THE FEAR FACTOR – PART TWO
Last week, we began a 3-part study on how to handle fear. We took a look at the “Frozen by Fear” approach and saw that it is an unwise and unbiblical way to deal with our fears. We simply can’t “do nothing” in most scary situations and still be pleasing to God. So let’s examine another possibility this week: APPROACH #2: THE “MISPLACED FEAR” APPROACH What does this particular approach to fear look like? Imagine this scenario: Something happens in…
THE FEAR FACTOR – PART ONE
Have you ever been in a situation that scared you to the point that you didn’t know what to do or how to handle it? Have you ever allowed fear to control your decision-making? Have you ever wondered what to do when you are scared to do anything? Maybe some of these situations sound familiar: “I’ve lied to my parents about something, and I know I need to make it right, but I’m afraid of what might happen if I tell…
Dear Paul…
Tucked into the back half of the New Testament is a one-chapter letter written by the apostle Paul. The letter is only 25 verses, and it is curiously unconcerned with presenting theological or doctrinal concepts, church instruction/correction, or a treatise on any specific issue. This letter was, in fact, written to one person: a Christian brother named Philemon. Philemon was a faithful Christian man, and a member of the Lord’s Church. In fact, the local church met in his house…
THE ME IN BLASPHEMY
In Colossians 3:8 Paul identified blasphemy as one of the sinful behaviors that Christians are to “put off.” It is identified in a list that included anger, wrath, malice, and filthy language. These latter behaviors are familiar to us, but blasphemy is a behavior that is somewhat foreign to our twenty-first century culture since the term is rarely used. So, what is blasphemy and how might we commit it? The word blasphemy is an Anglicanized form of the Greek noun blasphemia,…