Barnabas Powell's Blog, page 173
August 31, 2017
Our 100 Campaign Ends Today!
We wrap up our 100 Campaign today at midnight! And what an amazing 30 days it has been! Our Patron Count stands at 99 and all we need is ONE MORE supporter to reach our Goal! Are you the ONE? Faith Encouraged Ministries started out as a way to encourage people to practice their Orthodox Faith daily and to share the beauties of this faith with those who are seeking the fullness of…
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The First Testament
I have a habit of calling what many call “The Old Testament” the “First Testament.” And I do that because too many in the Church treat the books in the front of our Bible as either unimportant or not as valuable as the New Testament. I confess I’ve had a few folks get mad at me for saying “First Testament” instead of “Old Testament.” But how do we expect to know why the…
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August 30, 2017
A Divided Heart is Defeated
Growing up as a young man in the 1970’s meant I heard some of the best music in the world! One song I remember that got the whole car singing along was the anthem “United we Stand” by the Brotherhood of Man. The chorus was “For united we stand, divided we fall. And if our backs should ever be against the wall, we’ll be together, together you and I.” Unity is a…
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August 29, 2017
Can You Recognize God?
I’m convinced everyone wants to know God. Everyone. Even the most radical atheist or hedonist wants to know God above everything else. In fact, I’m convinced a man is an atheist because he is so angry that the God he longs for at the very core of his being doesn’t exist and it’s this existential anger and disappointment that drives his atheism and his hostility. When I was a boy in the…
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August 28, 2017
Active Absence and Peaceful Silence
Winston Churchill once said “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime, in your life.” There was a man who use to take great pleasure in insulting me. He seemed to go out of his way to do it and he had something of a reputation of being a bully. It use to really get to me until one day I confronted him and simply told him I…
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August 25, 2017
True Authority Flows From Service!
It’s amazing how quick folks get upset if they feel like they are being bossed around. I had a couple come to see me once about how to raise their child and they informed me they had decided to not say anything about God to the child so that he could make up his mind once he got older. Imagine their surprise when I pointed out that was not just foolish but…
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August 24, 2017
Good Grief!
Every time I see the words “Good Grief” I think of good old Charlie Brown. That may be a generational thing, but it’s the first thing that pops into my mind. But, if I dwell on this word “grief” long enough, I start a process in my heart and mind that usually leads me to serious discovery AND even joy! Queen Elizabeth once said “Grief is the price we pay for love.”…
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August 23, 2017
It’s Both/And!
That famous Southern humorist Lewis Grizzard once said “Yankees don’t understand that the Southern way of talking is a language of nuance. What we can do in the South is we can take a word and change it just a little bit and make it mean something altogether different.” Ha! funny. But the humor contains a truth (humor often does) that is a missing element in much of our social interactions…
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August 22, 2017
It’s WHY You Say It!
“We must speak out! We CANNOT be silent! Silence makes evil possible!” We hear this a lot nowadays, and I confess, I have great sympathy for this message. I’m a preacher, after all. And the public and fearless declaration of the Gospel is normal for we Christians through history. But, as usual, a one sided perspective on this will lead to a lack of sobriety and balance. There is an equal…
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August 21, 2017
Are You 1 of the 100? Still TIME!
We are at 90 Patrons with a few days left to reach our goal! Are you 1 of the 100? There are several levels of support that can fit almost any budget. A gift of as little as $5 a month can help us grow Faith Encouraged Ministries by helping us with vital costs like graphic design, technical equipment for recording and sharing our media work, important projects like new video series,…
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