What Makes Us Great?

Luke 7.28 declares among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who isimage least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

Everyone wants to be great at something. When we are young our desire to be great usually focuses upon our studies, popularity, sports or arts. As we mature our desire for greatness shifts to our work or even our family.

We want to be great because we want to be the best because……why is it so important we always win? (more…)

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What We Must Do to Change the World

Mark 4.19 explains the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other thingsimage come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.

The lack of Christian vitality in the United States can be traced to the ineffective work of Christians to obey God’s command to make disciples. The Christian’s lack of effort can be traced to the three things that God warns will make us unfruitful if we pursue those things rather than the things of God.

If we are to recapture the hearts and minds of people for the things of God we must recommit ourselves to the work of God which is the implementation of His will on earth as it is in heaven. The command to make disciples, the objective of the Church, is evidenced by obedience to all the Words of God in Jesus Christ. (more…)

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Getting Help from God

Psalm 91:14 promises, because he loves Me, says the Lord, I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he imageacknowledges My Name.

While we live our lives most of the time without interest in God’s interference, frequently enough we experience life outside our control and want God’s help. Some have denied the existence of God or His goodness because during these times He did not show up in the way they wanted or felt they needed.

Like the small child who has a tantrum when told no are those who curse God when He fails to behave according to their desire. So what does it take to move God favorably upon our behalf? (more…)

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How to Know God Better

Isaiah 43.10 describes ‘You are My witnesses,’ declares the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He.image

How do we get to know God better and more personally is the universal question among those who truly believe in God. Religion provides a means to that end sometimes and in some ways. The disciplines of Bible reading and prayer are certainly helpful to knowing God better.

God wants us to accomplish our objective so has given us two clues for knowing, believing and understanding Him. (more…)

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Who is God?

Isaiah 33:22 describes the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; it is Heimages Who will save us.

How do we see God? What role does He play in our lives?

The great prophet Isaiah working in a culture similar to ours many years ago reminds Israel that God acts in four ways in our lives. (more…)

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Spiritual Development

2 Peter 1.10 exhorts us to make every effort to confirm our calling and election.images

Most evangelical Christians define a person’s salvation by whether or not they believe they are going to heaven if they were to die today.

The answer they are looking for is the confession that the person invited Jesus into their lives to forgive their sins and believe His promise to receive them into His heaven forgiven because of His gracious pardon obtained through His shed blood. Satisfied they believe a person is saved because they made the proper confession they move on never to think again about this salvation we or they supposedly obtain. (more…)

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Motives Matter

Numbers 22.32 observes I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one beforeimage Me.

When God’s not happy ain’t nobody happy!

The problem with the One True God is that He cares as much about how and why we do something as He does with what we do. This makes sense actually if there really is a God.

All the other religions, including Islam, place all of their emphasis upon outward behavior without regard for the motive of that behavior. In reality, we all have this propensity. (more…)

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Living Burden Free

Psalm 68.19 declares, praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, Who daily bears our burdens. Godimage bears our burdens.

Does that really make any sense? No other religion other than Christianity makes such a claim.

Surely allah doesn’t bear anyone’s burdens. Most gods place burdens on humanity forcing us to get better by their impossible demands.

Our idols have the same burdensome propensity. We beat ourselves because we are not strong enough, smart enough, rich enough or pretty enough so we keep working trying to pacify that voice in our head that is never satisfied. (more…)

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Welcome Home

Hebrews 10.17 proclaims their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.images

What if seeing God for the first time really was a welcome home party, sort of like when your parents welcome you home after having not seen you for months? What if God really did treat us like He knew nothing of our faults or failures?

How would truly believing these things transform our behavior now? Wouldn’t we begin to treat God like we do that person in our life who just loves us for who we are and cares nothing about our performance?

That is the kind of promise God makes to us; to welcome us into heaven as though we had lived a perfect life having never ever done anything wrong. (more…)

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