Romans

Lord and Savior

March 10, 2016 by Tim Sherfy

You cannot separate having Jesus as your Savior and living your life in obedience to Him. Christ cannot be your Savior if He is not your Lord. Yet there is very prevalent teaching out there insisting the only thing required of you is to pray a simple prayer and Jesus will then be your Savior. Not only is this a dangerous teaching, it is altogether unbiblical.

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The Bible says we must first make Him our Lord, and then we will be saved (Romans 10:9). It doesn’t say we can be saved and then perhaps make Him Lord of our life. Acknowledging His Lordship comes first and must be present if we are to experience His incredible gift of salvation.

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Loving Others

July 23, 2015 by Tim Sherfy

I was listening to a sermon by a pastor recently and heard him say, “I have no use for your religion when you claim to love a God you can’t see but hate your brothers and sisters who you can see.” It’s why religion disgusted Jesus as well. Religion of any flavor inevitably devolves into saying one thing with our lips but ignoring those same platitudes in our own lives.

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Religion defines a set of rules no one can ever keep. We will never be able to effectively share the truth with others as long as we insist they adhere to a set of rules Jesus never laid down.
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Living in Love

April 16, 2015 by Tim Sherfy

In a recent post (see “When All is Said and Done”) I discussed how it is vital that we live our lives with an eye toward retelling our story to Jesus. This is an important concept to grasp, because each of us will one day have to give an account of our lives to Him (Romans 14:10-12).

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With that in mind, I wanted to look at practical ways we can live to ensure we have a pleasing story to tell. This isn’t a list of “do’s and don’ts”, but rather a motivation that must invade every aspect of our lives. That motivation is love.
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When All is Said and Done

April 13, 2015 by Tim Sherfy

When all is said and done, all that matters is what you have done with Jesus. Your big house won’t matter. Your car won’t matter. How much you’ve accomplished in life will not matter. Almost all of the things with which we concern ourselves are temporary, fleeting, and useless.

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Our daily pursuits – outside of what we do for Jesus – are as futile as chasing after the wind (Ecclesiastes 2:11). It’s a sobering exercise to take inventory of one’s life and discover how much of it we live for ourselves, and how little time is spent on things that actually matter.
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Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

January 29, 2015 by Tim Sherfy

We’ve discussed similar topics on this site before, but it seems that every couple of months I start hearing this question repeated over and over again. Perhaps the evil that occurs so frequently in our world prompts the question. Perhaps it comes from years of being given no or unsatisfactory answers to the question. Regardless of the reason, I am repeatedly frustrated and amazed that so many otherwise learned and respected Theologians and Pastors continue to struggle and give out such bad teaching when it comes to the question of why bad things happen to good people.