Steve Murrell's Blog, page 26

How to Fight the Fight of Faith

When Deborah and I started vocational ministry in the early 1980s, we didn’t know much and we had almost no training, but we were taught how to “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12).

My generation of church planters and campus missionaries generally believed that to have faith meant to actively fight doubt. Faith required rejecting lies and confessing Scripture truth.

I’m not sure how or when it happened, but many ministers today seem to think doubt is a virtue. In the name of authenticity, many proudly testify about their doubt as if it is a mark of spiritual maturity.

Today’s text shows us that:

Faith is active, not passive.Faith is vocal, not just mental.Faith is plural and personal.

Leadership & Politics

In the last few years, it seems like the world has experienced a deepening polarization in politics. In the two countries where I spend the majority of my time—the Philippines and the US—recent elections have been increasingly controversial, dividing people into distinct ideological camps that struggle to communicate with one another.

We could talk about the many reasons we are seeing this trend, but today, I want to talk about how Christians should engage in politics, particularly Christian leaders. Our tendency as humans is to be all in for a particular political leader, all out against a political leader, or completely disengaged with the political process in general. None of these are typically the right option.

The prophet Haggai, in the Old Testament, provides us with a great example of how we can engage political leaders. He provides a model for:

Speaking truth to power.Knowing the difference between public and private.

More in today’s message.

Mission Together

If you have been around Every Nation for even a short amount of time, you have heard us repeatedly quote Matthew 28:19: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” Being a global family of churches called “Every Nation,” this verse is obviously a core rallying cry for us.

Recently, as I was reading Matthew 28 for what felt like the millionth time, I was struck by something that I had not noticed before. Before Jesus famously said to go to the nations, he gave his followers several other “Go” commands.

In today’s sermon, we’re going to look at those other “Go” commands and what they mean for us as leaders today.

The Word of Faith

When I was a kid, my mom used to repeat the old adage, “If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all.”

Wise words. There is so much power in what we say. The words we use have the ability to either build up or tear down.

Because of the lunatic fringe of “prosperity gospel” preachers, the phrase “word of faith” is a theological lightning rod. Unfortunately, many preachers have chosen to ignore the phrase and concept altogether.

Since “word of faith” is a biblical phrase (Romans 10:8), we don’t have the option of ignoring it.

Today’s message looks at what the Scripture says about our speech, our words, and the power of our faith confession.

The Downfalls of Pride

I recently watched the new biopic Elvis about American music legend Elvis Presley. I had not been particularly interested in him prior to the movie, but it was so captivating that I began thinking more about its message and the tragedy of Elvis’ short life.

In the opening scene, Elvis’ manager (played by Tom Hanks) is reflecting on Elvis’ life and more importantly the question: Who or what killed him?

His answer boiled down to one thing: Love of attention. Elvis’ real downfall—what was behind some of his poor lifestyle choices—was a love of applause and celebrity status.

Today, in a world obsessed with platform, celebrity, and selfies, we don’t have to be famous to experience some of the same pitfalls that Elvis did. With mobile phones, social media accounts, and “audiences” right at our fingertips, we can easily become addicted to the same kinds of attention. The Bible tells us though that if not handled properly, pride can easily be our downfall.

We’re going to look at Obadiah in today’s message and talk about how we can heed warnings like the one given to the Edomites about the ways that pride can deceive us.  Ultimately, the answer is always to get ourselves out of the center and Jesus in to the center.

The Purpose of Prosperity

Somewhere between the Word of Faith “prosperity gospel” and the monastic poverty vow, we find the biblical truth of prosperity. Biblical prosperity has less to do with salary amount and/or wristwatch brand and more to do with attitude and motive.

Many today accuse the Church of being “all about the Benjamins.” (Benjamin Franklin’s face is on the US $100 bill.) While I understand that accusation, I couldn’t disagree more vehemently. The vast majority of churches and preachers are exactly the opposite of money-obsessed greedy charlatans. The whole church gets a bad rap because of a relatively few, but very visible and vocal, minority of prosperity preachers.

Despite the extreme prosperity preachers, I want to caution leaders against “throwing the baby out with the bathwater.”

Why?

The Bible has much to say about prosperity, money, and its proper use. There is a clear purpose to God’s provision that includes, but is not limited to, global mission.

God joyfully and abundantly provides for individuals and churches, but his provision is for something far greater than individuals and local churches.

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

I was reading Lamentations recently, and I was struck by Jeremiah’s words: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.” If you know the setting of Lamentations (the title itself gives quite a bit away), you know that many people would find it difficult to speak those words considering the sad circumstances.

But Jeremiah’s words describe exactly how we’re supposed to think during every season of our lives. When we focus on God’s faithfulness and love, we go from hopeless to full of hope.

Today, we’re going to talk about three spiritual actions in challenging times:

Wait for the LordSeek the LordSit alone in silence

Harvest Now

North American ENC Staff Summit

Freedom to Fail

Build Southern Africa

Hope in the Midst of Uncertainty

If you’re a leader, you know (or soon will know) that leadership is rewarding but also difficult. Too often people see leaders as solely responsible for both successes and failures (whether fairly or unfairly).

To lead well through the inevitable challenges, we have to know how to strengthen ourselves. But how? How does a leader strengthen himself or herself when it feels like everything is against them?

In 1 Samuel 30:1–10, David gives us a great example of how to strengthen ourselves in challenging circumstances.