James

The Bottomless Sea

July 9, 2015 by Tim Sherfy

C.S. Lewis once said, “Remember that the ‘bottomless sea’ can’t hurt us as long as we keep on swimming.” That’s important to remember when we are going through dark times in our life. Jesus never promised a life spent pursuing Him would be easy. In fact, He told us it would be anything but easy (John 15:18-20, John 16:33, 1 Peter 5:10, James 1:2-3).

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image © Paul Fleet

Still, it is easy to question where God is in the midst of our struggle. We feel as if we’re drowning and see no way to get back to the surface. I can think of no better advice than what Lewis gave: just keep swimming! God is always closer than you think. He’s right beside you, reaching out His hand (Matthew 14:27-31).
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Christianity is…

June 8, 2015 by Tim Sherfy

Christianity is misunderstood and misrepresented. Instead of a movement of people that act and look like Jesus, the word has been co-opted to identify people of a particular political bent who live a particular lifestyle. Christianity is not about people who claim they believe in God. The Bible says even demons believe in God (James 2:19), and no one would ever call a demon by the name “Christian”!

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image © AZP Worldwide

Christianity is not a list of do’s and don’ts; it is not about saying a certain prayer or attending a certain church on Sunday. Christianity is all about believing in, and replicating, the character of God. Christianity is first, foremost, and always about love.
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Act on What You Know

February 16, 2015 by Tim Sherfy

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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.

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Praying as Jesus Prayed

February 2, 2015 by Tim Sherfy

When Jesus taught His disciples what we know as “The Lord’s Prayer”, He gave us much more than a simple model prayer. Within these few short verses are the keys to God’s will for each of our lives. If you’ve ever wondered how you should pray, it’s in there. If you’ve ever wondered what God’s will is for your life, it’s in there as well.

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Want to know how you should treat others? Jesus articulated it in His prayer. Are you curious about how to have a right relationship with your money? You guessed it, it’s right there in the Lord’s Prayer. It’s a brief passage, so let’s break it down piece by piece.

Are You Comfortable In This World?

December 8, 2014 by Tim Sherfy

a.w. tozer,tozer,mission,comfort,discipleship,Matthew 25:31-46,Mark 12:28-31,James 1:27,Isaiah 58:6-7,Matthew 28:18-19,John 17:6-19,Matthew 10:22

Photo Credit: Stefan Poppelaars Automotive Photography via Compfight cc

I continue to be inspired by A.W. Tozer. Recently as I was studying some of his material, I read where wrote, “If you are a Christian and you are comfortably ‘at home’ in Chicago or Toronto, in Iowa or Alberta or any other address on planet earth, the signs are evident that you are in spiritual trouble. The spiritual equation reads like this: The greater your contentment with your daily circumstances in this world, the greater your defection from the ranks of God’s pilgrims en route to a city whose architect and builder is God Himself!” These are words that should cut us to the core. We have taken our eyes off of our Creator and have focused instead on material possessions and comfort. Do we think this course will end well?