Blog
From time to time, we need a reminder about how we speak about our leaders. It happened to Paul after his arrest when he declared he was a Roman citizen. An angry mob surrounded Paul and shouted that he was not fit to live. Paul was brought before the high...
I got a year older today. January 1 marks my 76th year. On my 65th birthday, I joked with Jan and said that we had now become old. She shot back and said, “We aren’t old yet!” On my 70th birthday, I asked the same question and received the same response. Last...
I used to hike, doing what is called “bush-wacking.” I hiked for miles across trail-less terrain using a topographical map whose imagery revealed the various elevations of a mountain range and the locations of deep, dead-end canyons. Following that map saved me a lot...
If you believe all prophecy is to be encouraging and without ever issuing a warning, this message will challenge your current understanding. That misconception is part of the problem with our understanding of New Covenant prophecy. There are times when prophetic words...
The release of our calling can begin with a single act of obedience that requires courage to speak when others remain silent. It happened to Elijah. He did not remain silent but spoke what the Lord told him to say, even at his peril. We are living in a similar time...
The works of the flesh are contrary and opposed to the works of the Spirit. Whoever declares they are united in any way is walking along a path of deception. There is no union between the two. “The works of the flesh are evident, which...
When I was a flight instructor, I drilled things into my student's minds that would keep them alive in flight. I did the same when I became a pastor 43 years ago. Mastering certain spiritual skills will keep our faith alive when the engine of our faith encounters a...
In any transition of life, the most important thing that will guide our decisions is our faithfulness to the word of the Lord, both in Scripture and by a prophetic announcement. They will keep us safe. This applies to words birthed outside our time of history of which...
Last week, our veterinarian relieved the suffering of our faithful dog, Ladybug. Ladybug lived with us for 4 years. She had developed severe seizures when two years ago she bit into an electrical cord and suffered a paralyzing shock. In the last two years, her...
As the signs of the times begin to gather around the Church and manifest the coming of the Lord, we need to wisely interpret what we are seeing. We should never be so captured by the signs themselves that we are led astray into a narrow understanding of what we see...
In God’s Kingdom, we follow a calling, not ambition. Unrestrained ambition will leave a trail of death in our path, not life. Toward the end of David’s life, as he was dying, one of David’s sons, a man named Adonijah, said, “I will make myself king” (I Kings 1:5). He...
Things are happening in our world like the appearance of an eclipse and the collapse of the Francis Scott Key bridge that have created a great deal of speculation as to why these events are happening. Some of that speculation can be true. Some will be proven to be...
Choosing to honor Jesus will overcome our greatest fears. After Jesus was crucified, great fear spread among the disciples,” They were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders” (John 20:19). On their minds was the thought, “Are we...
Jesus modeled for us the highest forms of obedience at the time of His suffering and crucifixion. Choosing to obey God’s word is expressed in its purest form when we know that pain and suffering will come, yet we still obey Him. As Jesus concluded His final...
As Jesus gave final instructions to His disciples just before His arrest, He addressed the coming of the Spirit. Jesus said the grief the disciples would experience at His death would be overshadowed by the coming of the Spirit. When the Spirit comes and enters a...