It’s Not What We Do But What We Say That Offends People

John 16.33 records, I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.

Be courageous. What does this mean for us as Christians? How about, be willing to identify with Jesus before men regardless of what they might do to us, but especially when they persecute us. They persecuted Jesus, Himself God, when He lived among us. Why did they persecute Him? (more…)

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Who We Seek to Please Determines What We Do

Galatians 1.10 asks, am I now trying to persuade people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Paul identifies the root cause of our problem in the America Church. The culture has become increasingly distant from the person, character and work of Jesus Christ. The culture has now reached the place of hostility toward the Church. (more…)

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Is Your Strength Holding You Back?

2 Corinthians 12.9 records, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness. Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.

No one wants to be weak. everyone wants to be strong. We despise weakness and we worship strength. Yet the strongest of all, the greatest display of strength ever, we doubt, we ignore and we make little effort to worship, serve or obey Him Who demonstrated this great strength. What is that greatest of all strengths displayed? (more…)

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You Should Be Pursuing Wealth.

Luke 12.33 encourages, sell your possessions and give to the poor. Make money-bags for yourselves that won’t grow old, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.

Most people want to be wealthy. Being wealthy means an easier life, cool stuff, beautiful places, good food, etc. Everywhere you go in the world, people want to be wealthy. (more…)

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How Do We Know What is Good?

Romans 16.19 commands, I want you to be wise about what is good, and yet innocent about what is evil.

How do we become wise about what is good? We have to know what good is. In our arrogance, we all think we know what good is. We look into ourselves and create a self-centered, self-preserving, self-gratifying definition. If it works for us then it is good. (more…)

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Is Perfection Even Possible?

Romans 7.19-20 observes, I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one that does it, but it is the sin that lives in me.

There are some who claim that as Christians it is possible for us to no longer sin. I do not adhere to this belief. While I have been declared dead to sin and am recognized as such by God, it is not the presence of sin that is dead in me but the consequences of sin that is no longer condemning me and the power of sin over me has been broken. (more…)

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Being A Christian Should Be Hard

Acts 14.22 reports, strengthening the disciples by encouraging them to continue in the faith and by telling them, “It is necessary to go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.”

When we preach the gospel we promise people their lives will get better not harder. We want success in our ask not commitment to our offer. We get people to pray with us but few walk with us. We are doing it wrong. (more…)

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Being Accountable in 2019

Acts 15.4 observes, when they arrived at Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, the apostles, and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them.

There should be among Christians, an expectation, that the people of God accomplish something of the work of God. There certainly is such expectation by God Himself which will become clear to us on that day when we stand before Him, to be rewarded for the works we have accomplished for His purposes while we lived upon this earth. (more…)

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Acknowledging Jesus is the Key to Heaven

Matthew 10.22 promises, you will be hated by everyone because of My name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

This section contains one of God’s most stern warnings to us about His expectation from us to serve Him as witnesses of His work in the world through Jesus the Savior. He reminds us that we are to share Him with others but warns that in sharing Him we will suffer for Him, for even those in our own household will reject the Lordship of Jesus. (more…)

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