It’s easy to say that we would trust God when a child is born with a defect or a loved one suffers with a disease. We say that we would continue to serve God even if a tornado destroyed all we own. It’s an entirely different thing to actually trust God as those things are happening. Read More ...
Government policies and procedures may not be what we want them to be, but we can be assured that God is sovereign over national, political, and military affairs. We must believe that his purposes are being fulfilled through these instruments. Read More ...
We can trust that God has a plan, and he is working out that plan by causing people to think and do various things. We don’t know how it’s all going to work out, but we trust that God is active in controlling human thought and behavior for his own purposes. Read More ...
We readily admit that the sovereignty of God is a difficult, even troubling doctrine, especially when we are facing pain, sorrow, disaster, and disappointment. To know that God ultimately is behind all the events of our lives can be difficult to accept. It’s sometimes almost easier to believe that God is not in charge. It might be easier to believe that it was random chance or pure bad luck than that God has brought it or allowed it. Read More ...
We must believe that God is upholding, directing, disposing and governing all things to the end for which they were created. That’s what the Bible clearly and repeatedly teaches—God governs all things. God is in control of all events in the universe; there are no maverick molecules. Read More ...
We affirm that both calamities and good things ultimately come from God. If God is sovereign, and if God’s providence rules over all things, then we believe that both blessings and calamities ultimately come from God. God has a morally righteous purpose even in calamities and disasters. Trusting God is the most difficult in times of crisis and disaster, but that’s what we must do. Read More ...
Be truthful and honest enough to take the blame when you deserve it. Don’t try to avoid personal responsibility; don’t try to blame someone else for what you are responsible for. God holds us all personally accountable for what we do, and it’s best for us to take responsibility for our own actions. Read More ...
Instead of worrying about daily needs, believers should focus on God, His kingdom, and righteous living. Replace worry with positive action. Adopt God’s perspective on things—eternal and spiritual, not temporary. Read More ...
Hypocrites don’t really care about the law, salvation, the needy, prayer, the truth, tithing, or weighty spiritual matters. Within, they are full of dead men’s bones, uncleanness, extortion, and excess. They are serpents and vipers even though they appear to be righteous before men. Ultimately, their religion is a fraud, a charade, and they are in danger of the damnation of hell. Read More ...
One of the marks of a hypocrite is that he tells others to do what he is unwilling to do himself. They “say and do not,” they preach but they do not practice. Perhaps they keep the rules in public but not in private. Hypocrites are different people when no one is watching them. Their religion is external; it’s an act, a mask or a costume. Read More ...