The Insights

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?—Romans 8:35 We serve a God who loves us more than our work. Oh, it’s true that God wants us to work to feed our families and to responsibly take care of the world He created. And He expects us to serve the weak, hungry, naked, thirsty, and broken people around us even as we remain alert to those who have not yet responded to the Holy Spirit's tug on their lives. And yet we serve a God who loves us more than our work. We must never forget this because there may come a time when our ability to “do for God” is torn from us by health or failure or unforeseen catastrophe. It is in those hours that God wants us to remember that He loves us not for what we do for Him but because of who we are: His children! Once we call on the name of Christ for salvation, nothing—“trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword”—wil

Rom.1:20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God [with emphasis]. So far we have examined three channels God uses to speak to us. If you are not reading your Bible consistently, if you are not listening to messages over and over again, and if you are not accountable to other believers, you do not have believers that are speaking into your life, you have already missed three main channels God speaks through. Channel #4: God speaks to us through His Creation. Ps.19:1 The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. 2 Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. 3 They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. 4 Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world [with emphasis]. God’s cre

And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended. – Mark 4:16-17 There seems to be an abundance of "stony ground" Christians these days. Initially, they get excited about the Word of God. They'll hear a message on prosperity, for instance, and they'll go home saying, "Hallelujah! I'm going to prosper in the Name of Jesus!" But then, somehow, things don't work out like they thought they should. Their bank balance doesn't double overnight. They go through some disappointments. They suffer some criticism. Then, before you know it, their faith has withered away. If you don't want that to happen to you, make up your mind right now that you're not going to let the rough times defeat you