Posts Tagged ‘ Church ’
Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.
Romans 12:21, HCSB
Humanity tends toward evil, separating family and friends, but God came to us and conquered the evils of death, suffering, and separation through the cross. When we believe in Christ, He calls us His friends and empowers us to overcome evil, too.
The Lord does not delay His promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9, HCSB
We go through this world awaiting the return of Christ, knowing Christ has called us friends and is waiting for more to hear His call. Let us spread the good news of Jesus’ call and forgiveness.
A man with many friends may be harmed, but there is a friend who stays closer than a brother.
Proverbs 18:24, HCSB
We should all have a few close friends who are like family, and it is best to have them walk with our Brother, Savior, and Lord Jesus.
But I count my life of no value to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.
Acts 20:24, HCSB
Just as God showed His love for us by becoming one of us and dying for our eternal hope, we should consider the lives of others more important than our own knowing we may see them in eternity with Christ.
No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the fruit of peace and righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Hebrews 12:11, HCSB
Just as Jesus took our suffering and punishment on Himself, we endure the discipline of the struggles of life knowing that God uses these to grow us in the likeness of Christ and lead others to His good work.
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
2 Timothy 4:7, HCSB
God took on the war for our souls, fighting through the cross. He now empowers us by the Holy Spirit as we walk in faith to overcome evil and draw others to Christ in this spiritual war.
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord’s glory, as the waters cover the sea.
Habakkuk 2:14, HCSB
The Glorious One masked His glory to come to us, die for us, and share His glory with those who believe, and in this way His glory begins to fill the earth. May we share the glory of God through the Gospel and bring His glory to earth.
And this is love: that we walk according to His commands. This is the command as you have heard it from the beginning: you must walk in love.
2 John 1:6, HCSB
God is love and has called us to love Him, others, and His Church, and He demonstrated it through the cross. Let us love others sacrificially and in truth as Christ has done and continues to.
The father of a righteous son will rejoice greatly, and one who fathers a wise son will delight in him.
Proverbs 23:24, HCSB
The Father sent His Wise Son to live and die for us, and now we can live for His delight in Christ. We can also help each other to live in the wisdom of God, raising our families and training all in righteousness.
One evening in 2025, I was driving down a road in town that had recently gone through work expanding the road and adding a median. At one point there is a place for northbound cars to make a u-turn.
I was approaching this section of road heading south, and up ahead I saw someone get into the u-turn lane. He then proceeded north on my side of the road.
Needless to say, I stopped and flashed my lights, and he realized the problem and quickly turned around (in an awkward 4-point maneuver.)
It got me thinking about the Church, and it was controversy over the 2026 Super Bowl Halftime Show and it’s alternative from TPUSA as well as Jelly Roll’s Grammy acceptance speech that brought back to mind. Some question Jelly Roll’s and Kid Rock’s repentance and Christian faith.
We often teach how repentance is like a u-turn in our life, and there is good reason.
Acts 3:19, HCSB
Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out, that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord
Proverbs 28:13, HCSB
The one who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.
How many fall into the “easy believism” of saying a simple prayer and never changing the way they live?
I don’t know what is going on in the hearts and souls of Kid Rock and Jelly Roll, and this is not really about them.
I am also not saying anything about anyone in particular. This a call for each of us to make sure that we have not made a false u-turn, that we said we believe in Jesus but never changed anything about the way we think or act.
2 Corinthians 13:5, HCSB
Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Or do you yourselves not recognize that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless you fail the test.
It would be like that car that used the u-turn lane but was then heading toward oncoming traffic, only we would get to the end of our life or see Christ return only to hear Him say He never knew us and we miss eternal life.
Matthew 25:44-46, HCSB
“Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or without clothes, or sick, or in prison, and not help You? ’ “Then He will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me either.’ “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
So, don’t complain about what people claiming Christ may or may not be doing.
You might be with those going the right way, but you might be going the wrong way and endangering others.
a simple man of God 