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Ignoring Advice

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer this people? And they spake unto him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever. But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him:”
1 Kings 12:6–8

I find it interesting that Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, had a council of advisers. Though God had answered his request for wisdom when he first took the throne, Solomon still did not rely on his own judgment in every case, but had trusted men whom he could consult to discuss issues and make sure he was reaching the best conclusion. None of us is so advanced in knowledge or wisdom that we are free from the need for advice.
Often the problem is not that we do not get advice, but that we don’t follow it. One preacher told about a man in a place called Town Bluff, Texas who was frequently seen wearing a favorite shirt. On it were these words: “Take my advice—I’m not using it!” Rehoboam came to the throne on the death of his father, and he received wise counsel from the men who had once stood before Solomon’s throne. Yet because the advice did not match what he wanted to do, he foolishly rejected it and the kingdom was divided.
Solomon wrote, “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14). But that protection is forfeited if, having sought out advice, we fail to follow it. Determination to go our own way places us in grave danger.
 

Today’s Growth Principle: 

If we ignore the wise counsel we receive, we should not be surprised when problems follow.

Fear Leads to Worry

by Joyce Meyer - posted April 29, 2017

And who of you by worrying and being anxious can add one unit of measure (cubit) to his stature or to the span of his life?
—Matthew 6:27

Fear and worry are closely related. You might say fear is the parent of every kind of worry because every worry starts as a fear. The Bible clearly teaches that God’s children are not to worry. When we worry, we rotate our minds around and around a problem and come up with no answers. The more we do it, the more anxious we feel. When we worry, we actually torment ourselves with a type of thinking that produces no good fruit. Worry starts with our thoughts, but it affects our moods and even our physical bodies.
A person can worry so much that it makes them feel depressed and sad. Worry places stress on your entire system and causes a lot of physical ailments like headaches, tension in muscles, stomach problems, and many other things. It never helps, and it does not solve our problems.
We can worry about hundreds of different things, from what people think of us to what will happen to us as we age. How long will we be able to work? Who will take care of us when we get old? What happens if the stock market crashes? What if gas prices go up? What if I lose my job? Quite often, worry does not even have a basis or a nugget of truth to it. There is no known reason to even think about the things that worry and then frighten us.
The only answer is to stop worrying by placing your trust in God. He has the future all planned, and He knows the answer to everything. What we worry about frequently never happens anyway, and if it is going to happen, worrying won’t prevent it. God’s Word promises us that He will take care of us if we trust in Him.

Trust in Him: What are you worrying about? Cast your cares on Jesus. He wants you to trust Him with every thought, burden, and worry that you’re carrying because He’s fully capable of taking care of you (see 1 Peter 5:7).

You are my world =)

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As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace…. --1 Peter 4:10 I know the word steward may sound like one of those words you only hear in church. But really, a steward is just someone who’s been entrusted with something valuable. And as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, God has given you and me something very precious to take care of. Those things include our lives and bodies…our influence…our children…our time…the spiritual gifts God has given us…and our possessions. But I want to focus today on the responsibility we have to be good stewards of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This includes guarding the purity of the Gospel in a culture that sees all truth as relative. Jude 3 and 4 tell us, “contend for the faith…for certain people have crept in unnoticed…who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” But being a good steward of the Gospel also means giving it away as well. Paul tells us in Romans 1:14 and 15, “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.” So today, I want to challenge you…as a believer in Jesus…to both guard and to give away the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you will, you will indeed be a good steward of His Gospel! You have the responsibility to be a good steward of the Gospel.

Believing God Is Working

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.”
Genesis 50:19–21

The sufferings that Joseph endured because of the wrong actions of others is more than most of us will ever experience. His brothers hated him because he was their father’s favorite son, and they decided to sell him into slavery only because it was more profitable than murder. Joseph was falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife and thrown into prison. Even Pharaoh’s butler, whom Joseph helped and befriended in the prison, failed to keep his promise to help until years had passed.
How did Joseph maintain a right spirit and a close relationship with God despite all that injustice? Joseph believed that God was working. I’m sure he didn’t understand why things happened the way they did. There must have been moments when he questioned what was going on and if things would ever get better. But through it all, Joseph maintained his faith. It was so strong that he was even willing to forgive those who had done him wrong when vengeance was in his power. Later, Joseph issued a wonderful declaration (Genesis 50:19–21) that showed he saw God at work even in the dark times of his life.
When we struggle with unjust treatment by others, with difficult circumstances that come through no fault of our own, it is easy to forget that none of these things take God by surprise. He is able to use the very worst things that happen for our good and to equip us to do good for others as well.
 

Today’s Growth Principle: 

God will never forsake you, never forget where you are, and never fail to keep His promises to you.

Photo of the day

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For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. --John 3:16 Jesus is the one life that changed the history of the world.  And His is the one life that dramatically rescued all of humanity. It is His story that empowers you and me to live life and give of ourselves in service to others.   Isn’t it wonderful that in the midst of our current cultural confusion, we as believers can stand on the biblical truth of who Jesus is…and what He did for us in coming to earth as a man? Yes, He was a man…a perfect, sinless man. But He was also God…who loved us so much that He laid His life down so that we might be saved. Most believers have heard John 3:16 since their days as baby Christians. But it’s my prayer that God would give you a new perspective and fresh insight about just how much He loves you today! THERE’S NEVER BEEN A BETTER TIME TO PROCLAIM THE TRUTH OF WHO JESUS REALLY IS

Passing the Test

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.”
Hebrews 11:17–19

On June 23, 1926, more than eight thousand young students gathered at three hundred test centers across America to take the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Commissioned by a group of colleges, mostly in the Northeast, the test was designed to measure both the educational achievement and the learning potential of prospective college students. The original test had sections dealing with definitions, math, antonyms, number series, analogies, and logic. Since then, millions of young people have sat down with a number two pencil and gone through page after page of multiple choice questions, fully filling in the circle of the correct answer (or at least what they hope is the correct answer). The test offers them a chance to display what they have studied and learned.
The tests that we face in life are designed by God as positive opportunities to display our faith in action. They are not meant to destroy our faith, though they may often be difficult. The example of Abraham preparing to offer Isaac as a sacrifice, despite what that meant to his hopes and plans for the future, is one of faith that stood strong even in the face of a severe test. The reality is that God has never broken a promise or let down those who trusted Him to keep His Word. Yet because our experiences with people lead us to question and doubt what we are told, sometimes we fail to trust God as we should. He does not promise that we will not be tested, but that if we rely on Him, we will pass the test.
 

Today’s Growth Principle: 

Each trial we face is an opportunity for us to demonstrate that our faith in God is solid and strong.

April 20, 2016

Drunk in Love

The Danger of Infatuation in Dating

Article by

Phillip Holmes

Guest Contributor

Recently, an old friend messaged me and asked for prayer. He had come home from work to discover an empty house and an absent wife and child. No, his house hadn’t been robbed and his family hadn’t been abducted. His wife left him. I asked him if he saw it coming. Were there any warning signs? He said that it had been clear for quite some time that she was done. I asked if there was any hope for restoration. He didn’t think so. He thought the best possible outcome would be joint custody. Even though we hadn’t talked in years and I’d only met his wife once back when they were dating, my heart sank. I could only imagine the pain he was experiencing.
I don’t know the details of their marriage and separation, so the following isn’t an indictment on the couple in any way. But anytime I hear stories of divorce and abandonment, I can’t help but think about the serious and weighty call of marriage and how lightly we too often take it. Many enter this covenant flippantly and superficially, without considering the responsibility they’re accepting and the promises that they’re making before God and man. I was guilty of this.
We see stories in movies of people getting married drunk at a random chapel in Las Vegas. We laugh at their foolishness, and could never see ourselves doing something so ridiculous. But people get married drunk all the time. They’re not under the influence of alcohol. They’re filled with dopamine — infatuation, so-called love, and lust. Just as a covenant entered under the influence of alcohol is unlikely to survive, these marriages are also likely to struggle. Marriage should be entered by a man and woman with a sober mind and heart, who can take seriously the vows they’re making before God and others.

Preparation for Marriage

In Ephesians 5:15–21, Paul exhorts his readers:

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

What follows this passage are the well known household codes, starting with the relationship between the husband and wife. Before Paul writes about marriage, he paints a beautiful picture of sober-mindedness. Paul urges Christians to look carefully at how we walk, not to be unwise, make the best use of our time, and not to be foolish but to understand what God’s will is. He then summarizes this picture of sober-mindedness by exhorting readers: Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.
This exhortation prepares his readers to be able to embrace the picture of marriage that reflects the beautiful relationship between Christ and the church. Only sober-minded, Spirit-filled men and women can embrace, “Wives submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:22) and “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25).

Drunk on Dopamine

Psychologists believe that dopamine is one of the key chemicals released in our brain that results in feelings of infatuation. Infatuation, as defined by the Oxford Dictionary, is an intense but short-lived passion or admiration for someone or something. It becomes dangerous when it’s confused with the love it takes to make a marriage last.
Serial daters are dopamine addicts. They date for about six months, enjoy the euphoric experience that a new relationship brings, and then break up when real life begins and infatuation ends. They do this over and over and over again. Serial daters generally have a hard time once they decide to marry because committing to one man or one woman means giving up access to the experience they crave. They lived life drunk on dopamine and now they’ve made a commitment that keeps them from that high.
When you compare the effects of drunkenness to those of infatuation, you find a lot of similarities. Drunkenness causes irrational behavior (Genesis 9:20–22), suppresses our conscience (Genesis 9:24–25), and impairs our ability to make good judgment (Proverbs 31:4–5). The same is true with infatuation and lust. Those driven by their passions and lusts are usually irrational, go against what their conscience says is right and wrong, and make terrible decisions that could negatively affect the rest of their lives.

God-Centered Satisfaction Makes Us Sober

A God-centered life is the key to a sober-minded lifestyle. Singles must weigh carefully the callings and warnings we have concerning marriage in community with other faithful believers. If God is infinitely more satisfying to us than significant others, spouses, and sex, we will approach marriage with a sober mind, a humble heart, and an anchored soul.
The term sober-minded is mentioned throughout Paul’s letters. Men and women who are sober-minded are characterized by self-control, seriousness, and sound moral judgment. Paul exhorts young Timothy to “always be sober-minded” (2 Timothy 4:5). He commands Timothy and Titus to require that elders be sober-minded as well (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 2:2). Peter encourages Christians to be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of their prayers (1 Peter 4:7). When we approach marriage with a sober mind, we embrace the vision of life and marriage that is revealed in the Scriptures.

The Supremacy of God in Dating

Couples that enter marriage drunk with love don’t glorify God, because they have made their spouse ultimate, instead of God. Their destiny is similar to those who tarry long over wine. Their lives will be full of sorrow, strife, complaining, and hurt unless they repent (Proverbs 23:29–35).
The alcoholic’s problem is simple — he or she thinks that alcohol is greater than anything in the universe. They drown life’s problems, trials, and disappointments in a bottle. Likewise, singles and married people drunk on love have made one another ultimate rather than God.
Ultimately, the alcoholic doesn’t have an alcohol problem and those drunk in love don’t have a dopamine problem — both have worship problems. Their view of God is too low and the throne in their hearts has been given to someone or something that is insufficient to satisfy the desires of their soul.

God Over Marriage

Scripture has a high view a marriage. Spouses are commanded to forsake family and cling to one another (Genesis 2:24). We’re exhorted to hold marriage in honor among all (Hebrews 13:4). Men are counseled that it is a good thing to find a wife (Proverbs 18:22). But as high of a view as the Scriptures have of marriage, its view of God is infinitely higher.
In our good pursuits of marriage, we must be sure that our pursuits and our marriages remain secondary and our love for God is always primary. God is supremely more satisfying than marriage could ever be. He made marriage, at least in part, to say just that.
When we display to the world that we love God infinitely more than we love marriage, God is glorified and his worth is displayed to the world. Furthermore, we set our marriages up for success because they’re rooted in the Creator of marriage rather than in the idolatry of marriage. Marriage is for the sober-minded and the only way to enter marriage with a sober mind is by making God the center of our lives.

Well said =)

Determine to serve God with all of your might

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Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. --Romans 12:11-12 Authentic Christians don’t lag behind when it comes to service for the Lord Jesus Christ. They lead the way, taking care of God’s business! I believe there ought to be a sense of urgency, a sense of intensity, and a passion for spiritual ministry. And certainly there is no room for laziness and there is no room for lukewarmness when it comes to serving the Lord Jesus Christ. Ecclesiastes 9:10 says, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.” If it’s worthy to do, then it’s worthy to do with all of your might. Ephesians 5:16 says that we are to make “the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” Friend, we’re to turn it up a notch or two in these evil days, and redouble and triple our efforts. Not our self-efforts, but our spiritually energized efforts in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ! So are you working hard in the service of Jesus Christ? Or are you hardly working? Don’t be like so many Christians who are rusting out instead of wearing out in serving the Lord Jesus Christ! Determine to serve God with all of your might.

Rejoicing in Trials

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”
James 1:1–4

When Decius became emperor of Rome in 249 AD, he wanted to unify the vast empire and restore the power over his subjects that had been lost through the years. The plan Decius came up with was to require every Roman citizen to make a sacrifice to the Roman gods. Everyone was required to perform this offering before a magistrate, and receive in return a document certifying that they had complied with the emperor’s order. For those who worshiped many gods, it was a small thing to sacrifice to one more, but for Christians, it was a great test of faith. The penalty for disobeying the edict was death, and while some turned away from their commitment to Christ, many died rather than deny Christ. The Decian Persecution sorely tested the church.
Most of us have never faced a life or death choice to deny our faith, but many endure trials and difficulties. Rather than viewing these as unfair or surprising, we should recognize that faithfulness in a world opposed to God will produce trouble. We should recognize that God remains in control, and that there are rewards for those who remain faithful in the face of trials. “Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matthew 5:12). None of us are eager to volunteer for persecution, but when opposition and troubles come, we need to keep our focus on what God is doing, and ensure that our attitudes remain joyful rather than bitter.
 

Today’s Growth Principle: 

If we understand the purpose of suffering and the promise of Heaven, we can rejoice even when trials come.

MAY 12, 2016

Real Men Love Strong Women

Article by 

Paul Maxwell

Regular Contributor

I’ve heard it too many times: “A man likes a quiet woman.” “Guys don’t respond well to smart girls.” “Educated women are too intimidating to attract good men.”

I understand why we believe these things. It’s a nice story. It makes sense of the success of some women to find husbands, and the failure of others. As Christians (and as humans), we feel very clever when we get to diagnose the cause and cure of singleness. “You’re too opinionated.” “You’re too boisterous.” “A woman should be small, quiet, and delicate.”

Yet, it’s easy to forget in the midst of all our diagnosing: whether a woman is “intimidating” is a factor of male perception, not female personality. Do we want women to be less intimidating? That’s a question to be put to men who experience them as such, and we can only wait for such men to grow. The real question we need to ask is: Do we want women to be weak? And the answer must forever be, on the basis of Scripture, “May it never be.”

Strong women are as vital as strong men to God’s purpose in the church. Why?

1. Strong women expose evil men.

I can’t speak for Christian men everywhere, but I can speak for myself, and for many of the men in the Bible: Godliness is attractive to both men and women (Proverbs 31:30). And often, godly femininity requires being strong, even intimidating. Consider Jael in Judges 4. Jael’s husband Heber “had separated from the Kenites,” and “had pitched his tent as far away as the oak in Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh” (Judges 4:11).

“Strong women are as vital as strong men to God’s purpose in the church.”

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So, when Sisera, a Canaanite military general under Jabin the King of Hazor — the enemy of the people of God — tried to seek refuge, he went to Heber’s tent, “for there was peace between Jabin the King of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite” (Judges 4:17). But Sisera found Jael at the tent and started barking orders at her: “Give me a little water.” “Stand at the opening of the tent.” In response, “she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground” (Judges 4:21). Deborah later sang of Jael, “Most blessed of women be Jael . . . She sent her hand to the tent peg and her right hand to the workmen’s mallet” (Judges 5:24, 26).

Thank God Jael wasn’t meek and submissive and respectful toward this friend of her wayward husband. She wasn’t one to be trampled on. Strong women reject the requests of evil men.

2. Strong women rebuke good men.

When David set out to kill Nabal — the brash and brute man who embodied pure masculine folly — Nabal’s wife Abigail offered hundreds of fig cakes and loaves of bread and wine skins to David. Yet, she used the opportunity to warn David that he should “have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord working salvation for himself” (1 Samuel 25:31). In other words, Abigail warned: “Be careful. Don’t use your power in a way that will make you guilty.”

David responded, “Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from working salvation with my own hand!” (1 Samuel 25:33). Nabal soon after died of a heart attack. “Then David sent and spoke to Abigail, to take her as his wife” (1 Samuel 25:39).

David was attracted to this strong woman for her strength, for her rebuke, and for her character. Abigail made life harder for David. And David, in a moment of grace, was able to see that Abigail’s standing in David’s way was a gift of purity to him. That day, David was seeking salvation for himself, but it was gifted to him by God in Abigail, who, even while she was at his mercy as his subject, told him what he needed to hear.

Strong women rebuke good men, who need help in their weaknesses, who need someone to help them see how to be strong.

3. Strong women raise believing men.

There is no stronger, more consistent reminder of the gospel in my life than my mom. Paul says something very similar of Timothy: “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well” (2 Timothy 1:5).

“Men have two choices: find female strength captivatingly attractive, or be insecure and intimidated.”

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In an ideal world, men and women would partner together in their strength. But we live in a world where we need strong women to make men strong, because sometimes there simply are no men there to do it. My mom’s dad died when she was nine, and my own dad wasn’t present in my life enough to be a father. So she did the work of two parents — the work of two disciplers — for both my sister and me. With Timothy and Paul, I’m so glad that God gave us these gifts of strong women to survive the inconsistent presence and consequences of “strong” men.

Of course, some of the godliest mothers have had some of the ungodliest children, and vice versa. But in an age when fathers often fail to bestow the gift of faith to their children, the future often hangs on the strength of women to do that gospel work.

Whether as children or their disciples, strong women raise believing men.

The Beauty and Strength of Faith

We live in a time when women are outperforming men in many areas of professional and personal competency. And men have two choices: to find female strength captivatingly attractive, or to be insecure and intimidated. Real men love strong women, because God’s glory is beautiful, and “woman is the glory of man” (1 Corinthians 11:7).

Jesus, give men the grace to see the beauty of glorious female strength. Give women the resilience to remain strong long enough for the right men to find them beautiful for the right reasons. And help men and women to fall in love with proven, genuine faith, which is “more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire” (1 Peter 1:7).

Paul Maxwell (@paulcmaxwell) is a Ph.D. student at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and philosophy professor at Moody Bible Institute. He writes more at his blog, and pretends to like coffee.