I'll Be Honest

Spiritual instability will hold the believer back in the Christian life. Is your walk with Christ stable, consistent, and solid; like a fruitful tree planted by a stream of water? Nathan speaks on the under-appreciated value of spiritual stability.

So, how much of your life are you to be acknowledging the Lord in? The verse says, "In all your ways acknowledge Him." That covers quite a bit of territory doesn't it? All your ways. It is anything you are doing, anything you are involved in; really any detail that you care about in your life. God says, "I want to be Lord of that. I want to be brought into the scheme there. I care about that thing...

In this Ask Pastor Tim, two questions are dealt with that involve children and whether or not to submit to their parents. Question 1: I want to give up high school but at the same time I want to obey my parents who want me to do well. What do I do? Question 2: Hello, I am 17, I want to get my license but my parents don’t care (they are unbelievers) they allowed me/told me to drive and I realized l...

As the believer daily renews their mind in the Scriptures, and in prayer they cast themselves upon the Lord - they will walk in purity. When you find a struggling believer and ask them about their prayer life and time in the Word, they will tend to respond by acknowledging it is lacking. When we read and believe the Gospel truths in the Bible, it will affect how we live.

Marriage is indeed important and defining in the believer’s life, but it is not the most important thing to be said of the Christian’s life. Marriage on this earth is temporary, but union to Christ is forever.

Is it sinful for a married Christian couple to not have children if they can? Is it defrauding God's design to be married and enjoy sex, but not have children? We consider these questions in this Ask Pastor Tim.

In King Uzziah we see the sad biography of how fame and pride destroyed him. He was unfaithful to the Lord and was rebuked by 80 men of valor for his actions, but rather than heed their warning, he responded in anger and defended himself. So also in our generation, we've sadly seen many pastors go from famous preachers to fallen adulterers. Uzziah's life is an example and warning to us of the dang...

When we are snared by the fear of man, we are no longer trusting in the Lord. We must stop regarding man in whose nostrils is mere breath. We will give an account to God who can kill the soul rather than man who can only kill the body. For the believer, they ultimately want the approval of God more than the approval of man. Rather than seek to be a people pleaser, we are to seek to please and hono...

Do you fear that you have committed the unpardonable sin? You may have, but nevertheless run to Christ. You say, "Isn't that a contradiction?" If you press the issue, yes. But I don't know, and you don't know, if they have committed it. So even if you think you've committed it, run to Christ. Don't just stand still because that will certainly lead to death. Notes: 1. Tim responds to the question,...

This is where we often go wrong: When we look at lost men we do not think they are as lost as they are. And when we look at Christians, we do not recognize that they are as changed as they are. We tend to take the edge off on both ends. Scripture doesn’t do that. Scripture says: If you are lost, it is extreme! If you are saved, it is the other extreme!

When it comes to preparing and delivering a sermon, there are countless questions that must be asked: Am I preaching my own opinion or what the text is saying? What should my sermon notes look like? What about using commentaries in my study? In this study, Tim seeks to deal with these questions and others.

Christ died for you; therefore He is certainly not going to require anything of you that would ultimately harm you, but He is abundantly for your good. Express your absolute allegiance to Christ and be surrendered to His love. Be able to say, "Lord, You are enough; and if I have You, though You strip everything else away, I am satisfied."

What are you tempted to be proud of tonight? Are you girls tempted to be proud of your beauty? Do you realize you could lose that in a second? Are you proud of how smart you are? One little thing and it could be gone and you can't even put sentences together. - Charles Leiter

There is no other path in the ministry except one that has trials and suffering along its way. At the same time, pastors also experience many blessings. Mack Tomlinson (https://www.providencedenton.org/ ) considers the trials and blessings of the ministry in this pastors' session from the 2017 Fellowship Conference.

Everything would be okay if _____ ? What comes to your mind, if anything? Have I put something plus Jesus in my equation for contentment?

What is contentment? Contentment is being fully satisfied in our soul, it is an idea of complete sufficiency. It is used in reference to God, in His self sufficiency and needing nothing. You could say it is coming to a state of being that is independent of external circumstances. In other words, it is being unmoved by external circumstances and situations because of the soul satisfaction within us...

Believer, because we are the temple of God, we should ask the Lord for more power from the Holy Spirit. This power that is received, according to grace and not works, is essential to Christian growth. The Bible speaks of the Lord filling His temple with His Holy Spirit and with inexpressible glory. This reality should motivate us to pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our own lives and co...

As a believer maintaining unity in your church should be a priority. However, there are some in the church who are divisive, and a critic of every little thing that comes along because it is not what they would choose or prefer. There are also some who easily get offended at something and they won’t let it go. They let it fester in their mind and heart and it alienates them from their pastors. The...

A mindset of humility promotes unity in a local church. That is a mindset that is not always being opinionated, or thinking we always know what is right, or that we have to push our agenda on others. Must we take a stand where the Bible does and not compromise? Absolutely, but often good men differ over the smallest of the non-essentials of the faith. We need humility to be able to love others who...

The Christian is the only person who has a hope that can truly be rejoiced in and will truly last. (This was shared at Providence Chapel’s prayer meeting, the day before the Fellowship Conference began.)

When the preacher's sermon preparation leads him to commit eisegesis and he reads his own idea and meaning into the text, it is not a light matter. If the preacher does not substantiate what he is saying from the text, then he may fall into slipping his own opinions into the sermon. These opinionated assumptions are stated as if they come from the text, but they do not. Preacher, are you clearly g...

When we were lost, we were dead in trespasses and sins. It wasn't that we transgressed against God every once in awhile. All we ever did was sin and trespass against God and God's commandments. God purposely used graphic terms to describe what we were in our lost condition. Do you recognize the power that was necessary to take dead sinners like us and make us alive? Even as Christians, there is st...

Paul says that Jesus Christ has put everything under His feet and been appointed as head over all for the church. Christian, do you realize what is being said? Paul is saying that He who is head over everything and is all powerful, is all powerful on the believer’s behalf! It is no small reality that Christ is over all for us, but rather it is a reason to have confidence that He is powerfully work...

Jesus gave a call to radical discipleship, to exclusive allegiance. The call to become a Christian is a call to have Jesus be our Lord and our God.

Did you hear that? In one stroke, that just wiped out everything that we just read. We just read over, and over, "if you eat that you will be unclean, you will be defiled, don't defile yourself." Listen to what He said, "there is nothing outside the man, which going into him, can defile him." Incredible statement. And I don't think the disciples had a clue, until years later, of what He had said.