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If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (Luke 11:13) This week, as part of The Holy Spirit: Presence, Power and Purpose, we're looking at, listening to, Luke 11:5-13 (and it wouldn't hurt to start with verse 1). Jesus's teaching here on the Holy Spi...
Keep Reading"...the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." 1 John 4:4b We've been sitting down to watch the Olympics with the kids the last couple of weeks, and the physical feats from athletes all over the world are impressive to say the least. The kids have been quick to pick up on the differences in scoring for some events: while all of the events have bee...
Keep ReadingThis is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist (1 John 4:2-3a). After a prolonged tiring wrestle to understand the verb "acknowledge" in our 1 John passage, I took a break and watched t...
Keep Reading"Every spirit that does not acknowledge that Jesus Christhas come in the flesh is not from God." (1 John 4:2-3) As my great-aunt drove me around the island of Oahu, she pointed out the Latter Day Saints' temple. When I commented, "it's sad Mormons are on the wrong path," my great-aunt said, in all sincerity, "at least they believe in something." That was 1979, well before...
Keep Reading"We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood." 1 John 4: 6 Last year I was traveling with a work colleague. We were sitting together in an airport lounge while waiting for our separate flights home. We shared a table, and had our laptops ou...
Keep ReadingDon't believe every spirit test the spirits every spirit that acknowledges Jesus every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God this is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood (1 John 4:1-6). Happy Monday, and off we go into this next week of our series The Holy Spirit: Presence, Power and Purpose. We want to better understand wh...
Keep ReadingThe Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you (John 14:26 MSG). I'll never forget the day my mom dropped me off for my first year of college, and I know she hasn't forgotten it either! That day marked the beginning of a new chapter in each of our lives, and it wa...
Keep ReadingBefore long, the world will not see Me anymore, but you will see Me (John 14:19). John spends three jam-packed chapters (14-16) reporting what Jesus said to His disciples during the last evening they would spend together. The disciples' minds had to have been on overload, alternately distressed at Jesus saying He is leaving them, confused about what that means, and encour...
Keep ReadingThese are two of the wonderful songs we will sing Sunday, February 20, 2022: I Thank God & Way Maker. Join us in worship to the One God in three persons, blessed trinity!...
Keep ReadingAnd I (Jesus) will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you foreverthe Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you (John 14:16-17). Awhile back I told you that my relationship with Godfrom my perspective anywaybegan one night when I said, "O...
Keep ReadingBut when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you (John 16:12-14). Been watching any Winter Olympics lately? If writing devotionals was an Olympic sport, I wouldn't make the team. If ...
Keep ReadingAnd I will ask the Father and he will give you another __________to be with you forever the Spirit of truth (John 14:16-17). What goes in the blank in the sentence above? And what about all those "blank lines" in our own lives what is it that we most need? As we continue our current series on the Holy Spirit, we'll listen this week as Jesus prepares his disciples for t...
Keep ReadingHe said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:7-8 ESV) Holy Spirit, you are welcome here; Come flood this place and fill the atmosphe...
Keep ReadingHe (Jesus) gave them (the apostles) this command, "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about." (Acts 1:4) Can you think of any child who appreciates having to wait? (Didn't take long to answer that, did it?!) It takes a lot of living to come to an appreciation of wait. Living shows us that good things can happen...
Keep Reading"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8) The Christian singer and songwriter Matt Maher's beautiful song about love is on my running workout mix. It always gets me fired up, especially the beginning: It don't have a job, don't pay your ...
Keep ReadingHe said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:7-8) A video floated around online last year of a child set up at a table with a handful of gumm...
Keep Reading"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you." (Acts 1:8) This week, Acts 1:4-8 kicks off a new series, Holy Spirit: Power, Presence, Purpose. The first chapter in Acts bridges Luke's gospel account of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection of Jesus with His ascension into heaven. Luke tells us in these first verses that the resurrected Jesus has spent forty ...
Keep ReadingThis is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carriedinto exile from Jerusalem to Babylon (Jeremiah 29:4). I am coming off an eye-opening read of the entire book of the prophet Jeremiah. In it we get a vivid contrast between groupthinkwhich the inhabitants of Jerusalem, deceived by false prophets and diviners, had been swept up in for yearsand God...
Keep ReadingBuild houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce (Jeremiah 29: 4-7). One of my favorite pastimes is playing Minecraft with my three kids. Minecraft is a video game where players adventure in a very blocky, low-resolution world with the freedom to build, create, and interact with anything in the world. The game is mostly peaceful and cooperative. But w...
Keep Reading"Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried youPray to the LORD for it." (Jer. 29:7) Peter and Paul tell us "we are sojourners and exiles" here, with "our citizenship in heaven" (1 Pet. 2:11, Phil. 3:20). I've felt like an exile at times in the past: ridiculed for bringing up the Bible during a graduate school seminar or being the rare believer on t...
Keep ReadingAlso, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."Jeremiah 29:7 It's always interesting to hear how folks have made their way to Chatham county. Work, school, and family are the most common threads, and there are a fair number of natives. (Hey, y'all!) When we move...
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