Blog
The old wooden recipe box belonged to my mother. It has mitered corners and was constructed long ago without nails or glue. My mother would have been 106 years old today. Her mother was born in 1896, 129 years ago. In the box are recipes from my mother and my...
A few years ago, Jan and I learned an important principle. Wherever we go to minister, we arrive carrying Jesus’ blessing. That understanding is not just for the times we are asked to speak somewhere. It applies to all aspects of our lives. We came to this...
For the last several years, I’ve been reading how people are attempting to rewrite Scripture, softening its impact to make it easier to digest. This applies to sexual sins, the consequence of a person who has lived a life of disobedience, and whether hell is real or...
When I read Scripture, I look for repeats. Repetition is something used to drive home a point. Jesus repeated Himself as He taught parables. One set of repetitions had to do with the function of angels at the end of the world. “The Son of Man will send his angels,...
Two unique events took place when Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection. He appeared to His fearful disciples who were shut behind closed doors. Among other words of affirmation, He said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins,...
When Jesus sent out the twelve disciples, He gave them instructions on how to express their faith. The Lord said, “I am sending you out as sheep among wolves” (Matthew 10:16). The calling to follow Jesus would not be a faith walk in the park. The Lord did not...
The Sermon on the Mount has been romanticized by some without taking what Jesus said to a deeper level. We could call the Sermon on the Mount the Sermon of Doing. Jesus is speaking into a religious system of works that suit the presence of imposters, not a true...
There is a dangerous slippage taking place within some elements of the Church. It is a lessening, even a dismissal of the Old Testament. It has been described as too harsh representing a cruel God. Jesus quoted the Old Testament over 70 times. The apostles were not...
Many times, we describe the condition of a person’s life as having arrived at the eleventh hour. In that place, it appears all hope has vanished. That remaining hour before midnight still has the hope of redemption based on what we had planned. The eleventh hour is...
As the Lord was proclaiming the future deliverance of Israel, He said, “I will remove from the land both the false prophets and the spirit of impurity that came with them” (Zechariah 13:2). This is not just something that happened thousands of years ago in the...
When the Lord was restoring Israel, He said, “I am planting seeds of peace and prosperity among you” (Zechariah 8:12 NLT). He went on to say, “Now I will rescue you and make you both a symbol and a source of blessing” (vs. 13). While those words were spoken long ago,...
There is something that has moving through the Church of late that we need to explore. At the core of a whole host of doctrines of demons is the fallacy that all will be saved. Jesus said only those who have chosen to follow Him in this life will be saved and not...
Beware of “new evidence” that attempts to redefine ancient truth. This new evidence is different from understanding the context in which an issue occurred and needs to be rightly interpreted to bring understanding. New evidence that dismisses what has been understood...
We don’t do well when we leave the environment of the Spirit and attempt to live as believers in a world of compromise. That journey will put our spiritual lives in a place of jeopardy. A few days ago, after several days of steady rain, worms began to crawl out of the...
Scripture is a combination of both parables and straight-up statements that cut to the chase. The following verse goes straight to the truth: "The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness and...