Ministering reconciliation...

  “Hezekiah did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his [forefather] had done. He removed the high places, broke the images, cut down the Asherim, and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until then the Israelites had burned incense to it; but he called it Nehushtan [a bronze trifle]. Hezekiah trusted in, leaned on, and was confident in the Lord, the God of Israel; so that neither after him nor before him was any one of all the kings of Judah like him. For he clung and held fast to the Lord and ceased not to follow Him, but kept His commandments, as the Lord commanded Moses. And the Lord was with Hezekiah; he prospered wherever he went. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to serve him.” 2 Kings 18:3-7 AMPC There's a simple power in obedience to God's ways. As you read through the bible, a pattern emerges. From the word go, humans only last so long on the path God has for them on their own. Then something happe...

I did it. I watched the debates last night. Now I am not a guy who normally likes to watch fights, debates, arguments, etc. In fact, as the expression says, "they set my teeth on edge." I did it for 2 reasons, one was because my 8-year-old son has taken a passive interest in this election cycle, and the other reason is to see how the two candidates would talk about the issues. What I want to highlight today though, is not the debates themselves, but the responses I have seen from Christians.  ------------------------------ As this site suggests, I am all about reconciliation. I am of the belief that people will ALWAYS have a chance to come to Jesus and repent. It doesn't matter how many steps you walk away, Jesus is always one step back. So where do we as believers get the right to judge the contents of another person's heart? Where do we get the right to choose what is and isn't just in the eyes of God? Where do we as believers get the right to tell other believe...

 In 1 Kings 19, there’s a story about how Elijah starts running, in fear, from Jezebel. He starts running as hard as he can for 40 days and 40 nights. Then he stops in a cave to seek rest. Angels attend to him, then he moves on. He gets to the mountain of God. For an Old Testament Prophet, the mountain of God is as close to God as you could get outside of the Most Holy Place.  ——————————— Imagine if you will, getting there and having an angel say “pay attention to what’s happening.” Then an earthquake happens. Then a Fire that burns up the mountain. Then a strong wind. God didn’t speak through any of that. He didn’t speak in any of that.   ——————————— Let’s bring this closer to home. In early 2020, we all saw the events unfold. Chaos, fear, panic, SHAKING EVERYTHING. While it wasn’t a physical earthquake, it was chaos. The natural order of things shook. God wasn’t in that. I watched with disbelief, and in fact anger, as 1 by 1 the leaders in our country began doing s...

My wife is one who loves to save money. I am a spender. Naturally, we clash on a lot of points in life, but one thing she got me hooked on is debt freedom. Biblically, I can point to many different points in the bible where it talks about being wise with money, being good stewards, and giving. But what about debt? There's a fun little verse in Romans where the writer says "let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another." (13:8). Immediately, my mind goes to forgiveness, but just after that God seems to have reminded me that we need to work on being as debt-free as possible. Now as a young couple, we had a few. Nowadays I think it is much easier to get into debt for longer periods of time. A car, a house, student-loans; shoot, you can even get into debt at Walmart, Target, or Verizon. The idea that you pay cash and buy something outright has gone out the window on many conventional things! So much so that people started demanding that...

  1 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV) No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. I have read this verse, heard it quoted, seen it on different signs and artwork for many years. One thing I can tell you is that it has to be one of the more misunderstood pieces of scripture out there. People believe that this verse, this wonderful example of God's provision, indicates that he will bail us out of any and all problems we face. I believed that too, but I have come to see that it is simply not the case. For those of you just finding this now, my name is Sam. I am a mid-thirties white male. I stand here today, working 4 jobs, trying to squeeze every ounce of energy, and time, I can before falling asleep next to the love of my life and doing it all over and over again 7 days a week, for the last 2 yea...

2 Corinthians 2:1-14-16 When I arrived in Troas to proclaim the Message of the Messiah, I found the place wide open: God had opened the door; all I had to do was walk through it. But when I didn’t find Titus waiting for me with news of your condition, I couldn’t relax. Worried about you, I left and came on to Macedonia province looking for Titus and a reassuring word on you. And I got it, thank God! In the Messiah, in Christ, God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade. Through us, he brings knowledge of Christ. Everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance. Because of Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation—an aroma redolent with life. But those on the way to destruction treat us more like the stench from a rotting corpse. Pray: About 2 years ago now, my wife and I needed to buy a new roof for our house. We were given the option for delayed payment to buy some time to get s...

Week’s Key Verse 6 The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands,[a] forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.” 8 And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. 9 And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.” – Exodus 34:6-9 Introduction Ad Infinitum: again and again in the same way; forever. God’s faithfulness truly is Ad infinitum. As we begin today’s devo, I want to start by looking at verse 6 above as our key. “6 The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD, a God ...