There are many forms of false peace. Misunderstanding the facts can cause a sense of tranquility, but it is false. Sometimes we mistake the absence of conflict as the presence of peace. But that false peace quickly vanishes in...
Read MoreIn this day and age, wise counsel abounds in the form of books, teaching programs, DVDs, the Internet, and an unlimited number of conferences. Without good direction, people lose their way; the more wise counsel you follow, the...
Read MoreCircumstances reveal opportunities to the person who has his or her sail set while hides them from negative thinkers! Real winners win when everyone else is losing! In Matthew 16:4, Jesus rebuked the religious thinkers of His...
Read MoreIn my new series Charting a New Course we have discovered some of the most powerful tools required for setting a new course and realizing new outcomes for your life. We learned: 1. Attitude is everything. 2. The secret of God’s...
Read MoreIf God can save our eternal soul, when we are dead in sin, why should it be any harder for Him to heal us? Is there anything God could offer that would be more valuable than what He has already given? And is there ever a time...
Read MoreLike the believers on the day of Pentecost, all we have to draw from is our past experience. If the thing that God is doing does not fit into our frame of reference, we don’t recognize it. We often reject what He is doing in...
Read MoreOn the day of Pentecost, the church experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit. They immediately began to speak in other tongues and prophesy. No one had ever seen anything like this. It had been prophesied. Yet, the religious...
Read MoreOne day while teaching, someone asked Jesus, “What should I do to inherit eternal life?” Luke 10:26 says, “What is written in the Law?” he replied, “How do you read it?” The answer would have been very simple except for the fact...
Read More“HOW I SEE IT IS NOT HOW IT IS, IT IS ONLY HOW I SEE IT.” — Jim Richards Accepting this reality has done as much to remove conflict and discouragement from my life as anything I have ever come to know. Circumstances have a...
Read MoreAs God breathes life and vision into your heart, the new vision (or renewed vision) becomes the new wine. Now you need a wineskin that is flexible enough to hold the wine. Remember, Jesus said if you try to put the new wine in...
Read MoreWhen people choose to stop walking with you, they usually have the need to justify their decision by finding fault, criticism, or other forms of negative justification. It is sad that they can’t simply own their decisions and...
Read MoreGood people with real issues who will not be ready to move when we move surround us all. But as the parable in Luke 14:16-24 points out, people always have excuses for not responding to the call of God today. Those people have...
Read MoreSometimes that which needs to be left behind is people, people we love but just can’t make the journey with us. Jesus called people to “follow me” and just kept walking. He never stopped to live in their world, no matter...
Read MoreWhen I was a young boy in Tennessee, we heated our small, drafty house with a potbelly wood stove. On those cold winter nights, we would all drag our mattresses into one room and pile as many quilts and blankets on them we had....
Read MoreWeights wear and tear on my emotions, physical energy, creativity, and financial resources. In Paul’s personal ministry to Timothy, he challenged him about being distracted by the opposition in his church. Timothy had reached a...
Read MoreAs I talk to leaders around the globe, the one word that I keep hearing in my heart is “focus!” More than any other time in my life, I hear leaders crying out for effectiveness. They are tired of following the pack. They tried...
Read MoreWhile we never want to minimize the incredible service these great leaders are bringing to America, their success cannot be the basis of our sense of self or our sense of success. I believe all of these men would say the same...
Read MoreSometimes we look at the mega ministries and think they are reaching all the country; the job is being done! One could even come to think that as a small ministry we are insignificant. I think about Joel Osteen’s church when I...
Read MoreJesus said we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13-14), but one of His boldest statements about mankind was spoken in John 17:22. It seems that Jesus uttered these words and they have been hidden...
Read MoreYou’re more important than you think! That is my message to every person and every pastor. Too often people in every walk of life minimize their contribution to the world. In the classic movie It’s A Wonderful Life, Jimmie...
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