Enjoying the Journey
Posts Tagged ‘selfishness’
Preachers Can Have Rebel Hearts Too
Long before I was a preacher I was a sinner. We would like to think that this changes over time, but I am still a sinner! One of God’s great preachers said it best: “O wretched man that I am!” (Romans 7:24). For sure, we should be sinning less but we are not sinless. Only Christ is that. Sometimes in the busyness of ministry, surrounded by so much religious context, we are prone to forget how wicked our hearts truly are. The flesh never gets better. It cannot be trusted. Deep within the most holy man is the unholy current of sin. There is in ALL of us a rebel heart. Sometimes it even comes out clothed in “preacher talk”…
Read MoreConsumer Christianity
American Christianity (which is a far cry from Acts Christianity) has done much to develop consumerism in the minds of the average church member. People shop for a church today. “Where can I be happy? Who has the best music and programs? What will my family get out of it?” I have a suspicion that when we gather at the judgment seat of Christ many modern Christians are going to be terribly ashamed in the presence of the martyrs, and even more kneeling at the nail-pierced feet of the Lamb that was slain for us. Ours is a Christianity of convenience and comfort. We have become consumers. The early church had no such luxuries. They were depending on the only…
Read MoreHow Sensitive Are You?
It is ironic that we are living in a world where people are easily offended by others and yet so often hardened to the needs of others around them. Such skewed sensitivity is really just the sin nature – the self-life on full display. And Christians are not exempt. Selfishness is often robed in church garb. It uses new language but thinks like the old man. The most deceptive, disgusting, destructive, flesh is religious flesh. That’s why Jesus reserved His harshest words for religious leaders who were hard on others but easy on themselves. How sensitive are you? The insensitive– This is the person who cares nothing about the needs of those around them. In a harsh world it is easy…
Read MoreMy First Sermon and What I am Now Learning From It
On a Thursday night in July of 1989 God made clear to me that He wanted me to be a preacher. I was 12 years old and full of fear about the future. Today I am more grateful to God than ever to be in the ministry. My first sermon behind a pulpit was given on Sunday, August 27, 1989. Several young preachers were speaking in an afternoon youth rally. My sermon was a simple one, taken no doubt from something that I had read or heard from someone else! “I Have a Secret” was the title. The Scripture I chose was the story of Paul pleading the case of Onesimus to Philemon. It is the story of a man…
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