The Surprising Way God Motivates Sexual Purity?

A YOUNG MAN SAT ACROSS FROM ME at a large, oak conference table. He was in trouble. He had an ongoing pornography habit that had persisted for years. He had met with an accountability group for the last twelve months, but it didn't help. Then he met weekly with an individual counselor. For a while …

Missionary Joy In Serbia

I JUST COMPLETED TWENTY HOURS OF TEACHING the theology of marriage and parenting to a group of pastors in Serbia. Not Siberia on the frozen tundra, or Syria in the Middle East, but Serbia, a beautiful nation in the Balkans, just south of Hungary, north of Greece, and east of Italy. I traveled with Training …

The Dangers of Forbidding What God Allows!

LEGALISM OCCURS WHEN we add rules to the Bible that aren't clearly there. For example, some Christians in eastern Europe will refuse church membership to a person that smokes. Tragically, tolerance of legalism usually leads to the opposite sin, tolerance of sins God specifically forbids, i.e. liberalism. Why? The heart that disrespects God's word enough …

Even In Our Darkness

I JUST FINISHED JACK DEERE'S NEW BOOK, Even In Our Darkness. It is his personal memoir. It is gripping. It is raw, and I couldn't put it down. It is about Christian maturity. It is a story about where the Holy Spirit is taking every believer, and it is not where we expect. I give it …

God’s Two Solutions to Our Most Fundamental Pastoral Problem

AT SOME TIME EVERY CHRISTIAN WORKER gets discouraged by the lack of growth or the sheer carnality in the people that he or she serves. People are slow to change. Some never seem to change. Then there is the bickering and infighting. Although the Bible implies that everyone has a gift to exercise, many hold …

Four Symptoms of the Wrath of God in Western Culture

THE WRATH OF GOD IS AN UNPLEASANT SUBJECT. Nevertheless, we need to very clearly face it, head on. Despite the fact that there are hundreds of references to it in the Old and New Testament, (and about fifty in the New Testament), many Christians refuse to acknowledge that God gets angry. Others accept the reality …

Three Tools That Make Intercession Joyful

I like to walk the lane in front of our house and pray before I go to bed. Because it is dark there are few distractions. The roundtrip is exactly one mile and takes about 20 minutes. It's perfect. However, a while back I sensed something wasn't right with my prayer experience. Often, after asking …

Celebrating Fifty Valentines with the Same Wonderful Woman

I awoke this morning and realized that this was the fiftieth anniversary of my first Valentines Day with Judy. On that day in 1969, she handed me a homemade Valentine. I opened it and a large red heart, glued to the end of a compressed curler, sprung out at me. I was delighted and felt …