Romans

Choose Whom You Will Worship

November 11, 2024 by Tim Sherfy

Every day, you must choose whom you will worship (Joshua 24:15). There is the bigger picture about whether you will worship the one true God or pursue some false religion. Then there are the little decisions you make every day. With each choice, you will side with God or comport with the enemy.

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If we don’t develop the conscious discipline and habit of thinking this way, we are going to lose more battles than we’ll win. It’s easier to sin than to pursue holiness. We prefer to live the way we want to instead of following the narrow path that leads to eternal life in Jesus (Matthew 7:13-14).

Over the Line

October 31, 2024 by Tim Sherfy

It seems many Christians are always looking for that magical line in the sand that separates them from sin. They are careful about not going over the line. Their commitment to Christ means they will go so far, but no further. We put much effort into seeing how close to the line we can get without crossing it. Is that reflective of God’s glory?

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Living in such a manner is nothing but a more palatable way of saying you want to look as much like the world as you can without being part of the world. It’s the opposite of being devoted to Christ. We need to focus on how separate we can be from the world (Romans 12:2) rather than trying to see how much we can look like the world without sinning.

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One Life

October 28, 2024 by Tim Sherfy

Don’t waste the one life God has given you to bring glory to His holy name (1 Corinthians 10:31). Life is brief. It is not something that you can grasp, but vanishes like a mist (James 4:14). Like grass that withers after a short time or a flower that wilts soon after reaching the height of its beauty, so is your one life (1 Peter 1:24). It is here today and gone tomorrow.

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In his first epistle to the churches, Peter goes to great lengths to instruct us how we should live our lives in a manner pleasing to God and worthy of His glorious name. We have only one life and will do well to heed the wisdom in this letter.

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Victory Through Persecution

October 24, 2024 by Tim Sherfy

As we prepare for certain persecution in the not-so-distant future, we must learn all we can about what the scriptures have to say about this. One such passage is Romans 5:3-4, where Paul outlines the progression we go through to achieve victory through persecution: “And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope.”

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I exhort you to commit the passage to memory for its encouragement. As we anticipate a day when owning a Bible may be illegal, we should all be memorizing as much scripture as possible. Do not be lazy or naïve in thinking that will never be a reality where you live. God’s Word tells us the days will only grow darker (2 Timothy 3:1-5), so we must prepare before it is too late.

Rise Above the Hatred

October 10, 2024 by Tim Sherfy

The media and our daily experience inform us hatred is on the rise and becoming the prevalent emotion in society today. Never in my lifetime has there been such division across every line: political, cultural, racial, sexual, you name it. The informed and uninformed alike dig into the trenches of their viewpoints and refuse to accept or even listen to alternative viewpoints and ideas.

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Instead of polite discourse, every conversation today seems to devolve into shouting and interruption. Whoever shouts the loudest and longest is the victor. As Christ-followers, we are called to rise above the hatred and not respond in kind (Romans 12:17-21). If we act like and look like the world, the world will never see Jesus in our lives (John 13:34-35).