Author: Phil Rehberg

weekly words of encouragement

Drinking Living Water – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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“Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14, ESV) Jesus promises that he will give water that produces never-ending life to those who believe in him. A few sentences earlier Jesus referred to his water as “living water” (John 4:10). When we are drinking living water we will never thirst to find God again because we have found him. This water is like a spring flowing up out of the ground that just keeps flowing, and for us it is a flow of the true life God originally intended for us. Sometimes we can’t feel it but it is the place deep inside where we desire God. This is where his Spirit dwells and where we have a new self, made Continue Reading →

weekly words of encouragement

God Will Exalt The Humble – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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“For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18:14 (NIV). Jesus said the same thing in Luke 14:11! This time Jesus said it after he told the parable of the Pharisee who praised himself and the tax collector who prayed for mercy because he was a sinner. Thus, Jesus’ point is that those who imagine that they are good enough on their own that they deserve honor before God are sadly mistaken. They exalt themselves now but God will bring them low one day. On the other hand, those who admit that they are weak and have faults will have a different fate. One day God will exalt the humble and they will be the ones who live a blessed life. Self-exaltation can be subtle. We may not exalt ourselves with public statements, but we are still tempted to exalt Continue Reading →

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The Consequences Of Guilt And Condemnation

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The purpose and destiny of all we do is the community of love with God and His followers. This community is supposed to begin now, on earth, in our Christian fellowship. And one of the fundamental principles of Christian fellowship is the division we make between guilt and condemnation. This division gives us great freedom in relationships, even outside the body of Christ. As Christians we make a big distinction between guilt and condemnation. We know that we are guilty of sin, but we also know that God does not condemn us. Romans 8:1 states, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” There is no punishment for us except the natural consequences (e. g. jail for crimes). So, because of Jesus’ death there is a huge chasm between our guilt and condemnation. Normally, when someone is judged guilty of a crime then we say they Continue Reading →

weekly words of encouragement

God Blesses You For Blessing The Needy – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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“When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous,” Luke 14:13-14 (NIV). Jesus taught us the value of blessing the needy. This is another example of God’s promise to make everything more than fair one day. People naturally focus on the benefits they will receive in this life. Those who are wealthy, influential or talented usually receive more benefits than others. But Jesus promises that God will repay our good deeds, including blessing the needy, with eternal rewards. Ephesians 6:8 promises: “The Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do” (NIV). This destroys all natural human calculations! Instead of trying to gather prominent people around us and receiving the benefits from the group, it is better to bless people who are not prominent and Continue Reading →

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Understand Your Spiritual Health Better!

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Would you like to understand your spiritual health better? Are you open to serious self-examination? We have created a questionnaire which you can download here Link to PDF of Spiritual Life Questionnaire (It will remain available on our website under Resources/Free Downloads.) We call it the Spiritual Life Questionnaire. We find that this assessment tool will help you understand your spiritual health. The Spiritual Life Questionnaire doesn’t rate someone’s spiritual life but asks important questions for examining one’s own spiritual condition. It is up to the individual to decide how to proceed based on how they answered the questions. If you use it to help others, the questionnaire makes it easy to cover many different topics quickly. One big advantage of the questionnaire is that people will often be more open when answering written questions than when talking face to face. Sometimes there is something they have been wanting to say Continue Reading →