Rich & Poor

When government ignores the policies of justice and fairness, the rich become richer and the poor become poorer. Who know the government had such power over our wealth?

Late To Worship

People who are habitually late for church and arrive in their seats well after the worship has started have a problem. They don't really know who God is. If we truly recognize God for who He is, it will be impossible for us to consider being late for worship acceptable. Corporate worship is an obligation of Christ-followers and a privilege of Americans.

God's Love

We can't know the depth of Christ's love for us unless we come to grips with the fact that He knows us completely. Otherwise we would be fooled into believing that He loves the people we pretend to be - versus the sinners that we actually are. It is this knowing of God's love that ends up being the catalyst for real change in my life.

Love

Being loved is the most powerful motivation in the human experience. Our ability to love is usually shaped by our experience with love. So we usually love others as we have been loved.

God's Justice

When we cry out to God for justice, we must realize that we ourselves would be in big trouble if He dispensed it as we most likely have asked Him to. God usually doesn't give our enemies what we think they deserve. Likewise, He usually doesn't give us what we deserve either.

Love God

To love God means more than being enthusiastic about Him. We must complete all the work He gives us and we must apply His instructions to every corner of our lives. Anything less is not love for God.

Limits of Understanding

Sometimes we may ask God for understanding that we are not capable of possessing. It is possible for us to want knowledge that is beyond our ability to comprehend or accept. This could appear to us as if it is a failure on God's part to answer our prayers. But God can only give us that which fits inside our human perspective. The rest will have to wait for our spiritual renewal (in heaven).

Faith in God

Faith in the one true God does not offer short term benefits that would appeal to our sinful human nature. In other words, we cannot fulfill the requirements of Christianity and still be selfish or self-serving in any way.

Wrestling Truth

Christians - more than anyone else - should wrestle with beliefs. We must each get to a black-and-white understanding of everything. If we are looking for God's perspective on anything, that would be His perspective - black-and-white. There are no gray areas with God. There's no relativity. No questions about what's true or what's right - and what's not.

Most of us move toward God's perspective on things by asking Him to help us see, hear and think His way. We can also ask ourselves four (4) important questions as we wrestle with a belief.

1. Are there important facts that I am overlooking - or could there be important facts that I'm unaware of?
2. Is there any personal motive for me to take one position or another on this?
3. Does this conflict in any way with Scripture? Does Scripture support the position I want to take on this?
4. Ar there any Biblical parallels that would help me know what to believe?

Praise & Sin

We cannot truly praise God and willfully sin at the same time. That would be like going to be with a neighbor to celebrate my wedding anniversary. Our willful sin belies our words and reflects our true hearts. Willful sin indicates that I have not made Him Lord of my life.

The Mouth

The mouth can be used as a weapon or a tool ... hurting relationships or building them up. Most of us have received more words from others that are destructive. Every person is either a demolition site or a construction site. My words will make the difference in someones life today. My words will determine whether they are a demolition site or a construction site.

Going To Church

Attending church can be a chore or a delight. It comes a chore if we have unconfessed sin or lack a true love for the Lord. If we are close to God though, and have a proper relationship with Him, we will be eager to worship with others, to give tithes and offerings and to serve in His church.

Wisdom

There is a big difference between knowledge (having facts) and wisdom (the ability to apply facts to life). Without wisdom, knowledge is useless. Wisdom is a God-given gift that is only received as the result of an energetic search for God and His ways. God gives wisdom to those who seek Him. In fact, His wisdom is hidden from the rebellious, unbelieving, lazy and foolish people. None of them will ever become wise.

In the Valley

Psalm 84 speaks of walking through the "valley of weeping." Like the "valley of the shadow of death" (Psalm 23), I have often that as if I lived in those valleys. Yet there is a simple truth about those valleys in my life. It is that wherever I am walking (or residing) in my "valley of weeping," I am still a person who loves to spend time with God. And I see that those times are really opportunities to experience God's faithfulness all over again. They are, even when I'm not a aware of it, some of the most blessed times in my life.

Aligned Desires

A sincere desire to please God will always result in an alignment of one's desires with God's desires. You will love what God loves - and hate what God hates. If you love the Lord, you will hate evil. You will hate all manifestations of evil. And it won't be fun to sin any more.

The Powerful

Power used to lift the fallen and ease the burdens of the oppressed is power used well. People who are placed by God into positions of political or other power must not turn their backs on those in need.

Broken Heart

Lord, my heart is sometimes bitter, and my thoughts reflect sorrow and despair that I know isn't me. It's not my identity. But it causes me to look at others with scorn and to judge them. Sometimes it cause me to think of myself as better than others too. These are thoughts that I don't want to entertain. Yet they seem to come from nowhere. Father, search me and heal me where its needed. Call me to love others where its needed. And give me support where its needed. Move me from these unloving positions that I tend to take in life.

Favors From God

Oh God, I beg two favors from You before I die. First, help me never to lie - or be found to be a liar. Second, give me neither poverty or riches. Rather give me just enough in life to satisfy my needs.

Accountability

Obedience to God is of paramount importance. Simply put, there is nothing in life that is more important than obeying God. Rather than focusing on my entitlement or my rights, God is calling me to be far more accountable than I am familiar with. His vision for my accountability is far greater than I have even imagined.

And yet, Lord, You have blessed me richly. Your unmerited favor in my life and my love for You compel me to embrace your vision of my obedience and your standard for my accountability.

Basis for Greatness

When I fully understand who Christ is, my pride and self-centered ways will melt away. When I am content to do what God wants, and I am content to see Jesus honored for it, God will do great things through me. These things make up true humility, which is the basis for greatness in preaching, teaching or any other work I want to do for the Lord.

Effective Living

Effective living begins with a proper attitude toward God. Before religious words can come to your mouth, they must come from your heart. Let respect, humility, and servant hood characterize towards God and others. Only then can you begin to find the effective life in Christ that Jesus died to give you.

Keeping Up Appearances

Efforts that people expend on keeping up appearances (their bodies, homes, cars, etc.) are usually not the best priorities. That time and effort could be better spend finding the answers to sin in our life's and implementing course corrections to lead us into righteous and the character f Jesus Christ.

Ambition

While ambition can be a virtue in some people, it is easily perverted and is lost to good and righteous purposes. Inappropriate ambition is really just greed disguised as a virtue. As such, it is often accompanied by jealousy and even hatred.

Intentional Sin

Intentional sin, even on the part of adults, typically comes from an improper regard for God. Intentional sin results from an ignorance of who God really is. Put differently, it someone really knew who God is and who they are in Christ, it would be impossible for to intentionally commit blatant sin.

Child Defiance

A child who knowingly disobeys his or her parents challenges their authority and dares them to respond to that challenge. Both the act of defiance and the attitude of disrespect must be dealt with swiftly and firmly in order to lead that child to a better conclusion about who he or she is, who the parents are, and what boundaries are for.

Indifference Toward Sin

When the Israelites entered the promised land it was their indifferent attitude toward sin and evil that ultimately brought about their ruination. What will our indifference toward sin and evil do for us?

Worshiping God(s)

Idol worship is selfish because it focuses on what people can receive from that (false) god. The worship of the one true God, however, is just the opposite. God's true people are to be selfless - serving Him while expecting nothing in return from Him. We serve God for who He is and worship Him for all of His greatness an splendor. It is our appreciation for who He is and what He has already done that drives us to our deepest worship of him. We serve God for woe He is - not for what we can get from him.

Truth Measures

Truth cannot be measured by numbers or facts. It often stands against majority opinion or circumstances. Truth never changes because it is guaranteed by the nature and character of God - who is the truth. In fact, without Jesus, truth is not possible at all and is unobtainable by human beings. Without Jesus, life's deception would completely overwhelm us all.

Answered Prayers?

When you ask God for something and then get it, this does not mean He has agreed with you. If you have approached Him with a sinful attitude or asked with sinful motives - getting what you want may could prove to be costly.

Recognizing His Work

When a large body of Christ-followers is active for the Lord, He tends not to display His power in the form of mighty (miraculous) acts. Instead, He works through His people as they obey Him. When we realize this, we can begin to see the acts of God's love and power in more of the circumstances and learn that He is just as supernatural there and in that time as anywhere else in time or circumstances.

Worship Designed

In the Old Testament (particularly Leviticus) God establishes rules for Worship. It's set up on an orderly, regular pattern of fellowship with Him an and with other. It's God telling us how to celebrate our relationship with Him. Our worship today should demonstrate our devotion to God and our worship should be as purposeful as that which He designed for us centuries ago!