Focal Passage: Zephaniah 3:9-20 Fear is an effective tool used by Satan to demoralize and discourage people, especially God’s people. Scripture repeatedly commands us: “Do not be afraid.” And yet, we fear anything and everything all the time: fear of loss, fear of man, fear of being without, fear of sickness, fear of death, etc. In addition, we don’t often think of replacing fear with joy. However, if our confidence
Focal Passage: Matthew 14:22-33 Words like discouragement, melancholy, depression and spiritual lethargy are cousins — word groupings that speak to the kind of mental and spiritual disposition that warrants our attention. The opposite of discouragement is the word courage without the prefix. Discouragement is the inability to think or act as we ought to. Courage, on the other hand, is the God-enabled ability to think and act in faith. Jesus
Focal Passage: Luke 1:26-38 Satan uses two tools to stymie God’s people: fear and discouragement. Fear causes a person to pause out of cowardice, while discouragement paralyzes us in inaction. Together these twin temptations can prove to be deadly to a person’s faith, producing faithless lethargy. In Mary’s story we see one of these sinister sins at work: fear. Yet, Mary confronts her fear with humble submission to God. Don’t
Focal Passage: I John 3:13-18; 4:14-18 If God’s sovereign purposes give us security over fear (Romans 8:28- 39), then God’s sovereign work in us enables us to replace fear with love. If we are secure in the love of an all-caring, eternal, providential God, then we do not have to be afraid. Replacing fear with love sets us free to serve others because we know we’re secure in Jesus Christ.
Focal Passage: Romans 8:28-39 There are very few texts in all of Scripture that are more comforting and consoling than Romans 8:28-39. So well known is this passage that even unbelievers who have no clue as to its origins can quote this passage in part, if not the whole. However, only the child of God can know and appreciate the depth of its meaning. These two verses remind us that
Focal Passage: Psalm 33:6-15; 18-22 We are a fearful people. We fear people, places and things. We fear the past, the present and the future. Economic, political, spiritual and physical fears plague our minds and hearts. Fear is a natural response to those things that threaten us. But too often we have misplaced fear. We have outlandish fear. As of last count there are more than 400 phobias or fears,
Focal Passage: Psalm 107:1-9 When we think of the types of sins that God will judge we do not often think of ingratitude being on that list. But according to Romans 1:21 ingratitude will be severely judged by God. And we have become an unthankful people in an unthankful nation. The french fries are not hot enough, the service is never good enough and we’re never thankful enough. Outlandish expectations
Focal Passage: Deuteronomy 6:1-9 Knowing and doing God’s Word are two legs of what ought to be a three-legged stool. To know God’s Word is key. To obey God’s Word is essential. But to share God’s Word is critical. Not sharing God’s Word is like keeping secret the single most important truth in the world. The simple truths of God’s Word are meant to be shared not hoarded for our
Focal Passage: Micah 3:1-12 Bernie Madoff was an entrepreneurial businessman who famously and fraudulently created the biggest Ponzi schemes in history, estimated at over 50 million. He had revealed to his brother and two sons, who worked for his firm, that his investment-advisory business was a fraud and nearly bankrupt. Madoff’s sons turned in their father to federal authorities, who arrested him the next day and he was later given
Focal Passage: James 1:19-27 Reggie Jackson was a highly successful, Hall of Fame, but controversial, baseball player from the late 1960s to the late 1980s. His arrogance attracted some and put off others. His confidence bordered on being narcissistic. But there was a reason he was called “Mr. October.” When it came to crunch time, Jackson’s words were matched by his production on the field. In other words, he did
Focal Passage: Zephaniah 3:9-20 Fear is an effective tool used by Satan to demoralize and discourage people, especially God’s people. Scripture repeatedly commands us: “Do
Focal Passage: Matthew 14:22-33 Words like discouragement, melancholy, depression and spiritual lethargy are cousins — word groupings that speak to the kind of mental and
Focal Passage: Luke 1:26-38 Satan uses two tools to stymie God’s people: fear and discouragement. Fear causes a person to pause out of cowardice, while
Focal Passage: I John 3:13-18; 4:14-18 If God’s sovereign purposes give us security over fear (Romans 8:28- 39), then God’s sovereign work in us enables
Focal Passage: Romans 8:28-39 There are very few texts in all of Scripture that are more comforting and consoling than Romans 8:28-39. So well known
Focal Passage: Psalm 33:6-15; 18-22 We are a fearful people. We fear people, places and things. We fear the past, the present and the future.
Focal Passage: Psalm 107:1-9 When we think of the types of sins that God will judge we do not often think of ingratitude being on
Focal Passage: Deuteronomy 6:1-9 Knowing and doing God’s Word are two legs of what ought to be a three-legged stool. To know God’s Word is
Focal Passage: Micah 3:1-12 Bernie Madoff was an entrepreneurial businessman who famously and fraudulently created the biggest Ponzi schemes in history, estimated at over 50
Focal Passage: James 1:19-27 Reggie Jackson was a highly successful, Hall of Fame, but controversial, baseball player from the late 1960s to the late 1980s.
