Let's Think About Our Church
When you’re swimming in the ocean, it takes intentional effort to keep from drifting away. If you take your eyes off the shore, you’ll likely end up somewhere you never intended! And the same is true of our churches.
When you’re swimming in the ocean, it takes intentional effort to keep from drifting away. If you take your eyes off the shore, you’ll likely end up somewhere you never intended! And the same is true of our churches.
The role of government in carrying out justice also entails passing and upholding just laws for the good of the community and protecting the needy. Government is to seek, serve, and promote the common good of the people, not the good of the rulers.
There is more than one kind of stealing. Sometimes we have to confront one another but be careful of how you do this because you may be guilty of the same thing! Pay people what you owe them. If you don't, you are stealing—that's how it works!
When we consult the Scriptures further we see that God does not explicitly command against war or against the taking of another’s life. Murder, which is different than killing, is explicitly condemned.
Ever heard of the cookie jar syndrome? It’s when there is a set of beliefs very carefully in place but there isn’t the behaviour to give it authenticity. Belief and behaviour always go hand-in-hand. And they go in that order.
Pastor Chuck Swindoll wraps up this series on grace by concluding that, while God loves unity, he doesn’t demand uniformity. Understand how you can extend grace to others even amid differences.
People who live with conviction no longer react to life, or float along taking life as it comes. These people initiate action because they are motivated by their beliefs.
In this lesson, let's turn our attention to that horizontal dimension and learn to help others find the same freedom God grants us, as we accept them as they are and release them to learn and grow.
Everyone make mistakes. But there’s a difference between making a mistake and living an irresponsible life. We’re accountable for the lives we live and one day each one of us will give an account of our life to God.
Through this story of the rescue of two trapped whales, Chuck points out how eager we are to help in these situations, but how slow we are to set one another free from our own lists, inhibitions, restrictions, and expectations.