It seems the chief end of some local churches is to exist. Maintaining the building, meeting budgets, and preserving attendance by making sure the congregants have a pleasant experience so they will not leave is what drives the decisions of many church leaders. There is nothing wrong with working toward these goals. They are fine as long as those … Continue reading Great Churches are Willing to Go Out of Business
What is God doing when he tests our faith? Why is it necessary that our faith be tested? What are some of the ways he tests our faith? How are we to respond in times of testing? I recently had the privilege of preaching a sermon called, The Test of Your Faith at Bethel Grace … Continue reading The Test of Your Faith
The world builds fortresses of falsehood. Secularism’s prophets are all around us. They speak to us on the news. They preach to us on social media. They weave their deceptions into the stories they tell us in TV shows and movies. Even corporations and stores attempt to become temples to these unholy delusions, and the … Continue reading Fortresses of Falsehood
There is a fear that will make you fearless. Many of God’s saints have gone through times that shook them with such terrible fright they felt paralyzed. These times usually involve getting a glimpse of the holiness of God. Like Isaiah, we tremble and come undone, but it is during those times we learn that … Continue reading A Different Kind of Fear
The following is a guest post by Troy Frasier. Troy is a podcast host and co-founder of Revived Studios. If we are unwilling to take a stand for Christ now, what makes us think we will do so when persecution hits? I was having coffee with a friend, and we talked about current events and … Continue reading Myth: Persecution Always Grows the Church
The world considers preaching to be foolishness, but God has ordained that preaching be the primary way of proclaiming his word. There has never been a great awakening of the people of God that was not preceded and accompanied by great preaching. By it, he confounds the wise. In this short clip from a sermon … Continue reading The Foolishness of Preaching
God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. – 2 Timothy 1:7 It seems many professing Christians live in fear of the world’s disapproval. This fear not only appears to be true of many churchgoers, but it also seems true of many church leaders. This is one reason … Continue reading The More the World Hates the Gospel, the More it Needs Us to Preach it
Suffering for Jesus is still a blessed part of living for him. There has yet to be a promise from heaven that says living a godly life would be easy in a fallen world. We should still expect persecution, but scripture is still able to to equip us for every good work. Read full story … Continue reading Breaking News From Heaven
A 30-second video has been circling the web for the past couple of days. It is a group of protestors surrounding a female bystander demanding that she raise her fist for their cause. There is much that could be said about this clip, but what some people have missed is the question asked of the … Continue reading When the Mob Asks, “Are You a Christian?”
Our culture seems to be described perfectly in 2 Timothy 3:2-4. It says, “Men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” As Christians, what is … Continue reading Confronting the Chaos of Our Culture with the Love of Christ
The Fight of Faith 