July 2016 Blog Posts (13)

I was in the Emergency Room Waiting Area, waiting on the arrival of a friend from the church where I was serving as Interim Pastor, when a young mother brought her screaming child in the room. The frightened child was yelling loud enough to be heard three floors up – “I OK, I OK, No owie! No owie!” Other than being temporarily deafened, I survived the experience with only a ministerial application. How many times have I hurt, yet still screamed to my listening world, “I OK! No owie!” Is it…

TRAINING DISCIPLES SYLLABUS

* KNOWING YOU HAVE ETERNAL LIFE--ASSURANCE OF SALVATION

A. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, Romans 5:8, John 1:12, 2 Corinthians 13:5, John 6:37

B. 2 Peter 1:10, 2 Corinthians 13:5, John 6:37

C. Romans 1:16, 2 Timothy 1:12

* THE IMPORTANCE OF GOD'S WORD IN…

Two months ago, I enthusiastically ventured into the world of organic gardening. It was a very modest beginning, planting a small tomato seedling some friends had given me.

I was scheduled to be out of town for a week, but I fully expected to see some tomatoes when I returned. However, no such luck. The seedling had grown, but no tomatoes could be found.

My friends assured me this was normal. “Tomatoes don’t grow overnight!” they explained with a grin.

Despite their…

I never thought it would happen to me. I can’t remember ever envying someone who had a bigger house…a faster car…a higher salary…or a corner office. Nor did it bother me that I wasn’t part of the enviable “1%.”

So it shocked me recently when I found myself in the clutches of the Green-Eyed Monster—a term originating in Shakespeare’s play, Othello: “O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; it is the green-ey’d monster, which doth mock the meat it feeds on.”

A number of events the…

The Lord your God is testing you to see if you love him with all your heart and soul. De u t e r o n o my 13:3 NLT

Christianity is not just a mind game played for entertainment—Higher Education is serious business! Life is a battery of tests designed…

Do not be trapped into following their example. Do not say, “How do these nations worship their gods? I want to follow their example.” Deuteronomy 12:30 NLT

God is absolutely holy, and He yearns for us to reflect His holy nature. Worshipping God with all our heart’s passion, all our soul’s personality,…

I’ve been a goal-setter for as long as I can remember. Whenever I got a “B” on my report card, my dad and I would sit down and come up with a plan for getting an “A” the next time. And when my batting average fell below 300 on my middle school baseball team, we would spend extra time hitting balls in the batting cage.

After I gave my life to Christ at age 18, I found Bible passages that seemed to endorse my enthusiastic approach to goal-setting. I quickly embraced Paul’s statement…

I arrived in the Middle East last weekend to spend 35 class hours serving a group of tomorrow's ministry leaders in this region. It is a periodic privilege and responsibility I've enjoyed for most of the past 20 years. Several past students are present colleagues in ministry. How special is that!

At church, some men asked what this group from six countries will focus on. I replied, "The course is called 'Christlike Character in Leadership & Family.' We'll explore the implications…

One of the most baffling experiences in life is when you’ve sincerely endeavored to follow God’s will, only to find that His provision seems to be drying up. Yet this is something experienced by just about everyone at one point or another.

Even the prophet Elijah faced this. The Lord had given him explicit instructions to go to the Brook Cherith, “And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there” (1 Kings…

I’ve never met anyone who isn’t a people-pleaser on some level. Even my boldest, brashest, “tell it like it is” friends are secretly hoping to find some supportive audience for their message.

Although it’s a fact difficult for me to face, I’m clearly a people-pleaser too. I want people to like my sermons, my blogs, and even my wardrobe and my car. And I still want my kids, my friends, and my boss to admire me and think I’m doing a good job.

This realization hasn’t been easy. It…

“It is what comes from inside that defiles you. For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”  (Mark 7:20-23…

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Sermon today on Mark 8:22ff. Something that has not been preached enough: why wasn't the man healed on Jesus' first attempt? As the Gerasene demoniac wasn't. One could say Christ's intentions are mysterious beyond our mortal comprehension. I've been hearing that "explanation" all my life and suspect it rather signals whenever we don't know or our theology is out of kilter with the biblical record.

A better explanation is that Jesus, being fully human, was no…

Today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse!  

De u t e r o n o my 11:26 NLT…