salvation

Can You Be a Christian Without Being a Disciple?

February 13, 2020 by Tim Sherfy

I heard a caller on a radio show ask, “Can you be a Christian without being a disciple?” I have been wrestling with this same thought of late. Before diving in, we should define the terms, so we are all on the same page. The term “Christian” now means many things in our world, but for this discussion, I mean someone who has trusted Jesus is who He says He was and has surrendered their lives to His Lordship.

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A disciple, again for our discussion, is someone who is constantly and consistently pursuing Jesus, desperate to live their lives as He lived His. My inclination is to say you cannot be a Christian if you are not a disciple. I could be wrong but let me give you some reasons for my belief, and then I’ll say a few words about why I might be wrong.

Do Good People Go to Heaven?

February 6, 2020 by Tim Sherfy

Aaron Rodgers, the star quarterback of the Green Bay Packers made waves when he proclaimed, “I don’t know how you can believe in a God who wants to condemn most of the planet to a fiery hell. What type of loving, sensitive, omnipresent, omnipotent being wants to condemn his beautiful creation to a fiery hell at the end of all this?” Mr. Rodgers is misinformed about the God in whom he does not believe.

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Jesus was clear saying He did not come to condemn the world, but to deliver it from the forces of evil (John 3:17-18). We are saved from the condemnation Mr. Rodgers talks about by bowing down to Jesus as Lord and surrendering our lives to Him. Those who reject Jesus condemn themselves, it is not the will of God (John 3:18; 2 Peter 3:9).

Victorious

October 17, 2019 by Tim Sherfy

We all want to feel like a winner. Nobody wants to live their life in defeat. We fear failure because of the chance we’ll be labeled a loser. I submit we spend a large portion of our life focused on winning. We want to win in our relationships, with our finances, our career, and in pretty much any competition in which we engage. That pretty well covers how we spend our days. I dare say we might even be obsessed with winning. Otherwise, why would we spend so much of our lives focused on it?

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The best news is God has already declared you a winner. All things were created through His perfect Son Jesus, which means all things were perfectly created. You are the exact combination of skills, talents, and passions He created you to be. You are loved by the eternal King of the universe. That sounds like a winner to me. In Jesus, you are victorious before you ever begin!

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Going to Hell

August 26, 2019 by Tim Sherfy

In our day, the phrase “go to hell” is thrown around flippantly in anger. It is common for many to joke they are “going to hell” for something they said or did. Without a doubt, culture has done much to desensitize us to the brutal and horrific reality of Hell. We’ve allowed forces outside the authority of God’s Word to convince us the Bible doesn’t mean what it says. And we’ve allowed this to happen to the point Hell is now a joke at worst or at best a casual curse.

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Going to Hell is not a trivial phrase, it is the most pressing and urgent subject we need to address as followers of Jesus. Since Christ doesn’t want anyone to go to Hell (2 Peter 3:9), we should spend our lives doing everything we can to keep every person we meet from going to Hell.

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The Myth of the Sinner’s Prayer

July 18, 2019 by Tim Sherfy

I grew up in churches where an invitation was given at the end of every service. As part of the invitation, people were invited to receive Christ and were led through “the sinner’s prayer”. This prayer was holy and awesome. It was the key to the Kingdom of God, after all. While as kids you might have messed around throughout the service, you didn’t dare misbehave at this point.

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Variations of the same prayer have been around for a couple of hundred years and it persists to this day, although it’s use and invitations, in general, are far less common in churches today, especially those of the mega variety. There’s nothing wrong with saying this prayer. It’s one way to confess your need for Jesus. The problem is it’s not Biblical and it’s not enough.