Are you looking for a Christmas gift for your pastor? Check out my book Shepherd Leadership. I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.
“We rise no higher when we pull others down, yet when we stoop to serve, we conquer.” —Dick Brogden, in Proverbs: Amplified and Applied
“Truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it. Ignorance may deride it. Malice may distort it. But there it is.” —Winston Churchill
“Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.” —J.M. Barrie
“God has made His Word so precious that if I could not get another copy of it, I would not part with my Bible for all the world. There is life in the Word. There is power in it. I find Christ in it, and He is the One I need for spirit, soul, and body. It tells me of the power of His name and the power of His blood for cleansing.” —Smith Wigglesworth
“Christians can most directly affect the shape of our economy by practicing love for God and neighbor in all our transactions. Beyond that, we should make the most of every opportunity and means for influencing the shape of public policy so that honesty, fairness, justice, and love guide all the policies that bind us together as we the people.” —T.M. Moore
Christian apologist Sean McDowell goes head-to-head with ChatGPT—
It is His word: “No word from God will ever fail.” It is not the way I desire it to be, or the way culture wants it to be, but it is the way the All-Loving, All-Powerful One has already determined it is going to be.
God’s words never fail, but they always prevail. It doesn’t matter how dark, hopeless, or even impossible it may seem, His plan always triumphs!
When I have God’s word on it, I can confidently say, “Worry, be gone! Striving, cease! Doubt, you are a liar! I belong to the One who has spoken His word. I will rest assured in Him until His word prevails. I say as Mary replied to Gabriel, ‘May it be to me as you have said’” (Luke 1:38).
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
When Jesus was discussing end times events with His disciples, He described days that looked pretty bleak. Do any of these descriptions sound familiar today?
In times like these, Jesus said many people will be deceived. This is why Jesus twice tells His followers to “be on your guard” (vv. 9, 23).
What exactly does “on guard” look like?
Maybe you’ve heard a similar phrase before a fencing match, reminding the combatants to raise their swords. That’s a good picture for Christians. Paul tells us that we can use the “sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” to defend ourselves during spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6:17).
While Jesus is instructing His disciples, He tells them the sword-like power of His words. He said, “My words will never pass away” (Mark 13:31). In other words, His sword is invincible!
Another modern-day phrase that fills out the definition of being on guard is when someone says, “Heads up!” This means to watch out for things that may be headed your way. Jesus reminded us, “I have told you everything ahead of time” (v. 23) so we can be aware of what’s coming.
We are aware of the approaching dark days of the end times, but we are not afraid of them. Three times, Jesus tells us to “keep watch” (vv. 34, 35, 37). This Greek word means to be aroused from sleep so that we can give active and strict attention to the task before us.
“Be on guard! Be alert!” Jesus said (v. 33), so that you don’t become apathetic. The devil prowls around, seeking to use the times of turmoil to confuse, deceive, and then mislead people.
But we are not unaware of his schemes.
Christian, we must stay on guard. We must be ready but unafraid of the opposition. We must keep in mind the never-failing Word of God, and we must use that sword to cut down the deceiving ideas. The Holy Spirit will give you the right words to wield at the right moment—
“…Don’t worry in advance about what to say. Just say what God tells you at that time, for it is not you who will be speaking, but the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 13:11)
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
My, my, my, how quickly things can change! Unfortunately, the constant changes usually lead to feelings of instability. Fortunately, Jesus told us the surefire way we could find the stability, security, and confidence we all crave.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Jesus began to speak to them in parables… (Mark 12:1).
What Jesus relates here in the 12th chapter of Mark’s Gospel is only the fourth parable that Mark records, and as the final parable that Jesus shares, it brings His public ministry to a close.
Jesus concludes this parable by quoting from Psalm 118. This Psalm is the last of the “Hallel Psalms” that were sung at the conclusion of the Passover celebration. This song specifically looks eagerly forward to the arrival of the Messiah. It contains the words that the crowd used on Palm Sunday: “Lord, save us! Lord, grant us success! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” (Psalm 118:25-26). By quoting from the same Psalm—that was perhaps hundreds of years old, but had just been sung and shouted by the crowd—Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah longed for in that Hallel Psalm.
As you may recall, these shouts from the crowd and the activities of Jesus as He cleansed the temple got the religious leaders riled up! They, in essence, asked Jesus, “Who do You think You are?!” His answer is contained in this parable of Mark 12.
At the conclusion of this parable, the religious leaders “knew He had spoken this parable against them” (Mark 12:12).
Pastors, if you want to deliver soul-shaking, life-transforming, eye-opening, heart-melting sermons, you must follow this example of Jesus: Stick with the Scripture!
We don’t need to try to be clever or witty or even memorable. We just need to speak the Word of God that is inspired by the Holy Spirit, and then allow the Holy Spirit to illuminate that inspired Word to each person’s needs. As Randy Pope noted, “Preaching is not talking to people about the Bible; it is talking to people about themselves from the Bible.”
I don’t want to try to make my voice impress people, but I am desperate for God’s voice to impact people. Nearly every week as I prepare a sermon, I’ll pray this prayer from Oswald Chambers: “In my preaching, cause Thy glorious voice to be heard, Thy lovely face to be seen, Thy pervasive Spirit felt.” My dear pastor, I would encourage you to make this your prayer as well.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Jesus began to speak to them in parables… (Mark 12:1).
This is only the fourth parable that Mark records, and as the final parable that Jesus uses in this Gospel, it brings His public ministry to a close.
Jesus concludes this parable by quoting from Psalm 118. This psalm is the last of the “Hallel Psalms” to be sung at the conclusion of the Passover celebration—it is the psalm that looks eagerly to the Messiah‘s arrival. It contains the words that the crowds just used on Palm Sunday: “Lord, save us! Lord, grant us success! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” (Psalm 118:25-26; Mark 11:9-10).
At the conclusion of this parable, the religious leaders “knew He had spoken this parable against them” (Mark 12:12).
This is important for pastors as they prepare their sermons, but it’s also important for every Christian. We face challenges every day. The Holy Spirit can give us the timeliest of words. The Word of God is the inspired message for us. It is just as relevant and applicable today as it was the day the words were penned. The same Holy Spirit who inspired the authors of Scripture is the same Holy Spirit in us today who will illuminate and apply the Word for us (John 14:26).
Let’s not find our “timely word” from the ever-changing attitudes and opinions of culture, but let us continually go back to the unchanging, always-timely, always-relevant Word of God. That is the only place to find the timeliest of words every single time!
The Holy Spirit can speak to us through other people. Be sure to check out all of my videos on my YouTube channel.
“A time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the church will have clowns entertaining the goats.” —Charles Spurgeon
“It is possible to adopt an outward demeanor of great meekness, while inside our appetite for applause is insatiable. . . . Oh, what a constant companion, what a tyrannical commander, what a sly, subtle and insinuating enemy is this sin of pride!” —John Stott
“Every word from God comes with the power to make that word happen.” —Kevin Berry
“The question is not, ‘Should we pray for the lost people of our community?’ The question is, ‘Will we?’ Will we pray for our neighbors, our community, our nation, and our world? Will we seek the peace of the world and the wellbeing of all our fellow humans before the Lord in prayer? [Jeremiah 29:7]
“If we will not, then we must face up to the fact that we are disobeying a divine mandate, abandoning our neighbors to their folly, and stoking the fires of indifference—if not outright scorn—for the unbelieving world around. But if we will pray, who knows what God might be willing to do?
“Those prayers may be prayers of anguish and anger at times; but they must also be prayers for God to work in the hard hearts of our unsaved neighbors, just as He has worked in ours, to bring new life, forgiveness, and hope to those who now live apart from God in a world full of rebellion and sin.” —T.M. Moore
Axis is a great resource to help parents communicate effectively with their pre-teen and teenage children. In the wake of the school shooting in Nashville, Axis posted this: “We have created resources to help parents and caring adults have conversations about violence and school shootings. Consider our Conversation Kit on Violence, our Parent’s Guide to School Shootings, our Parent’s Guide to Talking About Violence, and our Parent’s Guide to Anxiety, for starters.”
“Failure is a part of success. There is no such thing as a bed of roses all your life. But failure will never stand in the way of success if you learn from it.” —Hank Aaron
This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Charles Spurgeon. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Spurgeon” in the search box to read more entries.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
The Proof In The Longing
My soul is consumed with longing for Your laws at all times. (Psalm 119:20)
Can you say that your heart pines for God as the watcher through the midnight sighs for the dawn, or as the traveler over burning sand longs for the shadow of a great rock? Oh, then, though I would not have you rest in longings; indeed, I know you never can. Yet they are a proof that you are spiritually alive! Heart longings are far better tests than attendance at sacraments, for men who are dead in sin have dared to come both to baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Eager desires prove spiritual life much better than supposed attainments, for these supposed attainments may all be imaginary. But a heart breaking for the longing that it has for God’s Word is no fancy. It is a fact too painful to be denied! …
We have not reached perfection, but do not let us, therefore, be discouraged, for the apostle of the Gentiles said, ‘Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect’ (Philippians 3:12). … When a man thinks himself so good that he cannot be better, he is probably so bad that he could not be worse. …
The fuller a man is of grace, the more he hungers for grace! Strange it is to say so, but the paradox is true—the more he drinks and the more he is satisfied and ceases to thirst in one sense, the more he is devoured with thirst after the living God! … This it is to be a true child of God: To always have a yearning soul toward God’s Word, to be eager after His commandments at all times. May the Holy Spirit keep us ever hungering and thirsting after God and His truth.
From Holy Longings
In a recent interview that I did, I was asked how someone should deal with the fact that they are struggling to be balanced in their leadership. My reply was, “The very fact that they are feeling the struggle should be a great encouragement to them. People who don’t feel the tension of wanting to get better are blinded to their deficiencies and never seek help.”
The proof of our growing maturity is in our longing for growing maturity.
The psalmist in this great chapter is thrilled with what God’s Word has already accomplished in his life, and yet he is still longing for the Holy Spirit to do an even greater work in his heart. This is the tension in which every maturing Christian should live. The devil would love to whisper to your heart, “Your longing for more proves that you are still immature.” This is an utter lie! As Spurgeon reminds us, the more of God we have, the more of God we will crave.
Craig T. Owens 