mission

Fear and Negativity

March 4, 2021 by Tim Sherfy

In a recent sermon, Pastor Craig Groeschel made the statement that “You can’t have a positive, faith-filled life if you have a negative, fear-filled mind.” Living victoriously for Christ begins in our heart but is quickly followed by the thoughts in our head. After taking the initial step of surrendering our lives to Jesus, we begin a lifelong journey of surrendering our minds. What we think about matters. It reveals what’s really in our hearts.

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If we claim to have the love of Jesus in our hearts but spend our days dwelling on negative thoughts and living in fear, it demonstrates we have not grasped the power of Jesus and the transforming strength of His love. The love of Jesus banishes fear from our lives (1 John 4:18). No matter in what circumstances we find ourselves, we know Jesus is with us. He goes before us (Deuteronomy 31:8) and will never leave us (Deuteronomy 31:6).

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Speak His Truth

March 1, 2021 by Tim Sherfy

In a culture that is ironically becoming less tolerant in the name of tolerance, disciples of Jesus must remember He calls us to continue to speak His truth to a world floundering in deception. Our calling is not to espouse political opinions or to pontificate on economic policies. Our calling is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and to bathe the world in His love (Matthew 28:18-20).

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It’s not wrong to hold opinions about things outside of God’s Word. Having opinions is part of what makes us human. But when we saturate our speech with more political rhetoric than Godly truth, we are going too far and fighting battles the Lord does not intend for us to fight.

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Be Alert

February 11, 2021 by Tim Sherfy

We don’t know when Jesus will return, but we know He will. As the days and years roll by, there is a temptation to grow complacent as we wait for Him to come and take us home. It becomes easy to believe that it won’t happen in our lifetime. But Jesus warned us to be alert because His coming could occur at any moment (Mark 13:35-37). In the same passage, He warns us not to be found sleeping.

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We are to remain vigilant, always doing the work of the Kingdom. There is no time to relax, no excuse for laziness in serving Christ. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want the return of Christ to catch me off-guard. This should affect every action we undertake and every decision we make.

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Tell Someone About Jesus

January 28, 2021 by Tim Sherfy

Much of what we discuss here is about personal discipleship. Almost nothing is more important in the life of a believer than growing in their relationship with Christ. But if all we’re doing is growing in our faith, we won’t be doing everything Jesus told us to do. Our primary mission is to reflect God’s light into a dark world, and we can’t do that well unless we tell someone about Jesus.

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The last command Christ gave before ascending into Heaven was to go throughout the entire world telling people about Him (Matthew 28:18-20). This passage of Scripture has come to be known as “the great commission”. Notice Jesus didn’t say to isolate ourselves, devoting all our time to prayer and Bible study. He said to tell everyone about the good news of His life, death, resurrection, and salvation.

Courage and Surrender

January 7, 2021 by Tim Sherfy

Beatrice Stockli was a Swiss missionary to Mali. She first visited the country in1998 as part of a mission’s team and ended up staying and ministering to the people there for many years. In April 2012, she was kidnapped by Islamist insurgents. After ten days of captivity, she was released and returned home to Switzerland for a brief time. And then, against counsel and the wishes of her family, Beatrice returned to Mali to continue to be the hands and feet of Jesus to people who did not know Him.

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In June 2016, she was again kidnapped by a radical Muslim group called Jama’at Nasr al-Islam. At some point in her captivity, Beatrice was killed by her captors. She died living out the mission of Christ. Hers was a life of courage and surrender. As we complain about the state of our lives, I wonder who among us possesses the courage and devotion to live a life as committed to Christ as Beatrice and so many other Christian martyrs have?