Thoughts on Christ and His Word

Have you heard that the human nose and ears never stop growing? Well good leaders never stop growing either. According to Bill Robinson, president of Whitworth University, good leaders “…develop the gifts God gave them. They hone and improve those gifts. They never stop learning how to use their gifts more effectively. And they change. They get better. And they get nervous at the first sign of stagnation.” Are you developing the gifts Godhas given you? Are you reading, going to conferences, or listening to seminars about areas in of your life that grow you up and affect your ministry success? If not, you may be stagnant and wasting the gifts God has entrusted to you. Paul wrote to Timothy “When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments.” 2 Timothy 4:13 The scrolls and parchments were books – possibly Old Testament books, new Scriptures from other apostles, or other books that inspired him. The point is he wanted to ...

Do any you lack passion? At times I do. Life has a way of getting us down. But God gives us Hope and Passion. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. Isaiah 9:6-7 Hope. That is what Isaiah’s prophecy is all about. Hope of God’s Son taking over as Ruler of the World. It will bring greater joy to the world than when Obama gave his victory speech in Chicago. Jesus Christ will rule as a “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Justice and righteousness will run through the streets forever. What will ensure that this will happen? What will make this H...

I once had a friend named Ruben. While in school in an isolated stairwell, some guy threatened to beat up Ruben. I stood up for my friend and told the guy that if he touched my friend I would beat him up. I don't know where that bravery came from since I was not very tough nor brave. I guess I had a scary face that day. The guy left and my friend and I walked away with unblemished faces. I don't feel I was a hero, but my friend was grateful for my help. Moses stood up for some people once also. In fact he stood up for about one million people and the one he stood up against was God. So he [God] declared he would destroy them. But Moses, his chosen one, stepped between the Lord and the people. He begged him to turn from his anger and not destroy them. Psalms 106:23 NLT . Moses could have simply let God destroy the people. The people mistreated Moses - constantly grumbling against him, slandering him, speaking of replacing him as their leader, and once even speaking of stoning h...

We all experience stress - too much to do in too little time and usually without the proper resources. BURNOUT occurs when stress accumulates in us over time. Burnout affects our motivation and desire to keep striving towards the goals and ideals we once held onto so closely. Many times burnout leads to depression and a sense of hopelessness and helplessness . Christian leader Mike Foster says "My biggest indicator of burnout is how I treat people...What's most unfortunate, and probably not a unique situation, is that I take out my stress on the people I love the most...my wife and kids..." Many times we burnout because we are on the road to success. We are pursuing our dreams so fast and furiously that we don't see the "self-destruction" warning light blinking crazily on our dashboard. Pastor Wayne Cordeiro said of his burnout experience "Unknowingly, the road to success and the road to a nervous breakdown became the same road." Burnout i...

Problems and leadership go together. Read what happened to Paul. We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. 2 Corinthians 1:8-11 One of God’s greatest goals in working with his leaders is to keep them humble and dependent on Him. So in order to develop this dependence on God, He sends trials into their lives. Paul says he suffered “hardships” and was under “great pressure” which led him to ...

Recently a teenager wanted to know how she could stay “on fire” for God. “Good question”, I thought. Over my 30 years of being a Christian, I have seen many young people (and old as well) come to Christ, only to be sucked into the world shortly thereafter. I think it is very hard to live for Christ as a young person and doubly so in today’s modern world with so much peer pressure to do wrong and the easy availability of evil media. So after thinking of HOW TO STAY “ON-FIRE” FOR GOD , I suggest the following practices: 1. Prayer As a young man who was just appointed king, Solomon prayed: "Now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. 8 Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. 9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong....

By a show of hands, how many of you want God to pour out his heart to you? Who would like for God to make his thoughts known to you? I hope all of us would raise our hands. If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you. Proverbs 1:23 To respond correctly means to humbly submit to God's commands and obey what He says. Only through humble obedience do we begin to gain insight into who God is - His character and attributes. But to stubbornly reject God's will for our lives will lead to disastrous consequences. Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the LORD, 30 since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, 31 they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. 32 For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them Proverbs 1:29-32 God's rebuke can come through: God's Word (2 Timothy 3:16) Other People (...