I have heard it said hundreds of times: “We do not need more churches in our community. We have enough churches already.” I disagree. We cannot fulfill the Great Commission without planting churches. We need new churches! Jesus, when He ascended into heaven two thousand years ago, left a spiritual family of 120 believers in [...]
Some varieties of trees, when first planted, need to have a stake driven into the ground next to the tree. A rope then is tied around the tree and stake until the tree can grow tall and strong enough to hold itself. God has called you and me to be “stakes” for people, helping to [...]
Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “What lies behind you and what lies before you, pales in comparison to what lies inside you.” If we purpose in our hearts to read and study the Bible daily in 2015, it will change our lives forever from the inside out. John Adams, the second president of the United [...]
The right question is not, “How do I get faith”? but “How do I exercise the faith that God has already given me”? Faith is a “gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). God uses His divine spoon to give each of us a “measure of faith” according to Romans 12:3, ”in accordance with the measure of [...]
Have you ever heard of Mordecai Ham? Very few people have heard of him, and yet he has had a profound effect on the nations of the world. While Mordecai was preaching at a revival meeting in a tent, a young man came one evening and gave his life to Jesus. That man’s name was [...]
As soon as you are born again by receiving Jesus as Lord of your life—a miracle happens inside of you. You become a brand new person—a new creation in Jesus Christ. An elephant becoming a butterfly would be no greater miracle! Hard to believe, but the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone [...]
God has an awesome plan for your life today. But you will never walk in the fullness of what the Lord has in store for you unless you give your entire being to the Lord! Suppose I offer to sell you my car but mention I want to keep the glove compartment. You say, “That’s [...]
Did you ever wonder where Ebola, terrorism, disease and poverty came from? God had a perfect plan for this world. His plan for the human race, starting with Adam and Eve, was that all of creation would be blessed. There would be no Ebola, terrorism, disease or poverty. There would be only beauty, health and [...]
Brother Lawrence, a monk from the seventeenth century, said, “We must know before we can love. In order to know God, we must often think of Him. And when we come to love Him, we shall then also think of Him often, for our heart will be with our treasure.” Brother Lawrence described this continuous [...]
I wanted to quit. While serving as the senior pastor of a mega church that had started with only twenty-five people ten years earlier, the unresolved conflict I was experiencing with some of my co-workers seemed more than I could handle. LaVerne and I knew we had clearly heard God’s voice to start this church, [...]