As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“Get comfortable with uncertainty. The future likely involves ambiguity and change across the social, technological, and economic landscapes. We’re already experiencing changes faster than at any time in history” - Phil Cooke
Your oldest child heads off to college. A friend you led to Christ and have been discipling moves over 1,000 miles away. Your work contract ends and those you have seen and witnessed to daily for years fade from your life. Our time on earth often passes in cycles—family cycles, ministry cycles, and work cycles. We go from one phase to the next. What has been will be no more. What will be in the next phase is often unknown. Solomon wrote of these changes: “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).
“We cannot continue to lament that our communities are becoming more secular while assuming a ministry model designed for a predominantly Christian culture will effectively reach them.” - Lifeway
“He is never between a rock and a hard place. His holdings are never decreased by the advance of enemy armies. He is not moved; he is not threatened; he is not set back; he is not frustrated in any of his purposes.” - Olinger
“…we’re incomplete, undeveloped, short of our potential. We have things to learn. We can always get better at something…. One reason that God doesn’t change is that he doesn’t need any of what we’ve just described. He doesn’t need to grow; he doesn’t need to mature; he doesn’t need to get better at anything.” - Olinger
“A lot of people are bewildered, scared, frustrated about all this change… The Scripture doesn’t ignore this problem, and it doesn’t try to ‘pep talk’ us out of our distress with platitudes. But it does offer two truths that can stabilize us despite the instability of our world.” - Olinger
Reposted from August, 2021.
Judging from what I’m seeing, hearing and overhearing lately, a lot of conservative Christians are really worked up right now. Details vary, but the general feeling seems to be that recent developments in religious liberty, LGBTQ trends, mask and vaccine “mandates,” and Afghanistan mean all we hold dear in the U.S. is now collapsing.
“There are probably two groups reading this article: The first are the complainers….The second, are those who, like me, are tired of hearing how great things used to be by those who came before us.” - Relevant
I will never forget the third Sunday in March of 2020.
On Saturday, March 14, I attended my first Prophecy Up Close event hosted by The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, in the Milwaukee area. That night, we drove down to Mendota, IL, to prepare for our ministry at Mendota Bible Church.
“Contentment in the midst of chaos is a powerful testimony to a solid foundation and a confident purpose. We have what we need. God is enough.” - Olinger
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