In 2004, Michelangelo’s famous sculpture, David, went through an extensive cleaning and restoration process in celebration of its five-hundredth birthday. Half a millennium of grime has been removed to once again reveal the majestic splendor with which the...
Several years ago, when I ran across a book entitled Everything I Need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten, I knew that I was in trouble since I never went to kindergarten. However, I have since come to realize that everything I really needed to know, I learned by...
When the little boy’s mom put her finger to her lips and blew out a little “shh” to remind him to be quiet in church, the lad looked quizzically back at his mother and whispered, “How come do we have to be quiet in church? Are there people trying to sleep?” Yes,...
INTRODUCTION While I was ministering in Belfast, Ireland, my host took me around the city to become acquainted a bit with its history and traditions. We, of course, made a stop at the shipyard where the ill-fated Titanic was built and made an extensive tour of sites...
Perhaps a more twenty-first century word for the fire of God would be “passion.” The very word somehow stirs our inner emotions and arouses something inside us. It is amazing at how often we run across the term “passion” in our daily reading. It appears almost...
Just prior to His ascension, Jesus appeared to the disciples in Jerusalem and emphasized another dimension of the Great Commission—the need to be supernaturally empowered for the task before them. He then led them to the Mount of Olives where He reemphasized this...
Just as I had discovered that there were three keys in David’s approach to challenging the giant and that there were three aspects to each of these keys, the committee developing the discipleship program understood that there was also a three-pronged approach to...
Now, let’s go back to the discussion I was having with God over the Great Commission passage in Matthew’s gospel. Although I was very familiar with the King James Version’s rendering, to “teach all nations,” I was also aware that most modern translations use the...
In Matthew chapter twenty-eight, Jesus appeared to the eleven on a mountainside in the Galilee area. There, He gave them a little different perspective on His Commission—discipleship. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven...
The next point I see in the story of Nineveh is the missed opportunity to shepherd the new converts. As best as we can tell, Jonah did nothing to follow up on the great revival in Nineveh. It was likely the greatest missed opportunity in all of human history; yet...
The Apostle does not place all the credit for the effectiveness of his ministry on signs and wonders alone. In I Thessalonians 1:5, Paul makes one simple statement that reveals five distinct elements in his approach to winning a city—five keys to a city, if you wish...
When John the Beloved recorded the Great Commission, he remembered the words of Jesus stating that He was sending the church into the world in the same way that the Father sent Him. Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were...
In order to see how all three persons of the Godhead are personally involved in helping us complete the task Jesus has given us, let’s take a look at I Corinthians chapter twelve. Even though your Bible may list this chapter as a discussion of spiritual gifts, it is...
For some reason that I don’t remember at the moment, we decided to skip taking the ring road that circles around the city of Kathmandu; instead, we drove through the heart of the residential area to get to the other side of the city. As we twisted and turned on one...
Starter Verses for Your Spiritual Journal Missions -- Why am I Going on This Trip? Chronicles 16:23-24 -- Sing unto the LORD, all the earth; shew forth from day to day his salvation. Declare his glory among the heathen: his marvelous works among all nations. Psalms...
Taking on the Great Commission A God-sized purpose, a scripturally inspired plan, and a supernatural power—these three keys enabled David to take on Goliath; and I knew that I would need these same three keys in order to conquer the giant that loomed before me. ...
I was just a school boy when the movie A Space Odyssey first came out. Back then, it seemed that 2001 was an impossible date in the future. Now it is already history, but most of the imagery in the movie is still futuristic. However, the idea of being on an odyssey is...
“Passion” -- the very word somehow stirs our inner emotions and arouses something inside us. It is amazing at how often we run across the term “passion” in our daily reading. It appears almost every day in various contexts concerning sports, politics, and regular news...
One of the most troubling verses in the Bible to me is Jeremiah 8:20, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” Possibly the next most unsettling verse is Joel 1:11, “Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and...
In Galatians 6:9, we are admonished, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” If we are going to enjoy a harvest, we have to have strength and stamina to make it all the way to, and then through, the harvest season. We...