Q: When’s the Best Time to Witness?

A: Whenever You Can!

“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…(1Pet.3:15).”

There are three parts to this verse, heart, preparation and method. When these are in proper order our witness is secure in Him.

First, the heart.

The first thing to deal with in the heart is fear.…

Why Jesus?

When you think about the condition of the world around you, the political, social and economic division that is crippling human growth and maturity, you can’t help but ask, ‘Why Jesus?' After all, let's be reasonable. Why can't we just sit down and be civil human beings, discuss and solve our issues whatever they are by ourselves? With all that we have developed in technology and the social sciences it seems logical that, instead of war, peace would prevail. What is there…

Runaway Minds in a Runaway World

Years ago Michael Green, the brilliant Anglican evangelist, wrote a book called Runaway World in which he exposed the world running away from spiritual reality as presented in Jesus. It was brilliant in its analysis and theme. It was a direct appeal to the secular mind to consider its ultimate destiny. When you get right down to it there are really only two kinds of mindsets, spiritual and secular. One that processes life through spirituality and the…

Academic Arrogance, A Culprit in Disguise

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." Abraham Lincoln

These are wise words from a wise man whose experiences as President gave him an opportunity to see the broad perspective of a struggle he knew was bigger than him. His reliance on God and His Word showed him the depth of man's sin, the evil it causes and, as the leader of a nation, the need…

When the Mt. St. Helen’s blast went off in the 80’s it created a vast sea of debris and covered the whole area with fine clouds of ashes and smoke for miles, the detritus of deadly destruction. We visited there and a park ranger came describing the aftermath pointing to Spirit Lake. She said it had risen an incredible 250 feet due to the landslide pouring into it. The blast didn't go up like you'd expect. It blew sideways scattering debris for miles. Then she described the trucks on…

Why We Need Spiritual Grounding

“Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you (Gal.5:1 The Message).”

Let’s get down to it. What drives the secular world? Behind the scenes, underneath the glitter, the gloss and the glamor of what we can see, lies a sea of dark spiritual activity called evil. Add a 'd' to evil and you identify the source of all the world's personal and interpersonal conflicts. To name the…

Has Smokey the Bear Left the Building?

Remember Smokey the Bear? “Only you can prevent forest fires!” That's on signs you see when you enter public forests. Note how that touches you in the mind and heart individually. That's the point. What you do in the forest is an individual thought, decision and action. It goes beyond the group you're with. It's you and what you as an individual do right where you are. If you carry that warning with you, you will consider how you use anything…

Spiritual Correctness vs. Political Correctness; Our Testimony

The context in which we operate is biblical thus being spiritually correct as opposed to politically correct. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the Word (Rom.10:17).” Look at that context. Biblically, there are three major epochs, pre-Creation, Creation and post-Creation. For mankind the middle epoch, Creation, is the starting and ending point. It begins with God and ends with Him.

God was there before…

When that venerable graying English rock group, The Rolling Stones sang, “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” they were tapping a deep heart longing. A country song mourns a regret about “Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places.” Add TV re-airing movie classics like “What’s It All About Alfie?” which ask the basic despairing question about human purpose. Love, personal peace, purpose, meaning and significance top the list of lost humanity’s 'looking' for 'satisfaction' that can only be found in…

It is quite necessary to read the following quoted statement very carefully. It contains the elements of what is taking place in our country and in our Western Civilization right now. It's history repeating itself. Germany went through a tectonic shift between World Wars 1 and 2. A ruler named Adolf Hitler arose. His strategy was to divide and conquer. Define cultural enemies, make people afraid of them and eliminate them using the judicial system. For discussion's sake I'm underlining a few…

Living the Parable

A parable is the use of a visible reality to describe an invisible reality. Carrying on the parable theme we can see it expanded in eight ways to view the essence of what a parable is.

First, Jesus is a parable, the Parable. He is the visible expression of the invisible God. The way Jesus believes is the mind of God. The way Jesus trusts is the heart of God. The way Jesus acts is by faith through the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit and ministry…

“Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you." (Lk.17:20-21 NIV)

An old country song starts out, “They say a man’s home is his castle, he’s like a king on a throne. It may be shack down along side the track but everything in it’s his own…” ‘Like a king’ sees the man in the song as…

‘The silence was deafening (perhaps depicting a moment of embarrassment.)’ ‘I could see the wheels turning (you observe someone thinking.)’ ‘It was like there was no one home (someone looks at you with a blank stare.)’ ‘He’s not playing with a full deck’ and ‘His elevator doesn’t go to the top floor (describing someone who may be a little off.)’ Every day we use language that paints an invisible picture---”he's cool, she's hot, they gave lukewarm support, they're fishing for a compliment,…

We Never Stop Being Children

It’s wonderful to watch infants start to get a hold of life. Infants are helpless and totally dependent individuals learning to be persons and constantly reaching out for physical and emotional sustenance. To see them from birth is capturing an ongoing miracle. While their learning process is slow every second contains an opportunity for the shaping of their minds and hearts. As they grow, learning is more rapid and the need to guide them becomes…

It was Summer 1963. I was in Summer School in Oslo, Norway. I hitchhiked to a little town called Rauland. It had a population of about 500. The reason I went was because of the annual Harding Fiddle (Norw.---Hardingfele) Festival there. It centered on an instrument unique to Norway about the size of a viola. It’s uniqueness? The neck of the fiddle is fretted like a guitar. Also it has four strings underneath the others that resound with the strings above when their pitch coincides. Its…

Recently, when I was concerned about a certain massive bill that was being introduced in congress, I immediately asked who wrote the bill, by whose authority was it written, who was supervising its production, who was reviewing it as it was being written, who would be responsible for its ongoing supervision and who would be responsible for its long term outcome not only for the country but for each individual in the country? I wish that the individuals in our judicial, legislative and…

There's Water in the Frying Pan, Identifying Spiritual Forces

If there is one thing for sure taking place in Western civilization, it is the upheaval in our social environment. Because it is social it is invisible and the forces that work in the invisible environment are more powerful than any physical force. They are the spiritual forces that battle God for the personal heart, the mind and the spirit. When hearts are changed, the way a society runs is changed. These forces are…

Sometimes when you are in the midst of crises there is a certain insecurity, a consciousness of being very much alone and a sense of being at the mercy of circumstances over which you have no control. Life is above and beyond you and the moment consumes you. It is not eased either as you begin to assess the social, political and economic environment. Division and its conflict create an air of anxiety. This is the situation Paul was speaking to when he wrote his second letter to the…

Having been blessed with the recognition of the Kingdom, we enter its courts through the Gate. The Gate is not locked from the inside but the key is on the outside with the invitation to turn it. The key is faith, faith in the risen Lord Jesus. He planted His Kingdom in this world by going to the Cross then rising from the dead and bringing the Holy Spirit into the hearts of believers. He is the Kingdom and His courts are found in the relationship He has offered to us. It is a Kingdom of…