Worthy Words

How long have you been living with the notion that you, Christ-follower, can’t win against sin? Can your sins be conquered? John makes it clear that Christ-followers do not have to sin. “I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.” (1 John 2:1) Here’s the secret to having victory over your sin— “walk in the light” (1 John 1:7). To be open, honest, and sincere is what it means to walk in the light. It was Paul who prayed in Philippians 1:10 that his friends might “be sincere and without offense.” The word sincere is from two Latin words, sine and cera, which mean “without wax.”   In the days of the Roman sculptors they would cover up their mistakes by filling in the defects of their marble statues with wax, which was unnoticeable until the statue had been exposed to the hot sun for a while. It was the more reputable sculptors who made sure that during the sale their customers knew that their statues were sine ceru —without wax . Churches and Bible study classes...

You should be excited to know that God delights in Christ-followers. When we are in the dumps or just not living up to our full potential in the will of God we tend to find it hard to come up with any reason why the Lord should take pleasure in us. That’s because we are not happy with ourselves. The evidence we draw from by groaning, being sinful, unfaithful, unkind, bad examples to other Christ-followers, and being otherwise deplorable, thoroughly convinces our consciousness that our imperfections and overall failures are proof enough that others wouldn’t enjoy our company much less God. It is at this point you must end your stinkin’-thinkin’ and turn to God’s Word. The glorious truth it contains transcends your present state of mind and brings you back to the reality of your relationship with the Divine. “God will rejoice over you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride.” (Isaiah 62:5) Say this to yourself; “The Lord rejoices over me.” Repeat it. Again! I’ve not read anywh...

Two vital factors validating Christ-followers will always be their life of faith and their walk of faith. Having a firm understanding of these factors develops a believable believer. True faith, a living faith, is never void of godliness because it is rooted in the righteousness of Christ. A life of faith is a life living for Jesus. Misery follows those who try to pursue one without the other. The apostle Paul gives insight into this concept by saying; “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25) Don’t be like some folks who are passionate about improving their faith but forget holiness. They become masters in biblical precepts but without holiness they are holding truth in unrighteousness. Don’t be like the Pharisees in Jesus’ day that passionately sought holiness in life but denied the faith. Jesus called them frauds— all nice a pretty on the outside but filled on the inside with all sorts of impurities (Matthew 23:27) . In religious gatherings th...

Mankind will always have finite knowledge. Honestly, there are things in this world that intentionally remain a mystery to even the most intelligent investigative minds. Infinite knowledge is God’s alone. If this is true concerning the things fixed to the world’s time-line—past, present, and future then we can be confident that it also applies to matters that are spiritual and eternal.   Bible Students torture their brains with all kinds of assumptions concerning end-times, predestination, election, and human responsibility. These are deep and expansive truths that elude our total comprehension. We are no more able to grasp theses issues than we are in determining the dimensions of the foundations of the earth. “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone?” (Job 38:4-6) Our curious fallen nature always want...

Our Revelation Bible study on Wednesday nights has awakened us to an ongoing reality that is not front page news in most churches of this age—that we are engaged in a great war with evil, (Eph. 6:12)!   Our fight is not with each other and the evil is not when bad things happen to us it is the war that rails against our relationship with Jesus Christ.   If we are not careful our ability to fight will be lost due to concessions that have lessened our faith. Failure to keep our weapons prepared and ready for battle will be costly in the end. The recklessness of Saul in 1 Samuel 13-15 demonstrated how he came up against the evil of his day, which was in the form of the Philistine army. The concession or decay in Saul’s character through pride, unbelief, impatience, and deception should be example enough for the church today and Christ-followers who become foolish in thinking all we have to do is show up and evil will flee. It was bad enough that Saul lacked men, but it was...