It’s a deadly disease. Jealousy has caused untold misery in relationships. We find it in families, churches, businesses, government. Wherever two people are, there is the possibility of jealousy.

I awoke in fear this morning. So much ahead, so much at stake at our church. As a leader, if you are going to worry, the places where the greatest FAITH is needed are always the places where the greatest FEAR is a possibility. And it was all over me this morning. I didn’t invite it in, I just woke up to fears swarming like a hornets’ nest in my mind.

We spend our lives trying to gain certain things, and we are full of momentary joy when we get them. Our first car, our first job, our first home. Reputation, prestige, influence. The list is long. But, is it possible to have all those things and not have the most important thing? Here’s what the apostle Paul said:

As a leader, the greatest way to help others to a revived life is to live there yourself. This does not happen automatically. In fact, the pull of the world, flesh, and devil is so strong that we can easily slide into sin and find ourselves in deep need of personal reviving.

As a leader, the greatest way to help others to a revived life is to live there yourself. This does not happen automatically. In fact, the pull of the world, flesh, and devil is so strong that we can easily slide into sin and find ourselves in deep need of personal reviving.

It is difficulty that pushes us to Christ, that causes us to believe, that makes us desperate to find the only One who can help us in our problems. Without such suffering, we would go on our way never thinking about God. Secure in our sinful depravity and self-reliance, we would assume that all is right with the world.

To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it (1 Corinthians 9:22-23 NASB).

It’s been a problem since the beginning of time. The rise of Internet availability has made it incredibly more accessible, but lust has always been one of Satan’s most powerful tools to mar the image of God in us. Paul was intense about this because he understood the nature of the human mind and the deadliness of this particular sin. He always tells us to abstain, flee, run, get away by any and every means. Why?

Everything flows from the presence of the Lord. Everything. If you have Him, you have everything you need. Without Him—His life, presence, provision, and power—you have nothing of importance. Our greatest concern as pastors should be simply this: Are we personally encountering God daily?

The rapid spread of the church in the New Testament can only be attributed to two things: the gracious, miraculous activity of the Holy Spirit, and the bold witness of His followers. If God had not moved, nothing would have happened. If believers had not shared the gospel, the movement would have stalled.

In His sovereignty, God has ordained preaching as a primary means of transforming lives. He has graciously given us creation, His Word, and most dramatically, Himself, in the person of His Son, so that we might know Him. By these three means God sufficiently reveals Himself.

It would seem that the propensity of God to test His children is unloving. But in reality, it is one of the greatest demonstrations of His love for us. God is not out to always give us the most comfortable life. If He was, we would grow soft, unusable, and inherently self-absorbed.