묵상/스티브 멕베이(Steve McVey)243 Pucker Power Suppose I were to ask for some marital advice. The imaginary conversation might go like this: “I travel a lot, speaking in various places. I’m wondering about something. When I come home, do I have to kiss my wife?” “You probably should,” might be the response. “Oh, okay,” I reply. “Should it be a kiss on the mouth or on the cheek.” “Probably on the mouth,” one might answe.. 2010. 5. 10. Get Up And Dance I have long felt the urge to dance with life. I’m not sure if it is a sad commentary on the state of modern Christendom or of spiritual deficits in my own life, but the first time I found the desires for an authentic life articulated in the way that most closely fit my own was from a source outside the church. In fact, it was from one outside the faith. As I read Henry David Thoreau’s, Wald.. 2010. 5. 1. The Danger of Drifting My wife, Melanie, and I love to sail. Years ago we took classes and were certified to skipper a sailboat. One of the things we learned was to determine our course using a protractor and a chart. One important thing about sailing is that if you plan to go a long way, you’d better be sure you aren’t off course a few degrees when you begin. If you are, you’re going to end up in big trouble l.. 2010. 4. 27. Did Jesus Come To Change God's Mind About Us or Our Minds about God?? Since Adam sinned in The Garden, man has had a distorted understanding of who our Father is, thinking Him to be a harsh Judge instead of a loving Father. But sin didn't change God. It changed man. Jesus came to set the record straight and help us get our minds right about the Father. He didn't come to change what God the Father thinks about us, but came to change what we think about Him. Hebrew.. 2010. 4. 24. How Important Is Persistence In Praying About A Matter? I used to believe that it increased the likelihood of having my prayers answered if I prayed constantly about the thing that concerned me. I thought the longer I stayed on my knees about it the better off the outcome would be. I don't believe that anymore. God doesn't need me to convince Him to act on my behalf. Jesus once told a story that illustrates the heart of the Father toward us: Now He .. 2010. 4. 24. When You're Afraid About A Decision You Have To Make “Please pray for us that we will know the right decision to make,” Larry asked the small group who met in his home. “We believe that taking the job I’ve been offered in Dallas is the right thing, but we want to make doubly sure we aren’t missing God’s will. You know how deceptive the devil can be. I don’t want to be misled by him. The way he deceives us sometimes is so insidious. .. 2010. 4. 8. When The Lights Go Out When my four children were small, occasionally the electricity would go off in our home at night. If they were still awake, I would hear a unified chorus cry out, “Daddy!” Melanie and I would walk through the dark rooms and collect them one by one and bring them back to our bed, where we would lie down with them. With all six of us in one bed, we would put our arms around the children and a.. 2010. 4. 3. Holiness, It's What I Long For! (Well, don't do that.) I inwardly grimaced when the worship leader led us all to sing: Holiness, holiness is what I long for Holiness is what I need Holiness, holiness is what You want for me, for me. What's my problem with that chorus? It's because it asks for something we already have! We don't need holiness. We have it right now! The reason so many people squeeze their eyes closed and sing like they're begging God.. 2010. 4. 1. Dealing With Sins In Our Lives Based on the widespread popularity of the topic in books in Christian bookstores and the constant focus in sermons and Bible studies within the church world, it would be easy to come to the conclusion that the most important subject among believers is sin. Sin management often seems to be the reason for public ministry and to be the most important goal many who follow Jesus have embraced for th.. 2010. 3. 31. Forgive & Forget? What about this matter of forgiving and forgetting? Are we really required to forget the wrong things others have done to us? That’s not what the Bible teaches. Not even God does that. You may have raised your eyebrow in doubt about that statement, but it’s true. The Bible doesn’t say that He forgets our sins. It says that He doesn’t remember them. Although many may think the two are th.. 2010. 3. 30. Will The Truth Set You Free? Not exactly... The suggestion that the truth will set you free is another one of those statements whose untruthfulness can be seen from several vantage points. First, and foremost, the problem with the statement is what it leaves out. To suggest that the truth will set you free is only a partial quote from Jesus Himself. What He actually said, in its totality, is “You shall know the truth and the truth shal.. 2010. 3. 26. God Didn't Change Your Life The claim that God changed your life at salvation leaves the false impression that there was something about you that simply needed an overhaul. It suggests that He cleaned up our lives, fixed what was wrong, and straightened everything out for us. We flatter ourselves if we think that’s the case. Mankind wasn’t merely a group of sin-sick people who needed religious medicine before Christ c.. 2010. 3. 16. Does God Speak Only Through The Bible? To suggest that our God speaks to us in any way outside the Bible is to walk on thin ice with many people. Make no mistake about the fact that your Father will never speak to you in a way that contradicts what the Bible says, but the teaching that He only can only speak to you when you read the Bible is a lie that will prevent you from hearing Him at many other times. Our God speaks in many way.. 2010. 3. 13. Lie #37 You Need An Accountability Partner (Here's the last section I wrote yesterday as I was working on the manuscript, 52 Lies Heard In Church Every Sunday.) I realize that I’m really getting out into the deep water with this one, because I’m criticizing a strong current fad. It is vogue and fashionable now in the church world to teach people that they must have an accountability partner, but there are some real problems with how.. 2010. 3. 12. Finding Contentment Wherever We Are Contentment with where we are in life is a great blessing. A scene from an old TV program illustrates the point well. The following is a conversation between Jed Clampett and Cousin Pearl in the television program "The Beverly Hillbillies." The conversation took place right after Jed discovered oil had been struck on his land. Jed: Pearl, what d’ya think? Think I oughta move? Pearl: Jed, how .. 2010. 3. 11. Just How Plain Spoken Should We Be? I'm an easy going guy. I like to laugh and joke and play. I stayed in trouble as a kid in school because my teachers often failed to appreciate my humor. My yearbooks all have notes where other students referred to me as "the class clown." When it comes to teaching about God's grace, I think it's important to be known as a loving person. Religion makes people mean spirited but grace doesn't do .. 2010. 3. 9. Free Will Isn't As Free As We'd Like To Think Do you remember when you first began to consider the claims of Christ? Up until that time, you didn’t seek to know Him. Maybe you had no interest whatsoever in spiritual things. Maybe you held a sense of religious respect toward Him, but following Jesus wasn’t high on your list of goals. Then things changed. Do you remember when you found your thoughts moving, not away from Him, but toward .. 2010. 3. 5. Are You Qualified? Do you qualify to be a conduit through which our triune God can extend His grace in this world? Don’t think for a moment that it's the people who have worked out their spirituality to the place where they’re in a different league than you who are better suited to be ambassadors of agape. The truth is they are more like you than you may want to know, but you need to know it because, by knowi.. 2010. 3. 3. Freedom Fighters, Stand Strong! We're done with it. The worn out, tired, legalistic approach to the Christian life that many of us have known for most of our lives has been tried in the balance and found wanting. Some of those legalistic habits have become a part of the doctrine of the modern church by simple osmosis. Particular practices have been so embedded in the culture of the contemporary church world that it has become.. 2010. 3. 2. Being A Revolutionary Martin Luther is remembered as the Reformer responsible for the start of the Protestant movement. But his original intention wasn’t to establish anything new. His desire was for reformation – a re-forming of the church so that it would again be an expression of what He understood the Bible to say that the church is intended to be. He had no interest in being seen as a rebel against the chur.. 2010. 3. 2. One of the chapters in the "Lies" manuscript I'm working on right now We've all been told at times that Christ wants to have first place in our lives. Although this is a statement that sounds true at first glance, closer examination will show it is actually a statement that can set you on a wrong course in your grace walk. Christ doesn’t want to be first place in your life. He wants you to recognize Him as all of your life. If Jesus Christ wants the first place.. 2010. 3. 1. Jesus In The Visual Arts I’ve never considered myself to be particularly “artsy.” Melanie drug me to the Museum of Art in Atlanta to see Monet’s work. I went with her to the Rykes Museum when I spoke in Amsterdam. I saw paintings done by the Masters. I understand that they are masterpieces. I sincerely tried to get it, but I just didn’t get it. I stood staring as if I knew what I was looking at, hoping that t.. 2010. 2. 27. Does The Holy Spirit Convict Unbelievers of Their Sins? No How are we to pray for a friend or family member who doesn’t know Christ? If you follow the example of most believers’ prayers, you’ll pray that the Holy Spirit will convict them of their sins so that they’ll become open to the gospel. No one would object to the motivation behind that kind of prayer, which is the salvation of loved ones. But are we really praying according to what the B.. 2010. 2. 27. Asking God For Forgiveness It is no longer necessary for you to ask for forgiveness for your sins. In fact, it insults the finished work of Jesus on the cross when we do ask. It implies that the matter isn’t finished although Jesus clearly said that “it is finished.” Doesn’t the New Testament teach that we are to still ask for God’s forgiveness? This is where it becomes important to “rightly divide the word... 2010. 2. 25. Abiding In Christ When I wrote my first book, Grace Walk, in 1995 there were things I said then that I'd say differently today. Things I think I could have made clearer. The topic of abiding in Christ is one of those subjects. I wrote a lot in the book about the importance of abiding in Christ. My jumping off place for that was the words of Jesus in John 15:4 where Jesus said, "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the .. 2010. 2. 25. Let's Party! Our God loves a party. Contrary to the religious mindset that sometimes causes people to think that sobermindedness looks eerily like outright misery, faith and fun are not in opposition to one another. Even under the old covenant, God made provision for the people to celebrate. And you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe.. 2010. 2. 23. Did You See Jesus At The Movies? Some Christians renounce all movies as “from the devil.” "Hollywood" is snarled from the lips of some believers as if it leaves the taste of bile in their mouths. “Can anything good come out of Hollywood?” they ask. There is no question that, as is true with music, there are some abominable productions being made today. But are we to completely dismiss films as being an arena outside th.. 2010. 2. 22. Jesus And Joe Cocker God doesn't stand outside world culture, refusing to interact with it. To the contrary, He is very much involved in the details of culture and can use cultural elements to make Himself known to those who have eyes to see. Have you ever seen God revealing Himself to you in the nonreligious aspects of culture? Are there things you enjoy that nobody would call religious, but you know you have expe.. 2010. 2. 19. Religion's Greatest Lies Part 2 in a series of messages called, "The Root & Fruit of Religion: Discovering How A Religious Mindset Hurts Us All" This week's topic: Religion's Greatest Lies 2010. 2. 18. Do We Become Progressively Righteous? The Bible teaches that we are righteous people but many of us struggle with that reality. There are also many common misunderstandings about this concept. Those who fail to understand that righteousness is received entirely as a gift (see Romans 5:17) often wrongly think that it can be achieved through various things we do. If you think that you can become righteous by your own efforts, I remin.. 2010. 2. 17. 이전 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ··· 9 다음