Focal Passage: Hebrews 11:1-6; 13-16 

Discerning and obeying God’s voice calls for faith in God. But what is faith? Just as we talk about love without knowing what love is, we talk a great deal about faith without understanding its definition. What is the anatomy of faith that enables us to discern and do the will of God? Hebrews 11 is our guide.

First, Hebrews 11:1 says that “Faith is …,” meaning that faith is something and not nothing. We do not believe in nothing or in thin air. This leads us to a second, complimentary point — faith is a reality, it has substance. In other words, faith is not wishful thinking. Christians believe (have faith) in historical facts and events that took place in time and space and that form the basis of our trust. The leap of faith lands on the hard soil of historical reality. [Read more…]

Focal Passage: Acts 2:32-41 

The word conviction is used in at least two ways in Scripture. 

First, it is used in reference to the Holy Spirit’s work of convicting us of sin, righteousness and judgment, so that we might repent and believe the gospel (John 16:8-11). Second, it is used with the notion of someone holding a belief with “great conviction.” The two are connected. The convicted sinner comes to embrace certain truths with great conviction.

Sadly, conviction is on the decline. To hold a belief with “great conviction” can get one labeled as narrow-minded and canceled as intolerant. And since no one wants to be unliked, we too often sacrifice our convictions on the altar of acceptance. We do this to our own spiritual detriment. [Read more…]

Focal Passage: Genesis 3:1-6 

Discernment or making sound judgments is a lost art. We have allowed a wrong interpretation of the phrase “Judge not, that you be not judged” from Matthew 7:1 to frighten us away from discerning between right and wrong, of making value judgments based on eternal truths. God repeatedly calls His people to make judgments. We are called to discern between one thing and another. In fact, discernment is listed as a spiritual gift (I Corinthians 12:10). 

We can make appropriate judgments based on God’s Word. Genesis 3 is an illustration of this truth because it answers the questions, “Who gets to say so?” and “By what authority do we do or not do a thing?” God’s word alone is the basis of our discernments and judgments. As the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 notes, Scripture is “the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds and religious opinions should be tried.”  [Read more…]

Focal Passage: Psalm 139:1-10, 13-16 

Though not a Catholic, we should appreciate the words of the late Pope John Paul II in his 1995 Papal Encyclical — Evangelium Vitae — when he compared two opposing cultures: the “culture of death” that devalued life and the “culture of life” that valued life from conception to death.As Baptists whose worldview ought to be grounded in Scripture, we value life from conception to death because God does. Psalm 139 makes the promotion of a “culture of life” crystal clear. 

God For Us (Psalm 139:1-6). God does not love us because we are valuable; we are valuable because God loves us. God, the progenitor of life itself, values life because He not only creates life, but knows our lives in intimate detail. Psalm 139 notes that God knows us (v. 1), understands us (v. 2), is aware of all our ways (v. 3), knows what we will say before we say it (v. 4) and encircles us and leads us with His kind providential care (v. 5). The knowledge that God knows us is enough to confound the wise, but console our hearts and minds in Jesus Christ. [Read more…]

Focal Passage: Zephaniah 3:9-20 

Fear is an effective tool used by Satan to demoralize and discourage people, especially God’s people. Scripture repeatedly commands us: “Do not be afraid.” And yet, we fear anything and everything all the time: fear of loss, fear of man, fear of being without, fear of sickness, fear of death, etc. 

In addition, we don’t often think of replacing fear with joy. However, if our confidence in God is ever-increasing then there is every reason to be full of joy, the kind of joy that springs out of a faith and contentment in God’s sovereign and gracious care. We may want to take a lesson from the Shepherds of Luke 2:10 whose fear was replaced by the “good news of great joy.” The prophet Zephaniah reminds us of the process of replacing fear with joy. [Read more…]

Focal Passage: Matthew 14:22-33 

Words like discouragement, melancholy, depression and spiritual lethargy are cousins —  word groupings that speak to the kind of mental and spiritual disposition that warrants our attention. The opposite of discouragement is the word courage without the prefix. Discouragement is the inability to think or act as we ought to. Courage, on the other hand, is the God-enabled ability to think and act in faith. 

Jesus alone (Matthew 14:22-26). Good things happen when Jesus is alone. Jesus would often withdraw for time alone with His Father. And when that happened something powerful would often follow. Jesus was alone in prayer after a busy day of ministry. While Jesus was at peace in prayer, the disciples were literally in a boatload of trouble. The boat they were in as they crossed the sea was being tossed and overwhelmed by the stormy waters. [Read more…]

Focal Passage: Luke 1:26-38 

Satan uses two tools to stymie God’s people: fear and discouragement. Fear causes a person to pause out of cowardice, while discouragement paralyzes us in inaction. Together these twin temptations can prove to be deadly to a person’s faith, producing faithless lethargy. In Mary’s story we see one of these sinister sins at work: fear. Yet, Mary confronts her fear with humble submission to God.

Don’t be afraid of the unknown (Luke 1:26-29). Numerous times throughout Matthew and Luke’s birth narratives the injunction, “fear not,” is commanded. Zachariah, Joseph, Mary and the shepherds are all instructed not to be afraid. It is understandable why Mary could have possibly succumbed to fear — an angel of God announced to her that she would give birth to the Son of God without the agency of a man. Such an announcement would frighten anyone.    [Read more…]

Focal Passage: I John 3:13-18; 4:14-18 

If God’s sovereign purposes give us security over fear (Romans 8:28- 39), then God’s sovereign work in us enables us to replace fear with love. If we are secure in the love of an all-caring, eternal, providential God, then we do not have to be afraid. Replacing fear with love sets us free to serve others because we know we’re secure in Jesus Christ. 

Love and trouble (I John 3:13). Outside of Jesus Christ we are in trouble with God. The Bible says we’re enemies of God (Romans 5:10). Conversely, when we are placed in Jesus Christ we are in trouble with the world. This is why John notes that if we love God, truly love and obey Him in Jesus Christ, we will be hated by the world. 

Loving God does not diminish our troubles, sometimes it may increase our troubles because it places us as enemies of a worldly system that does not love God or those who love God. We are to choose love over hate, faith over fear, and security in Jesus even if we face worldly trouble.  [Read more…]

Focal Passage: Romans 8:28-39 

There are very few texts in all of Scripture that are more comforting and consoling than Romans 8:28-39. 

So well known is this passage that even unbelievers who have no clue as to its origins can quote this passage in part, if not the whole. However, only the child of God can know and appreciate the depth of its meaning. 

These two verses remind us that our security lies not in our own abilities but in our sovereign God. Rather than the fear of the unknown, this text reminds us that our days are under the control of our loving Heavenly Father.  [Read more…]

Focal Passage: Psalm 33:6-15; 18-22 

We are a fearful people. We fear people, places and things. We fear the past, the present and the future. Economic, political, spiritual and physical fears plague our minds and hearts. Fear is a natural response to those things that threaten us.

But too often we have misplaced fear. We have outlandish fear. As of last count there are more than 400 phobias or fears, and the number is ever increasing. Fear can multiply into a myriad of mentally and spiritually paralyzing roadblocks to healthy, obedient living. 

Many of the things we fear never materialize into something to actually be afraid of. The taproot of the wrong kind of fear will produce spiritual paralysis.  [Read more…]