Galatians

Tell Everyone

November 28, 2022 by Tim Sherfy

Does the fact so many don’t know Jesus break your heart? Every morning when I pray, I bring an ever-growing list of names before the Lord. So many of my family and friends do not know Jesus as their Savior. The older I get, the more devastating this becomes. The number of people I know who don’t know Jesus convicts me that I’m not doing enough.

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What is it about my life that is not compelling enough for them to want Jesus? I know it is the work of the Holy Spirit to convict a person, and I should not take this all on myself. Yet the command of our Lord to go and tell everyone about Him looms large in my conscience as I feel the weight of my responsibility.

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The End is Near

August 1, 2022 by Tim Sherfy

Every generation has raised the alarm that the end is near. Whether it was war, famine, disease, or outright evil, proclamations of the end of the world have never been too far removed from the culture. Christianity has fed into this with countless so-called prophets predicting the second coming of the Lord. The Lord is coming back, but we know from Jesus Himself that no one knows when that day will be (Matthew 24:36).

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That means every prediction about the timing of His return will be wrong. You would think with so many proclamations of how short time is that Christians would have lived like it was true at some point. But even after hundreds of years of predicted doom, we still carry on as if we have all the time in the world to make things right. So what if Jesus actually comes back today?

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Don’t Be True to Yourself

July 4, 2022 by Tim Sherfy

For most of my life, I’ve heard people say we should be authentic and be our true selves. This sounds like good advice, but it’s the worst advice a follower of Jesus could ever follow. To be true to yourself stands in stark contrast to how we are called to live. It is prideful, putting our feelings and preferences ahead of God’s. The advice isn’t far removed from the way the serpent tempted Eve.

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He convinced her there was a better way than the one prescribed by God. The devil deceived Eve into believing she could be more than she was. It was the desire to be something more, something she believed to be truer to who she was that she shared with Adam. The rest is the unfortunate history of the fall of man and the source of all our problems today.

Fear God

June 2, 2022 by Tim Sherfy

Why do you fear God? Perhaps a better first question to ask is, do you fear God? Scripture commands us many times to live in the fear of God (Deuteronomy 6:13; 1 Samuel 12:24; Proverbs 9:10; 2 Corinthians 5:11; Philippians 2:12-13; 1 Peter 2:17; Revelation 14:7). So, it’s not a question of whether we should, but imperative that we must. With all the sermons teaching God is love these days, it may seem a bit out of step to be talking about fearing God. Humans do not typically fear those we love.

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But God is not just someone else we love. He is the holy, righteous, and glorious Creator of the Universe, the Lord of lords, and the King of kings. God is indeed the highest expression of love. John told us this plainly in his epistle to the Church (1 John 4:8). However, we do not serve a one-dimensional God. Every emotion is magnified and perfected in Him. Thus, jealous, zealous, and righteous anger are also part of who He is. To quote Jonathan Edwards, “… it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”.

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A Life Worthy of the Gospel

April 28, 2022 by Tim Sherfy

Throughout the New Testament, we are exhorted to live a life worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. To be certain, this is the goal of every believer. When we meet our Master, we want to hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23). Like Paul, we want to say, “We have fought the good fight and finished the race” (2 Timothy 4:7).

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But for many of us, it’s an elusive goal. We know we want it but aren’t too sure how to get there. What does it mean to live a life worthy of the gospel? Fortunately, God’s Word is very clear on what this looks like. It gives us a blueprint for how to conduct ourselves in the here and now, so we need not be ashamed when we meet Christ.