(The following is the October 13 devotional from my Next Step Devotions book. Before reading it, I suggest you read Philemon and pay close attention to verses 8-21.) Onesimus, a slave, ran away from his master, Philemon. He stole something before leaving and escaped to Rome, where he met Paul and became a Christian. After his conversion, Onesimus …
Tag: Service
Serving Christ for His Glory, Not Ours
(The following is the April 20 devotional from my Next Step Devotions book. Before reading it, I suggest you read John 12 and pay close attention to verses 23-26.) Jesus said, “If anyone serves me, he must follow me. Where I am, there my servant also will be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him” (v. 26). …
Book Review: “Deacons: How They Serve and Strengthen the Church” by Matt Smethurst
I have served as a deacon for decades across two churches. Long before becoming a deacon, the church in which I grew up elected a friend and me to serve as "junior deacons" while we were high school teenagers—a non-voting position meant to expose us to the role and encourage our growth. From that time …
Continue reading Book Review: “Deacons: How They Serve and Strengthen the Church” by Matt Smethurst
Healed to Serve
(The following is the January 9 devotional from my Next Step Devotions book. Before reading it, I suggest you read Matthew 8 and pay close attention to verses 14-15.) When Jesus entered Peter’s home in Capernaum, Peter’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever. Jesus “touched her hand, and the fever left her. Then she got up and began …
Bearing Godly Fruit
(The following is the January 8 devotional from my Next Step Devotions book. Before reading it, I suggest you read Matthew 7 and pay close attention to verses 15-20.) No human can see with perfect clarity inside another person’s heart. We have difficulty understanding our own hearts with our ongoing battle between the new nature we have in Christ …
