Spirit Led Living

  Phil 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things. I am a person who loves to read and do research. These days it’s a lot harder because newspapers are disappearing and with them in-depth journalism. Nowadays what passes for journalism is people on networks news trying to tell you what to think about things. The days of Walter Cronkite are long gone. “Fair and Balanced” are just slogans. So much of what I see on social media simply makes me mad. Up is down, wrong is right, and everything can be rationalized to fit one perspective or another. In the past newspaper articles would give you both sides of the argument on any issue and it was up to the reader to decide what to think. People now get their news and form their opinions based on 40-character tweets, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and social media that is design

I can remember my freshman year at Bible College spending hours arguing over which dogma was correct, Calvinism vs. Arminianism. I grew up Wesleyan and was firmly in the Arminian camp. However, all my housemates were Baptists (rare at a Wesleyan College) and they were all Calvinists. We would go back and forth, each of us quoting Scriptures that supported our claim and there were many on both sides. I have since come to the conclusion that while an interesting intellectual exercise, neither of us could definitively prove our point. At the end of the day, we were Christians and agreed on the basic tenets of the faith. There is a quote often attributed to St. Augustine that says, “In the essentials unity, in the non-essentials diversity, and in all things charity (love).” To put it a different way, Wimber used to say that in the Vineyard we wanted to stick with “the main and the plain” of the Gospel. Things like Arminianism and Calvinism are dogmas extrapolated by men which became

This past Sunday I preached this sermon on making disciples and several people asked me to post my notes, so here they are: Matt 28:19-20 Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. A lot of people think that the Great Commission was about getting people to pray the sinner’s prayer.   If you are one of those people, then you need to rethink your philosophy and amend it, in light of Jesus’ words. There are 3 key ingredients to what He has called all of us to do.   1.     Go and make disciples The Bible doesn’t say, wait for them to come to church and hear a good sermon, or wait for someone else to guide them through the steps.   It says GO and make disciples , not converts .   A lot of people look at Billy Graham and think of him as doing more of the Great Commission that anyone else over the last 50 years.   The truth is that Bill

  Time and the Day of His Return Paul wants to convey to the believer the hope that is in Christ. We in the Vineyard have a Kingdom Theology that believes in the “here and the not yet” of the Kingdom of God. Matt 11:12-13 From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. Jesus came to establish a beachhead, which we as Christians are to continue to expand His rule and reign until it is fully establish upon His return. 2 Peter 3:11-13 You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. 1 Cor 15:51-52 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye,

 As I start this new series, I want to make sure that you understand that some of the things that I will share with you are my opinions; my interpretations. Some mysteries will never be fully understood until Jesus comes back. I will attempt, with my limited understanding to shed some light on these, but I stand with the Apostle Paul who said, " For now we see through a glass, darkly" KJV Still, I pray that this will be helpful to you as you struggle to interpret the mysteries of the kingdom. Phil 2:4-11 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!   1 - Look not to your interests. ·          We tend to look at the world through the prism of what w

  Some people have told me that I am wise. I suppose with age, experience and study of the Word, wisdom can be a natural outcome. I also believe that to some extent, the Lord has given me the gift of wisdom. This is not wisdom that comes naturally through the aforementioned age and experience. This is supernatural wisdom that comes from God. This is wisdom that comes from His ability to see things that we cannot, to see the big picture. However, having said that, I think the thing that maybe stands out most in people’s minds is my ability to listen. Having worked for many years at Metropolitan Ministries and having people come to me in search of answers, one of the things that I learned is that before they come to me, they have rehearsed in their minds a story that they want me to hear. Often, listening to that story and making people feel like they have been heard is half the battle. So, I listen to what they have to say, and I don’t interrupt until they start repeating themselves

  1 Thess 2:1-6 You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure. 2 We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition. 3 For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. 4 On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. 5 You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed — God is our witness. 6 We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else. As I peruse Facebook, YouTube and network television it strikes me how much the world hates and actively attacks Evangelical Christianity. It seems as though we have lost an entire generation. The attacks are direct and lack any kind of subtlety because they do not fear any kind of backlash. Some denominations, in an attempt

 In this and age if you look at social media or what is reported on social media what you find is acrimony, finger pointing and self-serving attitudes. This of course leads to division with people on all sides digging in their heels and becoming entrenched in their positions. Make no mistake. I live in this world and I have very strong opinions on some of the things that I see happening. However, you haven’t seen me posting on Facebook or Twitter what I think about is going on in society. Why? I just think that it is counterproductive. I am not going to convince you of my position and the reverse is also true. True dialog is next to impossible on social media. Conversations quickly devolve into name calling and derogatory finger pointing. Instead, I have adopted what I feel is what God wants a Spirit-led person to do. Gal 5:22-26 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there

  For those of you who are new to this blog or even if you are long time follower, you may have wondered why I call it Spirit-Led Living instead of something else like “Walking with Jesus”. I love Jesus passionately and I have committed my life to serving Him. However, when I read the pages of the New Testament they tell me that Jesus came, taught and modeled the Good News of the Kingdom, He died on the cross as payment for my sins, was raised on the third day and now sits at the right hand of the Father. There are at least 20 verses throughout the Gospels, the Epistles and the Book of Revelation that tell us this. When it is mentioned that many times, it would seem that it is an important concept for us to know and understand. Acts 7:55-56 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Positionally, Jesus is in heaven seated at the right hand of the Father. As Christians we like to use a lot of l