One of my favorite quotes is from Peter Lord, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” Many people get distracted from the River of Life by little tributaries that feed it. This leads to the overemphasis of teachings, which leads to extremes, as well as the worst deception of all—the pursuit of a doctrine over the Lord Himself.

This week’s verse, Ephesians 3:13, has proven hard to understand for many modern, Western Christians. Paul writes, “Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory.” It is understandable that he would ask them not to lose heart when they saw their apostle suffering tribulations, but how are they suffering on behalf of the Ephesian Christians, or for their glory? In Acts 14: 21-22 we read concerning Paul’s missionary journey:

One of the ultimate problems facing Western civilization at this time is the entitlements that are pushing governments to the brink of insolvency. If they cut the entitlements, the people will riot. If they don’t cut them, virtually every Western government will eventually have to default on its debt, which will likely bring about a worldwide economic collapse. With almost every new crisis, we come closer to the point where there is not any remedy that can even buy us more time to find a solution.

Default version: NAS

At this writing, one of the questions being asked about the economy is the following: Has it bottomed out or will it continue to slide even further? When the government throws several trillion dollars into the economy, you have to expect a short-term spike or at least a checking of the fall. However, if it does not accomplish this, then it is wasted as far as bringing true economic recovery. The most basic problems in the U.S. economy have still not been addressed.

We are taught in Romans 1 that we have all been given a conscience, and the ability to follow it or not follow it is in our power. The resolve to follow our conscience, or what we perceive to be right or wrong, is the basis for character. Our character is strengthened by good teaching and training. This is why we have teaching and study as basic Christian disciplines, and the better it is, the more disciplined the people will tend to be.

We have previously discussed a few things we learned from our experience in the Hurricane Katrina relief. This was not something we had done as a ministry before, and we specifically engaged in this because we were told we would learn a lot from it about leadership in the church in the coming times. As the Scriptures make clear, there will be increasing troubles at the end of this age, so we will need to know how to function in them, helping to bring order and peace in the middle of chaos. Even now many problems have grown beyond human remedy, and they are increasing.

“To the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things say the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot: I would thou were cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:14-15).