Just One Thing
Many of us are ready to do anything but the one thing Jesus asked of us!
Purpose & Identity
Chicago No-Nonsense Preacher
Looking for straight answers? You’ll find them at Bishop Arthur Brazier’s church.
At 81, Bishop Arthur Brazier still refuses to play it safe. Back in the ’60s, when many black Pentecostal pastors worried about mixing politics with religion, Brazier was at the forefront of the civil rights movement.
In fact, he was a confidant of Martin Luther King Jr. when the famous activist temporarily resided in Chicago.
Enemies of Evangelism
Sharing Christ is not a ministry reserved for the super-brave.
How Not to Lose Your Focus
While it’s easy to list the many external diversions, our most fatal distraction lives within. A frustrated New York attorney sits across from the “other woman,” pleading for peace. He attempts to make restitution, to justify his one-night stand, to say something–anything–that will get this obsessed woman to leave him, his possessions and his family …
Let Us Bow Before Him
If we are to see the church strengthened and the nation healed, we must learn how to approach the throne of God in humble, reverent worship.
America is in a time of crisis. During the last several decades, more and more people have turned away from God, no longer wanting to hear what He has to say about their lives and circumstances. The result has been a frightening moral decline that threatens to destroy our country from the inside out.
Since the September 11 terrorist attacks, however, many ears have begun to open again. Fearful and uncertain about the future, many people are more willing than ever to listen to what God, through His church, has to say about the evil that has befallen our nation.
Are You Pregnant With God’s Promise?
You can trust God to bring it to pass–as long as you don’t settle for less than his best.
Many of us are pregnant with a word that God has spoken to us either directly or through someone else. But if we have been carrying the word for a season with no indication that it is about to be birthed, we can become discouraged.
What promise has God proclaimed to you personally? Is it the restoration of your family? A ministry that mends the brokenhearted? Or a business that prospers and produces?
Welcome to the Ready Room
The thing I miss most about being a pilot in the Marines is the Ready Room, where we gathered before and after our flights.
It smelled of sweaty flight suits, and occasionally, coarse humor blued the air while our inflated egos competed, but I loved it nonetheless.
Then came the day I had to let it all go. I hadn’t grown up in the church, so when I met Christ in a bunker in Vietnam, my life had to change.
Being a fighter pilot had been my dream since childhood, and here I was living it. But one morning as I sat reading the Bible, I struggled to understand what Paul was saying in Romans 8:15: “You received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father'” (NIV).
No Time to Listen
Returning from yet another speaking engagement, I promised myself: “I’ll do it tomorrow. I really mean it this time.” Despite my exhaustion, I rested comfortably that night. As daylight broke, I rose to pray and then began my morning routine. My mind was racing as I rehearsed my to-do list. How can I get all of this done in one day? I thought. With so much to do and another trip scheduled, I’ve got to start these errands, or I’ll run out of time.
At that moment the decision was made: “I’ll run my errands now, and then I’ll check on my ailing neighbor later today.”
Faith Over Fear
The beginning of a new year is like a mile marker on the path of life–a checkpoint to show how far you’ve come. It’s a good time to think about where you are on the road to destiny.
When you were younger, what did you expect to have accomplished by this point? When you first got a vision of what God had planned for you, where did you think you would be by now? Are you moving forward–or has the climate of fear in our country paralyzed you and prevented you from making progress?
Many of us have allowed the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and the subsequent declaration of war to immobilize us. We have allowed fear to supercede faith–and to rule our thoughts, feelings and actions.
Behold His Glory
Throughout the ages, God has progressively revealed Himself to humanity. Now He seeks to display His splendor through us. Early one Sunday morning I found myself pacing back and forth in front of the altar in my church’s sanctuary, crying out to God. With a heavy heart I wept, asking God to send His glory …
When God Speaks in a Whisper
Since his voice was ruined by surgery, worship leader Bob Sorge has been speaking with quiet authority about faith in the face of frustration. Why do bad things happen to obedient, faithful Christians? If God allows evil to afflict the believer, is it for punishment or promotion? Does God intend to deliver us out of …
To Conquer, You Have To Confront
Probably the best advice my mother ever gave me came when I was finishing my senior year of high school. We were in one of those mother-and-daughter heated discussions because I had made some decisions that were breaking her heart. Like a broken record, she had repeated her speech over and over. It went something like this: “You lie in the bed that you make.”
Faced with my “Oh, no, here we go again” attitude, my mother was completely frustrated. She blurted out, “You can come in here and fool me, Paula. You can fool your family and your friends, but you’d better be honest with yourself!”
I knew she was right. She had hit a nerve, and eventually, it proved to be the advice that would change my life.
Watch Your Mouth!
Real men don’t use bad language.
If you watch enough television and movies, or listen to enough popular music, you’ll eventually get the message that real men talk like old sailors. Words once considered taboo in public have now become part of our nation’s lexicon.
In his book Cursing in America, Timothy Jay says 13 percent of the leisure conversation of American adults contains cursing. As Christian men, we’re supposed to adhere to a higher standard than the rest of the world. Unfortunately, the talk doesn’t always match the walk.
Who Is Jesus?
Why ongoing debates surrounding the claims of Christ shouldn’t shake your faith.
Who is Jesus? This is the question people have been asking for 20 centuries. While He was alive the askers were religious leaders, political leaders, even His own disciples. Who are you, they wanted to know. Where do you get your authority and power?
In the last two centuries, scholars and skeptics have added new questions. How historically accurate is the portrayal of Jesus in the first four books of the New Testament?