Blog
My wife, Jan, inherited the DNA of her father. He was a missionary who built churches and seminaries in Central America. Jan is a very feminine woman – a woman who caught my eye and captured my heart over 50 years ago. There are some Christmases when Jan would prefer...
Yesterday, I was preaching in Portland, Oregon – a city that has been in the national news of late. Early in the morning, my sermon was ready, so I spent time in prayer about the service. It was during that time of prayer that the Lord gave me a prophetic word to...
It’s interesting how far our personal history extends into the past, and how far into the future it will be revealed. Yesterday, Jan and I were driving on I-5 in Oregon when we stopped at a rest stop north of Woodburn, Oregon. When I got out of our truck, I parked in...
On the day of Pentecost, two sounds were being made. One was the sound of Heaven, translated as the very “breath of God.” The other sound was the response of the people who were impacted by God’s breath. It was the sound the people were making in response to the...
Some of you are about to experience a season of your faith when you will see pre-mature fruit develop. You thought it would take more time and effort to see the fruitfulness of your labor, but something has changed in the timeline. You are about to see the first...
My mother used to tell me, “That person has good sense.” What she was saying was a person with good sense was wise and able to apply wisdom to the choices they made. When a person did something foolish, she would say, “They don’t have good sense.” Having good sense is...
Navigating what is coming to our world will require that we make a critical choice. What flows from that choice will change everything. It will offer us protection when the world appears to be spinning out of control. No matter how sophisticated we think we might be,...
Yesterday, something happened that if left to a natural course of events would cause concern for me. Before I responded, I went for a walk. While on the walk, I didn’t know how to pray. So, I prayed in the Spirit. Only God knew what I was praying for. By the end of...
Jan and I have made our share of financial mistakes. We have a great deal of compassion for those trapped under the weight of debt. What I am about to share is not meant to come across as a condemnation for someone living under the impact of debt. Early in our...
One of the greatest dangers in the Church today is not believing what the Scripture tells us about the future. It has created what is called Normalcy Bias. Normalcy Bias has been described as the tendency for people to believe that things will always function the way...
This morning, I read Psalm 90 as part of my daily reading. It is the oldest of the Psalms written by Moses 3,400 years ago. I stopped and prayed portions of the prayer over my family adjusting the prayer to fit within the issues they are currently processing. “Give us...
I remember how some people spoke to each other at the beginning of the medical emergency that began in 2020. Emotions were hot at the time and were being freely expressed. People unsheathed the swords of their untethered emotions and cut away at people slicing into...
There is a reason why the Church should never allow the defiance we see taking place against God to derail our faith. The Lord is creating something with that defiance. The psalmist describes how God will disable the weapons of spiritual warfare by destroying the...
Yesterday, I met with a young pastor who leads a local congregation. If one studied our conversation they would discover a single and repeated thread in our time together – the faithfulness of God. I was reminded of something the psalmist said, “O God, you have taught...
This is a quick video about an important decision we all need to make to prepare us for what is coming. https://www.facebook.com/garris.elkins/videos/816902300292362