concerning one of my writing partners, and encouraged me to not be disappointed. Then he said, “instead, I am giving you two books to write. Book 1 will be for members of the LGBT community and clinical professors and research scientist. Book 2 will be for the Body of Christ and its leadership

This August was the second time I went along with my church to volunteer. We went out with two of our pastors, five youth volunteers, six adult volunteers, and one of our church’s music groups. When we arrived, we set up tables and chairs in the large eating room. Then, our music group led a worship service in the chapel for the people who came in that night. We snuck out halfway through the sermon to begin serving and setting out meals on all of the tables. Once the worship service ended, we led people from the chapel to their seats so they could eat. As they ate,

The trees willowed above the campers like fast moving water in a rapid. I consumed the words of the gospel as they flashed across the screen faster than Usain Bolt in his 100-meter dash, the calming sound of the strumming guitar as it fills the room. I feel the crisp pages of my song book grace my fingers as I open it to the first song. A dimly lit campfire glows against the campers’ faces as they harmonize together in song. As we got done singing we joined hands in prayer. I feel the slightly moist hands of my counselors and friends as we came together. I could smell the aroma of the fan favorite poppy seed chicken in the dining hall. The smell of the food overpowered the smell of the campfire smoke. After prayer, we rushed to the dining hall

A maid walked over to me and asked if I was with Jesus. I quickly denied it in front of everyone and said I had no idea what she was talking about. As I was quickly walking out of the gate another woman came up to me and asked if I was with Jesus. I again disappointingly denied him. Not too long after, a few bystanders said it was obvious I was with Jesus. For the third time I denied him and then I heard a rooster crow. I suddenly remembered what Jesus had told me about denying him three times; I was very disappointed in myself and began to

Honk, honk and we were off to Houston, Texas. The trip was about 5 hours long and I was exhausted when we arrived at the Impact Church of Christ. We were there for a mission trip to put on a vacation bible school for inner city kids that were less fortunate. The first day we arrived at the church we had to set up and meet with the other youth groups. My youth group was set up in the furthest building from the auditorium. We had about an hour before we had to pick up the kids for vacation bible school. Before we picked them up, we assigned people within our own youth group to different task groups. I was one of the oldest kids in the youth group so they put me in the yellow group. Yellow group had the oldest kids which were in 5th grade. There were not a lot of 5th graders so they combined the yellow group with blue group which contained 4th graders. After we assigned groups there was a lot to get done still before they arrived. We had to set up our skit before the kids arrived. Our group skit was about how the devil tempts us to do bad things and how we need to fight that temptation. The skit opens as God is telling Eve not to eat from the tree of life, but the devil would jump in and tell Eve that it would make her powerful. She fell for Satan’s trick and ate from the tree of life and then convinced Adam to eat the fruit too. God then kicked them out of the land and forbid them to ever go there again.

I entered into the worship service, unaware of what to expect. I was not familiar with this church, it was a non-denominational church, but the pastor had his roots in the A.M.E. Zion Church and branched out to establish his own church. I walked into the sanctuary prepared to participate in the Sunday School. I found a seat and readied myself to engage in some meaningful discussion. After sitting for several minutes, I asked one of the gentlemen who was standing at the front of the church if they had already started and where was the lesson coming from. He looked at his watch and indicated that he didn’t know if we had time for Sunday School. A puzzled look came over my face and I couldn’t help but express my confusion as I looked at