Christian Growth

Got Hypocrisy?

~ Joe ~ 2 Comments

Wired.com had a “Green” eco-friendly article up the other day entitled, American Consumers Not As Enlightened As You Think. Although the article reported survey results and expert opinions regarding the automobile purchases of American consumers, I think the first two paragraphs capture the heart of the article nicely.

Hybrids? Pfft. Clean diesel? Who cares. Americans want cars with iPod integration, photochromic glass and capless fueling systems – whatever the hell those are.

Give people a choice between a fuel-sipper with a map in the glove box and a gas guzzler with in-dash navigation and most of them are going home in the car that tells them how to get there, according to a “snapshot” survey by MyRide.com.

The great thing about this article is that it’s true! Although the mainstream media purports that Americans are converting to “green lifestyles” and leaving behind their misguided fossil fuel habits, their purchasing decisions show the contrary.

Continue reading →

Where does your "energy" come from?

~ Joe ~ 2 Comments

FOXNews.com had an article posted yesterday entitled, “Energy Drinks – Do You Drink Them?” It was an interesting article from the “Whole Food And More” blog.

Although some people may drink energy drinks to keep them active and alert, I’d say the drinks are more about an energetic rush mixed with two parts of flavor and a pinch of social status.

Have any of you had an energy drink lately? There’s several (270+) to choose from.

Continue reading →

Being a Nearsighted Christian

~ Joe ~ Leave a comment

Have you ever had a project to complete around the house or at work and at some point during the project you lost your focus on it? What caused you to loose your focus? Distractions? Something more urgent? A lack of desire to complete the project?

Just as it’s easy to loose our focus on day-to-day projects, I think it’s also easy to loose our focus in spiritual matters. My hope is that this article will be the first of many that will show us how we can remain “focused” in living our Christian lives according to God’s will.

Wouldn’t it be great if at the same time we committed our lives to Christ He also gave us the map of his will for our lives?! Unfortunately He doesn’t do that…

Continue reading →

We Must Hear Worthily

~ Joe ~ Leave a comment

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 →

What Race are You Running?

~ Joe ~ Leave a comment

A simple scan down yesterday’s listing of the FOXNews RSS feeds reveals there was:
1 story about a parrot that could speak English
2 stories regarding pop/tv stars
3 stories about scientific/technical achievements
6 stories about politics/economics
7 stories regarding death/killing/kidnapping
7 stories about war issues
8 stories covering sex acts/sex crimes

Not necessarily uplifting news! But I think Kathy Griffin’s story truly showed the pulse of our society. I’ve included a few snippets of the story below.

Continue reading →

Other Ways the Holy Spirit Leads Us

~ Joe ~ Leave a comment

John 16:13 says…
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

“Other Ways the Holy Spirit Leads Us” is the fourth of four thoughts on how we can better prepare our hearts to hear from our Lord.

So far we’ve learned about three of the main ways the Holy Spirit communicates to us: through the inner witness, the inner voice, and the authoritative voice of the Lord. But there are several other ways also.

Continue reading →

Learn to be Led by the Holy Spirit

~ Joe ~ 9 Comments

Romans 8:14 says, “those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”

Every believer in Jesus can learn how to be led by the Holy Spirit instead of by their physical senses and circumstances.

“Learn to be Led by the Holy Spirit” is the third of four thoughts on how we can better prepare our hearts to hear from our Lord. Portions of the following were adapted from Kenneth E. Hagin’s book Following God’s Plan for Your Life.

Notice that I said learn how to be led by the Spirit. Knowing how to be led by the Holy Spirit does not come naturally right after a person accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior. Just as sheep have to learn to recognize the voice of their shepherd, so we have to learn to recognize the voice of our Lord.

Continue reading →

Stay Filled with the Holy Spirit

~ Joe ~ Leave a comment

If you’ve ever gone through life wondering if we can know what the will of God is, STOP wondering and know that you can!

“Stay Filled with the Holy Spirit” is the second of four thoughts on how we can better prepare our hearts to hear from our Lord.

When God seems to be less-than-descriptive with His plans for your life, know that you can always be a doer of His Word, and in so acting, you will be living in His perfect will for your life. In fact, sometimes when you just don’t know what to do, doing only what the Bible says is the best thing you can do.

Continue reading →

Consecrating Ourselves to God's Will

~ Joe ~ Leave a comment

One of the most common questions Christians, and even non-Christians, have is how they can know God’s will for their lives. I believe that we can know God’s will, direction, and purpose for our lives. I also believe that He is constantly trying to communicate with us but we’re just not listening or maybe don’t know what His voice sounds like.

“Consecrating Ourselves to God’s Will” is the first of four thoughts on how we can better prepare our hearts to hear from our Lord. Portions of the following were adapted from Kenneth E. Hagin’s book Following God’s Plan for Your Life.

Continue reading →