David CM Bell Leadership Blog

 1 John 5 - Ask God for What We Need - Servant Leadership A key element of servant leadership, leading fearlessly in Christ, is knowing that we can ask God for anything we need.  We serve without expecting anything for ourselves in return.  In God’s economy, He sees everything we do - and He knows our motives.  We do good to our enemies, even lend to them, out of love, reverence, and obedience to God.  We are forgiving and merciful because our Father is forgiving and merciful (Luke 6:35-36). It’s similar to how we conduct our business affairs.  We do not exaggerate, hype, pressure or mislead people - not because some rule or state regulation says so, but because God’s standards say that He hates dishonest business and false measures (Leviticus 19:35-36).           God expects us to stand up for the disadvantaged - never to abuse, manipulate, or profit off their backs.  Think of ways to encourage those you serve.  ...

 1 John 5:11 - The Loving Father’s Promise God is good.  Let's take God at His word this morning.  As we take on a new week we do so with renewed confidence in God for we know that we have eternal life.  The fruit of the Holy Spirit comes directly from God.  He’s truly loving.   I saw a sign while biking The Creeper Trail this last weekend that said, “Work Hard - and be Kind to Others.”  I love that.  As Christians, we know that we must indeed work hard.  And we know that despite our human nature, we can be kind and loving to all we encounter.  We know that because we’ve come to know Jesus.  We are fragile jars of clay, but Jesus is the potter.  His strong and creative hands are trustworthy.  He can and will make all things new.  And with those loving hands, Jesus will providentially put together opportunities for His children to lead others to righteousness.           Trust God ...

  1 John 4:21 - Independence Day Independence Day.  A day to celebrate this nation, give thanks, and love others.  When we spend time with God, like the Apostle John did, we grow in our understanding of God’s character.  Our loving Father is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness.  We see that in our families, our communities, and the history of our nation.  God has every ability - and every reason - to send calamity.  But He relents, He holds off because we are His children (4:15, and Jonah 4:2). Our job is to repent of our sins and to ask for forgiveness.  We pray that we are the fertile ground, the good soil where God will produce a healthy harvest.  Look around, God has and is producing much fruit in this nation and around the world.  God’s Kingdom, His eternal Kingdom is not of this world.  Yet God is growing His Kingdom today; it is forcefully advancing.         ...

 1 John 4:4 - The Path of Victory You belong to God.  Yes, we may very well be as stubborn as mules, but we can overcome the force of our sinful nature and follow a greater Force.           Each of us has the responsibility to go our way until the end.  God will not force you down a path.  But He will show you the way and He goes to great pains to get you and keep you on His path.  As children of God, we follow the Holy Spirit and join and unite with God’s family to live, love, and work as we patiently wait on Jesus.           God tells us, just as He did the ancient prophet Daniel that when we die we will rest, and then at the end of the days, we will rise again to receive the inheritance set aside for us (Daniel 12:13).  We will rest from our hard work, but our good deeds in Christ will follow us into God’s promised inheritance (Revelation 14:13).           We stru...

 1 John 3:18 - Show the Truth By Action We are so scared not to create a theology of works that we fail to preach and do the Word of God.  Yes, salvation is only a work of God.  Yes, we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ - trusting in His grace and sacrifice on the Cross for our sin penalty.  But what does this chapter clearly say?           God says that He expects such belief in our hearts and the confession of our lips to produce Holy Spirit-led living.  God does not mince words.  That’s good and we need to hear it and agree with God’s Word and let it transform and renew how we think and act. Chapter three says sin no more.  We are to stop sinning.  Yes, I know, a tall order.  With God, we aim for perfection.  We press on.  It’s a new day and we do not let the devil prevail.  We trust that God commands us to obey Him and that He indeed enables us and gives us the freedom to sin no more and t...

  1 John 3:1-10 - Courage or Shame Man, what a tough question John asks at the end of Chapter 2.  What will it be guys, courage, or shame.  This letter is packed with God’s transforming truth.  It’s hitting me hard this week.  I trust it does the same for you.  Let God’s Word transform your mind, renew your spirit, and confirm your mission. We hear in this message why God the Father sent the Son to earth: the Son of God came to take away our sins and to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3: 5, 8).  We often need to remember the second part of that.  In the spiritual warfare we hear about in Daniel 10 God means business.  God does not placate the devil.  He will destroy the works of the devil. So, what will it be boys, yes or no (to quote Meatloaf)?  Courage or shame.  If we can approach God with courage it will be because we’ve shown we are His with our actions.  Likewise, if we are found to be loyal to the world...

 1 John 3:1-3 - Precious to God You are very precious to God (Daniel 9:23).  God hears your prayers.  He will never give up on you.  God sent Jesus - just as He told Daniel he would - so that not only will we have eternal life, but “the sovereign power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be given to the holy people of the Most High.  His kingdom will last forever, and all rulers will serve and obey him” (Daniel 7:27).  I believe that God wants us to understand the full meaning and weight of His true Gospel.  It is news and knowledge of what God has done and what He will do. In this passage, John reminds us that we are God’s children.  Precious.  Loved.   We know what God has done for us through Jesus.  But we are warned in 1 John to have our heads screwed on straight (Saskatchewan saying).  Be wary of legalists.  That is, we don’t preach a false gospel that says Christ came to take away our sins, b...

 1 John 2 - Remain in Jesus John 15:5-8 says, “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.”           Amen.  Let’s believe that with our whole hearts today. John says that those of us who claim to believe in and to know Jesus Christ must prove it.  We don’t prove it by how smart we are, how we dress, what politicians we emulate, what cars we drive, what private jets we fly in, or what position we’ve attained.  No, he says we prove our faith in and allegiance to Jesus - our love of God - by our obedien...

1 John 1:8-10 - Confession Our perspective changes when we get a picture from God of the end game.  That’s the benefit of gathering together, fellowshipping, and sharing the truth of Jesus Christ.  And our great expectations of Him.  That’s what happened with Daniel after his vision of the goat (Alexander the Great’s Greece and afterward) destroying the ram (the Median Persian empire) in Daniel 8.  It was a reminder and an encouragement that God’s will would be done.  Daniel was blessed with both the vision and the explanation about future events, but he was also reading Jeremiah’s word about Jerusalem’s fate (9:2).  Daniel turned to the Lord and pleaded with him in prayer and fasting (9:3). That’s what I hear John in this passage pleading with us to do.  To confess our sins and turn to God in complete obedience and great expectation for what Jesus is doing and what He is going to do. The Commander of heaven’s armies can be challenged - and ...

 1 John 1 - Leaders Share Joy What do people think when they see your name on ‘Call Display’ on their phone?  There are some names that I see that make me cringe.  Some leaders are so toxic to a workplace that team members have to grin and bear every interaction with them.  What a shame.  It not only hits your bottom line, but it also hits your effectiveness as an organization.  Robert Sutton's book (that we talk about in Sunday School as The No Jerk Rule ) well illustrates the tremendous cost of failure to build a civilized workplace.  No kidding.  And not just the workplace.  Every relationship and organization.           Our goal as Christian leaders ought to be that of the apostles, Peter and John.  They were tough.  Yes, of course they were.  And they were hard workers (ever notice how the best leaders are also the ones in the trenches with the people and leading by the example of hard work ...

 2 Peter 3 - Peter’s Final Word Not surprisingly Peter’s final words encourage the church to grow.  I wonder what Peter will think of Jesus's actions over the last 2,000 years as Jesus patiently builds His church.  I bet he’s not surprised at all.  With Jesus, everything is always much different and way better than we could imagine.   I’m blown away by Christians who have the gift of encouragement.  The Barnabases, if you will.  They know what to say and what not to say to be like Peter the Rock to encourage us to keep going and trust God alone. Let’s be like Peter and like all the men and women of the Bible that show us how we are to live.  We stimulate wholesome thinking by listening to what God has said and done through the holy prophets and to what Jesus commanded through our apostles (3:12).  Let’s do that.  Continue to read the Old Testament along with the New, daily.  Nothing encourages us like God himself as we re...

 2 Peter 3 - D-Day We are looking forward to what’s beyond D-Day.  That’s what we fight for.  God promises a new heaven and earth to those who love Him.  It will be a world filled with God’s righteousness (3:13). We have faith in Jesus.  Our hope is in the return of the King and eternity with Him on the new earth.  God says He loves us so much that He gave His only Son to pay for our sins so that we who trust in Jesus and confess Him as Master shall not perish.  Through the power of Christ’s love, we press on. As Christian men, we must be careful and intentional about what we place our faith and hope in.  We hear that loud and clear in this chapter of 2 Peter.  We are “to make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight” (3:14).  Are we?  It’s worth repeating.  Make every effort! The world and all its trappings - all of our grand accomplishments - certainly lure our hope and e...

2 Peter 2 - Loyalty Chapter two is blunt.  Peter pulls no punches.  It’s a message the modern church desperately needs to hear and to heed.  He calls out the greed, twisted lifestyles of deception, and the arrogance of those who cleverly teach destructive heresies and deny Jesus who bought us with His blood on the Cross.           Second Peter Two will mess with cute little systems of theology.  Peter reminds us of the reality of hell, the fact that God is indeed especially hard on those who follow their own twisted sexual desires and who despise authority.  Peter makes plain that indeed people can know the Master and then drift and turn away.  People, (like a washed pig - I know it sounds harsh) can and do know the way of righteousness and then reject Jesus’ command to live a holy life.  It’s a hard message, but I trust God’s Word; Jesus is our only hope. Paul, Peter, and James - indeed the entire counsel of God from ...