Author: Servant of the Lord

We’re Not Called To Make Peace With The World By Compromising, Instead We’re Called To Make Peace With God.

Keeping the peace often involves compromise. The result is fragile.

The Christian life is not one of compromise. Jesus says blessed is the peace maker but he also says he came to bring a sword.

person holding water

We’re not called to make peace with the world by compromising, Instead we’re called to make peace with God.

This is where we need wisdom from above… to find the line between “not compromising” and “being religious.”

The opposition Jesus faced came mainly from “religious people.” On the other hand he embraced “sinners.”

Apostle Paul said he was ready to be all things to all men in the hope he might win some of them for Christ.

Having made peace through Jesus Christ, he wanted others to come to the same terms of peace with God. He became a peacemaker in that sense.

But at other times his refusal to compromise the truth of the gospel brought great conflict with non believers as well as strong confrontation with other Christians.

How do we discern where the line is drawn? It’s not being zealous or “religious” or “acting out of principle” that will help us. Rather it’s a work of maturity in our own lives as we desire to carry the heart of God – we can’t “learn” that – it’s formed in us as we continue to submit to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Matthew 5:9
Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.

Matthew 10:34
“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.

  • Mark Saunders

Expect Christ To Come

1 Thessalonians 5:2 New Living Translation (NLT)

For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night.

I live in a state of expectation. I expect the Lord to come just about any time. I do not expect life to go on as it is now for very much longer. I have no way of knowing when the Lord is coming, but when He does, I know that He will catch everyone by surprise. He will not give us any other warnings than what He has already given us in His Word. He will come as a thief in the night.

silhouette of a bird above clouds

Since we know that He will come without any warning, how should we be living? We should always be in a state of readiness. We dare not get lazy and let our guard down. We must always make sure that we are living holy lives before God. We must be obeying Him in every area of our lives. We must be serving Him and be witnesses for Him. We dare not let the thought that He may not come for a while cause us to get careless in our walk with Him. We must always strive to deal with sin whenever it crops up in our lives.
Since we don’t know when the Lord is coming for sure, we should be actively involved in helping as many people as we can to know Him. We need to be sharing our faith with all that we can. We should be praying for those we know who are lost. We should be taking advantage of the opportunities we have to sow the seed of the Gospel. We should be praying for those who are actively working in the harvest field. We should be striving for the peace and unity in the Church and not participate in those things which divide her.

There is no question that Jesus is coming and He is coming at a time we will least expect it. We must always stay ready so that we are not unprepared and left behind when He comes. Are you ready?

Trusting God in Difficult Times – Psalm 11 Meditation by Tim Keller

A special series of meditations by Tim Keller — “Trusting God in Difficult Times.” This new series is meant to encourage you to trust God more deeply and to meditate on his word and what it promises, to give you strength and hope in difficult times. After the meditation, Tim will be joined by Kathy Keller for a short Q&A.

These meditations are brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you’ve enjoyed this meditation and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/youtube and making a one-time or recurring donation.

There’s An Order Of Authority In A Christian Home Established By God But “Worldly Wisdom” Wants To Do Everything To Undo That

Weeds grow so easily. They don’t need any intervention from us.

Our kids grow too. Without any intervention from us they grow like weeds.

Like sponges, they take in everything around them in. The example we put in front of them the most will have the greatest influence on them.

family bonding activity

That’s a big challenge for us all as parents. Our lives are so full and often so pressured. It’s easier to have our kids entertained by the internet than to build relationship with them.

It’s better for them to go without the “latest” and “best” things and rather to have us instead.

The apostle Paul said,“follow me as I follow Christ.” There’s an order in a Christian home that he tells us about. Christ is the head of man and man is the head of woman. Oops … what did you just say…

There is an order of authority in a Christian home – it’s established by God. But “worldly wisdom” wants to do everything possible to undo that order because we feel we know better.

Christian men, there’s our challenge – to say follow us as we follow Christ. The first thing he did was “to humble himself and come down.” This is, without a doubt, the best and most important thing we can possibly do for our wife and our kids. Help me please Lord!

1 Corinthians 11:1
Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

1 Corinthians 11:3
But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

Luke 9:23
Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

  • Mark Saunders