the.Sold.Out.Soul

Worldly encouragement is not the same as the encouragement we are to have for one another in the truth.  A kind word and a pat on the back is so much less than we should be able to offer the brethren.  We need a lot more from one another than that as we wage this spiritual war.

We hope now for the promises which are to come, visions of his word which will become reality.  But we are not left merely to hope.  One day, we will have all we await.  Hope will be fulfilled, and we will hope no more.

This Christian life is about surrender, which will require that we give everything to God.  This expectation of generosity and willingness to let go should not make us nervous or bring thoughts of scarcity and need.  God's abundance is revealed when we abundantly surrender all to him.

Esther, Mordecai, and the Jews of their time certainly had their flaws.  Yet, God used them in a mighty way, and we are still talking about it today.  For them, the question was simple.  Would they be willing to face death individually and corporately in order to save their people from annihilation?  History shows us that they would be.  Would we be willing to do the same?

Before the return of Christ, a great apostasy will occur.  Unpleasant but necessary, this is a stage of the Church's purification that we cannot ignore or dispel as some future event too removed in time from us.  The warning is there for all that great deception is ahead and that all are vulnerable.

We have covered this general idea recently, but there is a specific delusion among us resulting from people's desire to identify with anything other than God.  As the Church, I believe our job is to pray against the deception and wickedness which leads to God releasing this delusion.  He ultimately gives them what they want, but we can pray that they would want the truth.  Let us pray for those under the crisis of human identity to have their eyes opened and their souls saved.

Church unity means a lot of things.  If the Church is really united, we can walk into any number of buildings on a Sunday morning and be among God's people worshiping him together in Spirit and in truth.  It should be like family even if we never have met them.  I pray that we all have that.

We follow and serve a king, a prince, whose throne sits at the pinnacle of power and authority.  And yet, He lived as a man no less ordinary than you and I for very clear reasons.  Let us explore the holy need for the plainness of Christ the man.

On December 25, we celebrate the birth of our Savior, but this was not the beginning of his work. That birth does not mark the beginning of our salvation story. The victory already was secure before the foundations of the earth were laid. The eternal Christ has been ready and able to save since the beginning.

Yesterday might have been great, and tomorrow might be better, but what about today?  In the Lord's prayer, Jesus gives us insight into the value of each day we live.  Let us recognize the value of each day while we have the opportunity to do so.