Influencing the Next Generation
Author: Andy Robbins In the teaching this past Sunday we focused on principles of parenting, focusing on helping your children to develop and embrace a Biblical worldview. If you missed it, ask me for the notes and audio. In this post, I would like to add to those thoughts by addressing both parents with children still underfoot, and also empty nesters. First, one word of wisdom to parents of children still living in the house. Just as I said to never, ever, ever let a child get away with disrespectful behavior toward you or other elders, I...
read moreTaking Your Spiritual Temperature
Author: Andy Robbins We have probably all been there at one time or another in our spiritual lives. Perhaps it is a nagging sense of disconnection with the Spirit of God, sort of like a one-sided conversation. Maybe it’s a stagnation in one’s spiritual development and/or one or more sin habits that won’t let go. Maybe it’s a frustrating boredom with Bible study and/or a sense of dryness in prayer. Perhaps there is no enthusiasm for spiritual things, and God seems to be a little part of your life, but not the passion of it. Once in a while...
read moreThe Blessings of Benevolence: A Study of Psalm 112
Author: Andy Robbins Do me a favor. If you have a Bible handy, grab it and read the entire chapter of Psalm 112. It’s short. If you like, copy and paste this post to a Word document and print it off and take it somewhere with your Bible where you can meditate on it. I think this is going to excite you. Please read that chapter before you read anymore of this post. Are you done? Okay, let’s break this down verse by verse. Verse 1 opens up the chapter by expressing praise to God. Why? Well, God deserves praise for many reasons, but the second...
read moreIs Money the Root of all Evil?
Author: Andy Robbins My last two posts have been focused on God’s provisions for His people – spiritual AND monetary. I know that this brings up some questions regarding whether or not money is the root of all evil, as some have suggested. So let’s proceed to topple a sacred cow! First, let it be known that money in itself is not evil. Scripture says that the LOVE of money – being subservient to it and hoarding it and lusting for more of it – is the root of all sorts of evil (1 Timothy 6:10). But money in itself is not evil. In fact, money in...
read moreThe Law of Reciprocity
Author: Andy Robbins A young missionary couple sat in my living room last year, sharing with my family and me the details of the gospel work they are doing in a village in Mexico. They felt commissioned by God in their teenage years to go to the mission field. Now only in their early twenties, they had given up the prospects of financial security and the comforts of living in a place like the United States for a 500-square-foot room with no bed and no running water – a room that they occasionally shared with scorpions and bats. Yet, to them...
read moreGodliness with Contentment
Author: Andy Robbins After my last few posts, I had intended to go in a totally different direction with this and subsequent posts. However, something tells me we are not quite done hashing out this issue on the Biblical principles of abundance. Perhaps some of you may be wishing that I would go in a different direction, but as Laurie and Sherry said, it’s my blog and I can do what I want. So there. Now, to the issue at hand. If you are a critical thinker, and I hope you are, because that’s what this blog is devoted to, you might be asking...
read moreWhat is Faith?
Author: Andy Robbins What is “faith?” Is it simply a religious affiliation? Is it adherence to a set of dogmas? It might seem that this is all faith means in our present spiritual environment. The classic definition of faith is found in Hebrews 11:1. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Literally, faith is a belief in something that is not perceived by the five senses. Perhaps one of the best contrasting examples of faith is found in Numbers 14 where the faith of two important Old Testament figures,...
read moreThe Righteous Give Without Sparing
Author: Andy Robbins I am reading through the book of Proverbs again, and today a short little phrase jumped out at me that is right in line with what we have been talking about lately in church regarding generosity. The phrase is found in the last part of Proverbs 21:26: “The righteous give without sparing.” It is sad but true that some of the stingiest people I know are Christians, but it’s not supposed to be that way. As we discussed yesterday, Christians are supposed to EXCEL in the grace of giving. And I have also found that many...
read moreChristianity in the Real World
Author: Andy Robbins Last year I was in a little Kentucky town and bumped into a young Asian girl who approached me with a leaflet in her hand. I thought she was soliciting, and in fact she was selling something, but it wasn’t merchandise. What she was selling was Jesus. I discovered while listening to her broken English that she was a missionary. That’s right. She had come from a distant land half way across the globe to evangelize Americans in the heartland. I think that speaks volumes about how far we have fallen in this nation...
read moreLet No Unwholesome Talk Come out Your Mouths
Author: Andy Robbins I often marvel at the continued lowering standards of people’s vocabularies. Even in the church, there seems to be very little conviction about what comes out of one’s mouth. I know people who I perceive really love God, but they can cuss a blue streak and don’t seem to have any discomfort with using the same vile language as the rest of the world. This is not an issue of simply being “old fashioned,” “out of touch,” or overly sensitive. The Bible does address this issue in no uncertain terms. Do not let any unwholesome...
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