Thoughts on Christ and His Word

Recently I read the story of a rural South Carolina church that has about 200 members and a 200 year history. It had never sent out a missionary and not one of its members had ever gone on a short-term mission trip.  To their credit, they had given money to help other missionaries, but as to personal involvement they were a zero. A new pastor came in whose heart God touched in the area of missions.  As he explored the possibilities of doing some mission work, God led him and a few from his church to Mali, Africa.  Once they returned and reported that quite a few former Muslims had put their faith in Christ, the church got excited and more of them joined in future trips.  Teams from this church are now going to Mali about every six weeks to preach Christ and disciple those whom have believed. Each believer who goes to Mali must pay their own way – over $4,000 each trip.  Some have gone multiple times.  They’re not rich – remember they’re from rural South Carolina.  But what th

Have you ever thought of how cool it would be to rule the world?  To be the King or Queen of the planet? God created us to rule - not for our selfish purposes, but to help Him rule the world for his glory.  Consider God’s instructions to the first humans: Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." Genesis 1:26 Mankind was to “rule” over all the animals and over all the earth.  God created us to reign with Him. Sin entered the earth and we became bad rulers.  We killed each other, abused one another, and were possible tyrannically ruled over others for our glory, not His. But for those of us who have trusted in Christ and made him Lord over our life, we get to somewhat regain that original purpose.  We lead churches, small groups, ministries, and even Sunday school to e

“without faith it is impossible to please God” Hebrews 11:6 If we want to please God, we are going to have to learn to grow in faith. Even before my kids could swim I used to put them at the edge of the pool.  I would be in the pool and tell them to “jump, daddy will catch you.”  Then I would move out of the way and let them drown (just kidding).  I would catch them every time and then have them do it again. At first they hesitated to jump.  Fear griped their heart.  They weren’t sure they could trust me or if I was strong enough to hold them up and keep them from drowning.  But after one or two jumps they put complete faith in me, that I would not let them drown. Similarly God will also ask us to jump (stretch our faith) so that He can catch us and our faith will grow.  Stretching our faith involves attempting things for God in which success can only come through God’s power. Paul jumped when God asked him to be the Apostle to the gentiles – to go on missiona