My Own Experience With the Point of No Return

by Rick Renner

Editor’s Note: The following article is an excerpt from Rick Renner’s newly reedited book The Point of No Return, which will be available in May. For a limited time, you can preorder this beautiful hardback edition at the discounted price of $15.00 (normally $25.00). 

Many years ago when Denise and I were newly married, we were pastoring a very small church in Arkansas when God spoke to me and said that it was time for us to move into the next phase of His plan for our lives. I remember how I felt when I told Denise that we were resigning from our church, without any knowledge of where we were supposed to go or what we were supposed to do. Some of our family members ― and, at times, even Denise and I ― thought we had lost our minds for undertaking such a huge leap of faith.

Our church was small, and our income was very low. Nevertheless, we did have a house (albeit a very old one) and friends who lived around us. Stepping out in faith to resign from that church was a monumental undertaking for us, but we knew God was changing the course of our lives to move us forward in His perfect plan.

As I stood in front of our little congregation and told them we were resigning, my stomach churned. I realized that once our announcement was made, there was no turning back. This was the point of no return in our lives.

A Life of Promise

Susie Larson

The fact that you’re standing here today with breath in your lungs testifies that God has a plan and purpose for you on this earth. Jesus wants you to live with bold confidence in His promises and humble dependence on His voice. He plans to transform you into a woman of purpose and lead you to places you could never otherwise go apart from Him.

What’s so beautiful about our call is that God knows full well whom He’s getting when He calls us.

In his book Holy Ambition, Chip Ingram reflects on the people God loves to use:

Every Believer’s Calling?

Charles Stanley

One Sunday, a man approached me between services to share his story. He'd been addicted to drugs and was leading a hopeless life when he heard a Scripture verse in a sermon. He said that one passage led him to place his trust in Jesus. The man was saved, and God transformed his life.

Every believer has a story. Oftentimes, the more we surrender to God, the greater our ability to see His hand in our life. And the more we watch Him work, the stronger our desire to share with others all that He has done.

The same was true of the early disciples. A small crowd gathered around Jesus before His ascension. They heard His command to spread the gospel around the globe, making disciples and baptizing people from all nations. Surely this seemed like an overwhelming task for a handful of followers, but they obeyed. Their personal experiences with Christ undoubtedly motivated them to share the good news, and they also must have gained confidence from Jesus’ promise of His presence and power.

Stick to Your Calling

"Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God.... Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." (2 Timothy 1:6,9)

Are you doing what God called you to do?

If you haven't ever thought about it before, that may sound like an odd question to you. You may be tempted to shrug it off and say, "Oh, I'm not really called to do anything. I'm not a pastor or a teacher or a minister of any kind...I guess I'm just what you might call a little finger on the Body of Christ."

All the Women of the Bible : Puah

Scripture Reference—Exodus 1:15

Name Meaning — Child bearing or joy of parents

Alarmed over the rapid increase of the population of Israelites in Egypt, Pharaoh ordered two Egyptian midwives to destroy all male children as soon as they were born (Exodus 1:15-20). He would never have employed Hebrew women to destroy the males of their own nation. The answer of the two named midwives, Puah and Shiprah, to Pharaoh’s anger when he discovered that his cruel edict was not being carried out, implies that they were used to wait upon Egyptian women who only employed them in difficulty at childbirth (Exodus 1:19). Hebrew women seldom employed midwives for they were more “lively,” or had far easier births than the Egyptians.