Suffering That Crushes Faith

“They have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.” (Mark 4:17)

The faith of some is broken instead of built by suffering. Jesus knew this and described it here in the parable of the four soils. Some people who hear the word receive it at first with gladness, but then suffering makes them fall away.

So, affliction does not always make faith stronger. Sometimes it crushes faith. And then come true the paradoxical words of Jesus, “The one who has not, even what he has will be taken” (Mark 4:25).

This is a call for us to endure suffering with firm faith in future grace, so that our faith might grow stronger and not be proved vain (1 Corinthians 15:2). “To the one who has, more will be given” (Mark 4:25). Knowing God’s design in suffering is one of the main means of growing through suffering.

If you think your suffering is pointless, or that God is not in control, or that he is whimsical or cruel, then your suffering will drive you from God, instead of driving you from everything but God — as it should. So, it is crucial that faith in God’s grace includes the faith that he gives grace through suffering.

John Piper

Is your mind telling you what's true?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“We are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:4

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I was in an airport one day looking for something to pass the time. I saw a virtual reality motorcycle ride. I sat down and buckled my seat belt as instructed. The screen came on and I couldn’t believe it. I felt like I was riding a motorcycle, but I was just sitting in a room!

Sometimes our mind tells us something is true when it’s not true. Other times when something is true, we fail to believe it’s true!

It’s so critical for us to focus on the truth! Jesus died for you. He lives for you. You died with Him. You live for Him. Day by day, you need to take those facts and turn them into faith.

ACTION POINT:

Tell yourself this truth today. Write it down. Post it all around you: You are buried with Him. You rose with Him. You can walk in newness of life!

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Suffering That Strengthens Faith

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. (James 1:2–3)

Strange as it may seem, one of the primary purposes of being shaken by suffering is to make our faith more unshakable.

Faith is like muscle tissue: if you stress it to the limit, it gets stronger, not weaker. That’s what James means here. When your faith is threatened and tested and stretched to the breaking point, the result is greater capacity to endure. He calls it steadfastness.

God loves faith so much that he will test it to the breaking point so as to keep it pure and strong. For example, he did this to Paul according to 2 Corinthians 1:8–9,

We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

The words “but that was to” show that there was a purpose in this extreme suffering: it was in order that — for the purpose that — Paul would not rely on himself and his resources, but on God — specifically the promised grace of God in raising the dead.

God so values our wholehearted faith that he will, graciously, if necessary, take away everything else in the world that we might be tempted to rely on — even life itself. His aim is that we grow deeper and stronger in our confidence that he himself will be all we need.

He wants us to be able to say with the psalmist, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:25–26).

John Piper

An ant on a piece of cheesecake?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“. . . the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” Matthew 10:30

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The Lord sees you. He knows all about you. And I guarantee you on the authority of the Word of God: He loves you.

When you realize we’re just specks on a globe that’s about the size of a grain

There’s no more reason for the Lord of Glory to be interested in us than that we should be interested in an ant floating on a piece of cheesecake in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Yet our Lord looks down and He sees us as cherished individuals whom He loves, one by one.

The great God that runs the universe is concerned about you as though that were His only goal.

ACTION POINT:

When was the last time you counted the hairs on your head? Can you trust a God who has them numbered?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Holy And Righteous One

You and I had a part in this evil.

The killing of The Author of Life, was orchestrated by our lineage.

It's true we weren't there but we are descendants of Adam.

Our rebellion goes back to the beginning.

14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,

15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.

16 And his name-by faith in his name-has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

17 "And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.

18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.

19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,

20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus,

21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.

22 Moses said, 'The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.

23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.'

24 And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.

25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, 'And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.'

26 God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness." - Acts 3:14-26

6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,

7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,

12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,

14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. - Colossians 2:6-15

29 But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men.

30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree.

31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him." - Acts 5:29-32

1 But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him.

2 It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath.

3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

4 But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.

6 Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun. - Ecclesiastes 9:1-6

God’s Plan for Martyrs

They were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. (Revelation 6:11)

For almost three hundred years, Christianity grew in soil that was wet with the blood of the martyrs.

Until the Emperor Trajan (about AD 98), persecution was permitted but not legal. From Trajan to Decius (about AD 250), persecution was legal. From Decius, who hated the Christians and feared their impact on his reforms, until the first edict of toleration in 311, the persecution was not only legal but widespread and general.

One writer described the situation in this third period:

Horror spread everywhere through the congregations; and the number of lapsi [the ones who renounced their faith when threatened] . . . was enormous. There was no lack, however, of such as remained firm, and suffered martyrdom rather than yielding; and, as the persecution grew wider and more intense, the enthusiasm of the Christians and their power of resistance grew stronger and stronger.

So, for three hundred years, to be a Christian was an act of immense risk to your life and possessions and family. It was a test of what you loved more. And at the extremity of that test was martyrdom.

And above that martyrdom was a sovereign God who said there is an appointed number of martyrs. They have a special role to play in planting and empowering the church. They have a special role to play in shutting the mouth of Satan, who constantly says that the people of God serve him only because life goes better. That’s the point of Job 1:9–11.

Martyrdom is not something accidental. It is not taking God off guard. It is not unexpected. And it is emphatically not a strategic defeat for the cause of Christ.

It may look like defeat. But it is part of a plan in heaven that no human strategist would ever conceive or could ever design. And this plan will triumph for all those who endure to the end by faith in God’s all-sufficient grace.

John Piper 

What is your passion? Your burning focus?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Do you know what the problem with many of us is? Our faith is something tacked onto our lives. Jesus said, “No man can serve two masters…” (Matthew 6:24). Do you believe that? You are to have but one goal in your life, and that is to know Jesus Christ personally, powerfully, passionately, and preeminently. Everything else will flow out of that.

You say, “But wait a minute. I’ve got other things to do! I’ve got a job. I’ve got to rest. I’ve got to have recreation. I’ve got to have friends. I can’t just narrow my interests to one.” When you bring your life into a burning focus, all of these other things will contribute to the main thing.

ACTION POINT:

What is the burning focus of your life? Make it Jesus, and you’ve made it! 

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Why We Don’t Lose Heart

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16–18)

Paul can’t see the way he used to (and there were no glasses). He can’t hear the way he used to (and there were no hearing aids). He doesn’t recover from beatings the way he used to (and there were no antibiotics). His strength, walking from town to town, doesn’t hold up the way it used to. He sees the wrinkles in his face and neck. His memory is not as good. And he admits that this is a threat to his faith and joy and courage.

But he does not lose heart. Why?

He doesn’t lose heart because his inner man is being renewed. How?

The renewing of his heart comes from something very strange: it comes from looking at what he can’t see.

We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18)

This is Paul’s way of not losing heart: looking at what he cannot see. What, then, did he see when he looked?

A few verses later in 2 Corinthians 5:7, he says, “We walk by faith, not by sight.” This doesn’t mean that he leaps into the dark without evidence of what’s there. It means that for now the most precious and important realities in the world are beyond our physical senses.

We “look” at these unseen things through the gospel. We strengthen our hearts — we renew our courage — by fixing our gaze on the invisible, objective truth that we see in the testimony of those who saw Christ face to face.

“God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). “The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” We see this as it shines in our heart through the gospel.

We became Christians when this happened — whether we understood this or not. And with Paul we need to go on seeing with the eyes of the heart, so that we not lose heart.

John Piper 

You're in good company: Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“O love the Lord, all ye His saints: for the Lord preserveth the faithful.” Psalm 31:23

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth were two of the greatest baseball players of all time. Ty Cobb was known for his record number of stolen bases, and Babe Ruth was known for his record number of home runs. What you may not know is that Ty Cobb was also thrown out more than any other man in baseball trying to steal bases. And Babe Ruth struck out more than any other man in baseball! These fellows didn’t let their failures stop them, and neither should you!

• Fix your goal. 

• Face your faults. 

• Forget your failures. 

• Failure in the Christian life is not final.

ACTION POINT:

Are you discouraged today? Or maybe someone you know is. Remind them (or yourself) of the promise in Philippians 4:13—“I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.” 

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

If You Don’t Fight Lust

Abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. (1 Peter 2:11)

When I confronted a man about the adultery he was living in, I tried to understand his situation, and I pled with him to return to his wife. Then I said, “You know, Jesus says that if you don’t fight this sin with the kind of seriousness that is willing to gouge out your own eye, you will go to hell and suffer there forever.”

As a professing Christian, he looked at me in utter disbelief, as though he had never heard anything like this in his life, and said, “You mean you think a person can lose his salvation?”

So, I have learned again and again from firsthand experience that there are many professing Christians who have a view of salvation that disconnects it from real life, and that nullifies the threats of the Bible, and that puts the sinning person who claims to be a Christian beyond the reach of biblical warnings. I believe this view of the Christian life is comforting thousands who are on the broad way that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13).

Jesus said, if you don’t fight lust, you won’t go to heaven. “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell” (Matthew 5:29). The point is not that true Christians always succeed in every battle. The issue is that we resolve to fight, not that we succeed flawlessly. We don’t make peace with sin. We make war.

The stakes are much higher than whether the world is blown up by a thousand long-range missiles, or terrorists bomb your city, or global warming melts the ice caps, or AIDS sweeps the nations. All these calamities can kill only the body. But if we don’t fight lust, we lose our souls. Forever.

Peter says the passions of the flesh wage war against our souls (1 Peter 2:11). The stakes in this war are infinitely higher than in any threat of world war or terrorism. The apostle Paul listed “immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness,” then said it is “on account of these the wrath of God is coming” (Colossians 3:5–6). And the wrath of God is immeasurably more fearful than the wrath of all the nations of the world put together.

May God give us grace to take our souls and others’ souls seriously and keep up the fight.

John Piper 

Is your GPS out of whack?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“But whoso keepeth His word, in Him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him.” 1 John 2:5

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The word “keepeth” in 1 John is a derivative of a word that sailors used years ago to refer to their practice of steering their course by “keeping” the stars.

This did not mean, of course, that a sailor would not be blown off course or that he might not over-steer. It didn't mean that he might not nod at the wheel or somehow be distracted, or fail to keep a perfect chart. But the goal, the aim, the desire, the controlling principle in his life were those stars. He knew that in them he could find direction to his destination.

In the same way, John says God’s commandments are to be the standard by which you and I chart our course in life.

ACTION POINT:

What is determining your steps today? God’s Word? Or your word? David wrote, “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. (Psalm 119:105).

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

What It Means to Love Money

The love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. (1 Timothy 6:10)

What did Paul mean when he wrote this? He couldn’t have meant that money is always on your mind when you sin. A lot of sin happens when we are not thinking about money.

My suggestion is this: he meant that all the evils in the world come from a certain kind of heart, namely, the kind of heart that loves money.

So what does it mean to love money? It doesn’t mean to admire the green paper or the copper coins or the silver shekels. To know what it means to love money, you have to ask, What is money? I would answer that question like this: Money is simply a symbol that stands for human resources. Money stands for what you can get from man — other human beings — instead of God.

God deals in the currency of grace, not money: “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!” (Isaiah 55:1). Money is the currency of human resources. So, the heart that loves money is a heart that pins its hopes, and pursues its pleasures, and puts its trust in what human resources can offer.

So, the love of money is virtually the same as faith in money — belief (trust, confidence, assurance) that money will meet your needs and make you happy.

Love of money is the alternative to faith in God’s future grace. It is faith in future human resources — the kind of thing you can obtain or secure with money. Therefore the love of money, or trust in money, is the underside of unbelief in the promises of God. Jesus said in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. . . . You cannot serve God and money.”

You can’t trust in God and in money at the same time. Belief in one is unbelief in the other. A heart that loves money — that banks on money for happiness — is not banking on all that God is for us in Jesus as the satisfaction of our souls.

John Piper 

Do you ever apologize for the Bible?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword.” Hebrews 4:12

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

I have found that when you don’t apologize for the Bible but accept and teach the Bible, it goes through the devil’s lies like a white-hot cannonball through a crate of eggs.

There is power in the Word of God, and Satan does not want you to understand the authority of the Word of God. He doesn’t want you to get the power that will divert his fiery attacks away from your heart — his prime target. When the Word of the Lord and the Lord of the Word become your authority, then Satan and all of his demonic forces will flee, and you are going to have authority for your life.

ACTION POINT:

How is the Word of God penetrating your heart? Are you even allowing it to do so? Take a few minutes and ask God to begin a mighty work in you through the power of His Word.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Satan’s Strategy and Your Defense

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith. (1 Peter 5:8–9)

The two great enemies of our souls are sin and Satan. And sin is the worst enemy, because the only way that Satan can destroy us is by getting us to sin, and keeping us from repenting. The only thing that damns us is unforgiven sin. Not Satan.

God may give him leash enough to rough us up, the way he did Job, or even to kill us, the way he did the saints in Smyrna (Revelation 2:10); but Satan cannot condemn us or rob us of eternal life. The only way he can do us ultimate harm is by influencing us to sin, and keep us from repentance. Which is exactly what he aims to do.

So, Satan’s main business is to advocate, promote, assist, titillate, and confirm our bent to sinning. And to keep us from faith and repentance.

We see this in Ephesians 2:1–2: “You were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked . . . according to the prince of the power of the air” (NASB). Sinning “accords” with Satan’s power in the world. When he brings about moral evil, it is through sin. When we sin, we move in his sphere. We come into accord with him. When we sin, we give place to the devil (Ephesians 4:27).

The only thing that will condemn us at the judgment day is unforgiven sin — not sickness or afflictions or persecutions or intimidation or apparitions or nightmares. Satan knows this. Therefore, his great focus is not primarily on how to scare Christians with weird phenomena (though there’s plenty of that), but on how to corrupt Christians with worthless fads and evil thoughts.

Satan wants to catch us at a time when our faith is not firm, when it is vulnerable. It makes sense that the very thing Satan wants to destroy would also be the means of our resisting his efforts. That’s why Peter says, “Resist him, firm in your faith.” It is also why Paul says that the “shield of faith” can “extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:16).

The way to thwart the devil is to strengthen the very thing he is trying most to destroy — your faith.

John Piper 

Whose name today is really extinct?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“The grass withers, and the flower thereof falls away: But the word of the Lord endures forever.” 1 Peter 1:24-25

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Many centuries ago there was a Roman emperor named Diocletian who was known for his hatred of Christianity. He hated the Bible so much that he took a Bible and burned it. Then on top of that burned Bible he erected a monument.

Chiseled on that monument were these words: 

“Extincto nomini christianorum” — “The name of Christian is extinct.”

Over the years many like Diocletian have sought to eradicate the Bible and Christianity, but for naught. The Bible is the incorruptible Word of God, and the foul breath of time and the gnawing tooth of decay cannot destroy the Word of God!

ACTION POINT:

Purchase a Bible this week for the sole purpose of giving it away. Then ask God to find that special someone for you to give it to.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Jesus Keeps His Sheep

Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31–32)

Though Peter, in fact, failed miserably, by denying Jesus three times, the prayer of Jesus preserved him from utter ruin. He was brought to bitter weeping and restored to the joy and boldness that showed itself in Peter’s message at Pentecost. Jesus is interceding for us today in the same way that our faith might not fail. Paul says this in Romans 8:34.

Jesus promised that his sheep would be preserved and never perish. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:27–28).

The reason for this is that God works to preserve the faith of the sheep. “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).

We are not left to ourselves to fight the fight of faith. “It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

You have the assurance of God’s word that, if you are his child, he will “equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ” (Hebrews 13:21).

Our endurance in faith and joy is finally and decisively in the hands of God. Yes, we must fight. But this very fight is what God works in us. And he most certainly will do it, for, as it says in Romans 8:30, “Those whom he justified he also glorified.” The glorification of God’s justified children is as good as done.

He will lose none of those he has brought to faith and justified.

John Piper 

Did you pay for part of it? Any of it?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“But God, Who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved). Ephesians 2:5

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Suppose your best friend offered to buy you a new car. You tell him that you can’t accept it outright and offer to help pay for the car. Then you say, “Here’s a quarter. Thank you!”

Now you’re driving around, and somebody compliments you on your new car. You say, “Thanks! My friend and I bought this car.”

Wouldn’t that be ridiculous? Well, that’s what we’re doing with God when we add our two bits-worth of self-effort to His grace. If you do that, you take the glory from Almighty God.

When you get to heaven, all you’re going to be able to say is, “Jesus paid it all.”

ACTION POINT:

Spend some time reading Ephesians 2 today and praise God for His divine plan of salvation.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Where Are All The Leaders Gone Part 2

Leaders earn respect.

Praise God!

Jethro said, "Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. - Exodus 18:10

Don't offer excuses!

Be available!!

You are His anointed!

Be confident in the Lord!

Be bold!

10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt."

11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" - Exodus 3:10-11

Then Moses answered, "But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, 'The LORD did not appear to you.'" - Exodus 4:1

10 But Moses said to the LORD, "Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue."

11 Then the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?

12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak."

13 But he said, "Oh, my Lord, please send someone else." - Exodus 4:10-13

Who you are in Christ!

I am excepted.

I am God's child.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, - John 1:12

I am Christ friend!

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. - John 15:5

I have been justified!

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. - Romans 5:1

I am united with the Lord!

But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. - 1 Corinthians 6:17

I am a member of Christ body!

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. - 1 Corinthians 12:27

You have been chosen by God and adopted!

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love

5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight - Ephesians 1:3-8

I have direct access to God through Christ!

For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. - Ephesians 2:18

I am forgiven and redeemed!

13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. - Colossians 1:13-14

I am complete in Christ!

9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. - Colossians 2:9-10

I am secure in Christ and free from condemnation!

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. - Romans 8:1-2

God works for my good!

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. - Romans 8:28

I can't be separated from God!

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

36 As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." 

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,

39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:35-39

I'm established, anointed and sealed!

21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us,

22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. - 2 Corinthians 1:21-22

God will complete the good work!

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. - Philippians 1:6

I am a citizen of heaven!

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, - Philippians 3:20

I have a spirit of love, power and self control!

for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. - 2 Timothy 1:7

I have been given mercy!

14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. - Hebrews 4:14-16

I am born of God!

We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. - 1 John 5:18

I am the salt of the earth!

13 "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.

14 "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. - Matthew 5:13-14

I am a branch of Christ!

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. - John 15:5

I'm appointed to bear fruit!

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. - John 15:16

I am a witness for Christ!

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." - Acts 1:8

I'm God's coworker!

For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building. - 1 Corinthians 3:9

I'm God's temple!

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? - 1 Corinthians 3:16

I'm a minister of reconciliation!

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;

19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. - 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

I'm seated with Christ!

and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, - Ephesians 2:6

I'm God's workmanship!

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. - Ephesians 2:10

I am bold in Christ!

in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. - Ephesians 3:12

I have strength in Christ!

I can do all things through him who strengthens me. - Philippians 4:13

A good leader takes advice!

Share the responsibility!

13 The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening.

14 When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, "What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?"

15 And Moses said to his father-in-law, "Because the people come to me to inquire of God;

16 when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws."

17 Moses' father-in-law said to him, "What you are doing is not good.

18 You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone.

19 Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God,

20 and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do.

21 Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.

22 And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.

23 If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace."

24 So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. - Exodus 18:13-24

Two reasons people do not take advice.

1. Pride

Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth. - Numbers 12:3

2. Ignorance 

Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.  - Proverbs 11:14

A good leader creates teamwork!

25 Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.

26 And they judged the people at all times. Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves.

27 Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went away to his own country. - Exodus 18:25-27

Teamwork is awesome!

Why we need teamwork.

Work smarter.

It lengthens ministry.

It strengthens ministry.

A team is necessary!

Elijah had Elisha

Paul had Timothy

Martha had Mary 

Moses had Aaron

Naomi had Ruth

David had Jonathan

10 And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,

11 none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land,

12 and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel. - Deuteronomy 34:10-12

Thanks Pastor Kevin!!