One of the most tragic words in any language is SOMEDAY! It sums up the unfulfilled hopes and dreams of this entire generation.
Listen to the addicted drug user or alcoholic, "Someday I'm going to break this habit! Someday I'll get this monkey off my back! Someday I'll wake up and this nightmare will be just a bad dream. Someday - I'll be free."
It is high time to speak out against all the Hollywood holiness and show business salvation that is now contaminating the house of God. How sad the heart of God must now be to see so many who call themselves Christians corrupting and defiling themselves at the devil's table. There is a cancer of worldliness growing in the church.
There’s a popular phrase used by pastors today. On any given Sunday in churches across the U.S., a preacher says, “I invite you to engage in community.” There are books on the subject of connecting with community. There are podcasts and sermons. And it all sounds good because they sound like they’re talking about fellowship, the deepening of bonds between Christ-followers.
The great promises that God has given us through Jesus are beyond anything a human could think or imagine. He has freed us from bondage and slavery to sin. He has placed us beside himself in heavenly places. He has given us our identity in him. If these incredible promises don’t build up our confidence, there’s something wrong with our view of God. It means we’re not seeing his glory as fully and clearly as we should.
This message is for anyone carrying a need right now. It is especially for those who have been afraid to express their need. In fifty-eight years of preaching around the world, I have learned that often people carrying the deepest needs can put on a front. On the outside it looks as if everything is okay in their lives, but inside they feel like death.
In Psalm 38 we find David at his wits’ end. He was downcast and discouraged, and his struggle had drained him of all strength. David cried, “I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long…I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart… My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me” (Psalm 38:6, 8, 10).
The Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren" (Luke 22:31–32).
When Jesus walked the earth, he knew all too well about the fierce powers of evil. Satan came with every weapon in hell to sift Christ's disciples. And he came to tempt Jesus, too.
“Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4, my italics). The phrase I emphasize here is familiar to Christians all over the world. For centuries “living by faith” has motivated the daily decisions of believers in every generation.
“Great are thy tender mercies, O Lord” (Psalm 119:156). “The Lord is gracious and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all; and his tender mercies are over all his works” (145:8–9, my italics).
The Book of Acts closes on an amazing note. The final two verses find Paul in chains, under house arrest and guarded by Roman soldiers. Yet read the joyous note with which Paul’s situation is described: “Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him” (Acts 28:30–31).
