To brothers: How do I protect the hearts of my sisters while I watch and keep my heart from doing harm? Though we can have fellowship with our sisters (and I encourage it), we are called directly by God to encourage and strengthen the hearts of our brothers. So why ask out a girl (whom you may or may not like and have not-so-selfless intentions) when you can go and be accountable and sharpen a brother? Guard hearts. Empower one another, brothers.

Devo Post #14

4/16/16

Malachi 3:18

And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.

There is a distinction to be seen visibly. This is something we need to know, and others need to know. Our light should not be hidden, and it should grow as we grow spiritually. We also need to understand that everyone not in the body is wicked, and that we all started off as wicked. We need to know our sin makes us wicked. Doesn’t matter if we think others are good, the Gospel tells us we are not. In Romans 5, it says we “while we are helpless,” “while we are sinners,”, and “while we are WICKED,” Paul is equating all 3 as our nature. Again, you can say non-believers are “good,” but that is just by human standards. We are all NOT good according to God’s standards, and we need to hit this home into our hearts. As Pastor Mike says, only when we admit our blindness (our sin, our hopelessness, our wickedness, our humanity) can we have hope to see.

At this stage of life, I think I get more excited about people getting baptized than people getting married or having babies. 1) Because the former is glorious; 2) the latter is getting too commonplace.