Mental Masturbation or anointed teaching – beware as it matters a lot. If your teaching gets you off and does not change the students, you’ve messed up, big time. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will thwart.” Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For … Continue reading →
When I was a kid I hated, “Respect your elders!” Of course, that was because I really didn’t respect any of them [most of the time with good reason]. But in the Kingdom, this should not be true. That person you know who has known the Lord for forty years has learned things it will take you 40 years to learn. You really ought to find out what he or she knows. It will help you know … Continue reading →
This is an excerpt from “Knowing Jesus as His Bride” As Americans we have some unique problems that people do not in other countries. We believe we have rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. To those we have added the rights of privacy, fairness, prosperity, opportunity, freedom of religion, weapons, fair trials, grand juries, reasonable treatment, and much more. We expect these things. They are our right! The marketing world would have us believe that … Continue reading →
I found myself writing this during a short discussion of some verses in Timothy. It seems good to me and the Spirit to share it with you. It’s a short passage from my next bible study on the Timothys and Titus. Much of it is not doctrine, but a serious question for us to answer personally as we raise our children and grandchildren: II Timothy 2:3–7 You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus … Continue reading →
The Kingdom versus the world is a radical difference. Jesus is Lord of the Kingdom. Scripture is clear that Satan rules the kosmos, the world system. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out [John 12:30] …you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience… [Ephesians 2:2] … Continue reading →
What is the anointing to teach? I mean what is the anointing to teach scripturally? It’s really an important question. You cannot teach scripture effectively without the power of the Holy Spirit. The modern phrase to cover this gifting is to call it the anointing. This is the biblical phrase to describe what we do. This anointing is talked about in I John—but what does that mean? If it is central to your efforts to teach, you need to … Continue reading →
As we see, attend, and fellowship with various churches and ministries,it is important to discern if they know the Lord and how well. Here are some things to look for as you find new sources of spiritual guidance and leadership. I mentioned this briefly already. The same things apply to finding a new church or fellowship to join. How is Jesus treated? This is always the bottom line. If a church considers Jesus to be the archangel … Continue reading →
Jesus gives us the most important aspects of church leadership The first aspect of leadership is found in the Gospels. Jesus emphatically told us: Don’t let anyone call you teacher, for you have one teacher—the Messiah [Matthew 23:10] We need to keep this at the forefront of our minds as we study church leadership. For Jesus is the leader. He is the head and we are merely the body—His Bride. At best we are stewards of gifts … Continue reading →
For a long time my heart has been directed toward people in the pews of mainline churches left without teaching, training, or encouragement in righteousness, power, and love in the Lord. I spend much time thinking about them, praying for them, asking God to reach them. Today, I was listening to a televangelist who was prophetically talking about God gathering a remnant as we all prepare for the end and the revisiting of the Messiah to the earth. … Continue reading →
I’m working on 1 Timothy and ended up writing a little blurb about Godly training. I thought I’d put the list up and see if you think I missed anything, or messed it up. Reading scripture: Increasingly we find that simply reading scripture like a well-loved novel has great benefit. It is literally feeding your soul with raw materials for the Holy Spirit to use in your life. Studying scripture: This takes the raw food received in … Continue reading →