Links & Quotes

For personal growth and team growth, consider how you can set both small, bite-size goals that can be done daily and also bigger, stretching goals that energize the competitive drive. Check out more leadership content 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.

“This chapter contains the premier teaching of Christianity. It is an undying expression of Jesus’ doctrine of heavenly love. This chapter is more potent for the building of the church than any, or all, of the various manifestations of God’s power. Love is the church’s most effective weapon. Love is the essence of God’s nature. Love is the perfection of human character. Love is the most powerful, ultimate force in the universe. Without love, al various gifts of the Spirit are of no avail. … What a call to self-examination!” —Dr. Henry Halley, commenting on 1 Corinthians 13

“The transition from the good man to the saint is a sort of revolution; by which one for whom all things illustrate and illuminate God becomes one for whom God illustrates and illuminates all things.” —G.K. Chesterton 

T.M. Moore launched a new series of articles about the coming of God’s Kingdom in these last days. In the first article, T.M. wrote, “In his Pentecost sermon Peter announced that, with the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the pouring out of God’s Spirit, the ‘last days’ had begun (Acts 2:14-17), the new economy has been put into effect. Paul says Jesus came in ‘the fullness of the times’ to inaugurate His great work of redemption in these last days (Galatians 4:4). The ‘fullness of the times’ in which the divine economy is unfolding, is now. We are living in the last days, the fullness of the times, when the Lord of heaven and earth is establishing and expanding His divine economy.”

Once again, a new fossil discovery doesn’t fit into evolutionary models, but instead bolsters the facts recorded in the Bible about Creation and the Flood.

“For years, Michael Pratt operated in the shadows of the internet, profiting from coercion, deception, and exploitation under the guise of adult entertainment.” Pratt has now pled guilty to sexual trafficking charges. Fight The New Drug wrote, “The story is more than a courtroom headline. It’s a stark reminder of how the porn industry can weaponize vulnerability, disguise abuse and trafficking, and sell it as fantasy.”

A really penetrating question from John Piper: Why do so many PhDs in theology commit adultery?

Sincere Love

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

The apostle Paul begins a lengthy series of commands for Christians with a simple statement: “Love must be sincere” (Romans 12:9). 

Let’s define a couple of those key words. “Love” (Greek: agape) is not self-focused but others-serving. And “sincere” (anypokritos) means genuine, not hypocritical; or as the Amplified Bible says, “a real thing.” 

Love is the motivating force for us to be able to carry out every one of the commands listed in verses 9-21 with God-honoring sincerity. 

  • Love clings to what is good and drives away evil 
  • Love is devoted to God and to its neighbor 
  • Love honors others more than itself 
  • Love is zealous 
  • Love serves God in everything 
  • Love is joyful in hope 
  • Love is patient in affliction 
  • Love is faithful in prayer 
  • Love is hospitable to its neighbors 
  • Love blesses persecutors 
  • Love rejoices with those who rejoice 
  • Love mourns with those who mourn 
  • Love finds a way to live in harmony with others 
  • Love is not proud 
  • Love never repays evil for evil 
  • Love always does what is right 
  • Love lives at peace with everyone 
  • Love doesn’t seek revenge 
  • Love serves its enemies 
  • Love overcomes evil with good 

This is a great list—a lofty, noble, Christ-glorifying list! 

How do I know if I am fulfilling these mandates? Quite simply, I could ask myself, “What does it sound like if I replace the word ‘love’ in those statements with my own name?” Do each of those statements sound accurate if I do that? 

If not, that means I need to continue to offer my body as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1) so that the Holy Spirit can continue to sanctify me. 

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T-I-M-E

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

My podcast partner Greg Heeres asked me if I had found one thing that really worked in developing or deepening relationships. My answer is short and to the point. 

Check out the full episode of The Craig and Greg Show where we use my book Shepherd Leadership to talk about the all-around healthiness of leaders. 

The Scriptures I reference in this video are John 13:1-4 and Proverbs 27:6. 

Here is a poem from one of my children that keeps me aware of the value of my presence in their lives. It’s called He’s Here To Keep. 

You might also be interested in these related posts:

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Christ’s Advents Bring Love

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

The lights of hope, peace, and joy burn brightly. They drive out the darkness in our own lives and in the lives of others with whom we come in contact. But you and I both know lots of people who are very positive people—always upbeat, seemingly peaceful and joyful. The real question is: What is the source of this light? Or more specifically, how do people know that you are hopeful, peaceful, and joyful because you know Jesus as your Savior and King?  

Jesus said there were two proofs that we are His followers:

  1. That we love others (John 13:35) 
  2. That we are producing God-honoring fruit (John 15:8) 

God IS love—it’s His very nature. Just like an apple doesn’t have the capacity for apple-ness but is by its nature an apple, so God doesn’t have the capacity for love, or love more than others, but He is by His nature Love. 

Any qualities of hope, peace, and joy in our lives have to originate from God’s love. We cannot manufacture these fruits, but they are a natural result of our being connected with Love Himself. 

Love is what brought Jesus to earth at His First Advent (John 3:16-17; Romans 5:5-8). And we can only love others and produce the fruit of hope, peace, and joy because Jesus went first and became our Source (1 John 4:19; John 15:1). 

Love brought Jesus to earth at His First Advent, and Love is what empowers us to be loving and fruitful between His Advents. 

  1. Love one another means that love serves (John 13:1-5, 15-17, 34-35) 
  2. Bear much fruit means that love grows (John 15:1-12) 

We can only serve and be lovingly fruitful as we stay connected to Love (2 Peter 1:2-7; 1 John 2:28). 

Love brought Jesus to earth at His First Advent, Love is what empowers us to be loving and fruitful between His Advents, and Love is what patiently waits for Christ’s Second Advent (2 Peter 3:3-4, 9). 

We continue to grow in our love and produce fruit by being connected to the Vine of Love (1 Corinthians 13:11-12; 1 John 3:1-2 ; Hebrews 10:23-24). 

We need to let our love be continually supplied by Love Himself so that our fruitfulness can shine as a bright testimony. Jesus said, He was the Light of the world, and then He called us to be the light to our part of the world where He has placed us (John 8:12; Matthew 5:14-16). 

Always remember that we celebrate the First Advent and look forward to the Second Advent by staying connected to Jesus, growing in our love for Him and for others, and allowing the fruit of hope, peace, and joy to shine brightly for God’s glory. 

If you’ve missed any of the other messages in our Advent series, you can find them all by clicking here

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Christ’s Advents

The word Advent means the appearing—something that bursts onto the scene. 

At this time of year we are actually thinking about TWO Advents. We look backward in gratitude to celebrate the first Advent of Jesus when He was born in a manger in Bethlehem. And then we look forward in joyful expectation to the second Advent of Jesus when He will return to earth again as King of kings. 

As Christians live in this time between the two Advents, our celebration and expectation should bring four noticeable attributes from our lives: 

  1. Hope 
  2. Peace 
  3. Joy 
  4. Love

Please join me at Calvary Assembly of God as we learn more about how the Holy Spirit empowers these four attributes in our daily lives, how this glorifies God, and how it then draws others to Jesus their Savior. 

Speak The Truth In Love

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

The thing that people need most to move ahead might be right on the tip of your tongue.

Check out this episode of The Podcast.

Some resources from this episode:

The Scriptures I reference: Proverbs 27:5-6; Proverbs 12:18; Ephesians 4:15

Check out my blog post True Friends.

And a couple of related videos where I talk more about this topic: We need loving friends and A true friend loves you enough to confront you with the truth. 

My new book When Sheep Bite is available for pre-order!

Here are a bunch of ways to get in touch with me and follow along with other projects on which I am involved

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Links & Quotes

Unforgiveness keeps our eyes on our offenders and off our God. Free yourself by forgiving those who have hurt you. You can check out this full sermon hereI have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.

“At the moment of truth, there are either reasons or results.” —Chuck Yeager

As I have shared before, I am so impressed with the He Gets Us social media campaign! Some people are still trying to figure out exactly what this campaign is. Sean McDowell and his podcast partner Scott Ray had a great conversation with Ed Stetzer about this. Check out the video!

Some people have been critical of the He Gets Us commercials that aired during the Super Bowl, but I thought they were outstanding! This is a social media outreach designed and funded by some of the most biblically-grounded, evangelistically-minded people I know. It is a social media campaign. It is not designed as a sermon (which is why there are no Bible verses shown in the commercial). The idea is to get past the barriers and misconceptions skeptics have come to believe about Jesus, and then be enticed to go to the hegetsus.com website. It is at this site that the Gospel message is introduced and visitors are given Bible verses and other materials to go deeper.

John Stonestreet wrote, “Before it was the corporate creation of greeting card companies, it was a day to remember third-century Christian martyr Valentinus of Rome.” This post is a good reminder of what Christians really should be remembering on Valentine’s Day, as well as the higher definition of love.

“The important thing is to learn a lesson every time you lose.” —John McEnroe

A Hard Word For A Good Reason

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

Is it okay for a friend to hurt another friend’s feelings? Let’s talk about it.

Check out this episode of The Podcast.

Resources mentioned in this video:

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Is Your Love Growing?

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

Are you a more loving person today than you were a year ago? If you said, “Yes,” how do you know?

Check out this episode of The Podcast.

Resources mentioned in this video:

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials, like a 10-minute video I just shared on study tips for the poetic books of the Bible. ◀︎◀︎

Hating Well

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

I hate… (Psalm 119:163). 

In my experience, many Christians struggle with the word “hate,” as though it shouldn’t have any part in their vocabulary. And yet here is that word right in the middle of Psalm 119, this longest chapter in the Bible which extols the value of the Bible in all 176 verses. 

I remember watching “Sesame Street” when they would sing the song, “One of these things is not like the other.” Let’s play that same game from this Sin/Shin section of Psalm 119:

  • I stand in awe of Your Word 
  • I rejoice in Your promise 
  • I love Your law 
  • I praise You, God, for Your righteous laws 
  • I follow Your commands 
  • I obey Your statues 
  • I love Your statutes 
  • I obey Your precepts 
  • I hate falsehood 

Doesn’t that last one seem out of place? In fact, it’s not just “hate,” but one translation says, “hate and abhor,” and another says, “hate and detest”! 

But I want you to notice first of all that it is not a person that the psalmist hates, but falsehood, deception, fraud, lying. The root word in Hebrew is someone who is purposefully dealing falsely as a means of tricking or cheating. 

This is what we could correctly say is righteous anger.

The psalmist’s love for the glory of God is great, which means he also reveres this Book of Truth—the Bible—that leads people to basking in God’s glory. To be apathetic about lies that are deliberately attempting to cheat people out of an intimate relationship with God is the exact opposite of love.

Hate is not the opposite of love; apathy is the opposite of love.

Hate of those things which keep people from God is the completion of the love for God and the respect for the Book that brings people to Him.

To love fully, I must also hate well. Not people, but actions that keep people away from experiencing and knowing God’s love. May all of us learn from the Holy Spirit how to awaken from any apathy we may have, and to correctly express our righteous anger. 

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