Blog Collections
Matthew 16:24-26 shows us how we can be rich towards God and it is by not saving our lives and hoarding possessions, but instead by losing our lives for His sake. For what do we profit if we gain the whole world, but do not gain Him?
In such a time, our ministries are being tested. If we yield to the philosophies and innovations of this age without question or spiritual discernment, we risk trading costly truth for cheap knowledge, and real power for empty forms.
Two men volunteered and their story is told in this book, “On the Missionary Trail” by Tom Hiney. Pastor Daniel Tyerman and Christian businessman George Bennett were sent out on a boat. They didn't know how long they would be gone to visit all the mission fields. It ended up taking 8 years! That's why this is literally the most important, exciting, and fruitful short term missions trip ever taken.
Through these valleys, God is simply saying to us again and again “Trust Me. Will you trust Me?” Each storm, every valley, every suffering is an opportunity for a deeper level of trust and growth in our God, our Lord and Savior, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and His word!
I would increasingly become curious about what God was doing and who we were like-minded with in Saint Louis, our Samaria. Surely, of all our churches in Kansas City, we are connected with someone in Saint Louis, right? The silence was always louder than I expected. So, I simply began to pray about the city and the many souls that dwell there; I had no interest in being sent.
Putting on Christ, however, is more than just making sure you proudly display an LFBI or Postscript logo on your clothing. Putting on Christ goes deeper; it is manifest in the sum total of our actions and overall countenance. Paul, in the book of Romans 13, clearly associates putting on Christ with the actions of the flesh. (Rom 13:14 - “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”) In this way, our “identity” in Christ is evidenced through outward manifestations.
Through this trip, God showed me how connected our Living Faith Fellowship churches are! Ministry runs on the rails of relationships. Our personal church history matters. I encourage you to take time out of your busy schedules to visit some of our sister churches of Living Faith Fellowship!
Earthly happiness is temporary, fleeting, and often dependent on other people and events outside our control… A life lived for earthly riches ends in emptiness. Fulfillment, however, is forever. When we Christians invest in others eternally, we will never lose that joy.
I just graduated from the University of Missouri Kansas City with a bachelor's degree in finance. Like most 23-year-olds, my plan was to begin a career, find a wife, and start a family. I had plans for my future and I was content with how everything was playing out. But then God opened up the opportunity to go to Kenya for a year.
Some churches could be strictly adhering to the traditional, costly model of training and sending missionaries overseas, while overlooking the Middle Eastern community in their own backyard. There is no contradiction in doing both, but unfortunately many churches are likely to be neglecting the Arabs and other Middle Easterners right around the corner. It looks like God has brought the mission field to us! The question is, “How do we reach the Middle Easterners here in the US with the gospel?”
When we think about Job solely as a story of suffering, we fail to see the bigger picture: this whole life and ministry thing isn’t about us. God wants to do something bigger and better in and through us by the refining fires we endure.
First, do we have a plan? Second, and just as important, is our plan flexible enough to allow God to participate and make changes as he sees fit? Finally, when he speaks, how long do we wait before responding in obedience?
…if we allow ourselves to be consumed by our devices, then we will undoubtedly be ineffective in the mission we have been given. If we are to make disciples of all nations, then we cannot be obsessed with ourselves. If we are to reach the nations, then we must live in victory over stress and anxiety. How are we to be workmen in the word, how are we to delight in and meditate on the book if we cannot give attention to it? We are barely scratching the surface on the effects of the internet on our hearts and minds.
Unfortunately, there are many believers who are caught up in a similar cycle. Instead of focusing on what God has literally said through his word, they choose to focus on what they assume God really meant. And their lives reflect their private interpretation through the immaturity of their relationships and the drama that seems to follow them wherever they go in life.
And that’s the beauty of pursuing righteousness—because preventative measures were taken, you never have to find out the consequences of a passive, wicked decision. Diligently and intentionally pursuing righteousness in our marriages is essential to fulfill our responsibilities to one another as husband and wife, and it will keep us from having to dig ourselves out of a hole that could have been avoided altogether.
The Christian is not promised exemption from suffering or sorrow; instead, Scripture guarantees persecution for the godly person. Furthermore, for the great heroes of the faith, Scripture records even greater amounts of hardship… But the greatest suffering was endured by the greatest one – Christ Jesus.
My liberty is not a liberty that says I can make a life for myself, make a name for myself, be whatever I want to be, have whatever I want to have, or change whatever I want to change. My freedom is meant for one thing and one thing only: to let Christ live through me, and that means I am to extend the love of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world, to selflessly lay down my flesh, my desires, and my hopes and dreams to love others, to fulfill the law of Christ!
What I can say is that it is of the utmost importance for every church to have a plan for training godly men and women to take the gospel to the world. This isn't a tertiary or passive endeavor, it’s a central and urgent endeavor.
While there are certainly nuances to which pagan deity or deities God was attacking with each plague, it is clear from the context of scripture that God was indeed taking aim at the pagan deities of Egypt with each successive plague. However, it is important to keep in mind that these plagues were not only a judgment on Egypt, but a sign to God’s chosen people Israel that proved the veracity of Moses’ ministry and their call to leave Egypt.
The more that you understand the ins and outs of English grammar, the more you’re going to be able to understand the ins and outs of the preserved word of God in English. Yes, you can understand great doctrines without being able to identify a prepositional phrase. But you can also get yourself into doctrinal trouble by misunderstanding how words in a sentence fit together.
“In our thinking, repentance is the business of the sinner or the carnal believer. So, if that is true, if the LORD repented of something, was it because He sinned? God forbid… the LORD’s repentance is not identical to that of mankind.”
Inclusivism suggests that since Christ is the solution it would not be fair for God to condemn those who never knew they had a problem, and, since we know he is good and fair, surely God would never condemn those who never had a chance to receive Christ. It would feel nice if this were the case, and we could assume most people are heaven-bound with a right relationship with God through their best efforts; however, those who preach the gospel would be pretty deplorable, the worst enemies of mankind—spreading the “good news” would be sending people to hell! But what does the Bible say about this inclusive logic?
The military will get chaplains but how many that enter will serve God and allow for the Bible to be their ultimate authority? The military is in need of godly men prepared, ready, and willing to share the gospel. Ezekiel issued a challenge to the men of Israel to stand in the gap in Ezekiel 22:30 saying, “And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.” I hope and pray that other men will join me to stand in the gap while Jesus delays his return.
If you are humble enough and attentive enough, you can learn something from anyone. And dare I say, God has something to teach you from your current local church, your current pastor, and your current spiritual leaders that he has put in your life.
John 13:10, “He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.” From this verse we learn that it is possible to have Jesus humbly clean you, and yet it still be your choice to receive cleaning. This is the story of Judas Iscariot.
From the one mention of Judas speaking, we see that Thaddaeus had a desire to see others have the same opportunity that he had. He wanted people to know Jesus Christ because he had a heart for those who were without a relationship with the Savior.
The zeal that Simon, called Zelotes, had was useful. We aren’t told what exactly he was zealous for, but we can assume that it was for the things that Jesus taught and commanded, otherwise he wouldn’t have been of much use to Jesus. What about us? What should we be zealous about?
If you are looking for material for your personal reading or the benefit of others, take a look at the lists below and grab a copy of something appealing.
We can protect ourselves and others from disillusionment and faithlessness by drawing near to one another as we wait on the Lord.