When a police officer responds to a “hot” call, emotions are high as the officer makes their way to the crime scene. This emotional response multiplies when other officers also respond to the same incident. It was always a problem when one of the responding officers,...
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Prophetic Horizons
Aligning people with their God-Defined identity.
DEFINING THE TRANSITION
All of us are living in a time of transition, both in the Church and within culture. This time of transition is not our destination. Knowing that reality will prepare us for what is coming. https://www.facebook.com/1442665059/videos/1102804481011705
THE DANGER OF RELIGIOUS TRADITION
We have entered the Christmas season, and we all celebrate family traditions. The Elkins home has family traditions as well. There is nothing wrong with our traditions if they are not linked to our salvation. That linkage is dangerous. Those religious traditions are...
WHEN FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT
When Jesus returned to Nazareth, His hometown, He was not accepted. The residents had known Jesus and his family. When Jesus spoke, the people of Nazareth were amazed and asked, “Where did He get all this wisdom and the power to perform such miracles” (Mark...
SEEKING DEEPER SOIL
As Jesus preached about the seed of God’s truth wanting to enter the hearts of people, He mentioned the shallow soil of a half-hearted commitment to the Lord, “Since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are...
AROUSING HELL
Each generation needs to be introduced to the power of Jesus Christ or we will settle for a lesser version of the Lord without seeing a demonstration of His power. Accepting that limited version of the Lord will make us suspicious of anyone or any teaching that...
WHAT SEEMS RIGHT
Societies do not naturally evolve into goodness. They devolve into greater depths of depravity apart from the renewing presence of God’s Spirit. No established social order can prevent a devolving into greater expressions of darkness apart from a regenerating work of...
RATS IN THE HOUSE
One of our cats killed a rat and brought it into our home. We saw the dead rat sometime after the cat made her deposit on our dining room floor. This wasn’t a little mouse. It was a rat, a long slimy tail included. Jan called me with the sound of urgency in her voice,...
ONE MORE TIME
When a person that God has called abandons the integrity of their calling, the Lord can still use them to accomplish His will, even after their life takes a negative turn. In colloquial terms, Samson was a “mess.” He squandered his life which began with the miracle of...
CHANGING MEMORIES
The building where I proposed to Jan has been demolished. In the process, I learned something when memorable places no longer exist. https://www.facebook.com/1442665059/videos/1109261307467904
GOD’S MERCIFUL PARDON
The Lord will faithfully forgive our sins if we confess them to Him. It is very different when we try to conceal our sins and pardon those who were complicit in their execution. In that case, mercy will not come to the perpetrator and those who followed their sin...
HONORABLE LEADERSHIP
My pastor of many years ago was called to a meeting of disgruntled parishioners. He was young at the time. His church was growing under his apostolic leadership and teaching. This challenged some people within the congregation who wanted to remain in control and not...
WHEN LESS IS MORE
There's a reason why the Lord will reduce our options for success. He does this so that we must rely on Him for our victory, not our ability, experience, or the resources we bring to the conflict. The Lord reduced Gideon's army from 32,000 warriors to only 300, "You...
THE PRISON OF UNFORGIVENESS
Unforgiveness will take us to places we don’t want to go. It will also cause us to do things we would never imagine we would do. Our only safe way to live a life of faith when someone wrongs us is to forgive them, even when forgiveness is the last thing we want to do....
THE BOWLS OF OUR PRAYERS
In prayer, I saw an image of bowls in Heaven filled with the prayers of God’s people. Because the prayers were aligned with God’s will, they gave off the fragrance of incense. Scripture tells us about those bowls. It describes the Lamb of God approaching the...