There are many things that God promises His children.

What God never promises, however, is tomorrow.

He never guarantees, any of us, that we’ll wake for another day. He does not hint that we’ll ever see another sunrise. “Annie” sang about her love for “Tomorrow” but God’s word does not say that we will get one.

And yet, don’t we all treat our lives as though we have, at the very least, one more coming?

Ah, the power of the “Father of Lies.”

No Promise of Tomorrow

There is an inherent danger in buying into this particularly effective lie; you may not have a tomorrow.

It is possible you will not have the rest of today!

Now, I say all this to scare you.

No, you read that correctly. I mean to scare you. I want you to start thinking of your life as an hour glass that was turned over 45 minutes ago, as a baseball game going into the home half of the ninth inning (better, the tenth).  Your time on earth is running out and God wants you to make the most of it.

Paul said it best in 1 Thessalonians 5:2 – “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.” He is telling us that we will not know when the end is coming. It will be a surprise. It will happen when we least expect.

So what does that mean for me and you?

[Read more…]

I find myself at a time in life where I am looking for a new church fellowship.

During the time when I was considering leaving my previous church, I began considering what is important in a church fellowship. It was consideration of these questions that prompted me to look for a new church.

No church does all of these perfectly. But if there is not the acknowledged desire to do them well, it is likely that the fellowship will suffer.

Here are the six questions that I will consider when I visit prospective churches:

1. Does the leadership and the membership demonstrate by their words and their actions that they are committed to obeying the First Great Command to love God with their entire being? It seems to me that if Jesus identified this as the first great command, it would be difficult to overstate its importance. Is this great command reinforced from the pulpit and demonstrated by the people who attend the church? Do I sense a love for God in their worship during the service and their dialog before and after the service?
2. Does the leadership and the membership demonstrate by their words and their actions that they are committed to obeying the Second Great Command to love their neighbors? Like the first command, it would be difficult to over emphasize the command to love our neighbors.  Do I observe love for others as I watch the people in the church interact with the community and with visitors? Do I feel loved as a visitor?
3. Is the church committed to the command to make disciples? How are they demonstrating this commitment? Can people in the church articulate the church’s process for making disciples? Does the church have a track record for making disciples who make disciples?
4. Is the youth program more than an activity program? Is the youth pastor committed to making disciples of the youth? Does he have a passion for the kids or is he viewing youth ministry as a stepping stone to a senior pastor position? I want a youth pastor that loves kids enough to interact with them with honesty and integrity. I want a youth pastor that will help me shepherd my children into the arms of Christ.
5. Are people in the church valued for who they are? (an extension of question #2) Are their gifts nurtured and appreciated? Are people turned loose to minister as God leads them? Is there a balance between freedom and structure so that people can minister without chaos? Do people understand their value to the church? Or, is there tight control over who can and cannot lead Bible studies or prayer groups? Is God free to lead the people of the church?
6. Does the leadership of the church understand and nurture a proper relational hierarchy? Does the church put family above ministry? Does the church value and nurture marriages? Or, does the church emphasize ministry so that marriages and families are strained? No child should feel neglected because his parents are busy at church. No spouse should feel jealous of the church.  When this hierarchy is neglected, heartache and/or scandal are likely to result.

[Read more…]

Editor’s Note: As with all of the Guest Posts written on this blog, the view expressed below on signs and wonders is not the view of the blog owner, but is published here to encourage dialogue and discussion on this topic. So leave a comment below!

We are to preach the Gospel not just with words, but also with power. Paul wrote: “Our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction” (1 Thess 1:5). God’s message is not dependent on the rhetoric skills of men, He empowers it with His Spirit.

And what does that power mean? It means signs and wonders:

I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done— by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So fromJerusalemall the way around toIllyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ (Rom 15:18-19).

The evangelistic strategy of Paul thus is to lead people to Christ through 1) What he says; 2) What he does; 3) The miraculous power of the Holy Spirit.

All three aspects of evangelism are needed. We need to preach the Gospel clearly with our tongues, we need to express the love of God in good deeds, and we need to let God confirm His Word through signs and wonders.

[Read more…]