Eternity is a Long Time

  Pentecost (Greek for 50 th day) is a celebration too many Christians overlook. For many, they are uncomfortable with the “speaking in tongues” aspect of it. For others, it is hard to appreciate what other day could be as important as Good Friday and Easter/Resurrection Day. Yet Pentecost, or better said, the celebration of “The Most Special Pentecost”, should be almost as high on our list as the Crucifixion and Resurrection. Before we begin, there are two things to keep in mind. First, redemption without revelation leads to regression back to condemnation and bondage. Secondly, what happened in the Old Testament is so often a foreshadowing of greater fulfillment depicted in the New Testament. Why do we keep going back to the Old Testament? Because Jesus is the fulfillment of scripture – ALL scripture. The only scripture at the time of His death and resurrection is what we now call the Old Testament. If you don’t understand or appreciate the connections, you lose out on the gre...

  Some years ago, I had a singular event happen which has been coming to mind a lot recently. It seems fitting, then, to put the incident on paper and let others read about it since it may be an encouragement to them and, quite possibly, to me as well. Without mentioning actual names, I had known Amanda who, along with her husband Peter, was part of the same social club I was involved in a few years before. She was a very pleasant woman in her 30s who was quite active and had given birth to a little girl about two years before. Unfortunately, she developed a fast-spreading cancer and within months was on death’s door. I was aware of the situation as a good friend of mine was a close acquaintance of the couple. He told me that she was about to go to a Hospice House where she was not expected to last more than a few days. I was taken aback at this since she was such a young and strong woman.  At the time I was a life insurance agent and the discussion of death and its consequenc...

  People usually respond first to another person's appearance since we generally see people before we hear them speak. What we see bounces off our prejudices and experiences. If we have a predisposition against someone who is a very large and round person because of some experience in our past, any person who has that physical characteristic will be judged more critically than someone who does not. If we have been brought up to believe left-handed people are that way because of evil influences (as was believed by many for centuries), then any left-handed person is not easily given the benefit of the doubt. These are just two of an innumerable list of reasons why people react to trivial differences in other people and judge them based on those trivial differences. It could be what a person wears, how the person wears what they wear, the color of their hair, the way they keep their hair, the way they walk, the way they gesture, the color of their skin or a zillion other things. This ...

  One of the guys I mentor who is in prison is trying to reconcile to the memory of his Dad who did not treat him well. When I responded to him, I felt some others needed to read what I wrote so I am sharing the basic parts of my note with you. ----------------------------------------------------- I wanted to respond to your last note where you talked about reconciliation so eloquently. I'm sure you can appreciate why God takes on the persona of a father throughout the Bible as a way to relate to us. Just look at what you said the similarities are between you and God and you and your earthly Dad. Reconciliation is the key. God reconciled to us by Jesus's death on the cross. We reconcile to Him by dying to ourselves and receiving the free gift of salvation by faith. That's not as easy as it sounds, of course, but it's the essential truth. But what about your earthly Dad? Of course, God is perfect and your earthly Dad, like every earthly Dad, is far from perfect. Often, e...

  Today is the 19th anniversary of the day I finally gave up depending on me and listened to Jesus to follow Him. In the show #TheChosen , there is a beautiful scene depicting the encounter between Nicodemus and Jesus (Season 1, Episode 7) which is similar in some ways to how I was before this day almost two decades ago. I thought I knew things but I really didn’t. I believed I was a Christian (all you had to do was ask me), but I was a Christian only in my own mind based on very faulty reasoning. If July 22, 2002 had not occurred, I would be one of those Jesus will tell at His second coming ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:23) I had many opportunities prior to 2002 to give my heart to Jesus, but I did not listen. It took the woman who was to become my wife actually talking to me about our Lord (or “dripping Jesus” as Diane says) to get me heading in the right direction. She was not there when I finally made my commitment to God, but she was essential...

  One of the guys I'm mentoring who is in jail, wrote to tell me he is having some interesting issues regarding reading the Bible. First, he's being led to read the Book of Revelations which is a great book but not the easiest to deal with, especially for a fairly new believer like Clyde. What he says is interesting: "I've been in revelations for a week now I don't know what I'm getting out of it but I've went to other stuff like job and paul and James but something keeps telling me to get back to revelations.... sometimes I feel like I know what it means and sometimes I feel like I'm not getting anything at all ....I'm not going to lie I feel like I'll never learn anything from it" In the next email I received from him he said this: "hey dale sorry to bombard u with all of this but I find myself in the book of Matthew chapter 7 I think that I've been judging god on how I see things and not trusting gods judgment..... I don't k...

  People who live at the end of an airfield or next to a railroad track soon get very used to the noise and, eventually, don't even hear it. So too with sin for so many. These people - even professed Christians - allow themselves to get so used to their sin that the voice of the Holy Spirit becomes less and less audible until, unfortunately, it fades into oblivion. The awareness of the silenced sin can be awakened for most if there is some crisis or significant event, but not for all. There's a reason why it says not to grieve the Holy Spirit for you never know if you've gone too far. The key to the Prodigal Son is the son not only awakened to his sin but DID the right thing regarding it which was to humble himself and seek forgiveness. Sadly, too many people do not do the right thing regarding their sins even when they become aware of them. I speak from experience. Twice after I was saved, was I transformed by the hand of God out of specific sins - one that was ruining my ...

  One of the more shocking stories in the New Testament is about the deaths of Ananias and his wife, Sapphira as told in Acts 5:1-11 . The couple lied to the Apostles, and God, about the money they were giving. They claimed to be giving all proceeds from the sale of their property but they kept some back for themselves. For this act both of them were struck dead after being confronted with their misdeed. They did not even give any defense of their action that is recorded. Now contrast this with what happens to a man called Simon who was a person performing amazing abilities in Samaria as depicted in Acts 8:4-25 . Many Bible translations say that Simon was a sorcerer but the Greek word here seems to indicate more someone who is impressing his audience with greater knowledge and technology rather than someone dealing in the occult. Be that as it may, Simon believed in Jesus but had not received the Holy Spirit. When Peter and John arrived (v14) and started laying hands on people, Sim...

  Every believer should desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The above statement is fraught with doctrinal issues as many people look at the Holy Spirit in different ways. Let us tread into these turbulent waters focusing on scripture and allowing scripture to interpret scripture. Too often I hear about how people were moved to do some rather unusual things "by the spirit". While I will try never to put God in a box by restricting Him as to what I think He can do, it is important to understand that God will only do what it is in His nature to do. For example, can God tempt us to sin? After all, He is all powerful. No! It is stated categorically that God does not tempt anyone ( James 1:13-15 ). It is not in His nature to do so.  What is the nature of the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity? I believe the best summation comes from 2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. Paul explains the manife...