Let’s Not Complicate Things

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I think that we often over complicate the Christian faith. I believe in solid Bible scholarship. I believe that preaching should be biblical, theologically correct, practical and rooted in the reality that we face today. I believe that the Christian faith is challenging and profound in its own way. I believe that any teaching of the Bible should have depth and not just be one’s opinion with a verse or two to “proof text” the opinion of the speaker or writer. But I believe we have seriously over complicated the basics of the faith.

The Christian faith is about love. God’s love for us. God’s love in us. God’s love through us to others. It is not about human love often seen as kindness, generosity, and gentleness. It is not a ‘feeling’ love. We often mix up God’s love with a feeling we have when we say we love sailing or love hockey or ice cream. Love is a decision. God decided that He would love us regardless. God decided that when we come to know Jesus as our personal Lord and Saviour that He would pour His love into us (Romans 5:5). And, after He has done this then we can truly love Him with a God-love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). And because His love lives within us we can love others as He would and does.  Loving our fellow Christians, loving those who don’t yet know Him. And, hold on to your hat, loving even our enemies. 

Jesus said, “By this will all people know that you are My disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). All people – fellow believers, unbelievers, and those that hate and persecute us. This is loving others with the God kind of love known in the Greek language as Agapé.

And based in this love we can then accept other people just as Jesus accepted us. His acceptance of us was based in His love for us and not in something we did or didn’t do. Our performance. He simply accepted us as we were – yet knowing what we had done as well as who we could become and what we could do in His Kingdom. His is an unconditional love. Love without conditions. No-strings-attached love. And we are to then, from His love residing in us, accept others unconditionally. Regardless of their status in society, their education, their wealth or lack thereof. We accept them regardless of their history, their cultural and social background, or what they have done – the sin in their lives. Jesus came to love the sinner and so must we.

As we accept others they will come to experience the love of God through us. As they see that love and experience the acceptance they will, with the help of the Holy Spirit, draw closer to the Saviour and begin to experience His acceptance and love. This will open their hearts to the conviction of the Holy Spirit which will, in time, result in godly sorrow and repentance (2 Corinthians 7:8-10) which will lead them to salvation.

The third element in the basics of the simple but profound Christian faith is total forgiveness. When a person encounters forgiveness in their relationships with believers they will begin to experience, in a small yet significant way, the total and absolute forgiveness that can only be found in knowing Jesus. As they encounter forgiveness in their relationships with Christians they will come to understand that forgiveness is not only possible but available. In the world they did find forgiveness. Revenge, yes! Rejection, yes! Judgment, yes! Offences, yes! Hatred, yes! Only in relationship with believers will they taste the total and absolute forgiveness that they seek and need in life. Because we, as disciples, have experienced total forgiveness we can offer our forgiveness to others when they speak or act against us, hurt us, or reject us. A small taste of the forgiveness they will receive when they come to know Jesus personally.

This is the Christian faith – Jesus loves us unconditionally, accepts us just as we are, and forgives us totally – past, present, and future. We are called to be like Jesus and do the same in our relationships with both believers and non-believers. Love, accept, and forgive. Let’s not complicate it. The Christian faith is profound and deep but it is also simple and practical.

The LAF Principle – Love, Accept, and Forgive. 

Seven Deadly Sins and Seven Virtues 

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Seven sins & the Christian church

According to Christian tradition, the seven deadly sins (also known as cardinal sins or capital vices) could not be forgiven. However, according to the Bible, these seven deadly sins are completely and totally forgivable by God, but this doesn’t give us free license to commit these sins. Biblically, the only sin that cannot be forgiven is a complete rejection of God’s grace, which is outright rebellion against God—also known as blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

The root cause of these sins

Each one of these deadly sins listed above has its root in the desire for more and the human need for excess. Each sin goes against the root of Christianity which is: love for God, love for our fellow man, and love for our bodies (keeping them as clean temples for God, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Paul writes in Philippians 4:11-12, “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.” This strikes at the root of each of these deadly sins. Paul in effect is saying that God can take care of our needs and there is no need to lust or desire after excessive things.

What cures these deadly sins? Read more

Building Healthy Relationships

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I realized many years ago that we are defined by our relationships. You can actually trace your successes and failures to the relationships in your life.
Maybe up until now your relationships have not been as positive, rewarding, and productive as you’d like them to be. That’s okay, because you can learn how to build better relationships and increase your relational potential. You can actually cultivate healthy, stronger, long-term relationships that enable and encourage you to move forward in your life and career.
Here are some suggestions that you can apply to your life to move you forward towards healthier and mutually beneficial relationships…

Read more

Growing Your Potential As a Leader

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One of the motivational gifts listed in Romans 12:6-8 is the gift of leadership.

“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”

Leadership by simple definition is influence. And, everyone influences someone. Parents influence their children. Teachers influence their students. Small group leaders influence their members. Church leaders influence their people. Leadership is your ability to lift and lead other people. In many ways, everyone is a leader.

Your leadership ability and potential is not something that is inherent. It is not a given that is built into your character and thus unchangeable. You can grow in your understand of leadership as well as improve your skills and abilities as a leader and thus become a better leader. Your leadership potential is something that can grow and change. Here are some ideas that I work with as a leader as I work to increase my level of influence and thus impact in life and ministry.

1> Ask questions and listen to understand and find your people. Read more

The Missing Ingredient Is Character

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As I get older – I am in my mid-seventies – I am finding that my values are probably deeper and stronger than they have ever been in my life. And I am valuing the area of my character more than many other yet still important areas of life. And I am taking note of character, or the lack of it, in other people’s lives. 

Character is a word that we don’t think about a lot. In fact, often we are not even sure what a look at character truly involves. What are we looking for in a person when we comment on their character or are working to know their character? 

In my study of character over the years I have created a list of what I believe constitutes “character” in a person. These are the qualities I look at and look for…

I invite you to look over this character traits list and pick at least one of these good qualities to begin working on: Read more

You Spell Faith “RISK”

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Not everyone is a natural risk-taker. Perhaps you are facing a risky challenge right now. Maybe you are considering taking on a high-risk project. Or maybe you desire to do something significant, and you sense that something big but risky is on the horizon. Or you are considering taking on a project that will require you to learn new skills and go where you have never been (spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and skill set wise) before. I am currently in such a place and so have begun to think about what I am risking. Of course, I also see the hand of God and know that He is asking me to take a step of faith. You Spell Faith “Risk”
On the other hand, maybe you have been risk averse your whole life, and yo recognize how much it has held you back and limited your potential.
No matter what your circumstances are, here are some things you need to know that will help you to step out in faith and take more risks.

Read more

Sometimes I Find It Hard To Forgive

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Sometimes I Find it Hard to Forgive

Over the last 50+ years of ministering I have noticed that the number one reason for believers not growing in their faith is that they do not have a deep assurance that they are totally forgiven

  • Forgiven of everything in their past
  • Forgiven for any sin or mis-step in the present
  • Forgiven for any future sin or slip-up that might happen in the future 

And because they don’t feel forgiven

Because they have not – do not – experience this sense of freedom from the burden of sin and guilt

They find it very difficult, if not impossible, to totally and permanently forgive others….

Of course, this is deeply troubling.

Jesus said: Read more

  Sometimes I Don’t Pray Boldly

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Click here to hear the audio teaching

 

I want to talk about seizing the life God has planned for us

Too many believers play it safe and never seize real life

Last time we were talking about boldness and we learned… I hope we learned that:

BOLDNESS is behaviour born out of belief

In other words: If you believe in a powerful and sovereign God then you will be bold in your life as a disciple of Jesus

Today let’s look at boldness as it relates to prayer

Key thought: How you pray reflects what you believe about God

Key insight: Most of us need the spiritual gift of spunk Read more

SOMETIMES I DON’T LIVE A BOLD LIFESTYLE

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Click Here to Hear the Audio Teaching

I have been reading the book of Acts

Often referred to as The Acts of the Apostles when really it is a book of the Bible all about The Acts of the Holy Spirit

And, I notice, once again, the boldness of the apostle 

Men who were just normal people who were committed to following Jesus and spreading the Gospel of the Kingdom (Matthew 24:14)

We tend to make superheroes out of them – stain glass heroes – who were special and extraordinary when really they were just regular people like you and me

Their boldness is amazing Read more

Sometimes I’m Not Bold In My Conversations

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Sometimes I’m Not Bold In My Conversations

We have been talking about being bold

Doing so through the book of Acts in the New Testament – chapters 4 and 5

The story of the early Church and the first believers in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead

We have seen:

Boldness is behaviour born out of belief

How you pray reflects what you believe about God (bold prayers)

Today – let’s talk about boldness in the way we speak and what we speak about

There is a problem today in the Church:

We don’t want to offend anyone and so we are careful to be politically correct and thus we don’t speak boldly about what we believe

As a result: we decide that we are just going to let our life – the way we live – be a witness to others

It sounds good and is a good place to start Read more