James

Wasting Our Time

October 14, 2024 by Tim Sherfy

I have little time for small talk and even less patience for trivial conversations. It’s not that I’m a jerk, I just have a keen awareness of how little time we have left on earth. My focus is on making the most of the time God entrusts to me (Ephesians 5:15-16). I like sports. I have political opinions. But we have to talk about things that matter, things of consequence.

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Our conversation reflects what fills our hearts (Matthew 12:34), and if what fills our hearts are things having no eternal value, we are in serious trouble. We’re wasting our time on things that are passing away instead of investing it in God’s eternal Kingdom (1 John 2:17).

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Living a Holy Life

October 7, 2024 by Tim Sherfy

That persecution is coming is a certainty (2 Timothy 3:12). For many, it will be the first time you experience it, so there is an urgent need to be prepared. In studying the topic, I’ve come to understand that preparation isn’t so much in learning how to deal with what may come, but how to order your life now. Living a holy life is the ultimate preparation for withstanding persecution.

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Unless we have a foundation of holiness, each of us will crumble like houses made of sand (Matthew 7:26-27). If you want to stand strong in the fire, you must fireproof yourself before the flames arrive. The closer we are to Christ before persecution comes, the better we will withstand whatever form it takes.

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How Many Times?

September 30, 2024 by Tim Sherfy

How many times have you determined to live for Christ like never before? How many times have you promised Him this time you were surrendering for real? If you’re like me, over your lifetime, it’s more times than you can count. As I’ve written before, the ugly truth is we’re as close to God as we want to be. Our commitment is as deep as we desire it to be (James 4:8).

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There is almost nothing we can control in our lives, but how we live for Jesus is something we can control. To our shame, most of us choose to spend our time and energy in pursuits other than studying God’s Word or praying (Matthew 26:41). We can rationalize and make excuses all we want, but when we look in the mirror, each one of us knows the truth.

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The Authority of Scripture

September 9, 2024 by Tim Sherfy

Perhaps nothing is more foundational to our Christian faith than the authority of scripture. God reveals Himself to us through His Word, and any attempt to undermine or minimize the inspiration of God’s Word weakens our faith and conviction. We acknowledge and recognize that Jesus Christ is the author and perfector of our faith (Hebrews 12:1-2), and that the Bible is God’s Word given to us through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to instruct us in the knowledge of who God is and the way we are to live.

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Through God’s guidance, Paul teaches us that all of scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching and training the saints (2 Timothy 3:16-17). He did not say some scripture or even vaguely state that scripture was inspired, but made it clear all scripture is God’s Word. This means we can trust the authority of scripture over every area of our lives. From Genesis to Revelation, God’s Word is true.

Scenes From the Rebellion

September 5, 2024 by Tim Sherfy

Everywhere you look, you will see examples of our rejection of God’s Word. I call them “scenes from the rebellion”. All you have to do is open the scriptures and read the commands of God to see how we revolt against His design for how we are to live. Reading God’s Word is a giant indictment of our selfishness and desire to make ourselves higher than God (Romans 1:21-23).

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Today I was reading James where he writes, “… Everyone must be slow to speak and slow to anger, for man’s anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness” (James 1:19-20). It’s as if James was looking at our modern culture and writing down the opposite of everything we practice. This is how far we are from living in obedience to God’s Word. We are living 180 degrees from God’s standard.