by cameron | Jul 27, 2011 | Bible
(I was listening to this sermon today and was reminded of what the expression “shepherding my heart” actually means. When talking from 1 Timothy 1 about how men, likely at the elder level in the church of Ephesians, have strayed from sound teaching and how they got there…)“…As a church, we have put heavy emphasis on the spiritual discipline that we call shepherding your hearts to the word of God. If you haven’t heard it or don’t know what I’m talking about it, it goes something like this:We must shepherd our hearts to the Word of God in order to meet with the God of the Word. You see, because it’s really easy to come to the Word of God and miss God…A mark of spiritual maturity in a man or a woman is coming to the Word of God for the purpose of drawing near to God. Because He revealed Himself most clearly there.So, we come to the word of God to meet with God, to worship Him, to express dependence on Him, to express humility before Him, to express our love for Him, to express and confess our sin to Him, to revel in Him, to revel in His promises to us.You see, our coming to the Word of God is mostly about Him! It’s about Him. That’s why we come to the word of God. Our hearts have to be full of Him. The word of God is the only place to go to do that because it best reveals God in Christ.That’s the man you want to have open his mouth to anybody who will...
by matt | Jul 26, 2011 | Bible
I was encouraged this morning by Matthew 24:3-14… “As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?” And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. ” (Matthew 24:3–14, ESV)I don’t get the impression from this short passage that this life is just a bunch of feathers and pillows, but rather that things will get worse and worse.Many antichrists (verse 5), wars (verse 6), “hated...
