When Your Wallet Calls the Shots
We must realize that both God and money demand our total allegiance, and, as always, trying to devote our ultimate love or service to anything but God is sinful idolatry and always a rip off.
Luke
Today’s Cash & Tomorrow’s Credit
We must prayerfully and strategically spend money as managers of God’s financial resources, knowing that he will always reward integrity and a persistent focus on his priorities.
In Light of God's Financial Forecast
Knowing our lives and our earthly resources are fleeting, we must generously, strategically, and consistently use our money to open up evangelistic and ministerial opportunities that will make a difference for eternity.
Refusing to Be Complacent About the Lost
As God’s children we must never allow ourselves to become complacent about the plight of the lost, the hope of the gospel, or the urgency of our mission to reach people for Christ.
Astonished at God's Amazing Grace
Christians should regularly examine and contemplate the amazing grace of God that provides our salvation so that we might rightly worship and sincerely thank him for it.
Grateful for the Gift Repentance
Christians need be extremely grateful for the way God planned, orchestrated, and empowered our turning from sin and our calling out to him to be forgiven.
Grieving Over the Sinfulness of Sin
We must see sin for the grievous and scandalous rebellion that it is so that we can learn to rightly appreciate and celebrate the gracious salvation which God grants penitent sinners.
Rejoicing in a God Who Saves
Understanding something of God’s greatness and our sin, we should always be joyfully and humbly thankful that the Triune God would seek and save us.
Rediscovering the Joy of Evangelism
We must rekindle our passion for evangelism by recognizing heaven’s partnership with us to bring sinners to repentance as we tirelessly seek out those God has prepared for salvation.
Worldly Sensibilities & Godly Zeal
We must boldly and fearlessly make a godly difference in our daily environment, refusing to be conformed to the pattern of the world.
Worldly Comforts & Godly Sacrifices
Jesus, with every right to establish the terms, makes clear that to be on his team we must give up the worldly norms of managing our own lives and putting our own interests and loves above his sovereign leadership.
Worldly Busyness & Godly Obligations
We must be careful not to presume upon the grace of God by expecting his salvation without possessing a kind of faith that values him and his will above the other loves and loyalties of this world.
Worldly Profits & Godly Investments
Christians can and should live a life of extreme generosity as we cultivate a deep assurance about God’s promise to repay our engagement in selfless good work.
Worldly Ambition & Godly Virtue
Obtaining the grace of Christ and receiving the honor of service and reward in his kingdom all hinge on a humble awareness that we do not in any way deserve his favor, acceptance, or honor.
Worldly Religion & Godly Priorities
We can do a lot of self-serving and self-promoting in a cloak of religion, but true religion seeks to sincerely please God and will always drive us to give ourselves for the good of other people.
Feeling Godly Grief
We must seek to be zealous enough for God’s honor that we find ourselves selflessly grieving over those who reject the truth (with all its commensurate consequences) and sincerely rejoicing over those who repent.
Trusting An Invincible Savior
Just as we can trust that nothing could ever defeat God’s intentions in Christ to purchase our redemption, we should in turn be fearless in pursuing God’s prescriptive plans and purposes for our lives.
Accepting Hard Truths
While the hard realities of God’s just retribution of the lost in hell should sober us, we ought to sincerely rejoice in the gracious realities of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf to free us from that penalty.
Cultivating Biblical Optimism
We must be confident and optimistic about God’s indomitable plans to use us, the gospel, and his Church to build Christ’s kingdom which will be filled with all sorts of people from every part of the world.
Encountering Unjust Criticism
Because following Christ and living for him will inevitably give rise to criticism and slander, we must prayerfully discern when to respond and how to answer with wisdom and integrity.
Suffering in a Broken World
Even as regenerate children of God we should not be surprised at the pain and suffering in our lives because we live in a fallen world, which thankfully will one day be made perfect by the exercise of Christ’s power.
Producing Evidence of Spiritual Life
We ought to be amazed at God’s grace in patiently calling us to a genuine repentance and working in us a true conversion that necessarily brings about evident and lasting changes in our lives.
Knowing Genuine Repentance
We must see our absolute necessity to repent of our sins regardless of any sense of security we may feel based on a relative comparison of our sinfulness.
The Fear of Perfect Justice
Understanding that God is able to be gracious toward us because his perfect justice was satisfied on the cross should prompt us to be profoundly grateful and extraordinarily gracious toward others.
The Fear of Bad News
We must recognize human culpability before God when people ignore and reject his saving message because they stubbornly refuse to hear the truth since it is not what they want to hear.
The Fear of Broken Relationships
While one day all pain and problems will be behind us, for now we must draw strength from God’s family as we endure the sting of strained and fractured relationships that are inevitable because of our alliance with Christ.
The Fear of Responsibility
We will all be fairly and judiciously held accountable for our response to God’s call to employ our time, talent, and resources to serve Christ and advance his kingdom.
The Fear of Being Unprepared
We must make certain that we are personally and spiritually prepared for the powerful, glorious, and imminent return of Christ; and rightly be fearful if we are not.
The Fear of Having Nothing
We must spend no time or energy worrying about what we need, instead we should work diligently to advance his cause in this world trusting that he will adequately provide all that we might need.
The Fear of Not Having Enough
Money cannot provide the fulfillment and protection it appears to offer; those things come from God alone and must always be enjoyed by Christians as byproducts of pursuing him.