The Good Shepherd did not leave the fold, fight the wilderness, and find the sheep only to leave and abandon it at will. Being one of His means being one of His forever. To devalue or doubt the doctrine of eternal life is to call into question the very existence of Christ!  You see, we have life because He is living.  If we can lose our salvation that would mean Christ has the capacity to die again.

Allow me to assure you of one thing, Christ will never die again, and those in Christ cannot lose what He has given …

There was a time in my life when I felt it was impossible, or at the very best unlikely, to please God. I don’t know if you have ever struggled with such a thing, but for me it was a spiritual reality. I considered myself one of the “O ye of little faith” crowd. I found myself in a religious cycle of doing this and doing that. The harder I tried, the more unsuccessful I felt.  I would do the “right” things but it seemed liked there was always room to do the right things even “righter.”  This led to …

It was an inconceivable task. Joshua had to mobilize, organize, and unify millions of people across the Jordan river into the land of Canaan. Leading Israel across the waters meant facing cities where the walls were built to the heavens. It meant fighting armies that were fortified and prepared for war. It meant struggling through the complexities of guiding an entire nation into a land where everyone was staking their own territories. He would have to do all of this as the successor of Moses, Israel’s great prophet and lawgiver.  I cannot image the pressure, the stress, and the responsibility …

The modern church-goer measures ministry by standards that are impervious to authentic scriptural growth. It is unfortunate that we have somehow misconstrued and minimized success to building size, administrative structure, and well-organized programs.  These things can certainly be results of spiritual growth, but they are never replacements for authentic spiritual health.

Duplicate or Define?

I suppose that is really the point that needs to be made: There is a fine line between growth and health. A church may be “growing” but not necessarily in the right way. Too often we try to replicate the results of “successful” churches or ministries …