Pastors

You cannot grow physical muscles without the muscles being overwhelmed. Your muscles need resistance and challenges to grow. The same is true for leadership muscles.

Using the parable of the bridesmaids Jesus Himself instructed us to “keep awake” and be aware of the signs of the times.

Our grief has an expiration date. The world as it is now is under the curse, but God will lift it once and for all: “No longer will there be any curse” (Revelation 22:3). No more sin. No more cancer. No more dementia. No more suffering. No more death.

Conflict is inevitable but divisiveness is avoidable. How we handle human conflict determines whether the outcome is unity or division.

The nature of cultural Christianity is not hard to grasp. Consider that in the U.K. only 1% attend a Church of England service, yet 46.2% describe themselves as Christian.

The convenient excuses are usually big picture things: "The church is full of hypocrites,” I protested. It allowed me to remain in isolation. I thought they were convenient excuses, merely to get my way, but God wasn't buying them.

It is altogether possible for believers to close their prayer with the words "in Jesus' name" or “in Christ’s name” or “for Christ’s sake” as a sort of mindless mantra.

Of these two things you can be certain—nay, three: death, taxes, and a raging debate among preachers at the release of each new season of "The Chosen."