Grace, Patience & Persistence
We should give thanks for all of God’s kind provisions as we patiently and uncompromisingly stand up for Christ in our increasingly hostile culture.
Suffering
Seizing God’s Opportunities
We should look for every opportunity to be strategic and faithful to serve the needs of those around us, even when we are in difficult seasons of life.
Well-Meaning but Misguided Friends
We will have well-meaning friends who, out of love for us, will inadvertently tempt us to abandon the course of Christian obedience God has laid out for us.
Caring Less about Your Own Comfort
We must evaluate our competing desires to serve God and our own comfort, resolutely deciding to persist in fulfilling the particular calling he has laid on our lives as Christians.
Rightly Depending on Our Comrades
Active, strategic, and frequent encouragement among Christians is biblically essential and should be the priority for all of us.
Needful Lessons for Life’s Ups & Downs
We must revitalize our engagement in prayer, knowing we have access through Christ to bring our requests to a holy and omnipotent Creator.
Tenacious Endurance
A faithful and fruitful Christian life requires a tenacious endurance, which God supplies those who are resolute in trusting him and serving him.
Worship Always
The suffering of Job was intense. To bury all of your children after a catastrophic storm is doubtless a devastating pain that would cause many to shake their fist at God. Instead, as you know, Job did not. He did take on the ancient near-Eastern sign of a person in…
Question & Answer Service 2021-Part 3
Pastor Mike answers questions about God, the Bible, and Christianity. Questions in this session: 1. How do you transition from knowing about God to knowing God? 2. What is the best way to help people find the right path to live a life God wants them to live. (My paraphrase) 3. What is the best …
Pain and Suffering
Like any good parent, there are times when God brings difficulty, pain and loss to the lives of his children. The biblical reasons vary, but the hurt is always real. And when those times come it is good to remember
Motivated by the Martyrs
No matter how much pressure and opposition we get from our culture to be quiet about our Christianity, we must resolve to continue telling the truth about Christ and his gospel.
Suffering and God’s Plan
So often we are surprised that God “would allow” suffering, pain and death. But actually, these unpleasant realities are the promised outworking of God’s response to sin in Genesis 3. Our Creator has clearly and consistently maintained that the wages of sin is death – and all the painful
And Our Suffering
Being faithful and obedient to Christ in a fallen culture will always come with painful consequences for which we should be prepared and be willing to gladly endure for Christ’s sake.
Expecting Opposition
We must keep the prize of Christ’s growing and victorious church in view as we courageously incur any of the adverse consequences of engaging in the good fight of promoting the gospel in our generation.
Proclaiming Christ’s Power
We must be more attuned to the effects of sin in our world and boldly proclaim the power of a Savior who will not only instantaneously forgive our transgressions, but will one day reverse all the systemic consequences of sin.
When Our Light Shines in the Darkness
We must always remember that the biblical Jesus is an offense to the world so that we can remain joyful and resolute when our alliance and loyalty to him cause conflicts with non-Christians.
Evil in the World Cont’d
If God is a good and loving God, why is there evil, pain and suffering in the world?
Evil in the World
If God is a good and loving God, why is there evil, pain and suffering in the world?
Purpose Fulfilled
We should boldly, confidently, and prayerfully trust God is working out a good plan in utilizing our lives in a specific way for his glory regardless of how daunting the opposition might be.
Betrayed
When we experience the inevitable betrayal from those we trusted, we must give ourselves to prayer as we trust our loving and attentive God will eventually make things right.
When the Lord Seems Far Off
The present world will be filled with injustice that will often touch close to home and should rightly make us indignant, but we should not despair, but rather pray, knowing God’s coming justice is certain.
When In Doubt
Though painful circumstances and personal opposition may tempt us to doubt God’s care, we must recall his promises and his faithfulness and choose to live confidently as we rest in his good plan for his kids.
Sacrificing Like the Wise Men
The wise men, who sacrificially left their country to worship the Christ child, provide us with an exemplary motivation to sacrifice the world’s pleasures and comforts to follow and serve Christ.
Salvation in Perspective
We would do well to keep this sinful world and our eternal salvation in perspective, pitying the lost and joyfully anticipating the return of our glorified and exalted Savior.
God’s Good Plan
We must remember and wholeheartedly affirm God’s good management of all things in history, in life, and the future, confident that all things work together for good.
The Turbulent Intermission
We ought to expect a turbulent and hostile experience as we seek to stand with Christ and advance his cause in this world, remaining resolute, unafraid, and confident in God’s promise of ultimate deliverance.
Loving God’s Invisible Kingdom
Though the arrival of Christ’s visible kingdom is yet future, his kingly reign has begun over his people now, and so we must endure the present age with anticipation, devotion, and an evangelistic drive.
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.
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.