If you’re even a little bit of a Bible-studier than you’re familiar with the example James uses in describing the power of our tongue. He said, “A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest ...

What a blasted word. Or a blessed one. Again. To repeat. To mimic a former behavior, instance, or circumstance. Paul said, “In [this] freedom Christ has made us free [and completely liberated us]; stand fast then, and do not be hampered and held ensnared and submit again to a yoke of slavery [which you have once put off]” (Galatians 5:1). We have a choice. ...

Do you remember the story of the man with the withered hand? The Bible says Jesus went into the synagogue and noticed the man. He had a weakness–his hand was deformed. We’re not told if it was like that from birth or possibly from an accident. But Jesus said to him, “[Stretch] Hold out your hand” (Mark 3:5). And when the man ...

You know I care about helping people find a “self to live with” through an understanding of who we’ve been made to be in Christ. But I was quite surprised to discover the scriptures use the word self quite a bit in the negative–not the positive. For example, you’ll find words like: self-confident, self-seeking, self-condemned, self-sufficiency, self-imposed, and self-willed. Yuck. Those ...

“Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3). A young man recently visited our church. I was told that he had given his heart to Jesus in one of our small groups. The first day he attended church, this young man –who seemingly had no prior church experience– went to the altar during worship. ...

Here’s a confession you should make daily: “I have been enabled and endued with Christ’s strength to recover and increase in every area of my life!” When we read the encouragement Paul issued to believers in Ephesus, this is his admonition: “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might” (Ephesians 6:10). Power and might ...

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 You are the keeper of your heart. Sometimes, we’re unaware that the trials we are facing are directly related to the things we are allowing. Jesus said, “And some [seed] fell among thorns, and thorns sprang up with it and choked it… Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when ...

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Jesus made it very clear: the SEED is the Word of God and the GROUND is man’s heart. In the parable of the sower, Jesus went on to explain there are four types of heart (or soil) that the Word will land upon, and three of the four produce little or no ...

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 In three different accounts, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we find Jesus explaining the parable of the sower: “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. Some fell on rock; and as ...

The author is unknown. In fact, I don’t remember where I first heard this story, but it perfectly illustrates the love of our Father and the price Jesus paid to set us free. A man was walking through town one day when he saw a young boy coming toward him swinging an old, rusty birdcage. In the bottom of the ...

“In the way of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death” (Proverbs 12:28). Hold a man’s head under water, and he will fight you to come up for air. It’s in every person to LIVE and not die. This is how God created us… with breath in our lungs, hope in our hearts, and a desire ...

There’s always a lot of discussion about our monetary system, and those who have invested in gold have seemingly made a wise decision because its value continues to increase. But there is one commodity apparently far superior in value– our faith. Hesitant believers will argue that “faith” isn’t going to pay the mortgage or save our country from a fiscal disaster, ...

In his letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul made an interesting statement: “But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself” (1 Corinthians 4:3). How many of us make it “a very BIG thing” to be judged? Whether by ...

Are you familiar with the Bible story of the woman caught in adultery? You and I may or may not have ever been in shoes like hers, but nonetheless, in our own mind, our sin is just as hard to bear. So despite her obvious guilt (and ours), let’s look at this story not just as a picture of initial ...

At any stage of life, our enemy, the devil, loves using the weaknesses of our flesh as a weapon against us; much like the bully who grabs our wrist, swinging it toward our face, yelling, “Quit hitting yourself! Quit hitting yourself!” Satan targets our insecurities and then laughs at our self-destruction, which is why the Bible says we can fall ...

I wonder if we ever thought about the fact that Jesus didn’t interview the people before He fed them? Yet, as His followers today, we are prone to ask questions like, “Why are you in this condition?” “What did you do wrong?” “Where’s your faith?” The account of Jesus feeding the multitudes is one of the few stories that are ...

Part 1 | Part 2 Satan has been defeated, but he doesn’t want Christians to know it. So our enemy, the devil, roams about looking for whom he may devour– and that “whom” is whoever doesn’t know his tricks and strategies. They are perfect prey for attack. In part one, we started looking at some of Satan’s devices because it’s ...

Part 1 | Part 2 If righteousness is the ability to stand before God without inferiority (or fear), then God wants us to stand before the devil that way too. In other words, without cowering. But how do you stand strong against an enemy you know very little about? Good soldiers (soldiers of God) need to KNOW their enemy and ...