God's will

Renewing Your Mind

July 2, 2020 by Tim Sherfy

Disciples of Jesus are always going through the process of renewing their minds. The apostle Paul said we should be “transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). Renewing your mind means much more than replacing dreadful habits with better ones, old habits with new ones. The renewing is a restoring to what God originally intended. When Christ returns, He will restore all things to their original design.

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All of nature, all the animals, birds of the sky, and fish of the sea will be resplendent in a majesty we have never seen. They will be renewed into what they were created to be. It will be the same with humanity. God makes all things new (Revelation 21:5). Renewing your mind then is to be a part of what God is doing in the world. It is to be a part of His redemption story.

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Peace and Love

June 15, 2020 by Tim Sherfy

Amid insanity and chaos, it’s easy to lose our way. While it’s tempting to throw our support behind one side or another, we must remember the only side that matters is for us to be beside Jesus. He doesn’t choose sides in our human battles. He loves everyone the same. Jesus loves no matter the offense. Our call is to do the same and to be a light in the darkness. We need not hear or become another opinion in an already crowded sea of noise. We need the calming peace of Jesus.

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Our job is to be peace and love in the middle of the divisiveness that threatens to tear apart both our culture and our civility. No one is blameless. Jesus taught us that. There is no high road. There is only the road to life everlasting and the road to Hell. It is not ours to decide who is on which road because each of us deserves Hell no matter how right or justified we might feel.

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What is Discipleship?

May 18, 2020 by Tim Sherfy

I am becoming more and more bothered when I read prayer requests for discipleship movements. A popular refrain among churches today is they want to be creating disciples who create disciples who create disciples. This is a worthwhile goal. At the same time, if churches aren’t creating disciples, then what are they creating? What is it they were teaching before discipleship? I am convinced one who is not a disciple is not a follower of Jesus.

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To follow Jesus is to be His disciple. You cannot separate the two. To be blunt, to be saved is to be a disciple. You cannot be one without the other. For too long we have pedaled a cheap grace, allowing people to profess a belief in Christ without explaining the level of commitment a true confession requires.

Unified

April 16, 2020 by Tim Sherfy

Throughout history, we’ve seen times of trouble unify people around a common cause or enemy. In a divided world of hatred, offense, and self-interest, we could use some unity today. Perhaps something as insidious as a global pandemic will have the silver lining of unifying humanity, banding us together to fight the virus inflicting many and disrupting life as we knew it.

Only time will tell. What I do know, as followers of Christ, His call is always for us to be unified, not only when trouble abounds. Our unity is so important that Jesus made it the subject of His last prayer for us before He allowed Himself to be crucified (John 17:20-23).

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Marching Orders

April 6, 2020 by Tim Sherfy

We live in fascinating times. Watching the panic, surfing the ever-changing waves of information, and dealing with the very real fall-out from the situation at hand can rattle even the most stable. Nothing would be easier than to allow ourselves to get off our mission for God. There’s a rule in the military: until they receive a new order, the last order given stands. And so our marching orders have not changed.

Jesus told us to go into all the world telling others about Him (Matthew 28:19-20). He said to love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40). And He said to love and serve Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30-31). These are our marching orders, and the insanity of the times we live in do not overrule them.

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