patience

Wait Patiently for God to Break Through

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This morning, I was sitting in my big chair reading when I glanced to my left, taking in the snow-covered yard and the drab-looking trees on my lawn. Everything had that winter grey look, when something caught my eye. Off in the distance, I noticed two large spruce trees. They, too, were covered in snow like the trees in my yard, but they were emitting a warm orange glow. The sun was coming up! And it was already shining over my house and lighting up trees in the distance.

Maybe your life feels a little grey right now. Pastors, church leaders, maybe your ministry feels a little drab right now. You have made it through the highs of Christmas, both with the church and with your family, and now you are experiencing the post-Christmas letdown. Or maybe it’s even more than that. You have been feeling a little discouraged or disappointed for a while. You don’t see the excitement you have at other times. It seems as if God is not working like you wish he was.

It’s time to lift your eyes to the distance. Maybe you need to look around, behind you, beside you, and out to the horizon. God is breaking through. God is at work, though not always in the same powerful way in every situation. If it’s not right in front of you or in your immediate experience, look up and look out. Where is God working? According to Jesus, God is always at work. Maybe He is working in a ministry you haven’t been paying attention to. Is it possible you have been too busy to see where He is already breaking through?

A little later, as I glanced up again, I noticed that the trees in my yard were now also beginning to reflect that early morning orange glow of the rising sun as it was climbing up over my house. It’s hard to wait on God and to wait for Him to work in our ministries, but sometimes we need to persevere in our waiting for Him to come with His power in His time. Sometimes we need to wait on Him just a little longer until we see His glow reflected in the ministries that feel a little drab right now.

If God is seemingly not working in your ministries right now or stirring your church members’ hearts like you wish, continue to wait. As you wait, look out and around to see if God is working somewhere else and you need to join Him there. As you wait, wait on the Lord. Continue to trust Him, continue to talk with Him, and wait.

Psalm 27:14 encourages us: “Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.” The psalmist asks God for help but declares he will confidently wait on God. Just as we know the sun always rises and will break into the day every morning, we can live with the confidence that our God will always break through for us as we patiently wait for Him.

Wait patiently for God to break through and make His presence and power real and noticeable.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Blog Train Yourself to Be Godly #10: Working for Jesus

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*Training yourself to be godly may include viewing your work as working for Jesus.

Who are you working for?

When asked this question, you might think of the name of your boss or the company you work for. Some of you might think, “Well, I work for my family, it doesn’t matter who signs my paycheque or who gives me orders for the day, it’s all so I can provide for my family.”

1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Here are a few ideas on how to give glory to God in our work.

1.         Work as if Jesus were your boss!

Colossians 3:23 tells us: “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” Work willingly, work hard, as if you are serving the Lord. Do your work as if you are working for Jesus.

This verse is in the context of Paul writing to slaves, encouraging them to please their masters all the time, even when they are not being watched. Paul expects that slaves, Christian slaves, should be great workers for their human masters, as if they are serving Jesus! If they are to do so, how much more should we who choose to work where we do!!

I wonder if our work ethic would change if Jesus were our boss?

2.         Work as a witness to Jesus

If the people you work with or serve know that you call yourself a Christian, but you are a terrible employee, what would make them interested in being a Christian?

In Titus 2: 9-10, Paul again addresses slaves when he writes: “Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.”

One might think a slave might have a good excuse not to work hard, or to find any way they could take advantage of their master, since they are being taken advantage of by them, but Paul encourages them to do their best so they might make the “teaching about God our Saviour attractive.” He expects that how they work will reflect well on God or not.

In his book, “The Practice of the Presence of God”, Brother Lawrence writes about how one can practice God’s presence no matter the task. His job was a thankless job of cleaning pots and pans, but he is well known for his consistent and joyful devotion to Jesus in the middle of his daily, menial work.

Practice God’s presence at work by talking with Jesus as you go about your day, Remember that he is a constant companion.

3.         Don’t let work take the place of Jesus – Or don’t make work your idol!

Some people are consumed with their work. They work all the time. They can’t stop. They don’t take time for their family, or to enjoy life, or to enjoy time with God. Their whole identity is wrapped up in their job – their position or their status or their power that comes with their job. Simply put… for some, work becomes their idol.

Do you know what God did after six days of the work of creating? He rested! Genesis 2: 2-3 tells us: “On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.”

God ceased from all his work.

There must be a time for us to stop. There must be a time to say, “Enough”.

One way of preventing work from becoming an idol is to take a day off. Take a day to rest, take a day to stop, take a day to focus on the One you Worship. Refocus yourself at least once a week on the one you are truly serving, and on the one you should find your identity in, not in your work. God commanded the Israelites to remember the Sabbath every week.

The Discipline of Sabbath is not just about rest, but an opportunity to refocus regularly on God as the one we worship! It is a constant reminder that we live for God, not for our work. We are to find our identity in Him, not in our work.

View your work as working for Jesus, to honour him, and to use it as a witness to Him.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Train Yourself to Be Godly #4: The Spiritual Practice of Prayer

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*Training yourself to be godly will include intentional prayer.

It is easy to worry. We all face things that are out of our control, whether it’s the state of the world that we see in the news or the health conditions of loved ones. We don’t have to look far to realize that we do not control most things in life. This may cause us to worry, but scripture suggests an alternative.

Look at the words of Philippians 4:6-7,

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

We are encouraged not to worry or be anxious about anything. Anything seems to, well, include everything. There is nothing worth worrying about. It won’t help us anyway, even if we do.

Instead, we are to pray and pray about everything. We should have nothing to worry about and everything to pray about. Everything. That means that everything we can think of or imagine can be prayed about. We should pray for those suffering with cancer and for persecuted Christians, and for our work situation or relationships, and even a parking spot or finding the right Birthday present for our spouse.

The verse continues, “tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.”

God wants us to communicate our need to him. He wants us to ask for help. And he wants us to thank him for what he has done for us. This helps explain what praying for everything means as prayer includes both asking for help and thanking God for all the help he has already given. That covers everything, doesn’t it?

The verse goes on to explain the peace we can have as we bring everything to God. His peace can become a guard for our hearts and minds so that we continue to experience his worry-free peace. This peace comes from “living in Christ Jesus.” We need to continue to remain connected to Jesus if we want to have peace.

As a child, I enjoyed flying a kite, watching it get smaller and smaller as I let out the string. One day, the string came off my spool. I no longer had control of the kite. What happens to a kite that is not anchored to the person flying it? The wind may blow it for a while, but it will eventually drop to the ground. The kite is only flying free in the wind when it is anchored to its master. We are only able to fly free in the winds of life if we remain anchored to our Master, and that anchoring, that string that ties us to him is our prayer.

We need a consistent and intentional prayer life, a plan for how we will pray, if we are to train ourselves to be godly or remain connected to the God we serve. If we want to train ourselves to become more like God, we must engage in the spiritual practice of prayer. This means that I will be intentional, not just to pray for meals or to say a prayer before I go to sleep, but to pray intentionally and about specific things and even in specific ways.

I would suggest you make a prayer plan. When will you pray? What will you pray about? And then ask God to speak as you pray.

As you regularly talk with God, he will help you become more like Him.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Spiritual Training Series #1: Train Yourself to be Godly

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Imagine you just received a baby picture from friends who just had a baby. What if they sent you a picture every year? What if you are like me and don’t clean your fridge very often? As you put up the picture from year five, you notice the picture from the first announcement. And then you realize there has been very little change. The baby is still hardly any bigger and doesn’t seem to have developed much. Unfortunately, there are some children who do not mature the way we expect, who never crawl or walk or communicate. This makes us sad because a baby needs to grow.

As followers of Jesus, we need to grow, too.

1 Timothy 4:7 says “train yourself to be godly”.

Philippians 2:12 says “work out your salvation”.

We are to become more “godly” or Christ-like. We are to continue to grow and develop spiritually to become a better expression of the image of God as we were created to be, according to Genesis 1:27.

So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he crated them.

Genesis 1:27

This is not just about our own hard work though. In Colossians 1:29, the Apostle Paul writes: “I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.” Yes we are to train ourselves and work out our salvation and struggle. We have a part to play in our spiritual development, but this is never something we do no our own. Like Paul we can depend on “Christ’s mighty power that works within me”.

We can and should do our part. It may be that we choose to practice some of the Spiritual Disciplines that Christians have practiced throughout history. This includes prayer, scripture reading, fasting, sabbath, generosity, and so on. As we practice these disciplines, we make an effort to do our part as we invite the Holy Spirit to do His work in us to make us a little more like Jesus.

Whatever training we want to instill in our lives, we do need to train ourselves to become godly. For this to be a priority in our lives, we need to intentionally prepare a training schedule or plan. When will you read the Bible, and what will you read? When will you pray, and what will you include in your prayer time? When will you choose to fast, and what kind of fast? How will you practice generosity, and so on?

Think back to the time when you first became a believer in Jesus. We could say you were a baby Christian. What would that picture have looked like if your heavenly Father had taken a picture and hung it on his fridge in heaven? What would a picture he took this year look like? As I look back 51 years, to the time He could have taken my “spiritual baby” picture,  I trust that my picture – the me that God sees – would give evidence of much spiritual growth and maturity. Maybe the picture would not just include me, but other people around me who have come to know Jesus or been impacted for Jesus by me.

I pray that you are intentionally pursuing Jesus and looking for ways to grow toward every fuller spiritual maturity.

Keep on looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Persistent Prayer

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Believers have the wonderful privilege of talking to their God. We can pray and expect that God hears us. We can pray and expect that God will speak to us as we listen. What a privilege!

Many believers pray. May churches have prayer meetings and prayer in their services. But how long do we pray? Do we pray once and then go on with life? Or do we continue in prayer until we hear from God?

One day, Jesus told a story:

“There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’”

Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?” – Luke 18: 1-8

Jesus uses this story to show the value of persistence in prayer. A persistent  resulted in the intervention of a judge who “neither feared God nor cared about people”. The judge finally gave in and helped the woman because of her persistence.

Jesus applies this story to the Christian life: “So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?” (Luke 18:8)

Jesus wants us to understand the value of persistence in prayer – not to have a reluctant judge or a reluctant God respond – but because we have a God who is much better than a reluctant judge. God loves us more than that reluctant judge. He wants to help his people; he honours those who persist in prayer.

Jesus continues in verse 9, “I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly!”

Jesus wants his disciples to recognize God’s willingness to answer prayer and encourages them to keep on praying and not to give up. As followers of Christ today, we can similarly apply this message in our lives and persist in prayer.

Unless you have a clear answer from God, continue praying. The Apostle Paul wrote about a problem he had that he wanted God to clear up. He describes how he persisted in prayer three times and then stopped. “Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.” (2 Corinthians 12: 8-9) Paul didn’t stop praying until he heard God’s answer.

Keep praying until you get an answer from God. Persist in prayer.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Preaching to a Summer Crowd

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Preaching to a summer crowd can be a different experience from preaching throughout the rest of the year. Often, the attendance is lower. Sometimes family, friends, and unexpected guests visit. Many regular attendees may be away camping or on vacation on several Sundays so that the crowd may vary each week.

Preaching is not just a monologue. Speakers tend to feed off the crowd, at least to some extent. If you notice one or two people dozing in the audience, your energy can drop; whereas if you see a few people smiling and nodding or fully engaged in what you are saying, your energy can increase. Preachers are also affected by the size of their audience; it’s just a fact. It’s not so much about how big the crowd is but how big it is in comparison to what you expect or what you are used to. If you are used to speaking to a congregation of 200 people, there is a natural let-down when you see there are only ninety people in the audience. If you are used to eighty people and there are only forty some on a given Sunday, you notice.

How can you preach with the same passion and joy throughout the summer?

Remember, God has a message for those present, no matter how many there are.

Pastor, you have prepared your sermon all week. You have been praying and listening to God as you have done your studying and writing. When you arrive on Sunday, you have the message ready that those in attendance need to hear. Yes, it would be nice if all the members of the church were present and heard this sermon you worked so hard on, but trust that the people who are to hear this message you prepared for this Sunday will be present.

Plan stand-alone sermons.

Many pastors like to preach a series from the Psalms during the summer because each Psalm is a separate unit and does not build on previous information the same way many of the other books of the Bible do. Summer may be a time to preach more topically. Choose some topics that speak to concerns in the church or the culture. Announce them ahead of time so that those who want to hear a certain sermon can plan their vacations and camping trips so that they can be present.

Experiment with something new in your preaching.

Summer may be the time for you to try something different. Things already feel different because many people are gone and the numbers are down, so people may be open to something different in the sermon as well. If you have never used an object lesson as part of your sermon, the summer may be the time to try it. A few weeks ago, I preached a sermon on Psalm 150 about how we are to praise God and to do it loudly. I handed out a variety of cheap noisemakers at the end of the sermon, inviting the congregation to use them as we would practice some loud praise. I invited them to shout out the names of God, so we could praise God for who He is. And then as I read the list of names, everyone made their loud noise. Pastor, maybe it’s time to bring out the kazoos.

Invite a member to share a testimony as part of the sermon.

Sometimes, when you are preparing a sermon, you will think of someone in the church who has a great story to tell that would reinforce the point you are making. Prepare the one sharing their story so they keep it to the point and share the part of their story that fits with the sermon you are preaching. Include a member or two in your sermon.

Remember that everyone who comes to church on that Sunday deserves the best you can offer as a preacher. Do not focus on who is absent, but determine to give your best for the ones who are present. Don’t be afraid to change things up a bit and experiment. And find joy in your preaching to the summer crowd.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Is Your Church Declining or Growing?

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You may have heard some of the discouraging statements about church closures recently. A study by the National Trust of Canada “predicted that one-third of Canada’s 27,000 faith buildings, most of which are Christian, would likely close permanently in the next 10 years.”[i] The narrative around church closures includes conversations about the decline of religious affiliation in Canada. A January 8, 2022 Global News Report stated: “Religiosity in Canada is at an all-time low, with recently released data from Statistics Canada showing only 68 per cent of Canadians 15 or older now report having a religious affiliation. It’s the lowest it’s been since they first started tracking this statistic in 1985.[ii] The Canadian Institute for Empirical Church Research, in a 2024 article, stated an opposing view, saying “overall the Canadian Christian Church had only 2% fewer net congregations in 2019 (23,675) than they did in 2009 (24,138).”[iii] While pointing out that there are only a few fewer churches, the article acknowledged that religious affiliation is indeed down.

I understand that churches do sometimes close. The church I started in as a youth pastor no longer exists. At the same time, I am very encouraged as I think of the churches I have served as a transitional pastor over the last 5 years.

I have served seven churches, of which three were growing even during their transition, and all the rest were stable. Not one of the churches was in continual decline.

So what might this mean for us as pastors and church leaders?

There may be times when a church should close. Some of our rural communities are declining as people move away for school and jobs, which may mean a church closes for lack of people. Some churches may need to close because they have lost their mission and are no longer serving as a church, but a Christian club for a few dedicated members.

So what does this mean for church leaders?

We need to remind ourselves that we are serving God’s church. It is His church. While we can definitely do our part, we need to ask God to step in and bring revival where necessary and grow the church. We need to remind the church of our mission to make disciples who make other disciples. We need to give people hope and joy in their relationship with Jesus. We need to look for ways to bring spiritual renewal and transformation into our congregations, beginning with us.

We cannot lead people where we aren’t going first. Are you hungry for God? Are you digging into His Word, hungry for more of Him? Are you reading books on spiritual renewal? Are you praying and inviting others to pray with you? Are you loving your neighbours and those in the community around the church building?

Pastors, God wants us to use our gifting and calling to draw people ever closer to Jesus. I am convinced that when people fall in love with Jesus again, they will come alive. They will experience Him at work in their lives. As we ask for a fresh filling of the Holy Spirit, He will fill us and empower us for holy living and bold sharing of the gospel.

Quit preaching “self-help” sermons. Preach Jesus from the Gospels. Preach about the filling of the Holy Spirit. Introduce spiritual disciplines and invite your church to practice them. Show your members the full life that can be theirs.

God is still at work. He is still drawing new people to Himself. New believers are asking to be baptized. Some of your members are hungry and searching for more of Jesus. Encourage those who are already searching and ask God to open the hearts of others.

Are churches closing? Yes, some are, but yours does not need to be one of them. Be proactive. Do not assume the decline of your church is inevitable. God is still at work, renewing believers and reviving churches. May yours be one of those.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

[i] New report suggests opening churches to the masses as attendance dwindles

By The Canadian Press

Published: June 22, 2025 at 7:43AM EDT https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/article/new-report-suggests-opening-churches-to-the-masses-as-attendance-dwindles/

[ii] [1] ‘Gone by 2040’: Why some religions are declining in Canada faster than ever

By Ashleigh Stewart  Global News

Posted January 8, 2022 5:00 am

 Updated January 17, 2022 3:21 pm https://globalnews.ca/news/8471086/religion-decline-canada/

[iii] Hope For the Future: The 2021 Canadian Census

Rev. Dr. Lee Beachhttps://flourishingcongregations.org/hope-for-the-future-the-2021-canadian-census/

I Can’t Do What God Can Do

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I can’t do what God can do. God can do what I can’t do.

As a pastor, as a leader, I have come to realize that there are not many things that I can actually do to make people come to know Jesus, grow in their faith, learn to serve, or continue to pursue Jesus.

I can’t make a seeker surrender their life to Jesus.

I want people to come to know Jesus and put their faith in Him for forgiveness and salvation, but I cannot make them surrender their lives to Jesus; however, God can. John 6:44 is clear, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.” God can draw people to Himself. He can soften the sinner’s heart and create a longing in them for a relationship with God through faith in Jesus.

I can’t make anyone fall in love with God.

Many Christians possess extensive knowledge about God and Jesus and could pass a test on the Bible and their understanding of who God is and what Jesus did to provide salvation. Unfortunately, I am realizing many of these same people do not have a real, alive relationship with God.  I can’t make anyone fall in love with Jesus or with the Heavenly Father, but God can draw them and open their hearts and spiritual minds to get to know him personally and learn to love Him. God can reveal Himself to them in personal ways that deepen their love for Him.

I can’t disciple people on my own.

I can teach people and do my best to lead them by example. I can try to disciple them in the way that Matthew 28:19-20 calls us to. But it is only God who can work in their hearts, and it is the Spirit at work in them that helps Christians continue to grow in their faith.

I can’t make people serve.

I can try to guilt people into serving, I can push people, but ultimately, for them to serve with God’s love, God must show them the need to serve and use their gifts and passions and skills for Him.

I can’t make a Bible lesson change someone’s life.

I enjoy teaching, but I have recognized that the impact of a lesson on the hearts of the students really depends on what God chooses to do in their hearts in that moment. God is the one who can use the words of the teacher in ways that He chooses.

I can’t make a church grow.

I love to see new people added to the church. I love to hear stories of churches that are running out of room because so many people are attending. I can try to use various church growth techniques, but I have realized over the years that growth depends on what God does in the hearts of people.

I can invite people to do something, I can try to inspire them in a certain direction, but I cannot make people do anything they do not want to do. Yet as I trust God to work, He does. He works in me, and through me, and in others, as I faithfully do what God asks of me. I need to serve Him faithfully, and I need to recognize the results have little do with me and are all about how God is at work in people’s lives.

Yes, we need to work hard and do our best, recognizing that we need God to work. There are many things we can’t do, but if God is the one who does the work in people’s lives, we can pray urgently for God to work in our church and the people we serve.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

You Don’t Need to be the Answer Man

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Pastors often feel they have to be the ones with all the answers. They feel threatened or unprepared if they can’t answer every question they are asked. The problem is that some people ask intelligent questions and desire well-thought-out answers. One of our church members recently asked me a question, quickly following up that she didn’t want me to answer her right then but hoped to discuss the question with her and her family over a meal the next Sunday. She didn’t want an off-the-cuff remark but one that was biblical and theologically sound.

Some people ask good questions because they have a desire to learn and grow in their understanding of their faith and theology. Their questions arise out of personal study and deep conversations with others. They ask intelligent questions because they are knowledgeable and aware of the theological debates surrounding their questions. Honour these questions by taking time to think and pray and study before answering. Recognize when people are looking for an immediate, brief answer and when they are looking for an in-depth response.

Pastors don’t have to know everything about every question that will be asked. It is quite okay to tell someone you will get back to them, or, when possible, to study and research with them to find the answer. If you can show them your research process, you are discipling them to find more of their own answers. Don’t feel that you have to guard the treasure of truth but show them how to find the answers themselves. Letting the questioner know that you don’t immediately know the answer is not a sign of weakness. Be okay with taking time to respond intelligently.

Some answers are very clear, you just need to point people to the right verse or the right story in the Bible. If they are looking to clarify what Jesus said in a certain parable or a detail about Old Testament history, it may suffice to point them to the right chapter and verse. Some questions are more about interpretation. These questions may need more than a chapter and verse, but also a theological statement that helps clarify what is being said. There are some questions that may require pointing to the various common theological understandings.

A question on communion would be a good example of needing more than a chapter and verse. This discussion may benefit from an answer that explains the various theological understandings of the blood and body of Jesus. After explaining the various views, it would be appropriate to explain what your church believes and why.

People will ask you questions. Do your best to give them good answers. Take the time needed to research and discuss their questions with them.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Guard Your Reputation!

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What people think about you because of what they have observed about you makes a difference as to whether people will want to spend time with you or even listen to what you say.

People are always observing you and your actions, and when they do, they instantly make assessments about who you are and what you are like. As people see you act you gain a reputation. It may be a good one, it may be a negative one. The only way you can gain a good reputation is by being careful about how you act and how you treat people.

Reputation is not about being a people pleaser. This is not about trying to gain the favour of all people by only doing what you think others expect. It is about knowing who you are and what you stand for, and then consistently living that out. But your reputation is also about more than yourself, especially if you are a follower of Christ.

In 1 Timothy 3:7, the apostle Paul describes the attributes of church leaders:  

He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.

One of the characteristics of a church leader is to have a good reputation “with outsiders.” This is not just about a good reputation with other believers in your church, but also with those who do not yet know Jesus. Thus characteristic does not just apply to church leaders; churches, too, must be filled with people who have good reputations because this is where leaders are developed.     

The word translated “reputation” in 1 Timothy 3:7 could also be translated as “testimony.” So the church leader, or Christians in general, should have a good testimony. This means that their life and words should match up. What they believe and stand for should be evident in how they live their lives and how they interact with believers and unbelievers.

Why? 1 Timothy 3:7 indicates that a good reputation may help a person avoid “falling into disgrace and into the devil’s trap”. A bad reputation may bring personal disgrace, – as well as bring disgrace on the church you are part of and on the Christ you say you believe in. An inconsistent walk could lead a church leader into the devil’s trap where they are no longer living a good testimony and reflecting well on Christ. The bad reputation is then earned by not consistently honoring Jesus with our life. The devil would like nothing better than to make Jesus Christ or his followers look bad.

Guard your reputation, not just so you look good, but to help make Jesus look good! Make sure your belief in Jesus matches the way you do life and conduct your business. You do not want your reputation to cause others to lose interest in Jesus. Live a consistently God-honoring life!

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe