Links & Quotes

When there is a misunderstanding between the leader and a team member, insecure leaders want the other person to change. Secure leaders, however, take ownership and ask, “What do I need to do differently?” Check out more from The Craig and Greg Show.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

In elaborating on the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:13 about Christians being the salt of the earth, T.M. Moore wrote, “In Jesus’ day, salt had three primary functions. Most people would have understood two of these, but only those raised in an Old Testament framework would have known about the third.” Read more about what churches should be considering about how they season the community around them.

In his “Look at the Book” series, John Piper expounds on the many ways Paul refers to Jesus in his second letter to Timothy. There are several ways, but Paul’s preferred way is “Christ Jesus.” Pastor John unpacks the Hebrew and Greek origins of these words and titles, and why he thinks Paul especially gravitated toward this title.

Aerosols from penguin excrement may help trigger cloud formation, reducing solar heating and helping stabilize local areas of the Antarctic climate, study finds.” Hmmm, it’s almost like God designed His creation to take care of itself—because He did!

And an article in Science says, “According to secular models of Solar System formation, Earth, as an inner Solar System planet, should have little to no water.” And yet more than 70% of Earth is covered with water!

Aelred of Rievaulx wrote, “In friendship there is nothing more outstanding than faithfulness, which seems to be both the nurse and guardian of friendship. In all of life’s turns, in adversity and prosperity, in joy and sadness, in delightful and bitter circumstances, it reveals itself to be comparable to friendship, holding in the same regard both the humble and the exalted, the poor and the rich, the strong and the weak, the well and the infirm.”

Commenting on Aelred’s words, T.M. Moore observed, “Don’t we all want friends like that, who not only will provoke and prod us to grow in the Lord, but will stand by us in good times and bad, when we’re up and when we’re down? But if we would have such friends, we must be good stewards of their trust. This, again, is why spiritual friendships must be grounded in the Lord and focused on Jesus if they are going to bear the fruit of His indwelling Spirit.”

Evolutionary scientists claim to have made some steps forward in their understanding of the origins of life by using “the last universal common ancestor (LUCA).” But creationists like those at ICR observe that, “This mysterious LUCA is an unknown entity that existed from an unknown time ago at an unknown place by an unknown chain of unknown processes.” Clearly, the hypothesis that is the most straightforward and explainable is that God created the life in our universe just as the Bible states.

Along the same lines, Glenn Schrivener asks, “What do you think was there ‘in the beginning’—before peoples, planets, and protons? If you could hit rewind on the history of the universe and go back as far as possible, what would you find?” Then he gives us four possible things we may consider.

The Mind Of God

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

Last week we talked about the Voice of the Holy Spirit. I love the phrase from 1 Samuel 9:15 where God “told Samuel in his ear” about Saul’s arrival and what he should say to Saul. Then the Holy Spirit’s Voice for all of us is foretold in Isaiah 30:21. 

It’s great hearing the Spirit’s Voice, but He also empowers us to know the Mind of God. 

This is not something that automatically comes to every Christian at the moment they invite Jesus to be their Lord and Savior, as we see mention of immature Christians throughout the New Testament. 

Even after Jesus is resurrected from the dead, we see His followers as unsure, troubled men. We meet their…

  • lack of faith—Luke 24:11; Mark 16:14 
  • wonderment—Luke 24:12 
  • troubled minds—Luke 24:37; John 20:19 
  • lack of understanding of Scripture—Luke 24:44 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.)

This is all post-resurrection but pre-conversion, but look at what happens next. After Jesus breathes on them (John 20:22), they are peaceful (vv. 19, 21, 26) and they can now understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45-48). 

As we’ve said, we shouldn’t stop at salvation. Certainly, Jesus wanted more for His followers than merely salvation. He wants His disciples empowered for witnessing and disciple-making (Luke 24:48; Acts 1:4-5, 8). 

Check out these examples of the Holy Spirit sharing with us the mind of God:

  • Joseph—Genesis 41:16, 38-40 
  • Daniel—Daniel 2:19-23, 27-28, 47 
  • Peter—Acts 2:14f; 3:17-26; 4:8-12 
  • Stephen—Acts 7 
  • Philip—Acts 8:30-35 

And just in case you think this is just for “super spiritual” people, look how the Holy Spirit helps the whole Church share the Gospel—

After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God boldly. … Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. (Acts 4:31, 8:4).

This was always God’s plan! Paul harkens back to prophecies like Isaiah 55:8-9, Isaiah 40:13, and Jeremiah 31:33 when he writes about Christians having “the mind of God” in 1 Corinthians 2:6-16. 

He says, “These are the things revealed to us by His Spirit” (v. 10). 

What things? “Things God has prepared for those who love Him”—things which human eyes haven’t seen, human ears haven’t heard, human minds haven’t conceived (v. 9). These are the the very thoughts of God Himself! 

Just as my spirit is the only one that knows what’s really in my mind, the Holy Spirit is the only One Who knows the mind of the Father and Son (v. 11). We have been given the Holy Spirit “so that we may understand what God has freely given us” (v. 12). Contrast this with the dull, unfruitful minds of both unbelievers (2 Corinthians 4:4) and carnal Christians (Philippians 3:18-19). 

This mind of God is given to us for our edification so that we can be empowered witnesses and disciple-makers. So don’t stop at salvation, but be baptized in the Holy Spirit, and then keep on being filled with the Spirit. 

If you’ve missed any of the messages in this series, you can check them all out here. 

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The Voice In Your Ear

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

I would like you to think about a wise, loving friend. One who has years of godly wisdom, empathy, loads of patience, and loving boldness. When you talk with them, you know that you will always get good counsel—even if you may not like exactly what they have shared with you, deep down you know it is still sound wisdom. This is what the Holy Spirit—as our Counselor—does for us. 

The Holy Spirit is not merely a force, but He is a Person. Jesus Himself give the Spirit the pronouns “He / Him / His.” 

Then take a look at just the beginning of the Book of Acts. The Holy Spirit does things a person does

  • He speaks God’s Word (1:16; 4:25) 
  • He empowers (2:4) 
  • He can be lied to (5:3, 9) 
  • He can witness events (5:32) 
  • He can be resisted (7:51) 
  • He can encourage (9:31) 
  • He gives wisdom (6:10) 
  • He gives direction (8:29, 10:19) 

I especially want to key in on those last two attributes where the Holy Spirit is speaking to us. 

Samuel grew up during the time of the judges, where everyone did whatever they thought best. This is a time that is described like this, “In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions” (1 Samuel 3:1). Visions in the Hebrew language is two words: open communication. In other words, people just weren’t listening for God’s voice. 

Samuel had to learn to hear God’s voice as well (see this passage and all of the other biblical references in this post by clicking here). 

God doesn’t reveal His heart to those who are unwilling to obey. His persistent call is for obedience to His Word and reliance on His provision. So the word of the Lord had to be revealed to Samuel (v. 7). When Samuel said he was listening (v. 10), that was a posture of readiness to obey. 

God wants to reveal His heart to His obedient people. I love how God does this later for Samuel, “Now the Lord had told Samuel in his ear the day before Saul came…” (1 Samuel 9:15). 

This is how Jesus described the Holy Spirit in John 7:37-39, as streams that flow continuously out of our being. And Jesus also calls Him Counselor (John 14:16). 

Isaiah described our Counselor like this, “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a Voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it’” (Isaiah 30:21). 

Let’s call this GPS = God’s Personal Spirit in us! 

Those who are baptized in the Holy Spirit—utterly yielded to His wisdom—will experience:

  1. More insight into God’s Word—Psalm 119:18 
  2. More timely application of God’s Word—2 Timothy 3:16-17 
  3. More boldness in prayer—2 Samuel 7:27 (same word for in his ear as Samuel experienced) 

All Christians have a deposit of the Holy Spirit in their lives at the moment of salvation. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is a completed yielding to the Counselor’s influence. So don’t stop at salvation, but ask Jesus to send you what the Father has promised (Luke 24:49; Acts 2:33). 

Check out all of the messages in our series leading up to Pentecost Sunday by clicking here. 

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We Are: Pentecostal

Pentecost for over 1500 years was a celebration in Jerusalem that brought in Jews from all over the world. But on the Day of Pentecost which came just ten days after Jesus ascended back into heaven, the meaning of Pentecost was forever changed! 

Followers of Jesus—now empowered by an infilling of the Holy Spirit—began to take the good news of Jesus all over the world. These Spirit-filled Christians preached the Gospel and won converts to Christ even among hostile crowds, performed miracles and wonders, stood up to pagan priests and persecuting governmental leaders, and established a whole new way of living as Christ-followers. 

We, too, can be Pentecostal followers of Jesus Christ today. We can experience an anointing and an empowering in our lives that turns ordinary Christianity into extraordinary Christianity! 

Please join me this Sunday at Calvary Assembly of God as we rejoin this series. You can check out what I taught in this series in 2023 by clicking here.

The topics we have covered this time are:

Links & Quotes

The sooner we start praying, the sooner we can see God move. Let’s make sure that prayer is not our last resort, but our first response!

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

T.M. Moore has a challenging word for those who are called to preach the Gospel. He writes, “Jesus, like Ezekiel set His face like flint to fulfill His appointed mission. And so must we, for whom the Word is both sweet and bitter (cf. Revelation 10:8-11). We must live and proclaim its sweet and bitter message to an impudent and hard-hearted age, beginning in our churches. It is time for judgment to begin from the house of God (1 Peter 4:17). We must speak to our brethren in the Lord, the household of faith, to teach, warn, direct, and to summon them to revival, renewal, and awakening, for a greater knowledge of the Lord and His love, and a fuller realization of His Kingdom presence, promise, and power.”

Then John Piper shares 10 reasons why Christian preaching is a privilege.

“An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.” —Edwin H. Land 

I have written before how significant it is that the New Testament uses the phrase “one another” so many times. T.M. Moore writes about this as well, noting, “The more we love Jesus, the more loving our neighbors will come (super)naturally to us as the Spirit of God works in us to will and do of His good pleasure. So, as in everything we do to take up Jesus’ work of building His Church, loving one another begins with loving Jesus.”

After listing a truckload of verses describing Who the Holy Spirit is, Sinclair Ferguson concludes, “Think about all of that! This Spirit—this one and the same Spirit, and no other—‘dwells within thee.’ He is the very Spirit who dwelled in the Lord Jesus. … There are not multiple Holy Spirits—One in Whose grace and power the Lord Jesus lived, One Who indwells you, One Who indwells me, and a multiplicity of other Holy Spirits indwelling an innumerable company of believers. No! There is only One Holy Spirit; and He who thus indwells me as the Spirit of Christ also indwells every believer I shall ever meet.”

God’s Name On Me

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

I have always been both intrigued and encouraged by the blessing Moses was instructed to give the the priests to pronounce over God’s people. 

Tell Aaron and his sons, “This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: ‘The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.’” (Numbers 6:23-26) 

After giving this blessing, God then says, “And they shall put My name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them” (Numbers 6:27 AMPC). 

What does it mean to put God’s name on me? 

I think the Bible shows that it means—

I feel the heaviness of His holiness AND
I feel the security of His surrounding presence.

I feel the unapproachableness of His perfect righteousness AND
I feel the welcoming embrace of His atonement.

I feel how unworthy I am AND
I feel how worthy He is.

I know that He knows everything about me AND
I know He still loves me with an unquenchable love.

I know He is the holy Judge AND
I know He is the Forgiver of my sins.

I know that His Holy Spirit convicts me of my sins AND
I know the His Holy Spirit helps me get free of those sins.

What an inexpressible, overflowing-with-joy, irrepressible, unshakable assurance I have in my relationship with my Heavenly Father, through the work of Jesus Christ, and the assurance of the Holy Spirit. This is indeed a blessing that the no one else but my God can put on me! 

P.S. You may also be interested in another take on the priestly blessing in my post The Blessing.

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Time For A Self-Check

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

Have you ever heard this little saying: “To live above with saints we love, oh, that will be glory. But to live below with saints we know, well, that’s a different story”? I’ve found that it’s sometimes true! 

We love Psalm 133:1-3 when the saints are all together. What a great “selling point” to invite someone to be a part of the Christian community! But Psalm 41:7-9 is kind of embarrassing as David talks about former friends who have hurt him deeply. 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.)

But being bitten by a fellow sheep is a reality we all have experienced, and, sadly, we will probably have to deal with again in the future. There is a natural way we tend to react when we’ve been bitten, but there is also a supernatural response that the Bible consistently calls us to. This is the God-glorifying way we all need to strive for. 

In Acts 23, Paul is standing before the Sanhedrin. He opens his remarks by simply saying he has a clear conscience before God, and the high priest immediately orders that Paul be smacked on the mouth! That seems like a bit of an over-reaction on the part of the high priest, but maybe it was a bit of show of force to let Paul know who was really in charge. Paul responded with an immediate—and natural—reaction when he says, “God will slap you!” 

Paul is an old man by this time. He’s been through shipwrecks, beatings, imprisonments, gone without food, traveled more miles than he can count, and preached more sermons than he can remember. His body was giving out on him, and his eyesight was especially weak. Clearly, Paul didn’t realize to whom we was addressing his remarks. But when he became aware, he immediately owned up to his mistake. Paul offered no excuses or justifications, just a quick, simple, sincere apology. 

When you have been bitten (slapped) by another sheep, you should ask: 

  • Could I have provoked them by something I said or did? 
  • Could I have hurt them by something I didn’t say or do? 

David prayed a great prayer in Psalm 139:23. But this prayer is only effective if we are willing to accept that we may have been the agitator that led to the bite. In the last words that Job speaks in the Book of Job, he is very introspective. Check out all of the “If I have” statements throughout Job 31. 

In Psalm 26:2, David invites the Holy Spirit to check him three times! 

  • test me = scrutinize me 
  • try me = assay me 
  • examine me = refine me in the fire 

When we are bitten, we should be open to the possiblity that God is using this bite to get my attention—to make me aware of a fault in my life or something that’s been in a blind spot. 

So we should consider the following: 

  1. Has this kind of bite happened more than once? From different sheep? 
  2. Has a spiritually wise person attempted to address this with me before? 
  3. Do I ever admit that I’m at fault, or is it always the other person’s fault? 
  4. Do I find myself making a list of why they should apologize to me? 
  5. When was the last time I apologized to someone else? 

If the Holy Spirit reveals something in us, He will also empower us to make the change and make amends. The natural response is to place all the blame on others. The supernatural response to pray Psalm 26:2 before responding. 

If we react only the natural way, it is a lose-lose for us and for the whole pasture. But if we learn to respond in a supernatural way, it becomes a win-win for everyone. Listen to the wise words of King Solomon—

He who heeds instruction and correction is not only himself in the way of life but also is a way of life for others. And he who neglects or refuses reproof not only himself goes astray but also causes to err and is a path toward ruin for others. (Proverbs 10:17 AMPC) 

Let’s all strive for the supernatural response that is a win-win for the whole Kingdom of God! 

Please follow along with all of the messages in this series by clicking here. 

P.S. If you are a pastor, you may want to check out my book When Sheep Bite.

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

Keep Your Lamp Burning

     In the Tent of Meeting [of God with His people], outside the veil which sets apart the Testimony, Aaron and his sons shall keep it burning from evening to morning before the Lord…. (Exodus 27:21) 

     Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish (thoughtless, without forethought) and five were wise (sensible, intelligent, and prudent). … Watch therefore [give strict attention and be cautious and active], for you know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of Man will come. (Matthew 25:1-2, 13) 

Just as the lamps in the Tabernacle had to be continually supplied with oil so they never went out, we have to keep our lamps burning. We have the full supply of the Holy Spirit, but we have to make sure we don’t quench the Spirit. That means listening to His voice and responding in quick obedience. 

If we want to be shining brightly when Jesus returns, we must “give strict attention and be cautious and active” every single day. 

Links & Quotes

Whether you call it grit or stick-to-it-iveness, those who don’t give up easily are the ones who will become leaders by their example. Check out the conversation we had on The Craig and Greg Show.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

I was thrilled to be asked to write an article for Influence Magazine about the biting sheep that every pastor has experienced. I am praying that this article will help pastors recover and thrive in their shepherding ministry.

“Knowing our lowliness and Christ’s worthiness, we neither grovel nor saunter into the presence of God. And we do not go home flippant or weeping. In Christ, we will receive what we ask or what we should have asked.” —David Mathis

In 1 Thessalonians 5:19, the apostle Paul warns us not to quench the Holy Spirit. T.M. Moore asks, “How do we quench the Spirit?” and then gives Christians seven warning signs to avoid this quenching. Check out his post Joy In His Spirit.

I really enjoy these archeological biographies of biblical people and places. The Bible Archeology Report writes, “The Neo-Babylonian king, Amēl-Marduk (biblical Evil-Merodach) is only mentioned twice in Scripture (in 2 Kings 25:27–30 and the parallel passage, Jeremiah 52:31–34), both times in connection with the restoration of Jehoiachin, king of Judah.” In a separate post, John Stonestreet shares an archeological discovery in a Roman cemetery in Frankfurt of an amulet that shows that “the Gospel spread farther and faster than historians thought.”

Kenneth Blanchard shares his novel way of setting personal and business goals for the year in a post ‘Look forward to looking back at your goal success in 2025.’

The Testimony Of Our Unified Worship

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

When Christians put aside some of their minor differences and are unified in their worship, it becomes a testimony to a watching world.

This whole series of looking at the Songs of Ascent comes from Psalms 120-134, but I especially notice the unity in Psalm 133.

This unity is seen during the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost recorded in Acts 2. But unity is not the same thing as conformity, as I shared in this message.

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎