Christian Living

No one could have listened to John the Baptist’s preaching and left wondering what they were to do. John had a one-word message: Repent! John’s purpose was to prepare the way for Jesus’ ministry. Repentance—true, heart-plowing repentance—is the key to making room for the seed of God’s Word to take root.

Often in our ministry, we help people who are a mess. Their lives have been totally ensnared and virtually destroyed by sin and Satan. Helping these people overcome lifelong struggles with drugs, alcohol, immorality, pornography, and other issues is challenging and filled with discouragement. It is also wonderfully exciting as we see God bring victory into these sin-scarred lives.

There’s not a committed Christian in America who wouldn’t like revival. But I’m afraid there are few who are desperate for revival. We stand in dire need of revival, but we don’t always carry a personal urgency for revival. Much of the book of Lamentations is the cry of a prophet who sensed the immediacy of his nation’s need for revival. Yet his cry was one of anguish because the people to whom he ministered were content to live without it.

Over the years, it has become a common practice among certain Christians to treat others as if they are wearing either black or white hats, like the main characters in the old cowboy shows. Some will remember that the ones with the white hats were “the good guys” and the ones wearing the black hats were “the bad guys.”

God is in the transforming business. Metamorphosis is the transformation seen as a caterpillar emerges as a butterfly. The pupa stage begins when hormones are secreted by the insect’s brain compelling it to attach itself to a leaf or twig and to shed its outer skin layer revealing hard skin, or its chrysalis, underneath.

Sharing the gospel is a very controversial topic to most churchgoers. Most Christians would agree that we are to share the love of Christ. The controversy comes from the very few who actually do it. Curtis Hutson once said, “The only alternative to soulwinning is disobedience.”

Have you ever been disappointed as you learned the faults of great Christians? When you discover the flaws in a well-known Christian leader, are you tempted to discount the truths they have preached? I think all Christians go through struggles of this nature.

There is no verse that says, “Thou shalt not shoot up heroine,” yet we know it is sinful because of Bible principles. Likewise, the Bible is filled with principles which make gambling undeniably sinful. In this article, we will examine several of those principles from God’s Word.

When Jesus left this world He commissioned His church to go into “all the world” with the gospel message. This is more than just the message of salvation; it is also administering baptism and then training or discipling new converts. If we are going to be successful in doing what Christ gave us to do, churches must be planted in order to carry out the three directives given by the Lord.

If I had a nickel for every time I have to push past rarely-worn clothes in my closet…I wouldn’t have very many nickels. And that is by conviction. (That is, by a conviction about not having a cluttered closet, not by conviction about not owning many nickels. I have no conviction against owning nickels.)

Notice very carefully what John is saying to us (born-again Christians addressed as “little children”) in the First Epistle of John, chapter 2, in the first two verses. He is telling us by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit how we should deal with sin. But take note of what he actually says to us. Let us understand what he means by the context.

The early church was exploding with growth. One hundred twenty people met in Acts 1 and prayed for God’s power. On the day of Pentecost, three thousand were converted, baptized, and added to the local church. In Acts 4:4, another five thousand men were saved, and we see in Acts 5:14, “Believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.”

I’m going to postulate about your weekly schedule: it is too full. And I’m going to make another assumption: there is something you are regularly doing that can be removed. Am I accurate? If I was accurate on the first point, I can guarantee you that I’m accurate on the second. (If you’re not convinced, keep reading.)

On July 4th, 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote some of the most powerful words in all of history: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Sometimes I think multi-level and multi-directional thinking is a strength. It helps me quickly assess what needs to be done and to delegate. More often, however, I’m learning that it is a weakness.

When it seems that needs are piling up all around you and no one understands, remember that the Lord understands your needs: “Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite” (Psalm 147:5). Below, you will find a list of needs that many families in full-time Christian service (as well as many laymen) have, along with a Bible verse for each one:

“Standards,” or guidelines, that provide for biblically based decision making are the subject of much dispute both within and without fundamentalism. The reasons for this are myriad, but among them is a condemning spirit by those who hold standards different than our own, the abuse of adding to what the Word of God requires, and a failure to agree on what and where a particular standard should be.

My family thinks I’m a neat freak. I think I’m just orderly. (Well, maybe it is a little over the top to look forward to a day off so I can clean out my closet.) But in all seriousness, whatever your personality type or personal level of clutter comfort, disorganization and excess clutter will waste your time and focus. And worse, it is the enemy of availability.

In the tenth chapter of the book of Second Kings, we find a fascinating story of how the Lord used Jehu to slay the descendants of, and those loyal to, wicked King Ahab. In the process, Jehu met a man named Jonadab—a man who shared a zeal for the Lord and the heart of Jehu for ridding the land of any residue of King Ahab’s wicked reign. Together, they slew many wicked men and were used of God to fulfill His purposes.

Perhaps you’ve heard the suggested praise/correction ratio of 10/1. And perhaps, like me, you’ve found it easy to forget to be regular on the praise side of the ratio. Last summer at our annual staff training, my friend, Ken McCoy, was reminding our staff leaders to regularly praise team members. He shared a simple idea with us that he used when his children were small.