Wednesday Bible Study | Evergreen Church

Contemporary American Christianity is powerless primarily because it is prayerless. The ancient church existed in a hostile world of Jewish opposition and Roman harassment. They understood the need for prayer in everyday life. Prayer invites God's power into the world. 

The Church is the only community designed for people who are not yet part of it. Healthy churches see people in their desperate need and respond practically. Such churches also dream of reaching nations who do not yet know the good news of Jesus Christ. 

Taylor Gabbert takes a dive with us into Genesis 22 when Abraham goes to sacrifice his son, Isaac to look at what it means to walk by faith.

Have you ever asked yourself why you are a Christian? Or maybe why you should become one? Listen to Missions Pastor Emilio Lartigue as he takes us into the Bible to answer this question.

Churches today often approach casually the ordinances given by Jesus. These rituals, even today, often cost believers their lives. Accordingly, we must see their significance and the power of their symbolism. These two non-optional practices should be characteristic of authentic churches in every generation.

Missions Pastor Emilio Lartigue brings us a message on the importance of encouragement from God's word. 

Listening is a discipline.  Hearing is a decision.  Discovering the leadership of the Holy Spirit in the details of a believer's daily life and in the corporate life of the local church requires both the discipline to listen and the decision to hear.

As the early church grew in numbers and influence, persecution increased.  Stephen is the first recorded Christian martyr, and his testimony provides a model for serious Christian commitment in every generation.  This element of martyrdom is a necessary component for a successful twenty-first century church. 

The walk of the follower of Jesus is completely different than the one of the surrounding world. It is not self-centered life concerning primarily on “me.” The believer’s life is not free of difficulties. In fact, it has difficulties directly related to it. Serving Christ and proclaiming His message can put us in harm’s way and could possibly cause us to suffer for Him. Conforming to a life of hum...

Early believers displayed dramatic changes in their lives by a supernatural awareness of need and an unrelenting determination to serve others.  God designs our voluntary service to unite the church, strengthen ministries, and build a reputation in the surrounding community.  Faithful and shared service in pastoral care is clear evidence of a Spirit-filled church.

The early church understood that prayer was not their last resort, but their first response to any situation.  When believers pray together, God changes their church and their world.

The early church faced much danger in its own generation; but no external persecution was ever as dangerous to the infant church as the threat of internal hypocrisy.  A Spirit-filled church displays purity & integrity to the world, especially when it comes to money. 

The early church understood that prayer was not their last resort, but their first response to any situation.  When believers pray together, God changes their church & their world.

"Courage is a special kind of knowledge: the knowledge of how to fear what ought to be feared and how not to fear what ought not to be feared." - David Ben Gurion  "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." - Tertullian

What is it exactly that distinguishes the church from any other social club or volunteer community service organization?  The world effectively imitates every aspect of church life except those things that result from the power of God alone.  The greatest wonder of our day is the supernaturally changed life of a person.

This passage is of vital importance both in its description of true biblical preaching and in the display of divinely secured results from that proclamation.  The general absence today of this powerful proclamation is an ongoing indictment of contemporary evangelism.  Such teaching is an indispensable characteristic of an authentically biblical church. 

Contemporary American evangelism, where it even exists, is programmatic and trite.  Most unbelievers have been inoculated to typical religious sales pitches already.  What is required today for church growth and advancement is an authentic testimony of biblical truth and personal experience animated by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

The very first tasks necessary for the infant Christian church in Jerusalem was the practice of prayerful decision-making and the identification of qualified leadership.  The local expression of the Body of Christ cannot function properly without these characteristics.  

Listen to this message from our missions pastor, Emilio Lartigue.

(Pastor Philip Jackson)

Eighty years after Haggai and Zechariah spurred the people to rebuild the Temple, disillusionment with God had set in. Times were hard and the promised prosperity had not been realized. Israel developed an increasingly casual attitude towards worship and the standards of God. Malachi’s call to return to devotion has special relevance today.

Teaching alongside Haggai, Zechariah’s post-exilic message went far beyond physical walls and Temple issues. He told of the Messiah, the One whom God would send to rescue His people and to reign over all the earth. This prophet speaks of both the first and the final comings of Jesus. As you read, consider this—your King is coming and He will reign forever!

The first post-exilic prophet, Haggai, spoke to a people facing the daunting challenge of rebuilding a nation after the destruction of Judah, Jerusalem, and the Temple by the Babylonians to generations earlier.  His sermons on the priorities of God's people are powerfully suitable for believers today in a nation without spiritual foundations.

Zephaniah was the last of the minor prophets to write before the captivity.  His message to Judah parallels Amos' message to the northern kingdom, Israel, more than a century earlier.  God's judgement cannot be ignored; His great love should not be forgotten.  

Believers must learn to take God seriously.  He reserves the right to be God, to work as He sees fit.  We may turn toward Him with questions, but we will never understand life if we, instead, turn away from Him in bitterness.  This prophet resolves the problem of evil in the world, not in intellectual debate, but through a fresh encounter with the God of history.