Gifts and Purpose
The gifts God has given you are your call to ministry and purpose. You find meaning when you are using your gifts; you are confused about the purpose of your life when you are not serving with your gifts. Have you not found that to be true? Purpose is always about helping other people;
Repeated Promises
Why did God keep bringing Abraham back to his call by repeating the promises (Genesis 12-18) of giving him a land and making him a blessing to all the earth? Why do you and I need to keep hearing the promises of God? We forget. We lose track of where we are. We get
Being A Blessing
Abraham was not great before his call; he became great after his call. A nobody became somebody because he heard and obeyed God’s call. He became great because he lived out this call. God takes nothing and makes something out of it. He takes us who have no future without Him and gives us
Justification and Righteousness
Both of these words are from the same Greek word. It helps if we can understand that righteousness is a right relationship; it is a right relationship with God, our fellow humans and the covenant. Justification has been misunderstood because we have made it a legal or forensic word. When we come to Christ
Barren Churches
Israel was preserved a number of times because God touched barren women; you can read it in their history. It started with Sarah and continued through other barren women giving birth in the Messianic line. The church must realize that unless the Spirit of God touches our barrenness that we cannot have life or
Living Hope
The word hope can be a nebulous word. How many times have we been disappointed because a hope was never realized? Hope that does not have a foundation can lead us on, trap us, depress us, and be devastating to our lives. The hope that we have in Jesus is firm hope based on
Living Bread
Before seed can become bread it must be crushed and baked. Bread then becomes “the staff of life”. Jesus was the grain of wheat Who died, and was crushed to give us life. He arose from the grave, not just as the Bread of Heaven but as Living Bread. To eat this Living bread
Living Word
Words on paper are one thing and Living words are another. Words on paper are what has been said. Living word is what is being said. The goal of the Bible is to connect us to the Living Word, Jesus Himself. He is the full and final word of the Father. Bible reading that
Living Water
The early church recommended using “living water” when possible for baptism. Living water is flowing water. Standing water could not adequately symbolize the work of the Spirit. Jesus said that “living water” is about the Spirit. When we are baptized into Christ we are baptized into the Spirit’s flowing stream; He becomes in us
The Beauty of Jesus (3)
The beauty of Jesus in us is a part of Christlikeness. Christlikeness is the beauty of holiness. It is what makes disciples winsome. Our short tempers, harsh words and sarcasm deny its presence in us; all of these leave wounded souls in their wake. Christlikeness has a trail of healing in its wake; its
The Beauty of Jesus (2)
In the KJV of Psalm 29:2 and 96:9 we are told to worship the Lord in “the beauty of holiness”. Other translations say to worship Him in the splendor of holiness or some say “holy attire”. This may well refer to the beauty of priestly robes. Jesus embodies the splendor and beauty of holiness! His
The Beauty of Jesus (1)
The beauty of Jesus was more than being physically attractive; as a matter of fact, the Scriptures tell us that He did not have that kind of face. “When we shall see Him there is no beauty the we should desire Him” (Isaiah 53:2). He did not stand out from other men as a
The Note
A tuning fork sounds the right note. If you tune to it, the music can begin. Jesus is the Note which God has sounded for the human race. We are to tune our lives and our Christian communities to that Note, or as E. Stanley Jones reminds us, “Be a part of the chaos”.
Hidden Faults
We do not know ourselves nearly as well as we think we do. Who we are and what we have become is always unfolding to us, like the turning of the pages of a book. We have faults rooted in our DNA. We have faults that were engrained in us by imperfect families and
In Good Hands
The Psalmist describes the Lord as a Keeper who protects and guards. When we give our lives over to our Father, we are in Good Hands! He will do us no harm. He will work His will in circumstances that seem totally against us. We wonder if we will survive, and all the time
The Reaching-Out God
God has a thousand ways to get to the open heart. He even makes constant overtures to the closed heart. He reaches out through the grace of the Spirit. He comes in prosperity and adversity, sunshine and rain, joy and pain, grief and happiness, worship and communion, loneliness and companionship, etc. Be attentively aware
The Wisdom Of Christ
A truly wise person knows the answers to questions that they do not even know that they know. To know Jesus is to know the One who has been made unto us Wisdom (I Corinthians 1:30). We find in Him the answers to: What is God like? What is the way to the Father?
Desire For Power
Sadly, the desire for power and control rears its ugly head in the church from time to time. Jesus clearly taught that the presence of “lording it over” had no place among His followers. Yet, it continues. Some, in the name of “protecting the church,” change the essence of what the church is meant
Forgive Anyway
It would be nice if all the people who have trespassed against us would have come running to our feet and, bowing before us, asked for forgiveness. Most of the time, that does not happen. Sometimes a person does not know they have offended us, though maybe they should have known. Jesus forgave from
Truth Sources
The Lord often speaks to us through the words of family and friends. Our pride would prefer that He speak to us, as important as we are, with an audible voice. That is exceedingly rare. He speaks His wisdom to us from unlikely sources and through unlikely persons. We must not despise the message
You Have Followers
We do not like to say, “Follow me as I follow Jesus,” but that should be our goal. We are always being followed by someone. We are always influencing other people’s decisions and actions. We are stewards of our own influence. It is not to be taken lightly. We are “our brother’s keeper”. We
Revived By Words
“This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your word has revived me” Psalm 119:50 (NASB). How do we get through the tough times in our lives? It must be more that grit and stoic determination. There is a better way. We get through it with the words of God. When life goes out
Moving Mountains
Context is everything. The context of a faith and prayer that moves mountains (Mark 11:22-25) is about prayer offered from a forgiving heart. "And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses” (Mark 11:25). It is impossible to move
God Is Altogether Good
God is Light and not darkness. God is good and not evil. He can do no evil and promote no evil, because He is good. God is the giver of grace. It is freely given to all who will receive it. The Father is the giver of the Spirit and freely gives to those
He Claims Us
“So now Jesus and the ones he makes holy have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters. For he said to God ‘I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters. I will praise you among your assembled people’” (Hebrews 2:11–12 NLT). The