Have you ever run away from the Lord and doing His will in your life? Have you ever refused to share the gospel with someone because you did not want them to experience the forgiveness of God? Have you ever been really upset with the Lord? If you said yes to any one of these situations, did you prevail over the Lord? The book of Jonah presents the prophet of God doing these very things during a season of his life. Despite all his efforts to...
Fight Worry by Becoming Rich Toward God — Luke 12
How many of you would confess, I worry about lots of things? You would say that fear, worry, or anxiety mark your life to one degree or another? Those of us who worry have our own style of worrying. Some of us worry about decisions to be made. Some of us worry about decisions we just made. Some of us worry about the how-tos of life. How to feed and clothe and how to buy and pay. And, some of us worry about everything — decision making and...
God’s True View of Faith and Doubt
The start of a new year always brings with it a measure of optimism. We get to turn the page, write new goals, plan for new opportunities, and perhaps take a fresh look at the important unfinished things of the past year. But, in the midst of your enthusiasm do you ever feel a cold wind of discouragement? As you look at the new year opportunities all you can see is challenge. Perhaps you feel the cold winds of a strained economy or maybe you...
God’s True View of Joy—Joy is Christ
Joy, it’s such a familiar part of the Christian life. We sing about the joy we have in serving Jesus. We talk about the joy that sustains us in troubling times; and we are eager to share the joy we have with others. But what do you do when you can’t seem to find one stick of joy in your life? What do you do when you are so numb with discouragement that you can’t remember the feel of joy? How do you know if any small ray of joy...
Feed Your World View with A BIG View of God
The OT Book of Isaiah includes a very strong polemic against the idols of heart that rival worship of the true and living God. Isaiah’s message in the latter half of his prophecy (Isa 44-48) is a preachment of the law that calls for exclusive devotion to the Lord our God (Ex 20:2-6; Dt. 6:4-5). In Isaiah 44 the authoritative message is that idol worship is foolishness. A godless life is bankrupt. The idolatrous graven images constructed...