A Little Foolishness

On October 7, the Sioux Falls Orpheum Theater becomes the room where great leaders get better. The Love the Work Event is a full-day experience built around the two things that separate thriving businesses from struggling ones: culture and customer experience. And this year, we’ve assembled a speaker lineup that is, frankly, hard to believe is coming to Sioux Falls. Jon Gordon is one of the…

The apostle Paul tells us to stand firm in our faith. The only way evil triumphs is when we forfeit. We are fighting a spiritual battle when we exercise courage and stand firm in our faith. If we fight, we win. Evil is not strong enough to defeat God. It is not strong enough to destroy good.

Apathy is evil’s best weapon. If we are lulled into a complacent daze, eventually, we give up. When we sleep on our faith rather than standing firm in our faith, the enemy destroys us before we even know we are in danger.

Paul implores us to be on guard. We need to be aware not only of our daily circumstances but also of the opportunities they can provide. We can acknowledge the choices we have today and the consequences each choice will have.

How can you stay alert? In the book of 1 Corinthians, Paul says, “Be on guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.” It is through love that we can do it. There is nothing in this world that has more value than love. There is no circumstance in your life that love cannot overcome. Love is worth fighting for. Love helps us see things for what they are worth. It helps fuel our courage to face battles in this life. Love conquers all. It is the best weapon.

The Word of God says that doing anything apart from love makes it worthless. Even martyrdom does not count for anything if you do not love. The path to true riches comes through a relentless and courageous pursuit of love.

My middle daughter starts a 10-week mission trip with YWAM in Papua New Guinea this week. She started traveling yesterday, but her journey goes back years before that - even before she was born.

It goes back at least as far as 1987. That's when Paul Logan started attending First Baptist Church in Sioux Falls, one year after I did. Then, a few years later Paul attended a YWAM meeting and felt called to become a missionary in Ukraine.

Fast forward to 2013 and Paul was back in Sioux Falls talking to our church about his ministry's work with orphans in Ukraine. My daughter felt called to help and started a bake sale.

A few years later, Paul invited my family of five to join his team at Arise! Ukraine to launch a church camp just outside Kiev. It was the first of two visits to Ukraine and it was part of what led my daughter to choose WYAM instead of college.

That's the way legacy works. The things First Baptist was doing fifty years ago played a role in my daughter becoming a missionary today. It's the topic of my sermon at First Baptist a few weeks ago that you can watch here.