Hebrews

What Keeps You from Being an Effective Christian?

June 16, 2025 by Tim Sherfy

What keeps you from being an effective Christian? It’s a question we all ask ourselves at some point in our walk. We want to be more consistent, more bold, and more useful to God in His Kingdom. No one surrenders to the Lordship of Christ and then endeavors to live out their days in mediocrity.

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But mediocrity is where so many believers, once full of fire and zeal for the gospel, live their lives. Why is that? What gets in the way of living a life worthy of our calling as disciples of Jesus (Ephesians 4:1)? If we can identify the problems, it can help us be alert to the tactics of the enemy and not fall for His tricks over and over again (2 Corinthians 2:11).

Who Do You Fear

May 29, 2025 by Tim Sherfy

Who do you fear more, God or man? Would God believe your answer? Every day, we all have opportunities to proclaim the name of Jesus, but how often do we seize the moment and do so? Why are we so hesitant to stand up for what we believe? I heard Paul Washer say, “If you have enough fear of God, you’ll have no fear of man.” The problem is we don’t fear God enough.

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That’s not a popular statement. We want God to be all love and forgiveness. We’re comfortable with that God. While He is the essence of perfect love and divine forgiveness (1 John 4:8), God is also terrifying in His level of wrath and righteous jealousy (Hebrews 10:31, Exodus 34:14, Nahum 1:2,6). If we had the slightest idea of the power of God, we would be terrified to seek His presence.

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What Will You Do With Jesus

May 26, 2025 by Tim Sherfy

Having a loved one pass away is a sobering experience. No matter if the relationship was one of loving intimacy or marked by pain and resentment, the loss is real. More than the loss, it is always a stark reminder of how limited our time is (James 4:14; Psalm 90:12). The countdown is on. We are finite creatures with a guaranteed expiration date (Hebrews 9:27).

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The question one must wrestle with in times like these is, what will you do with Jesus in the short time you have remaining? It’s one thing to lament the time wasted in our past, but it is unacceptable to waste the rest of our lives. Jesus didn’t suffer so that we could live a lazy life of ease and indifference (Romans 12:11).

The Price of Betrayal

May 22, 2025 by Tim Sherfy

Judas Iscariot’s price for betraying Jesus was thirty pieces of silver, or about six months’ wages (Matthew 26:14–15). How high do you set the price of betrayal? Most of us recoil at the question because there isn’t enough money in the world for us to betray Christ. We’ve read the book and know how that decision ends (Matthew 27:3–5).

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Knowing history, we learn from it and can avoid making the same mistake Judas did. Or can we? Sure, we’d never accept money to walk away from Jesus. Still, we’re setting the price of betrayal every day and almost always multiple times each day. It’s a gut punch to think about, but the truth often feels that way.

Already Dead

May 15, 2025 by Tim Sherfy

What God wants, and the world needs, is dead people. Being willing to die for Christ is the necessary point of surrender for all who profess Jesus as Lord, but it’s only theory until you take the next step. Plenty of people say they would die for their faith, but very few ever do. I’m not talking about physical death, I’m talking about dying to everything in this world.

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God doesn’t need another person who claims Him as Lord but can’t let go of the entanglements of this life (2 Timothy 2:4). Christians who are already dead desire nothing and nothing sways them. This world no longer holds a single claim on their lives.

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