Archive for January, 2011

The book of Acts has always read like a great adventure story to me.  There’s the explosive beginning, rich character development, surprising plot twists, and epic journeys. And just when it seems the narrative should reach its crest, it continues to swell. This book unfolds an infant faith that starts […]

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Have you ever read the story in Exodus 4 about God almost killing Moses until his wife circumcised their son? This is what it says: At a lodging place on the way the LORD met him and sought to put him to death. Then Zipporah took a flint and cut […]

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The other day I was talking to one of my overseers about the need to raise up younger leaders in our denomination. This includes identifying and developing leaders for the future. It also involves placing some qualified, experienced, younger leaders in key assignments now. I stated that while it’s important […]

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“When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.” Acts 18:5 There are a multitude of ministries in the church, and they are all vital to the Kingdom. Silas and Timothy served in a different way than […]

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In Acts 10, God asks Peter to do the unthinkable. He’s going to have to have fellowship with, and share Jesus’ message with…some Gentiles. And the way it’s revealed to Peter is through a divine invitation to dig into a big meal made entirely of…unclean food. But Peter had never […]

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In Acts 6 the Apostles had to focus on what they were called to do and call others to do what needed to be done. There was literally a bottleneck of leadership happening. The church was growing explosively. Everyone was complaining. It wasn’t good. So they had the congregation chose […]

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When my wife and I planted a church in Seattle in the 90’s we occasionally had some good-natured person suggest something along the lines of, “if you could just get Bill Gates saved and tithing to your church, you’d be set”. It was the same in Youth Ministry. When discussing […]

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In Luke 2, we see two very different situations. One story includes an old, childless couple who had long-since given up thinking about having kids. The other scenario involves a young engaged girl who had never been physically intimate with a man. If you were going to pick parents for […]

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“…Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the […]

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