Leaving Laodicea

Persecution: An Inconvenient TruthAs followers of Jesus, we are promised that trials, tribulations, and persecution will come to all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 3:12). It simply comes with the territory. After all, Jesus warned, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you” (John 15:18). And so, what they did to Jesus, they will do to those who call Him Lord (Matt. 15:18-20). But don’t take my word for it. Read it for yourself.So rather than responding with fear, doubt, blame-shifting, or finger-pointing (which is often our natural reaction to mistreatment and persecution), we can look to the example of the early church in Acts 4 to see how they faced opposition with faith, prayer, unity, and incredible boldness. Their response holds valuable lessons for the church today as we try to navigate our increasingly hostile culture while being the light in this present darkness Jesus ordained us to be.The First Wave of Persecution (Acts 3-4

“Follow Me, and I Will Make You… Whatever I Want”In the Gospels, we encounter a radical figure who issues a bold invitation to those He calls unto Himself: “Follow Me.” These words, spoken by Jesus, are not merely a suggestion but a summons, a mandate to leave life as we have always known it and embark on a journey that has no end— at least on this side of heaven. His invitation is to die to self, to follow Him wholeheartedly, and to imitate Him in all aspects of life.Or, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously said, “When Christ calls a man, He bids him to come and die.” But what does it really mean to follow Jesus, especially in the context of the 21st-century woke Christian culture we find ourselves in? How can we be faithful disciples of our Lord?What Does it Mean to Follow Jesus?The essence of Jesus’ call to “Follow Me” is about more than just physically moving from where you are to where He is. It’s an invitation to a new way of life. It’s about leaving behind old priorities and id

Challenging the Status QuoWe live in a world where the term “radical” often evokes images of extremism and division and has developed a rather nasty reputation in our culture since the ’60s. Therefore, it may come as a surprise that at the very heart of Christian discipleship lies a call to a radically different way of life. This radical lifestyle is not about taking up arms or shouting louder than the voices of opposition. Instead, it’s about embracing a radical love, a radical commitment, radical obedience and sacrifice, and a radical transformation that only comes from fully embracing the life and teachings of Jesus Christ himself— who was the greatest radical who ever lived.That’s right. Let that thought sink in for a moment.What is a Radical, and Why Should I Care?But first, to set the stage, let’s define what the word “radical” means. According to Webster, “radical” is ‌defined as “something (or someone) new and different in contrast to what is traditional or ordinary.” In

Disclaimer: Let’s Define Some TermsAs we discovered in Part One of How to Experience God When You Pray— when we talk about experiencing God in prayer, we are specifically defining prayer as more than a monologue, but something even deeper. It is a true, two-way conversation with God, where you speak, and He listens, and He speaks, and you hear His voice. Then, as the abundant life revealed (John 10:10), we rinse and repeat, as often as we like, and grow in our relationship with Him through a true conversation in prayer. Nothing is greater than having God personally speak into your life. And your prayer life and intimacy with God will be completely revolutionized when you experience His presence when you pray.In this post, we will examine some ways to prepare ourselves to experience God when we pray.Our Preparation for PrayerWhen you went on your first date with the person who later became your spouse, do you remember the preparation you made to meet with the person you wante

The Joy of PrayerWhat if your times of prayer could become so much more than reciting words or listing random requests? What if your prayers could transport you into a holy place to experience God’s presence in a very real and tangible way? What if you began having personal, life-changing encounters with the Creator of the universe every time you prayed? And what if you had the confidence to know, to truly know— that God hears your prayers and delights in answering them? How would this change your prayer life?All of this is not only possible, but readily available and expected every time we pray. The problem for most, however, is that we either devalue what prayer truly is or do not fully understand who we are praying to. And if we did, how the floodgates of heaven would open and pour on us an experience with God that would rock our world and change us forever.Let’s explore prayer a little deeper.What is Prayer?— In Just a Few WordsSimply put, prayer is talking with God. Or,

Just Get Out of the Boat! In almost every area of life, when we commit to a plan of self-improvement, we expect to spend time, incur costs, and suffer strain during the process. It just comes with the territory. Whether we decide to get in shape and eat healthier, or go back to school and change careers— everyone seems to follow the same pattern of sacrifice that defines our struggle, and they seldom complain about it. And when we have achieved our goal, we look back at the sacrifice as a badge of honor, something we are proud of.Each of us embraces this journey of sacrificing our time, effort, costs, and strain in every area of life except the spiritual. For some reason, when it comes to our relationship with God or our desire for more faith, we must think it comes by osmosis to passive observers because many of us refuse to put in the time required or count the costs to achieve the results. Therefore, we really shouldn’t be surprised when nothing changes, and we’re the same as

Three Small Words from John 15In John 15, Jesus lays out our position in Christ and the key or path to the Higher Christian Life in the story of a vine and its branches. I mean, it really couldn’t be more clear. This key is found in the simple word abide.  We are to abide in Him— which means “to rest, remain, dwell, to make our home.” Or, literally, “to be united as one with Him in heart, mind, and will.” It is the definition of a fully surrendered life.Yet before we discover the concept of abiding in verse 5, we first must move through the first three verses of John 15, which often present a disturbing picture of God as our Father and is, more often than not, misinterpreted by well-meaning preachers and Bible scholars. And by misunderstanding the definition of three key words— takes away, prunes, and clean— we can fail to find the amazing encouragement Jesus offers those who are not quite up to meeting His standard of faithfulness or righteousness.Takes Away,

The Problem: Dry Ritual Without RelationshipFor many believers, Christianity has become a religion of rules devoid of a relationship. We know we should have a quiet time, serve in church, avoid sin, and so on. But all this outward conformity easily lacks the inward reality of actually connecting with God. We act spiritual, without ever experiencing the presence of the Spirit. And that is a sad, yet common experience for many today.How did this happen? Partly because we’ve made faith all about knowledge over an encounter with God. We prize book learning, doctrinal precision, and intellectual comprehension of Scripture— forgetting you can memorize the Bible and miss the Lord of the Bible. Information in our heads doesn’t necessarily lead to transformation in our hearts. Why? Because head knowledge alone breeds pride, heart encounters with Christ breed authentic life change.The Pattern: Experiencing God Transforms UsYet Scripture shows us a better way. When Moses

How to Experience God Through RepentanceIn our quest for a deeper relationship with the Lord, we have been talking about what genuine repentance looks like in real-time. And we found ourselves in the middle of Psalm 51, examining six key words in David’s prayer of repentance that show us how to not only receive forgiveness from the Lord, but how to experience His presence in the process. And, as a reminder, the six key words found in Psalm 51:10-12 are as follows:Please Do:  Create in me a clean heart, O God, andPlease Do:  renew a steadfast spirit within me.Please Don’t:  Do not cast me away from Your presence, andPlease Don’t:  do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.Please Do:  Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, andPlease Do:  uphold me by Your generous Spirit.But what do these words mean? And how do they point us to a deeper Christian life of experiencing His presence when we come to Him in repentan

Embracing Who We Really AreD.L. Moody, while on his European crusade in 1873, was so inspired by a conversation he had with British revivalist Henry Varley that he prayed:“The world has yet to see what God can do with, and for, and through, and in a man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him. By God’s help, I am to be that man.”This is the essence of the desire to be all God created you to be— to be “all in for Him,” as they say.  The problem is, after we conjure up the desire, we come face-to-face with the “how to.” In other words, how do I surrender my life to the Lord? How do I yield everything to him? And how do I live a truly sanctified, higher Christian life?In any other endeavor, we would find someone who is where we want to be and model our lives after them. But we live in the Laodicean church age, and sold-out Believers are few, especially in the West. So what are we to do? What’s the next step? And is there anything we can learn about surrender f

Ten Aspects of True Repentance that Gets God’s AttentionGiving God a flippant “my bad” when we mess up just won’t cut it, no matter how hard we try to make it work. Too often, we deal with our sin through superficial apologies, not grasping the gravity of how our choices offend our Creator and grieve His Spirit.But in Psalm 51, David shows us a better way. His raw, honest prayer of remorse models how genuine repentance can thoroughly transform us and restore our fellowship with God. In his plea to God, David holds nothing back. He pours out his grief and hope with both humility and longing, providing a template for the kind of confession that gets God’s attention and purifies us deep down.David’s prayer reveals that repentance goes far beyond crisis management or trying to mitigate the consequences of our sins. Instead, David walks through an intense spiritual restoration, launching him into greater intimacy with God and a commitment to remain faithful to his first love. David fi

The Conditional Promises of GodOne familiar “if / then” passage, often called the “believer’s bar of soap,” is found in the first chapter of the first letter of John. In it, we find one “if” condition and two implied “then” promises God grants to those who meet His one “if” condition. And the two promises of God encompass the totality of salvation this side of heaven, both our justification and our sanctification.If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness – 1 John 1:9What Does it Say?Let’s see exactly what it says.If (the condition, something we must do in order to receive the promise) we (this includes you and me, make it personal, put your name here) confess (homologous – to admit, concede, to affirm or agree) our (it is inclusive, everyone has something to confess to a holy God) sins (hamartía – offense, wrongdoing, failure, fault, it is an act or feeling that transgresses

Faith and Courage— Two Sides of the Same CoinThe Biblical story of Abraham is profoundly human— a narrative full of twists and turns, triumphs and failures, poor decisions and their unintended consequences, and, of course, drama— much like a Netflix mini-series.  Yet, throughout the trials of his faith, we see Abraham continually return to a place of trust in God’s promises. And the trajectory of his life models for us the possibilities and pitfalls of our own spiritual journey.The Call and the PromiseIn Genesis 12, Abraham, then called Abram, receives a divine call from God to leave behind the only land and people he’s ever known and travel to a place yet unknown, so that through him, God would bless all the families of the world. Pretty tall order.  Yet, this inaugurates the covenant— God pledging to make Abraham a great nation, to bless him abundantly, and to give his descendants the land of Canaan.  The promise must have seemed improbable to Abraham, a nondescript man from an obscure coun

A Look at Our Current SituationThere is so much bloodshed and brutality taking place between Israel and Hamas, that many have been looking for comparisons between what’s happening today and the Gog and Magog invasion of Israel found in Ezekiel 38 and 39. And the similarities are striking.Ezekiel foretells an end-times invasion of Israel led by Gog, ruler of Magog, along with Persia, Ethiopia, Libya, Gomer, and other nations. It also reveals that God providentially brings this vast alliance down to invade Israel, only to judge them harshly. And I mean, really harshly. Sodom and Gomorrah harshly.Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all spl

Different Strokes for Different FolksSalvation means different things to different people. For some, it’s a “get out of hell free” card, the cosmic fire insurance policy they checked off and filed away years ago. For others, it’s trying to be a good, moral, upstanding person and attend church— at least on Easter and Christmas. Most don’t give it much thought beyond hoping to end up in the Pleasant Place and not the Hot Place when they die.But is that really the extent of what Jesus accomplished on the cross? Did He endure scourging and nails just to offer a slight upgrade in our afterlife accommodations, leaving our day-to-day lives largely untouched? I don’t think so.I’m convinced salvation encompasses far more than this shallow version we’ve settled for. The eternal life Christ promised involves a radical transformation into new creations, holy and acceptable, right here and now. But so few seem to grasp this truth.I understand why, though. I used to view salvation th

Deception: the Currency of Our CultureDeception runs rampant in our world today. Just look around. False teaching, twisted values, distorted truths, and outright sinister lies bombard us from every side. Even in the church, not all professing believers have embraced the genuine gospel— which means not all who claim to be saved are, in fact, saved. And this is the most frightening deception of all.As Jesus warned in Matthew 24, spiritual deception will flourish in the last days. “Take heed that no one deceives you,” He told His followers, “for many will come in My name… and will deceive many.” Sobering words.Why did Jesus put such emphasis on not being deceived, especially regarding the nature and name of Christ? Because our eternal destiny hangs in the balance. If we get this one thing wrong, what true salvation entails, then we lose everything. The cost is eternal damnation. Remember, on judgment day, many will claim to know Jesus as Lord, only to hear H

Looking at Israel TodayThe Gog and Magog invasion of Israel is a future event that has sparked some debate today about its timing due to what happened in Israel on October 7th. If you remember, on that day, Hamas terrorists and depraved citizens from Gaza attacked Israel and killed over a thousand people in a most horrific way and dragged several hundred back to Gaza as political prisoners. And the response of the IDF has been swift and intense, rendering Northern Gaza into a barren wasteland before the watching eyes of the world.But the fallout from this bloodthirsty attack and the continuing aftermath of Israel has polarized nations and political leaders in choosing which side of this war they will take. Do they support Gaza, with their demand for the total eradication of Israel, protesting and chanting “from the river to the sea?” Or do they support Israel, the victims of this attack, and their God-given right to protect themselves from this kind of barbaric butchery?Amazingly (or maybe

No More Roller-Coaster LivingWhen it comes to spiritual disciplines like surrender or yielding our life to the Lord, the hardest part is not the act of initial surrender, but the journey of remaining surrendered to Him in the days and months ahead. For most believers, this journey can be discouraging, filled with success and failure, ups and downs, and sometimes, you may even feel like giving up. But that should never be the case. After all, it is the Holy Spirit living in you that seals you in Him and is the deposit, the guarantee of the promise of your future inheritance to come (Eph. 1:14). And this is more than going to heaven when you die— far more. The indwelling Holy Spirit also guarantees your sanctification, which is you becoming more like Christ each and every day (1 Cor. 1:30).But the one question still remains, how? How do we experience the process of becoming more like our Lord in the chaos of everyday living? And how do we make sure, at least on our end, that w

We’ve Only Just BegunWe are now at the last step to surrendering our lives unreservedly to the Lord. And this seventh and final step deals with how to keep close to Him, and how to remain surrendered and submitted, even after the initial awe of the experience begins to wear off and we let our guard down. Don’t be deceived— yes, it will happen to you, just like it has happened to all those who have gone before you in seeking the Higher Christian Life or the life of full surrender.Even though we are at the last step, our journey of surrender has just begun. Like Peter, taking his eyes off Jesus and sinking into the waves when doing the impossible, walking on water, it’s easy to lose focus on Christ amid the trying circumstances we face every day (Matt. 14:30). Remember, sin is sin, and all sin, no matter how trivial we make it, hinders our relationship with the Lord and grieves the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30). Therefore your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to keep Christ at the cent

Church: The Hatfields and McCoysWe live in a world that is totally at war with itself. Our nation is being torn apart by division – racial, socioeconomic, political – you name it, and we’ve experienced it. But that’s not how Christ designed His church to be. In fact, Jesus said in John 17 that when we love each other more than we love ourselves, the lost world will come to believe God sent Jesus and He is truly the Son of God. In other words, our unity and oneness with each other will be the strongest evangelical draw we have to bring others to Christ.But if you look around, all we see within the church is division. Some churches believe in the sovereignty of God, while others deify man and his free will choices. Some churches see homosexuality as a sin, while others have drag queens teaching the children on Sunday mornings. The church has a history of dividing on trivial matters such as the mode of baptism or our posture in prayer rather than uniting around the “faith