February 22 2012, 3:12 am | Bill Elliff
Since the Garden, every man and woman has been plagued with a terminal disease related to trust. Our natural, fallen state is self-reliance. Particular "sins" are not the genesis but the by-product of this independence from God, this self-sufficiency. We persistently think we know better than God what is best for our lives and live accordingly. God’s Relentless Pursuit Our Father, who loves us with an everlasting love, is eternally committed to resolving this problem and bringing us to His side in beautiful dependency. He wants us to experience the tender and powerful position of reliance on Him...
February 18 2012, 4:42 am | Bill Elliff
God gives us, through His Spirit and Word, wonderfully clear directions about everything we face. Sometimes that is in the form of directions about specific areas (just like we saw yesterday in divorce), and at other times, general principles that guide every decision. In 1 Cor 9-10, Paul is dealing with a "grey area" of eating meat sacrificed to idols...a practice that, in itself was not inherently wrong, but could become wrong in the way it created a stumbling block for others. During this discourse, God gives us 4 great guiding questions we can ask re: every moment of life...questions...
February 11 2012, 9:04 am | Bill Elliff
In our love for Christ and desire to see Him glorified, there is one aspect that we often overlook. We are called to walk in humble confession and instant obedience to the Lord. But how does God feel about people we have wronged in the past? What does He want us to do and what does He do if needed steps are not taken? A Famine that Revealed God’s Passion The Bible records a famine that God sent into the land of Israel for Saul's past sins against the Gibeonites (2 Samuel 21). Saul had broken a covenant...
January 24 2012, 5:12 am | Bill Elliff
And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him....
January 09 2012, 8:10 am | Bill Elliff
It is important to understand the ways of God so that we can cooperate with Him. Like a husband becoming a student of his wife so that he might better love and serve her, we are lifelong (and eternal) students of God. In the matter of our salvation, Paul gives us an amazing and sobering thought about God's ways. "In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be...
January 07 2012, 6:37 am | Bill Elliff
Today, right now, as you make the next decision regarding what you will do in the next hour—how do you see yourself? Believe it or not, Paul thought about this a good deal and it drove everything he did. He begins almost every letter with some type of self-description. His statement in Ephesians 3:1-3 is extremely revealing and driving. "For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery...
January 06 2012, 7:22 am | Bill Elliff
Paul prayed for those under his care and in his sphere of influence--constantly. He prayed specifically, it seems, and we know this because he would often tell them WHAT he prayed. After the incredible rehearsal of our spiritual blessings in Christ, Paul rehearses his prayer for the Ephesians. He was praying that they would come to genuinely, experientially KNOW SOMETHING. (Ephesians 1) 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge...
December 25 2011, 8:46 pm | Bill Elliff
There You were, where You’d always been; Standing in the heavens. Every angel stood amazed As they gazed upon Your beauty—more than duty. For in You was perfect light. What a sight…the mind of God! The heart of love that no one else could claim; No one was the same. There You were. There You were. You knew it all and had it all And standing tall you ruled celestial halls. And then the voice, Your Father’s word, “Let’s make a world! Let’s speak it...
November 27 2011, 5:41 am | Bill Elliff
Does God hear everyone's prayer? Surely, as an all-knowing God He hears everyone. But, apparently there are some prayers that He gives lesser attention. Jesus, our ultimate example, was always heard by His Father and the writer of Hebrews tells us why: In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. (Hebrews 5:7 ESV) God’s Ground Rules in Prayer There are some conditions to prayer. One is desperation and the humility...
November 20 2011, 7:06 am | Bill Elliff
Every pastor has his strengths. Some are better communicators than others. There are pastors who are very “pastoral” and others who are wonderfully administrative. I learned a long time ago that we should cultivate the areas where we’re gifted and staff to our weaknesses as much as possible. But there is one place where we cannot afford to be weak. Every spiritual leader must be strong in prayer. What we must do Paul says we should be “devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2). The word devotion literally...
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