Lovin' Tellin' The Story

It seems that in our society today there is much talk about "the Lord's favor." Depending on who you listen to you would think that the best evidence of having the Lord's favor would be a bank account that is overflowing and perfect health. There are several problems with this not least of which are that it is not completely Biblical and it doesn't match up with reality. For instance, I have some friends who are missionaries in a foreign country and they are some of the most godly people I know. They seek after the Lord's face and will with all of their hearts and have devoted their lives to spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, they have sacrificed a comfortable life in the United States because they have felt the unmistakable call of God to minister to lost people in the world. From what I understand and have seen with my own eyes, they live a very modest lifestyle and often have less money than they really need. Now according to some of the ...

Over the past several months there seems to be a renewed feeling that a mighty move of God is on the way. It would be one thing if this was just something that I felt in my own heart and mind but from conversations I've had and things I've read this is a sense that many Christians in various places share. I fear there is some belief among Christians that the idea of "revival," as we used to think about, it is a thing of the past. That is, people believe that the days of large Crusades a la Billy Graham are behind us and that the US, or even the West in general, is beyond revival and renewal. Honestly, I couldn't disagree more. I believe that the book is not closed until the glorious return of Christ and that, if we are drawing near to that time as many think we are, God has at least one more great move in store for the world. Of course, there could be hundreds or thousands of more years between now and when Christ comes again but whatever the case may be I don...

Book details:  Title: Fresh Encounter: God's Pattern for Spiritual Awakening Author(s): Henry Blackaby, Richard Blackaby and Claude King The first thing that I want to say about this book is that it is one of the best that I've read recently. It is a combination of revival history and practical application of Biblical principles. The first thing that you will notice about this book is that there is a theme...repentance. I am sure that if there was one thing that these authors would want any reader to take away from it, repentance would be it. They are clear and thorough in explaining that the Bible sets forth the fact that it is required of God's people before revival will happen. As I would have expected from these authors the Bible was the foundation of the entire book. They do not make points based on statistics or trends they make their claims based on the authority of God's Word. I, for one, really appreciate this. One point that really shifted my perceptio...

Three weeks ago 9 intrepid Christians and I set off on a journey called Old Testament Survey, of which I am the pilot. For the next twelve weeks we will be taking a whirlwind tour of the OT and this past Tuesday Genesis was our port of call. It always amazes me to see the fact that the Bible is God's living Word in action. As we began to explore some basic information about the book of Genesis we spent some time looking for Christ there. Admittedly, there are some who would disagree with the idea that Christ is in the Old Testament, let alone the first book of it. However, the truth of the matter is that He is evident in every book of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. This has been brought into bold relief not only in my studies for this class but also because of the Bible study our pastor is leading called "66 Books, One Savior." What really got me excited was going over "types of Christ"  and Messianic prophecies in Genesis. A "type of Christ,"...