God's will

Wonder and Delight

June 11, 2015 by Tim Sherfy

I was reading some of A.W. Tozer this week and came across this passage: “The God of the modern evangelical rarely astonishes anybody. He manages to stay pretty much within the constitution [of the church]. Never breaks over our bylaws. He’s a very well- behaved God and very denominational and very much one of us, and we ask Him to help us when we’re in trouble and look to Him to watch over us when we’re asleep.

wonder and delight,aw tozer,a.w. tozer,God's will for your life,gods will,cosmic santa claus

image © alepvfoto

The God of the modern evangelical isn’t a God I could have much respect for. But when the Holy Ghost shows us God as He is we admire Him to the point of wonder and delight.” When was the last time you felt wonder and delight when you thought of God?
[Read more…] about Wonder and Delight

More of God and Less of Me

June 1, 2015 by Tim Sherfy

I’ve often heard Christians say that they want more of God and less of themselves. It’s a noble but misguided prayer. The goal is not to have more of God and less of us, but rather to have all of God and none of us. This is more than just semantics. For too long we’ve misrepresented what it means to surrender our lives to Jesus.

more of God and less of me,more God less me,following jesus,surrendering your life,living for God,surrender,commitment,committed,Luke 10:25-28,Matthew 7:21-23

image © Christin Lola

When you surrender, you give up everything. Yet far more often than not, very little is surrendered to Jesus. We’ll make a few tweaks to our lifestyle, but significant and lasting change is rare. Following Jesus dictates a total surrender of our lives.
[Read more…] about More of God and Less of Me

Act on What You Know

February 16, 2015 by Tim Sherfy

grace vs. works,grace and works,take action,francis chan,James 1:22,Luke 9:49-50,God's kingdom,hearers only

image © tashatuvango – Fotolia

I love to learn. There is rarely a moment of the day when I don’t have a book in my hand or at least within arm’s reach. We have access to so much information in our world that you could literally spend your entire lifetime gaining valuable knowledge. While that’s great – and even enjoyable to those like me – it never amounts to anything if we don’t apply what we learn and do something useful with all of that information. This is perhaps no more prevalent than in our churches today. We have so many opportunities to learn more about Jesus, but unless we move out of the building and put into action what we have learned, it won’t account for anything when we meet God.

[Read more…] about Act on What You Know

Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

January 29, 2015 by Tim Sherfy

We’ve discussed similar topics on this site before, but it seems that every couple of months I start hearing this question repeated over and over again. Perhaps the evil that occurs so frequently in our world prompts the question. Perhaps it comes from years of being given no or unsatisfactory answers to the question. Regardless of the reason, I am repeatedly frustrated and amazed that so many otherwise learned and respected Theologians and Pastors continue to struggle and give out such bad teaching when it comes to the question of why bad things happen to good people.

All That Is Required

January 12, 2015 by Tim Sherfy

hugh halter,flesh,incarnation,love,love God,love people,Luke 19:10

“God never wanted converts, church attenders, prisoners, or parishioners.” That’s a quote from Hugh Halter’s book, “Flesh: Bringing the Incarnation Down to Earth”. It’s probably something we all know deep inside, but it’s not the way we act. I was brought up in an environment where an extraordinary focus was placed on ‘winning others to Christ’. I was taught that my primary job in the universe was to create converts, and my secondary job was to make sure I was in church whenever the doors were open. You could certainly argue there are far worse ideals that could be instituted into a young mind. The problem is this kind of teaching doesn’t do much to create people who look like Jesus.

[Read more…] about All That Is Required