by Garris Elkins | Jul 9, 2017 | Courage, Discipleship, Family, Fear, Freedom, Joy, Peace, Pride, Relationships
Earlier this week, Jan and I had dinner with friends at a nice restaurant. Shortly after being seated, a young family sat at the table next to us with three young kids. Our child-rearing years took place decades ago. We smiled as the parents tried to herd cats and eat...
by Garris Elkins | Jul 7, 2017 | Honor, Identity, Jesus, Kingdom of God, Pride, Promise
If you want to impact an emerging generation or a group of people you will need to remove complaint and criticism from your conversation. No one lends an ear to a negative spirit. Phrases like, “The youth of today…” or “Those people…” are introductory phrases that...
by Garris Elkins | Jul 7, 2017 | Hope, Humility, Mercy, Peace
If you want to know what death sounds like speak a word of hope. Death will always protest hope and demand that all voices be silent except its own. A word of hope has greater authority than the language of condemnation. Just a whisper of hope will shout down the...
by Garris Elkins | Jul 6, 2017 | Change, Church, Five-Fold Ministry, Leadership, Reformation
As I began to prepare to speak at a conference on the subject of reformation, the Lord took me to Acts 17. In that section of Scripture, Paul was traveling through the city of Athens, Greece. Athens was known as the city of 10,000 gods. Just to be safe and cover all...
by Garris Elkins | Jul 5, 2017 | Courage, Culture, Discipleship, Discipline, Fear, Forgivenss, Holy Spirit, Humility, Identity, Mercy, Pride, Reconciliation
It is always a dangerous game to judge a person based on rumor and second-hand information. I have stopped coming to any conclusion about someone unless I have firsthand information about them from personal interaction with them. The higher in public visibility you...
