Intensely enjoying something does not necessarily make it into an idol. If the ability to experience a particular pleasure is God-given, and the way and time in which it is enjoyed is God-approved, it is safe to say that a Christian's enjoyment of it is God-ordained. Unfortunately, through two-thousand years of church history there have always been a number of accusing vo...

Yesterday we finished our series "Being a Wise Church: 7 Principles to Consider". But there is one lingering question that was not addressed clearly: How do I know when something that I enjoy and was once thankful to God for becomes an idol? How do I know when something that can be done out of worship TO God now becomes the object of my worship INSTEAD of God? For examp...

Have you ever had a season in your life in which it's become apparent that God is tugging at one, specific area of your heart?Well, I'm in one of those seasons. The Book of 1 Corinthians has proven to be one of the most influential books of the bible in my walk with Christ. At the start of this series, I remember first hearing the title "Church Gone Wild", and letting o...

The "spirit of the law" spoken of in the New Testament is revealed in a believer through the Holy Spirit, not through self-indulgence or self-righteousness, not, in fact, through "self"-anything but through God. Knowledge of the difference between the letter and the spirit of the law is at the very core of the new life granted to the children of God. It is part of the free...

"Those who use the things of the world should not become attached to them. For this world as we know it will soon pass away." -1st Corinthians 7:31 (NLT) The recent sermon from our current series in which the theme was "Life is too long to take marriage and singleness so seriously" was a convicting one for me. I believe the Spirit has been talking to me a lot lately about...

I walked away from Sunday's service feelingempowered; the sermon spoke to my heart. It sprouted in my mind memories of past experiences in which I let envy bubble and brew in my heart, and consequently allowed it to seep into my relationship with the Lord and with others (which is never a pretty sight...). Thanks to the Lord's great love for me, demonstrated through his ...

Discipline enables us to enter into, and be abandoned to, legitimate pleasure at the appropriate time. Lack of discipline leads to wrong pleasure being indulged in at the wrong time. A mistake Christians sometimes make is to reject the willful enjoyment of even that which is not inherently evil. The problem is not found in drinking deeply of delights that God Himself has c...

The sermon on Sunday ought to be preached in every church worldwide! Our three married children prefer to think that their parents are 75-year old virgins, but their mere existence proves otherwise. Since I know that preachers don't have time to say everything that could be said in one sermon, let me share several additional thoughts on "Flee from sexual immorality" (...

I think often the world distracts us, and draws our branches outward and attacks us from beneath. Our roots and the soil around them can be so easily twisted and wrapped up in nutrients we have been told we need by the world...and the scary part is, if we're not careful to keep Jesus at the forefront of our hearts, we won't even notice. Social media. Television. Our peers...

In recent weeks we have been learning about how to handle situations in which someone in a church fellowship is engaged in ongoing wrong behavior. Matthew 18:15-17 says,"If your brother or sister sinsgo and point out their fault,just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over.But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'ev...