mission

What Does Love Require?

December 24, 2018 by Tim Sherfy

In Andy Stanley’s excellent new book, “Irresistible”, he puts forth a question which sums up how we are expected to live as followers of Christ. The question is, “What does love require of me?” This simple question brilliantly sums up what Jesus declared to be the greatest commandment of the law and the prophets (“Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind”), and His command for the new covenant (“Love your neighbor as yourself”) (see Matthew 22:36-40).

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You can apply this question in every situation as you go throughout your day. It will change your interactions with people. It will alter your mood and transform your life. Oh, and it will drive you crazy!

New Covenant People

December 17, 2018 by Tim Sherfy

Ezekiel 36:26 says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” While there are certainly many implications of this prophecy, one I think is often overlooked is Ezekiel prophesying of the transition from the old covenant to the new. The old covenant (or testament) was a series of laws given by God to the nation of Israel. Most of these laws were engraved on stone tablets, so the people’s hearts were committed to following what was engraved in stone.

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The new covenant was ushered in by Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. He fulfilled all the old covenant. This new covenant was for all people, not only for the people of Israel. Instead of adhering to a series of laws, we are now commanded to simply love one another so we might reflect the love of our Creator.

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Choose Your Friends Wisely

December 13, 2018 by Tim Sherfy

Mark Sanborn is an author and speaker from whom I have gleaned much wisdom over the years. One of the things he has said is, “You acquire much of the thinking, mannerisms, and characteristics of the people you are around.” It happens without any conscious effort on our part. Look at your circle of friends. I’ll bet if you tried, you would identify habits, dialects, and preferences you did not have before you began hanging out with them.

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Photo by Duy Pham on Unsplash

It’s what bonds people together in a unique way. Relationships thrive or die on whether this form of bonding occurs or not. Of course, not all the traits you graft on to yourself will be positive. There is as much opportunity to be worse for knowing your friends than there is to be better for it, so choose your friends wisely.

Building God’s Kingdom

December 3, 2018 by Tim Sherfy

I think we sometimes get so busy trying to create heaven on earth we forget to build God’s Kingdom on earth. There is a difference between building a life full of comfort, security, and excess and building the Kingdom of God. When I look around my country and see the lives of Christians looking no different from those who have rejected Jesus, I can’t help but feel we’ve misunderstood the point.

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Building God’s Kingdom has nothing to do with Kingdom building in the traditional sense. We build the Kingdom of God by sacrificing the very things we would use to build our own kingdoms. When you look at your own life, does the evidence point to building the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of you?

Live a Countercultural Life

November 26, 2018 by Tim Sherfy

Where is the passion among followers of Jesus today? Where is the urgency of knowing the scores of people we associate with daily are doomed to spend eternity in Hell, forever separated from their Creator? We say we love Jesus and claim He is Lord of our life, but where is the evidence? By my observation, most Christians today are focused more on their own success and retirement plans than they are on the starving masses, enslaved children, and desperate lost souls in the world.

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Everything is assumed to be someone else’s problem. We’ll leave those things to the professionals and their organizations. All the while, it is we who are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus, a directive we conveniently ignore.