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The Bible says there is evidence in the lives of those that claim Jesus Christ as their heart changing Savior by a measuring device called “fruits of the spirit”.
Galatians 5:22-23 These “fruits” include love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Nine all total.
Well, this week I encountered a set of circumstances that didn’t seem to be lining up with my expectations. So for about 4 hours within the walls of our townhome I proceeded to demonstrate just the opposite of what the “fruits of the spirit” are designed to reflect.
Now don’t call the police, …
Just A Little Bit Dead
By John Fischer
If you are anything like me, you have probably caught yourself trying to make your own sin out to be something less than the big sins that everyone else commits. You know, the biggies that are in the Ten Commandments like murder, adultery, stealing, lying … stuff like that. Certainly I’m not that kind of sinner. No, I’m a minor sinner. When I sin, it’s more like “sin lite.”
Thinking like this creates a ridiculous state of affairs when it comes to Christ dying for all our sins while we attempt to rationalize them. Sure I’m a sinner and …
Are you without sin???
Proverbs 20:9 Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin”?
As a Christian man, father and husband….I like to think that I lead a “good and clean” life, but after hearing this verse this past Sunday on our Life Group at church, I realized that no matter how “good” I may think I am, I will always fall short in the eyes of God.
This is something important I want to instill in my children…”always strive to do your best, but know in your heart you will always fall short in God’s eyes”.
Some people may …
Just A Little Bit Dead
By John Fischer
If you are anything like me, you have probably caught yourself trying to make your own sin out to be something less than the big sins that everyone else commits. You know, the biggies that are in the Ten Commandments like murder, adultery, stealing, lying … stuff like that. Certainly I’m not that kind of sinner. No, I’m a minor sinner. When I sin, it’s more like “sin lite.”
Thinking like this creates a ridiculous state of affairs when it comes to Christ dying for all our sins while we attempt to rationalize them. Sure I’m a sinner and …
A Resolution Worth Keeping
“For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2 NIV)
How are you doing with your New Year’s resolutions? You remember – that list you made a little over six months ago with two scoops of optimistic enthusiasm, sprinkled with unrealistic expectations, and topped with the cherry of knowing the list isn’t serious anyway.
One of my friends has started making honest New Year’s lists: “I won’t lose ten pounds this year,” “I commit to watching the Super Bowl this year,” “I’ll listen to my iPod at least four days …
Another Kind of Normal
By John Fischer
“Every time you forget that character is one of God’s purposes for your life, you will become frustrated by your circumstances.” — Rick Warren
Somewhere along the line, we got the idea that we deserve to have a relatively easy life. We have a very false sense of what should be the norm. If someone asks you how things are going and you answer: “Fine,” that is thought of as normal – the way it should be. If there is anything wrong, and you answer that question with a qualifier (“Fine, but …”), then it is assumed that your …
slow leak
My vehicle is equipped with a computer sensor which lights up a small gage on my instrument panel when one of my 4 tires are low on air. That particular light came on a couple of days ago … so I got out and looked carefully at all four tires. They looked fine to me. I certainly could not see a low tire or any cause for alarm. The next day I inspected them again and again found normal looking tires.
When I took my SUV in for an oil,filter,and lube service I asked the mechanic to …
Sing Now: ‘We Are Fam-i-ly’
By Jon Walker
“Love your brothers and sisters in God’s family.” (1 Peter 2:17b NCV)
We long to belong.
The Bible tells us that all believers “belong in God’s household with every other Christian.” (Ephesians 2:19 TLB) This means church is not something we go to, rather it’s something we belong to – a family of God’s people. It’s more than an organization, more than an institution, even more than a group of like-minded people.
We are a family forged by the fires of God’s love, and we are to “be devoted to each other like a loving family.” (Romans 12:10a GW) We are …
‘Off-The-Clock’ Christians
“But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you ….” (1 Peter 2:9 MSG)
Here’s the snapshot: As I write this, I’m sitting in a restaurant, pre-dawn, sipping on Southern sweet tea. (Who needs coffee when you can have the nectar of God? Ha!)
The restaurant is a chain you would recognize if I gave the name, and in a booth a few feet away from me …
A Look at "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins
Caution: This book is not for the spiritually wavering. If your belief cannot withstand a full-on assault—stay away from it!*
Richard Dawkins’ book, The God Delusion, spent many, many weeks in the top ten on the New York Times Best Sellers list and it sits at number 33 as I post this. It is unapologetically anti-religion, anti-Christian and anti-God.
Dawkins calls the God of the Old Testament a “sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully,” among other things, none of them nice. Dawkins carefully, thoroughly, argues against all the reasons people believe there is—or even might be—a God. He encourages atheists who are worried about …
