There is an army gathering like no other that the world has ever seen. It will be both an irresistible force and an immovable object. Where it marches, it will conquer. Where it takes a stand, it will not be moved. That it is now gathering is one of the great signs that the end of this age is at hand, and the King will soon come to establish His kingdom. It is time to prepare the way for the Lord.

One of the most important churches in the first century was not planted by apostles, but actually gave birth to apostles and a whole new kind of missionary apostle that would "turn the world upside down." This was the church at Antioch, planted by believers simply preaching the gospel. Yet this church set the course of history for much of the world, and is one of the great inspirations of how the Lord can take any little church and impact the entire world through it.

We took a seeming diversion last week to briefly address The Da Vinci Code and the fallacies it asserted about the Bible and church history. In these times, we can expect an increasing onslaught of such attempts to sow into the minds and hearts of people, and at the very least, cause them to doubt the validity of the Scriptures.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9).

Last week we discussed how persecution is part of the faithful Christian life, and that we should be more concerned if we are not being persecuted in some way, because “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (II Timothy 3:12). Even though we are sure to be persecuted if we are living godly lives, we do not want to be the persecutors, which is why we must resolve to obey Ephesians 4:29-32:

        When the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) declared same-sex marriage to be a constitutional right, it was a slap in the face to the laws of God and man. It was a direct frontal assault on both religious freedom and the Constitution of the United States, undercutting the very foundations on which they stand. This is a brief on the consequences of this momentous decision using “The Three Questions” from the U.S. Army Manual for addressing a crisis. Those questions are:

         That the church is called to be family first and then an organization, we have covered before in these weekly studies. However, we do need organization, as every successful family has organization and structure.

      The immature and unstable tend to see and act in extremes. Granted, there are extreme truths. To see them and walk in them means you will be acting in an extreme way compared to others. However, those who cannot see anything but extremes are usually the most deceived of all. The path of life is almost always found between extremes.