CCW Podcast

"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." This Sunday's message is entitled, "The Protection of Prayer" as we look at the last phrase found in the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6:13. This prayer has a negative request - lead us not into temptation, and a positive request - deliver us from the evil one. These statements bring to our attention several...

Christians are characterized as those who forgive. In Matthew 5:43, we find that the traditional Jewish rabbis taught, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy." But Jesus said, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you, and persecute you, that ye may be the sons of the Father" (Matthew 5:...

We have been studying the Disciples' Prayer at great length, and we now come to verse 12 in Matthew 6, "And forgive us our debts"; and then a footnote on verse 12 in verses 14 and 15 "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." These thre...

This week is the grand finale of our Forward series, and it’s a beautiful closing statement on Joshua’s service as well as a charge to us all. Have you ever heard someone say, "I felt the prayer?" In Joshua 10, we see a looming battle and as the Israelites gain the upper hand and we see an amazing prayer. Joshua 10:14 says, “There has been no day like it before or since when the Lord hee...

When we pray "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done," we are praying that His rule and reign would come in the hearts and lives of the people who don't know Him; we are praying that His rule and reign would come in our hearts to the fullness He's worthy of; and we're praying, too, that someday He will come and break the tyranny of sin and set this evil, ugly, cursed world rig...

We serve the Lord as we pray, when our prayers are in accord with His design for prayer. Prayer is as vital to the Christian as breathing is to the human being, giving us our life, and sustenance so we must know how to pray! Here in the Disciples' prayer, or what is commonly know as the Lord's Prayer, Jesus gives us a skeleton from which all prayers are to find form. This Sunday we will...

"Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name..." How do we hallow God's name? It's more than words we say in a prayer. The implication in the Lord's Prayer is that God's name is to be hallowed in our lives. This prayer is not saying that God's name is to be revered as holy just in heaven or around the world, it is saying that God's name is to be res...

As we begin the study of the Disciples' Prayer, we face one of the most vital subjects in all of Christian Life. The subject of prayer! Prayer has been much discussed, much talked about, and much taught about; and yet, much misunderstood. As believers we must learn how to pray. If we are to experience the fullness of communion with God and know the fullness of His blessings, we must know how...

When the disciples heard Jesus pray, it was not like any prayers they had heard before. He prayed about personal things, private things, dangerous things, and difficult things. He prayed in the morning for bread to eat later in the day. He spent a lot of time in His prayers praising God. And He prayed for protection from harm. In fact, the disciples were attracted to Jesus' prayers because He...

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is central to the Christian faith. It really is not something we observe one day a year and then forget about. To deny the resurrection is to remove the cornerstone of our Christian faith. The crucifixion of Jesus would have been in vain without the Resurrection, for the Resurrection validates Christ's work on the cross. Of all the religions of the world, only...

If ever a women loved the Lord Jesus, it was Mary Magdalene. Christ had transformed her life. At one time she was possessed of seven demons who manifested themselves in all manner of wickedness and sinfulness, but the Lord cast out the demons and set her gloriously free. In the gospels, we have no less than five pictures of her contact with Jesus. The one which surpasses them all is the scene of M...

Easter Sunday is not a day when we remember a crucified Christ who hung upon a cross; rather, it is a day when we worship a risen Lord who showed the battle scars of His triumph over death to His own. When our Lord suddenly appeared to his disciples in that upper room, on the evening of His resurrection, the first thing he did was to show them his hands and his side, after which He commissioned th...

The word friend is defined so broadly today that it can be used to refer to all social acquaintances, even school and businesses associates. But when we come to the serious study of the term we find that in ordinary usage, as well as in biblical language, the word friend, conveys the idea of companion, partner, comrade. Our concept of friendship undergoes an immediate change when we think of it in...

During this series of "Working Out Your Salvation", God has been bringing the Word to bear on our homes. This week we turn our attention to our precious children (and grandchildren). There is a sense in which none of us ever leaves school. The whole of life is a school in which we are trained and fitted for eternity. No one can read the Bible without observing this fact. The Scriptures m...

Last Sunday, the message was "Christianity and your Marriage" and many of us found ourselves making fresh commitments to the Lord and our spouses. This Sunday, the message is "Christianity and your Home." The whole idea of and design for the home originated with God. It's important for us to remember that this is God's plan. It is not surprising, to find that the Bibl...

For the next two Sundays, the titles of the messages are "Christianity and your Marriage" and "Christianity and your Home." God created the first two human beings to be the parents of the human race. They were to be companions, to live and work together as partners, helping each other every way they could. As the parents of the human race, they were a picture of exactly what Go...

This Sunday, the title of the message is "The Heart Of Real Christianity". Why is this important? Because as individuals, many among us have no idea what the Christian life is supposed to be about. As a church, we have often left the heart of our faith behind in an effort to be politically correct and pleasing in the sight of the world. This Sunday we will examine Matthew 16:21-24 and it...