Author: alliancechurch

Presented at Curwensville Alliance on 3/15/2020 by Pastor Steve Shields

Hypocrisy — it shows up in a lot of different forms.

There’s the good old double-standard:
Dad – why do YOU get seconds on ice-cream and we don’t!!!

There’s the issue of pretending, where you say,
Well – I never do that.
And then you get caught doing…that!

And then there’s the issue of moral duplicity,
where you pretend you’re doing something for one reason, but you’re really doing for another, self-serving reason.

What we may or may not realize is that hypocrisy is a lid — something that holds us down and prevents us from being who God wants us to become.

This podcast helps us identify hypocrisy in our own lives and deal with it from the counsel of Jesus in Matthew 6.

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Presented at Curwensville Alliance on 3/8/2020 by Pastor Steve Shields

Stagnant water is dangerous water.

Stagnant sewer water can expose you to bacteria and parasites that have a negative impact the health of you and your family.

“Clean” stagnant water doesn’t stay clean long, attracting animals and insects that carry dangerous diseases.

Any stagnant water can produce mold and mildew within 24-48 hours

Stagnancy. It’s bad for water and it’s bad for people.

It’s especially bad in your spiritual life.

Dealing with stagnancy (complacency) may require, among other things, a reset.

This podcast addresses stagnancy — the lid of complacency — in our lives, helping us remove it.

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Presented at Curwensville Alliance on 3/1/2020 by Pastor Steve Shields

When I am making a purchase, I tend to do my homework.

For examples, when I am buying tires I research them — to death. Which tire has the longest life? Which brand has the best warranty? What about traction? Will it do well in snow? What about noise? I hate unnecessary road noise. What about the cool factor? What about price? Value?

And often, I find myself plagued with indecisiveness.

When it comes to such things, indecisiveness can be an inconvenience. When it comes to life-choices — who to marry, where to go to college, employment choices, whether to follow Christ — indecisiveness in these areas can be troublesome to the point of problematic.

This podcast explains how indecisiveness can be a lid, holding us back from being who God wants us to be.

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Presented at Curwensville Alliance on 1/19/2020 by Pastor Steve Shields

Nostalgic. I tend to be nostalgic.

“They don’t make things like they used do.”

“Man – in the good old days….”

“The way we did it then was so much better than the way it’s done now.”

All of those phrases have come from my lips.

And, if you’re honest, you’ve probably said your version of the same thing. Because all of us are a bit nostalgic.

But nostalgia can take us places we don’t intend to go. If we are not careful, we can begin to care so much for the past that we disconnect with the present and disassociate with the future.

That’s not healthy in any way — especially not spiritually speaking. It can sit on us, like a lid, holding us down. It can prevent us from being who God wants us to be.

This podcast helps us see how to avoid The Lid of Rear-Sightedness.

-Pastor Steve

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