Arise

Your environment matters. Who you spend your time with can significantly impact the direction of your life. Consider a smoker, for example. According to the American Cancer Society, two of the most common reasons individuals begin smoking are because their parents or their peers smoke. The desire to fit in with friends or to imitate someone admired influences desire, and desire influences behavior. The point is simple: your environment can impact your behavior. This does not mean our environment excuses…

“The ends justify the means” and “A little white lie never hurt anyone”— these two cliches miss the obvious and contradict Almighty God. Proverbs 6:16-19 reveals seven things that the Lord hates. These abominations do not belong in the realm of moral ambiguity, yet man will run to defend them to some degree or another. James warns us about the tongue’s great potential to destroy, and John was told that “all liars” will have their part in the lake of…

At the writing of this note, we are in our second week of the third quarter of the school year. Our Arise Workshop is rapidly approaching—February 26th to March 1st. In conjunction with the Workshop, Rob Whitacre will conduct a “blitz week” on the subject of Evangelism. We have the largest first-year class in our history of forty-eight years. Sixteen students fill the class from young to not so young—which makes for an interesting dynamic. Some students are a year…

I t was a young shepherd boy who proclaimed the words, “the battle is the Lord’s” as he stood face to face with a giant (1 Sam. 17:47). In a valley full of fear, crowded with concern, and packed with panic, those five words were just what the nation of Israel needed. Certainly, David’s statement was one of courage and conviction, but it was also one of great faith. While the king, the nation, and David’s own brothers were greatly…