Slowly the lights fade and the curtain is drawn open.  The stage is adequately prepared as the ornately-donned actor steps into the spotlight to dramatically pronounce his lines.  With clear and articulate enunciation, he calls the audience to attention. He is good. He is convincing.  He is even mesmerizing.  But he is an actor.  His real identity has been arrested by a role, a part…a character he has learned to play extremely well.  Sometimes in the private chambers of his life he cannot tell where he stops and the performer begins. He has a hard time engaging in real conversations …

An epidemic of apathy has filled the church. Consumed with worldly passions and pursuits, the modern parishioner gets more upset about a red light than he does the red flames of hell.  It’s not that we are lacking in passion, it is just that our passion has become misappropriated.  Instead of channeling our resources, thoughts, energy, zeal, and affection to the building of God’s kingdom, we have sidetracked our lives with the glory of our own empire.

 Self Centeredness and Self-Love

The root of apathy grows in the soil of self-centeredness and produces a harvest of indifference.  Serving God and …

Our generation is addicted to results.  Plain and simple.  From our social media posts to our grand and opulent buildings we measure our success and worth by the outcome of our endeavors.  It is the outcome, we surmise, that determines our level of success.  For example, if a video is posted online and it goes viral, it is deemed a cultural sensation, regardless of its content or substance.  If a meeting is scheduled with a maximum capacity in attendance, we consider that meeting effective, regardless of its spiritual depth.  We love numbers, we love statistics, we love the idea of …

Opposition is the birthmark of progress.  You’ve heard it said many times, “If you do not want to be criticized, laughed at, or scorned: Do nothing, say nothing, be nothing and have nothing.”  But if you want to have something, it will require doing something, saying something, and becoming something.  When the will is intentional, the warfare becomes intense.  What I mean to say is this: if you get ready to do something for God, the enemy will start working diligently to do something to you.

Every major Bible personality faced his or her fair share of opposition.  Some of …

189 references.  That’s how many verses came up when I typed the word “fool” in my Bible search engine.  To be honest, I wasn’t aware of the amount of space the Bible allots for foolishness.  It should have been no surprise however; since the fall of Adam, the world has been subject to foolish thinking, foolish living, and foolish dying.  Consider the following passages:

• Psalms 14:1 – Thefool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

• Job 2:1 – But he said unto her, Thou