Rightly Handle God’s Word

Churches suffer when pastoral search committees are informed more by the corporate world than by the Word of God. Preferences concerning style, personality, appearance, speaking ability, management skills, and sense of humor often factor too heavily in the decision-making process, obscuring clear instructions from God’s Word about the qualifications for church leaders. The tragic result is often that the church can’t tell the difference between unqualified hirelings and true shepherds.

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Failing Forward: How to Move On After Making a Mistake

Need help moving forward after a mistake? It’s easy to be consumed by a past mistake and fear there’s no hope for tomorrow. No one should allow their failures to hold them back and hinder them from moving forward. God has a future in store for anyone who accepts His forgiveness. Here are some ways to move forward from past failures, blunders, and mistakes, and go on to succeed.

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Back to the Basics

The late football strategist Vince Lombardi was a fanatic about fundamentals. Those who played under his leadership often spoke of his intensity, his drive, his endless enthusiasm for the guts of the game. Time and again he would come back to the basic techniques of blocking and tackling. On one occasion his team, the Green Bay Packers, lost to an inferior squad. It was bad enough to lose . . ...

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The Joy of Not Caring

Dilemmas—we face them every day. Somebody once described a dilemma as watching your mother-in-law drive your brand-new Lexus over a cliff. But in all seriousness, a dilemma is “a problem involving a difficult choice.”1 Sometimes the choices we face are between the known and the unknown: “Do I keep my present job or take that new position in a different city?”

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Abiding in Christ in a World of Self-Love

In the psychological realm, the word of our age is self. From self-care to self-talk to self-esteem, hardly a day passes when broadcasts, podcasts, podiums, and even pulpits fail to remind us that our fundamental problem is a dearth of self-regard. And the answer, we are told, lies in telling ourselves that we are lovable: “It doesn’t matter what I do. It doesn’t matter who I am. I am a lovable person.”

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Why the Things of This Earth Are Never Quite Enough

When one of my granddaughters was little, she liked the word “more.” From her favorite food to the Bible stories that I told her, she always wanted “more.” Deep down inside, we all are like that. One of our favorite words is “more.” We always want more out of life. We want the newest, the latest, the freshest and the coolest. I think God has wired us that way, because ...

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The Unstoppable Love of a Family

Have you ever heard a husband, wife, dad, mom, or grandparent say, "Because that's what families do?" This comment usually precedes an act of sacrifice, unconditional love, or an outpouring of grace to another family member. It's stated without fanfare in a very matter-of-fact manner and speaks to the unwavering love and commitment that is hard-wired into the relationships of a family. While families don't always embrace the power of ...

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Low Expectations

A few years ago, I had a heart attack. Subsequent to that, my doctor and I have become “best friends.” He says that my good health is because of my genes, and I say it’s because of Jesus. My doctor has at least gotten to the point of saying, “Well, maybe some of both.”

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How to Pray for Your Family

Prayer may be the greatest blessing God gives us here on this earth. Each of us has tremendous potential to serve God and others through the ministry of prayer. It's available to every believer, no matter who we are or what our life circumstances. God designed it to bless us beyond all imagining, and yet it is easily within our reach.

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