priorities

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).

Every Careless Word

June 12, 2025 by Tim Sherfy

Jesus said each of us will have to account for every careless word we speak (Matthew 12:36-37). No small, careless, or flippant word is small, careless or flippant to God. He hears and judges everything that comes out of our mouths. The Lord is holy, consistent, and always intentional (1 Peter 1:15–16).

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He demands the same from us (Matthew 5:48). Jesus didn’t waste words, but used every syllable to point people to the truth about who He was and to the majesty of His Father (John 12:49–50). The beautiful and cutting words of Jesus are life to all who will believe (John 6:63), but the foolish and wicked things we say and do result in our destruction (John 5:28–29).

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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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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.

Bless the Lord

March 27, 2025 by Tim Sherfy

We live in a noisy world and there is no end to things clamoring for our attention (Ecclesiastes 1:8). It’s all too easy to become distracted and even caught up in the cares of this world (Mark 4:18-19). Of all the things we concern ourselves with, the one that is most important is what most often gets pushed aside. We consume our thoughts with our temporal and immediate circumstances instead of focusing our attention on the eternal glory of our God.

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While we often pray for the Lord to bless us, how often do we bless the Lord? There is nothing worth having more than Jesus, and there is no problem beyond His ability to solve (Jeremiah 32:17). The Lord is the only One worthy of our praise, and the only object deserving of our attention (Revelation 4:11).

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