Great Spirit

The Power of God Through Abinadi The story of Abinadi is one of the most intriguing lessons taught in the Book of Mormon. From teaching the priests about the ten commandments to being burned alive by the order of King Noah, Abinadi never denied the spirit nor the power of God. Throughout the few scriptures of Mosiah, we are taught detailed information from the Law of Moses, ten commandments, and Jesus Christ’s atonement and resurrection. Abinadi prophesied that Christ is both the Father and the…

In 2016, Bethany Baptist Church celebrates eighty-four years of ministry in the Highlands area of Louisville. The church’s peak membership of more than 1,100 people occurred in the 1970’s, during the ministry of the senior pastor with the longest tenure at Bethany—a tenure of twenty-four years. From 1986 to 2010, the church saw five senior pastors come and go, with an average pastoral tenure of less than four years. At the time of my call to serve as senior pastor in 2011, much work had…

and save you forever.” Graham says in Wacker’s book that because Jesus lived a sinless life, his death paid the penalty for sin and his resurrection defeated the grave. If people repented of their sin and embraced Christ as Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit would enable them to live lives of inward holiness and outward integrity. After death, believers would enter into the everlasting joys of heaven and nonbelievers in the everlasting sorrows of hell (page 33). The final similarity that these two…

the poem “You, Neighbor God” by Rainer Maria Rilke. These writings show God in similar, but different ways. Today, many people know God is a neighbor that is there when needed; but, he is also much more than that. Neighbors are more often than not great people. They can keep an eye on things while a person is out of town, and lend a helping hand if need be. Neighbors, however, do not typically have very personal relationships. They see each other and give a friendly wave and then continue on…

genocide also showed moral courage knowing their destiny and what lies before them. By examining the moral courage of Jesus Christ and the moral courage of the Jews of the holocaust it is clear, that Jesus Christ and the Jews from the holocaust provided great examples of moral…

What is God to you? Is God the almighty, all-knowing, all-powerful being who watches over our every decision and action? Does God take a figure of a human, and walk amongst us, or is God only an imaginative being? In fact, God can be whatever people need him to be. Some of the biggest holy books which all portray a distinct type of God describing the way people should live their lives or the ways to everlasting life in heaven are the Bhagavad Gita, the Holy Bible, and the Quran. All these…

According to Morrill, in the Christian tradition, assembly is one of the most important ways that we can connect with Christ. In his Encountering Christ in the Eucharist he argues that “ The community of faith can only exist through the sharing of that faith, which is focused in its ritual form of worship (Morrill 21). As a young child I used to get impatient when my mother spent time after Church, with what I viewed as nonsense prattling. Now that I am older, I can see the importance that…

You have a son? I have a son too! My first born is a girl and I quickly have learned that my daughter and son are complete opposites. For example, my daughter likes clean things, is more quiet, shy at times, and is modest. My son, on the other hand, loves a good dirt pile, keeps cool rocks he finds in his pockets, out going, dramatic and you don't know how many times I've told him to not pee in the front yard where everyone can see him. hahaha Since they are opposite in most every way, I often…

Conformity and Non-Conformity Defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “Conformity is the fact or state of obeying or agreeing with a behavior that is similar to a behavior of most other people in a society, group, etc.” In the following reading selections: “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell, “They Call Him a Miracle Worker” by Michael Ryan, and “Salvation” by Langston Hughes, the authors illustrate how the characters of these essays felt pressured to conform to the expectations of others…

Summary In their book "Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome" authors Kent and Barbara Hughes offer insight to anyone currently involves with or contemplating involvement with church ministry. In the introduction, the husband and wife team tell a story of a pastor that gave into failure and left full-time ministry (Hughes 1987, 9-13). This confusion of success and failure in regards to ministry effects many every day. The team explains that they too almost fell victim to overwhelming…