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Rise Again
Life has its ups and downs for sure. At one moment, we may be riding high in the saddle and at the next picking cactus out of our backside. Anyone who has lived for a while knows this. The only question to answer in such circumstances is: Are you going to get back up? The answer is always, “yes.” If you’ve found yourself down lately, now is the time to get going again. A righteous man may fall seven times…
Is it OK to be lost?
Many social media platforms have adopted social agendas designed to attack Christianity. A recent Facebook ad showed a transvestite saying, “It’s okay to be lost.” Their message is that there is nothing wrong with homosexuality, lesbianism, transvestitism, and similar sins. If “it’s okay to be lost,” then it is okay to sin. That means no behavior is wrong. Hatred, envy, murder, adultery, theft—these sins are nothing more than personal lifestyle decisions. It is like the choice between vanilla ice cream…
Love in Action
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 God did not just tell us He loved us and then left it there. As the preceding verse states, God demonstrated, revealed, and validated His love for mankind by allowing Jesus to be crucified, thus bearing the sins of all undeserving people. After showing us the greatest act of love, He now commands us to love others. (1 John…
Focus on God
Hebrews 2:1-2 Most of the time we focus on what to do if things go wrong. We come up with contingency plans in case we are late for a flight. We sometimes even have redundant systems in place in case of failure. In fact, on the space shuttle, most of its systems are backed up by quadruple redundancies. That means five systems would have to fail. Most people live by this motto: We plan for something to go wrong, then…
Never Give Up
Jesus did not quit meeting with His disciples because Judas was a thief or because Peter was fickle at times. He did not quit preaching and living right, because some of His brethren were unforgiving and unkind. He did not quit His post of leadership, because He had in His presence the adulterous woman, a gang of Pharisees, nor narrow-minded demon worshipers. Jesus did not quit. Have YOU quit? What is the reason for it? Any reason you might name;…
“Law and its Necessity”
The New Testament confirms the importance of comprehending our own sinfulness. In the book of Romans, Paul spends three chapters (Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2; Romans 3) declaring the sinfulness of all men (Romans 3:23) before thoroughly discussing the way of salvation. Law is essentially a “tutor” (Galatians 3:24) of the receptive heart, given to teach the utter need for God’s saving grace (Ephesians 2:1-8). Without law and its penalty (1 John 3:4; Romans 6:23), grace is meaningless. And without man’s…
Dedication
When we obey the Gospel, we make a commitment to the Lord and are to dedicate ourselves to His service. “Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” (Romans 12:1) This personal sacrifice and dedication to the cause of Christ is now a lifestyle rather than something we apply only for an hour on Sunday morning. We’ve all known…
Everyday Blessings
Missionary Benjamin Weir was held hostage in Lebanon and imprisoned under miserable conditions for sixteen months. In his first interview after his release, he was asked how he spent his time and how he dealt with the boredom and despair. His answer stunned the reporters. He simply said, “Counting my blessings”. “Blessings?” they responded. “Yes,” he explained. “Some days I got to take a shower. Sometimes there were some vegetables in my food. And I could always be thankful for…
We All Need Jesus
A critical Pharisee once asked why Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners. The Bible says, “When Jesus heard that, He said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick’” (Matthew 9:12). When we are sick, it is to our great benefit to see a physician. This trained professional will look at our symptoms, diagnose our issue, and prescribe a course of action that will put us on the road to…
The definition of encouragement is to stimulate by assistance.
In other words, you can encourage someone by simply lending a hand! Remember Elijah, when he felt like “he alone was left” in all Israel? Remember the words of God, how He told Elijah that he was not alone? And what if good old Barnabas (whose name means “son of encouragement”) had never stepped in to speak up on behalf of Saul (Acts 9:26, 27)? Today, when we feel discouraged because we feel like we are overwhelmed with the work…
False Doctrine
False doctrine is very dangerous. It is designed by Satan to cause people to be lost. During His personal min- istry Jesus warned of false doctrine a number of times. In Matthew 7:15 , he says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” False prophets have the appearance of being legitimate since they are wearing sheep’s clothing. Their purpose is to destroy our souls. False doctrine is deceiving. We are warned…
Grow in Every Season
In August, David preached several sermons on the state of the church and what we can do about it. A real quick summary is that the church is in decline and what we need to do about it is share the love of Christ in an evangelistic way. I have often thought about what hinders me from evangelizing or keeps me from evangelizing as much or as effectively as I should. What is the root cause? In today’s cultural climate,…