Am I Saved?

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Without question, salvation is the most important teaching of Christ that needs to be understood.  It is not a solitary thing; you must also understand the concept of sin and be personally convinced of how it applies to you.  It is also essential that you understand who God is and His Son, Jesus Christ.  Finally, because of who God is (sinless) and who we are (sinners), there is a great and eternal separation that looms before us at death unless we can overcome sin.  The message of salvation, also called the gospel, is the answer to the problem of sin and is a message of great hope for a dying world.

This teaching is often confused and misunderstood.  God’s Word is not ambiguous.  This article is meant to be a simple explanation of the gospel, a message you desperately need to hear.  I encourage you to read it thoughtfully and prayerfully.  Contact information can be found in the article if you have further questions.

Download Article (186 KB)

Download Tract Version (same content) (491 KB)

Biblical Parenting Series

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Parenting is both an opportunity and a challenge.  Any parent who takes the task seriously knows the dangers of failure and yearns for solid guidance.  Parenting theories abound in the world and change frequently.  God, who is also a Father, entrusted us with our children and provides this solid guidance in His Word.  This series is an attempt to reveal some of the timeless truths of parenting found in the Bible.

These lessons are audio recordings of our Tuesday night studies over an eight week span.  Each lesson addresses different aspects of parenting.  Listen to the whole series or pick and choose according to your interests.  Lesson One includes a .pdf file with an outline of the first six lessons.  Lesson Seven also contains a .pdf file with an outline of the last two lessons.  Click here to go to the Biblical Parenting 2012 series.  You can also click on specific lessons below to go directly to the audio recording or outline.

  • Lesson 1 – Training up a Child
  • Lesson 2 – God’s Design for the Home
  • Lesson 3 – Don’t Provoke to Anger – Part 1
  • Lesson 4 – Don’t Provoke to Anger – Part 2
  • Lesson 5 – Respect, Love, Discipline, Instruction
  • Lesson 6 – Various Topics
  • Lesson 7 – Shooting for the Mark – Raising Men
  • Lesson 8 – Shooting for the Mark – Raising Women

Girls Mini Ministries

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In the fall of last year, my oldest daughter shared a burden with us to minister to other young girls through a newsletter she entitled, “Girls Mini Ministries”.  She is 10 years old and homeschooled along with our other three children.  She went to work learning how to create a newsletter.  Her mother and I only get involved to teach her how to do things and provide a final edit.

I began posting the newsletters on the anchoredresources.org website last fall.  After completing several issues, she is still enjoying it and has received some positive feedback from other girls.  I encourage you to check out Girl’s Mini Ministries on our website.  The March issue was just released.

Learning to Forgive

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Sin always brings destruction, especially in relationships.  When left unchecked, friendships, homes, and even churches can be completely destroyed by years of unresolved hurts.  Through the cross, Jesus made a way that sins can be forgiven by God and men.  This booklet is designed to help you understand the principles of forgiveness, the practical steps to reconciling relationships, and the means by which the cycles of anger and pain can be broken and rebuilt in love.  Check out, “Learning to Forgive, Getting Past the Hurt to Find Healing”: Download: BOOK (305 KB).

Heart Care – Learning to Guard your Heart

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“Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.” – Proverbs 4:23

The heart is the wellhead of your life.  Your speech, your actions, even your attitude all flow from its depths.  It is the part of us that God looks upon.  While it can be desperately wicked, it can also be cleansed and directed by God.  How important is the heart?  It is to the be seat of our affections for God (love Him with all your heart, soul, mind…) and is essential for biblical worship (worship Him in spirit and in truth).

The Bible says much about the heart and sometimes its instruction is rather confusing.  This lesson attempts to wade through the Scriptures and make sense of them and provide practical and Biblical direction on how our hearts can be cleansed and aligned with God.  Check out Heart Care: (Student Version) (Teacher Version).

Christmas Resources

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Christmas is one of those times of the year that should be a great opportunity to witness to our families and friends about the birth of our Savior.  The trappings of the world and often successful at pulling our attention away from Christ.  The only way a Christian will find success in their home is to take charge and proactively draw the attention of their family to Christ (I am exhorting the men here!).  To that end, I would like to highlight the following resources developed over the past few years to be used in a family/personal setting (25 Gifts or Chrismas Devotionals) setting or in a group (The Grinch Lesson).  There is even a lesson for women (An Ornament for God).  Check them out on our new Christmas Page!

Two Great Blogs for Women

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As I’ve looked at the site statistics over the past few months, I’ve noticed that a significant number of downloads come from the Women’s Lessons page.  There is definitely a hunger among Christian women for godly teaching addressing the needs they face every day.  That is why I’d like to use this update to highlight two blogs written by women I have a great deal of respect for: my wife, Mary, and our good friend, Jenna Johnson.

A Good Mess

A brand new blog hosted by my wife, Mary, a full-time homeschooling mother of four children, and a pastor’s wife.  Her blog focuses on finding Christ in the midst of marriage, parenting, and homeschooling.  She also plans to discuss homeschooling methods and material.

To Heaven and Back

A blog written by Jenna Johnson, a full-time mother of two boys, and a pastor’s wife.  Her blog focuses on many of the blessings and challenges she faces in life.  She is a very gifted writer who writes with refreshing honesty and a heart for the Lord.

Marriage Conference Lessons

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In 2010, The Anchor hosted a Weekend Marriage Getaway.  The lessons (Powerpoint Slides) and associated homework/activities have been added to the page.  This is meant to be studied as a couple, but any marriage will gain from personal study, even if your spouse can’t (or won’t) participate.

In the lesson, “God’s Purpose in Marriage” you will study: 1) the origin of marriage; 2) the source of marital problems; 3) the source of marital solutions; and 4) embracing the vision God has for marriage.

In the lesson, “Communication & Forgivness”  you will study: 1) why study communication and forgiveness; 2) attitudes of communication; 3) four rules of communication; and 4) forgiving and being forgiven.

Finally, in the lesson, “Change & Growth in Marriage” you will study: 1) recognizing the necessity for change; 2) identifying our goal for change; 3) learning how to become an instrument of change; and 4) understanding the consequences of failure.

Click here to check out the lessons and activities.

Every Member Able to Admonish (EMATA)

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The ability to use God’s Word skilfully to discern good from evil is required for spiritual maturity.  God’s will is for all of His children to grow in the knowledge and discernment of the Word.  To that end, the Every Member Able to Admonish (EMATA) series is designed as a hands-on approach to learning how to rightly divide the Word of God.  The subjects are explained, examples are provided, and questions are given to allow the students to dig in the Word and put what they have just learned into practice.

This study is very popular at The Anchor because I usually only teach for about 20 minutes, after which we break up into small groups, assigning one or two questions to each group to work on, then return to share our results and engage in good discussion.  The youth are included and enjoy learning from the adults and being part of a group.  This is a great opportunity to disciple them and show them that God’s Word has answers to everyday problems and that through careful study and prayer, God will reveal them to us.  Click here to check out this series.

Winning through Witnessing

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Boldness for Christ should be the desire for every Christian.  Yet, with the abundance of belief (or non-belief) systems in the world and the general attitude of men towards Christ, witnessing can sometimes be intimidating.  God has not given us a spirit of fear.  He desires us to have loving boldness and wisdom that will enable us to be tools in the hands of the Spirit of God, who is drawing all men to himself.  I encourage you to check out Winning through Witnessing, written by Aaron Binion.  He has put together this guidebook, based in part upon The School of Biblical Evangelism by Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron, that has lots of useful information that will both equip and convict the hearts of God’s people to get the gospel out to a lost and dying world.  Click here to download.