The disciples of Jesus had no idea about the nature of the kingdom Jesus had come to established. The Old Testament was filled with promises of the coming King and His kingdom, but no one on this earth understood what it would be like (1 Cor. 2:8-9). Jesus used parables to help those disciples see what was about to happen. In Matthew…

We might think we started too late in laying a foundation of practices and exemplifying Christian virtues. There are two ways we can stay on track. First, some things that you can do to lay a good foundation with your young children. Second, some habits we can make with our older children that will help orient them in the faith. Young children…

The nature of God is love (1 John 4:8).  He expects His people to be characterized by love (John 13:34-35).  Thus, anything that is not of love but is associated with hate is of the devil and not of God (1 John 3:8-15). The nature of God is peace (Phil. 4:6-9).  He expects His people to be characterized by peace (Rom. 12:14-21). …

If you were asked what influences were in your life which caused you to become the person you are today, what would you say? More specifically, let me focus the question to ask about what impacted your life spiritually to walk with the Lord. What influenced you to be a follower of God? There are the obvious answers to the question. The…

One day last year, I was hunting way back in the swamp alone. On my way back to the truck I thought I could take a short cut by jumping across a two-foot-wide ditch. It turned out to be a ten-foot-wide canal with a floating grass mat in the middle. The floating vegetation was dense enough to have ferns and bushes growing…

Being consistent is one of the hardest things for a person to do.  When a child is in school, often their behavior when the teacher is out of the room is not consistent with their behavior when the teacher is in the room.  That translates to the adult life, when behavior while the boss is out of the office is not consistent…

The life of the man after God’s own heart had its great moments of triumph—he had killed Goliath, the nation heralded him as a young man who had slain ten times those slain by Saul. Yet at times, Saul and his army threatened his life, and then later king David’s own son drove him from the palace. We do not know when…

Dear Reader, Let me start by saying that science says there is one human race with many ethnic groups—none of which are better than any other, all of which Christ died for. If we keep making racial distinctions, we will stay divided. A house divided cannot stand. We also need to put things into perspective. The issue of hate, prejudice, and bigotry…