Daily Life

Freewill and the Sovereignty of God, Part I

October 6, 2011 by Tim Sherfy

I should have known when we embarked on our “Tough Topic Thursday’s” that there was no way a single blog post on any subject would be sufficient! Today we will dive into the topic of freewill. This might get a little heavy, but stick with me; we need to lay the groundwork for the next week or two on this issue.

So many have questioned why bad things happen to good people or why a loving God allows evil in our world. To understand the answers to questions like these, we first have to understand the concept of freewill. Let me state first and foremost that God is sovereign over the outcomes in our world(Psalm 103:19; Acts 2:22-23; Acts 4:27-28); He is in control and no matter what occurs on earth, He is able to bring His overarching plan to pass. God is all powerful (Jeremiah 32:27; Revelation 19:6 ) and can bring anything He desires into reality. However, He chooses to give humans freewill and to work with them in bringing about His plans.

Pray for Water

October 3, 2011 by Tim Sherfy

For the next twenty-one days, Living Water International is inviting believers worldwide to pray with them for water. Over half of the hospital beds in the world are filled with patients who are there because of a lack of water or due to a waterborne disease. Water opens the door to sharing the Gospel. When you’ve provided the means to restore health to the children of a family in the name of Jesus, they are often eager to learn more about who this Jesus is. While water is something most of us in the West take for granted, it is a scarce commodity for nearly a billion people on our planet.

[Read more…] about Pray for Water

Should Christians Attend Church? (Part II)

September 29, 2011 by Tim Sherfy

To sum up part 1 of this post from last week (See “Should Christians Attend Church? Part I”), I do not believe attending a large building once a week is mandatory for followers of Christ. We as a body are the church, not any building, and I find that small groups and house churches more closely resemble the New Testament church than do the monolithic structures we commonly refer to as the Western “church”. From a financial standpoint then, if the church then is not a particular congregation but rather the body at large, what becomes of the tithe?

Will You Let Them Starve?

September 26, 2011 by Tim Sherfy

Regular readers know that I rarely write time-sensitive pieces, but today I must make an exception. A situation has been developing in the horn of Africa that requires action from those of us who claim to be followers of Jesus. With a severe famine plaguing the land, over 13 million people face dire food shortages. Making matters worse, food prices have been dramatically rising, making it impossible for these impoverished people to be able to purchase what they can no longer grow. World Vision estimates that 35% of all children in the area are already malnourished. Crops and livestock have been wiped out. Disease is running rampant. These dear people, loved by God and worth infinitely much to Him, need our assistance immediately.

Should Christians Attend Church? (Part I)

September 22, 2011 by Tim Sherfy

Our modern churches look very different from the early church in the New Testament. This is particularly true in the West. In America, our landscapes are dotted with mega-churches on sprawling plots of land where thousands of people gather to worship freely each week. Contrast this with the house churches in Asia where believers gather in small spaces under cover of the night in fear of torture and imprisonment if caught. The Asian churches much more closely resemble the early New Testament churches in virtually every way. With that in mind, does that make attending the safe, luxurious churches in America wrong for the follower of Jesus?