August 2019 | Disciple Making
Dear Friend,“Abide in me...he who abides in me bears much fruit.” This is the essence of maturity.Jesus spoke these words to His disciples just before His crucifixion. They are not mystical or religious words, but relational. God is sovereign. He is also a Person we can know and trust....Read More
Marks of a Spirit-filled Church
Years ago, the late Billy Graham, held one of his large evangelistic crusades in a certain city. A prominent minister of that city was approached by a reporter who asked him how he thought the crusade was going.The minister grumbled, “Billy Graham has set back the churches of this city fifty...Read More
Holy living means learning to live as God Himself.God’s central quality is His holiness. His holiness makes Him incomparable to all others. His holiness is the one outstanding quality about which the angels sing. When Isaiah saw God in the temple, God’s holiness caused Isaiah to cry out,...Read More
II Kings 22 records how young King Josiah ascended the throne following years of idolatry, a time of darkness when even Solomon’s temple, once dedicated to God’s glory, became filled with pagan idols. One day, Hilkiah the high priest found the sacred scriptures in the temple, forgotten and...Read More
“Weep for yourselves and for your children” (Luke 23:28). “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).Countless painters have painted the scene of Jesus’s crucifixion or dramatized it on film. There is a natural tendency among many people to regard the cross...Read More
Dear Friend, Whether in India, Europe, Africa or America, addiction is a major problem. Gerald May defines an addiction as “compulsive, habitual behavior that limits freedom of human desire.” In other words, an addict is a slave. Whatever holds an addict’s attention to this degree has ...Read More
Twenty-year-old Eric Percy, after drinking, got into a loud argument with his girlfriend about 3 am that carried over the neighborhood in the early morning quiet. Finally, with curses that woke everyone, he jumped into his car, turned on the engine, and screeched around the corner. His car accelerat...Read More
The Shoot from the Stump of Jesse
A dead, dry tree stump lies forgotten and neglected in the corner of the yard, covered with weeds and snails. Someone cut down the tree long ago, but no one remembers (or cares) who cut it down or when it was cut down. But one day, a shoot begins to grow from the dead stump. It gro...Read More
Christian Attitude Toward Finances
In recent days, we hear much about and perhaps experienced the penalties of living with a bad economy. The more we learn about the roots of the present distress, we realize that many supposedly “smart” people in responsible positions have made foolish decisions that violate simple principl...Read More
“When we all get to heaven…”Many Christians regard this as the “ultimate” of the Christian life. This is important, but Jesus revealed a far greater and more dramatic destiny for the Christian: His Second Coming. It is the day, not when we leave earth for heaven, but when...Read More
"Encourage One Another with These Words"
There is no doubt about it. We live in troubled times, and they seem to be getting more troubled. In Kerala, we know this by experience as we recover from the worst floods in recorded history. But even these floods, as destructive, terrible and grievous as they are, pale in co...Read More
Demons and the Problem of Evil
Demons are real.Many times, I have encountered them in my ministry. I have heard the testimonies of other people who have encountered them. I have personally cast them out of possessed people and seen the dramatic transformation that took place afterwards. Demons are a difficu...Read More
Someone has defined commitment as “dedication to a particular organization, cause, or belief, and a willingness to get involved.” This definition governs many churches and organizations, but this definition of commitment is insufficient for the church of Jesus Christ. At heart, ...Read More
The Essence of Christian Unity
Christian unity is one of the most desired-and most misunderstood-qualities of the church. In John 17, Jesus prays for unity among His disciples and those who would hear their preaching (that includes you and me). What did He actually pray for?He did not pray for a one-world church under ...Read More
Jesus' Resurrection-Truth or Fiction?
The key to Jesus Christ’s uniqueness is his historical resurrection. If Jesus Christ did not actually rise from the dead in historical time, then Christianity is a fraud. The Bible itself makes this claim in 1 Corinthians 15: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preach...Read More
“Holiness, not happiness, is the chief end of man,” said Oswald Chambers.The problem is that most of us, most of the time, turn that around. Even in the church, we must fight the tendency to reduce God to a sentimental being whose purpose is chiefly to make us happy and prosperous.Dr. Mart...Read More
What is the glory of God? The dictionary defines “glory” as “very great praise, honor, or distinction bestowed by common consent; renown; something that is a source of honor, fame, admiration; resplendent beauty or magnificence or prosperity; a state of absolute happiness, gratification, ...Read More
Contentment: The Road to Thanksgiving
In America, November is marked by a holiday known as Thanksgiving Day. The original purpose of the day was to set aside a time of thanksgiving to God for His many blessings. It originated with America’s Christian forefathers, the Pilgrims, who settled in North America “for the glory ...Read More
Danger of Following False Christs
A man looks at a sore on his neck that does not heal. He worries - is it cancer? The thought frightens and horrifies him. He asks advice from others regarding a good doctor. Someone tells him, “Oh, it doesn’t really make any difference which doctor you go to. J...Read More
We live in an age of trouble. Wherever we look, we hear of heart ailments. Millions of people die of heart ailments. A cause of heart disease is stress. We read in the newspapers about terrorism, war, violence, and starvation. This adds more stress to people’s lives.We also experience job and fami...Read More
Dear friend,One day, a breathless man came running up to John Wesley, the well-known preacher and revivalist, and shouted, “Sir, your house has burned down! Your house has burned down!”John Wesley calmly replied, “No, it hasn’t because I don’t own a house.”“But Mr. Wesley, sir,...Read More
Holistic healing - the harmonious relationship of body, soul and spirit - comes when we learn to live our lives governed by the grace of God.How do we know we are governed by the grace of God? I submit to you a simple test. Ask yourself this question: When were you saved? &nbs...Read More
Everyone Needs The Old Testament
A great error is making its way into the church and into our culture as a whole: the belief that we don’t need the Old Testament. We are told the Old Testament is too old, bloodthirsty and obscure to serve any further purpose. Let us cast aside this relic of the past, we are told....Read More
Your Call to Ministry Leadership
To discover and to display Jesus Christ this is the highest purpose of life and ministry.This purpose is especially evident in the apostle Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians. Someone has called Ephesians “the Rolls Royce of the epistles” because of the succinct way it sets forth the vision, minis...Read More
“Stewardship is another term for fundraising.”How many times have you heard or thought that? This common misconception permeates our culture, even within the church, but it is heresy of the worst sort.Stewardship applies to everything God gives us, including our life experiences, our envir...Read More