Christian Living / Judgement / obedience

What is your religion?

1 Kings 13.33-34 describes, after this happened, Jeroboam kept right on doing evil, recruiting priests for the forbidden shrines indiscriminately—anyone who wanted to could be a priest at one of the local shrines. This was the root sin of Jeroboam’s government. And it was this that ruined him.

Jeroboam’s root sin should be so familiar to us because it is so prevalent among us. What was his root sin, the sin we see everywhere around us and perhaps even within us? (more…)

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October 15, 2018
evangelism

God Wants Our Commitment Not Our Comfort

Matthew 9.13 records, I’m after mercy, not religion. I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders.

This ‘harsh’ word from God should cause us to pause and consider the importance of His message recorded for us so that we can know Him and do His will. God in Jesus is warning us, challenging us, seeking to penetrate our worldview so that we reconsider our ways and realign our priorities.

What does it mean to coddle? (more…)

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October 12, 2018
Christian Living / Judgement / obedience / Theology

What You Think Determines How You Live

Ephesians 2.1-6 describes, it wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.

We have to decide what we believe about ourselves and God for what we believe about these things determines how we live, and how we live, if there really is a God, determines our eternal destiny. (more…)

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October 2, 2018
evangelism / obedience

The Goal Of Christianity

Galatians 4.19 comments, Do you know how I feel right now, and will feel until Christ’s life becomes visible in your lives?

The key phrase here is ‘until Christ’s life becomes visible in your lives.’ This is the goal of God in the development of our character. We are to bear the fruit of the Spirit, doing the work of Jesus, in the way of Jesus, for the glory of God and the welfare of humanity. What does this look like? (more…)

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September 28, 2018
evangelism / Judgement / obedience

Passing the Eternal Test

2 Corinthians 13.5-9 challenges, test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it. I hope the test won’t show that we have failed.

In every endeavor where we measure performance we test. From academia to sports to the lab we test in order to determine strength, truth or ability. In Christianity, we tend not to test. (more…)

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September 24, 2018
Uncategorized

Responding To Difficulties Appropriately

2 Samuel 16.11-12 describes, my own son, my flesh and bone, is right now trying to kill me; compared to that this Benjaminite is small potatoes. Don’t bother with him; let him curse; he’s preaching GOD ’s word to me. And who knows, maybe GOD will see the trouble I’m in today and exchange the curses for something good.

David was immensely humble before God. He saw life’s circumstances as being part of God’s plan for his life – whether good or bad. David had received many good promises from God and many great evidences of God’s favor toward him. These things always took place in the midst of trouble and difficulty. (more…)

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September 21, 2018
Christian Living / Suffering

Discipline Helps Us Through Testing

Ezekiel 21.13 describes, testing comes. Why have you despised discipline? You can’t get around it. Decree of GOD, the Master.

The human condition is filled with trials and tribulations, some worse than others but none are immune from such experiences. It is because the world rebelled against God so many years ago, now the seed of disobedience reigns within it. Weeds grow, things break, animals attack, people hurt one another, hurricanes occur, the list goes on. Testing comes to all and all of us are tested at various times. (more…)

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September 18, 2018
Christian Living / obedience

The Key To A Healthy Church

2 Corinthians 2.9-11, reminds us, the focus of my letter wasn’t on punishing the offender but on getting you to take responsibility for the health of the church. So if you forgive him, I forgive him. Don’t think I’m carrying around a list of personal grudges. The fact is that I’m joining in with your forgiveness, as Christ is with us, guiding us. After all, we don’t want to unwittingly give Satan an opening for yet more mischief—we’re not oblivious to his sly ways!

The health of the church is the responsibility of each of the members. The key to church health is each member seeing themselves as having an ownership interest. How does a church remain, become and develop it’s health? By living according to God’s Word. (more…)

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September 14, 2018
Uncategorized

How Hard Are You Working?

1 Corinthians 15.58 invites, don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.

This is our mission, the Great Commission. We are to conduct this mission with our whole heart, throwing ourselves into this work, knowing that eternal reward awaits when we face our God and give account for the life we lived on this earth. (more…)

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September 12, 2018
evangelism / Prayer / Suffering

Does Dishonor of God Really Bother Us?

Ezekiel 9.3-4 describes, the Glory of the God of Israel ascended from His usual place above the cherubim-angels, moved to the threshold of the Temple, and called to the man with the writing case who was dressed in linen: Go through the streets of Jerusalem and put a mark on the forehead of everyone who is in anguish over the outrageous obscenities being done in the city.

How many people would be marked by God today who grieve over the dishonor so prevalent against God in our society? So many grumble about the lawlessness. So many shake their heads at the violence but who is in anguish over the godlessness we see in the news daily? (more…)

1 Comment
September 7, 2018