The Trails Church is a new church plant, launching this fall in Celina, TX....
In my sermon on Psalm 15, I quoted twice from Robert Murray M'Cheyne. M'Cheyne was a Scottish Presbyterian pastor from the nineteenth century who is most known for the annual bible reading plan he developed that many people use today. We know how he worked through the Scripture, but in this brief excerpt of a letter he wrote to his friend George Shaw, we get a sense of how...
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Only the Bible has sold more copies thanThe Pilgrim's Progress. This Christian classic was written by John Bunyan and published in 1678. It chronicles the spiritual journey of a man named Christian from "The City of Destruction" to "The Celestial City." Along the journey he faces 'many dangers, toils, and snares' in search of his destination. Outside of the Bible, Pilgrim'...
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Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:1-3) The Sermon on the Mount is regarded as the greatest sermon preached in history, for it is a sermon preached by the Lord Jesus himself. "The Se...
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Psalms chapters 3-7 contain a consistent theme of being oppressed, persecuted, and suffering. We have seen how to seek the Lord as we face anxious days and trust him through the night. We have learned more about praying not around our sorrows, or in between our sorrows, but through them. We have seen in each of these Psalms wthe importance of calling upon the Lord in ever...
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[9] And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, [10] so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, [11] filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:911) The investment of prayer has been formationa...
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Philippians 2:19-30 offers two examples of humble joy that Paul puts forth for the Philippians to learn from. Timothy and Epaphroditus were both believers in Christ Jesus who had been gripped by the gospel, lived to build up the church, and worked to advance the mission of God. We have much to learn through the stories of saints who have gone before us. Below are a handfu...
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One of my favorite memories as a boy was singing with our church family on Christmas Eve. As the service would near its conclusion, the deacons would distribute candles around the congregation while the lights grew dark. As we sang our final hymn of the evening, the room would flood with candlelight as voices announced the message of Christmas,"Joy to the World, the Lord i...
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One of the main questions every church has to think through is where they will meet. While a building is not actually the church, a building is a tremendous help in church planting. A good building makes it possible to gather people together and also reach people with the good news of Jesus Christ. Our Sunday Worship Location When Boyer Elementary was announced to open...
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I remember as a soon-to-be dad feeling a deep love for our children. Even before I had seen them, God had placed in my heart a strong desire to know, protect, and care for our kids. Being a father is a gift I treasure, and my love for our children has grown even greater with time. In a similar way, the closer we get to planting, the more aware I am of my love for the peop...
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As a boy, we would go and visit my grandparents in East Texas. These trips were filled with outdoor adventures and shooting things, eating cornbread and shelling peas. I loved it.I loved my grandpa. I loved clearing fence lines and gathering brush with him. I loved singing beside him at church on Sunday morning. Before we would go to church, or out into the community, I r...
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The mission statement of the Trails is simple and focused: To glorify God by making disciples through the gospel, in community, and on mission. This is mantra that will help keep our eyes fixed on the center of the target. It also provides a filter through which we can assess emphases, projects, and the overall culture of our church. We want to plant a church with a cultur...
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The Jacksonville Pastors' Conference has stood as a fruitful voice for pastors in Southern Baptist life. The aim of the conference is to provide a time of encourage and renewal for pastors in the work God has called them to. The conference has included speakers such as Al Mohler, Ray Ortlund, Paul Tripp, J.D. Greear, Jim Cymbala, Ravi Zacharias, Tommy Nelson, Kent Hughes a...
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