Ralph Waldo Emerson said: Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes […]
Monthly Archives: March 2016
What Jesus Did and Taught
Luke started his journal of the Acts of the Apostles referring to the things Jesus did and taught. I think it is note worthy that He did, then He taught. Frequently He sent His disciples out to do supernatural work. When they failed or became confused, He then taught. Even when they were on a mission and were arguing about who among them was the greatest, He didn’t rebuke them […]
Credible Witness
In order to advance in our level of faith, or of commitment, or understanding, etc, we frequently need to have the input of what I call a “credible witness.” Credible means believable, or worthy of being believed. Incredible means not believable, or not worthy of being trusted. When we see someone we trust standing further out on the ice ahead of us than we thought the ice was thick enough […]
Valuing Your Inheritance
Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: no sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals, thieves, greedy people, drunkards, revilers, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom. Some of you were like this; but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. “Everything is permissible […]
Followers of the Way
Being a Believer in Jesus, a follower of Jesus, involves me in a WAY of doing things, a WAY of valuing relationships, a WAY of Life. In Ephesians 4, Paul wrote prophetically about a time of maturity in the Body when every joint is supplying what it should to the Body, and therefore we are built up to the full stature of Jesus – an appropriate Bride for the Wonderful […]
Having a Choice
Benjamin Franklin is quoted as having said: A man convinced against his will Is of the same opinion, still. Having freedom doesn’t mean you only get to do what your flesh thinks is best, or not having anyone tell you what to do. It means having a choice. Your “yes” is meaningless if you could not have said, “no.” A train only experiences liberty in the places where tracks have […]
Kingdom Work
Raising the Dead is Kingdom work. Western medicine can keep a person alive even when they are dead. We can make a dead man’s heart keep beating and lungs keep breathing and kidneys keep peeing. Making his brain work after he’s dead is hard. So, maybe we are just raising his flesh from death, not really him. Most places on the earth, things haven’t progressed much past the fact that […]
Being Loved
When the hemorrhaging woman mentioned by Mark in chapter 5 of his gospel record touched the hem of the clothing of Jesus, she was not reaching out to Jesus, but through Jesus. She did not have a clear theology regarding His Kingdom or His salvation or of His divinity. She did, though, recognize Him as the Door. She realized that if she could reach through Him she would access the […]
Great Things
I don’t think that you read my writings because you like average or popular or old fashioned things. I believe that you are some of the people to whom God will reveal things He has prepared for those who love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9,10). I believe that you are people who will do the things Jesus did and greater things because He sent His Spirit to make you able to […]
Minimum Building Materials
The foundation of the Ekklesia of Jesus, built with Jesus as its Cornerstone, includes prophets and apostles, as Paul described in Ephesians 2:18-22. There is debate whether the apostles and prophets he described there as part of the foundation are all deceased, but since there is no Scripture that declares that the time of needing apostles or prophets in the Ekklesia of Christ has come to an end, it is […]