Today I want to examine a very intelligent creature. A creature that is so intelligent that Jesus used them in parables to refer to us. They are, of course, sheep.
Okay, so sheep are not the most intelligent creatures on planet Earth but they do know how to do something very well…they know how to listen to their shepherd’s voice and follow him, and that’s what I want to look at today.
John 10:1-5
1 “I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. 3 The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”
Continue reading ‘Hearing the Voice of the Lord and Acting in Faith’
It’s said that a good sports game is won by having a strong offense and a strong defense. The same is true in a battle. If you want to win a war, you must have strengths in both offense and defense. It’s not one or the other, but both.
The same is true with our Christian lives. However, I feel that most Christians are focused on just the defensive. After entering into a relationship with Jesus, they spend the majority of their efforts on staying away from temptation and sin by reading the Bible and praying for their own needs. Although these efforts are needed for a healthy spiritual life, they are defensive in nature.
So what does a good offense look like for a Christian? I would say it involves being led by the Holy Spirit in activities that impact the kingdom of darkness for God’s Kingdom of Light!
Continue reading ‘Gifted to be Led’
A.W. Tozer wrote an insightful piece entitled “We Must Hear Worthily” (part of his book The Root of the Righteous) in which he says:
It is carelessly assumed by most persons that when a preacher pronounces a message of truth and his words fall upon the ears of his listeners there has been a bona fide act of hearing on their part. They are assumed to have been instructed because they have listened to the Word of God. But it does not follow.
This is very true. How many times can each of us say we’ve sat and listened to sermons and yet don’t recall even the last the we heard; much less say that we were truly taught something that changed the way we live our day-to-day lives?
Now that’s not to say that every sermon has had no impact on our lives because some have! But what is the difference? Assuming that both sermons are taken from the Word of God, what makes one sermon a life impacting teaching and another just another forgotten preaching?
Some would say the difference is all on the part of the preacher; the way he delivers the message; the illustrations he uses in the message; the amount of emotion or humor that is involved; and so on. But I believe there is another element we need to consider…that being the hearer.
Continue reading ‘We Must Hear Worthily’
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