Dear Visionary Leader: In Hebrews, Chapter 11 there is a mighty listing of the heroes of the faith. We come now to two heroes that you may not know. Have you heard of Amram and Jochebed? They were the parents of Moses. Their claim to fame was not that they were the parents of Moses; it is that they believed God! It was their faith that pleased God. If you want to please God, you’d better learn how to believe God, “for without faith it is impossible to please Him.” When we greet one another around the church, we frequently say, “Say, how are you feeling?” But I think the…

Dear Prayer Partner, So often we find that,in the hustle and bustle of life, it is easy to complicate the simplest of things! Now and then, it is good to get “Back to Basics” and check that we are not complicating God trying to work in our lives. With things in the world being hectic and hard to navigate, we thought it would be nice to get “Back to Basics” in prayer. It will be best for you to find a quiet place to be with God and reflect on the following Twelve Ways to Deepen Your Communion with God.

Dear Visionary Leader: The word and concept of “vision” is also related to the word “provide” or “provision”.  One of the more commonly recognized biblical names of God is Jehovah Jireh, the Hebrew phrase for “The Lord will provide”, or “God is our Provider”.  The word provide means to “pre-see”.  It comes from the Latin prōvidēre to foresee,provide for, equivalent to prō 1+ vidēre to see; it means to “pre-see.”  God is able to pro-vide because He is able to pre-see! The problem with flawed finite humanity is our inability to see beyond the now.  We are so limited in our vision.  We are myopic.  We are so near sighted and short sighted that we cannot see beyond the now.  And so, we are preoccupied and often so worried…

Dear Visionary Leader: I heard a story about Mohammad Ali being on an airplane, and the stewardess came through and said, “Sir, buckle your seatbelt. We’re getting ready to take off.” He said, “Superman don’t need no seatbelt.” She said, “Yes, and Superman don’t need no airplane either.” Many of us think that self-sufficiency is a virtue. The truth of the matter is that self-sufficiency is not a virtue, it is a vice. In Hebrews chapter 11:21, we read, “By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph, and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.” In the previous chapter, we saw Jacob as…

Dear Visionary Leader: We have been walking through the Hall of Fame of Faith. We’ve been talking about faith: what it is, how to get it, and why we need it. We have been studying the Old Testament heroes of faith who are highlighted in the New Testament. In Hebrews 11:20, we read, “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.” There was a student who was finishing up his examinations just before the Christmas Holidays. He had not really studied hard and the professor asked an exceptionally hard question. The student didn’t have the foggiest idea what the answer was, but he thought perhaps that he could get…

Dear Visionary Leader: Dr. Warren Weirsbe stated, “A faith that cannot be tested cannot be trusted.” For example, how would you like to get on an airplane that had never been tested? How would you like to have a doctor do surgery on you who had not passed some tests in medical school? I heard of a man who was having surgery and the doctor said, “You seem nervous.” He said, “Yes, this is my first surgery.” The doctor said, “Yes, I know how you feel. It’s mine also.” We read in Hebrews 11:17-19: “By faith Abraham, when he was tried (tested), offered up Isaac: and he that had received…

Two years ago, at the time of the 500th Anniversary of Luther’s nailing the thesis to the church door in Wittenberg, God spoke to me clearly, saying, “I am about to thrust the church into a new apostolic epoch – it will not be optional.” We are in desperate need of a new Reformation of the Church. The coronavirus may be our opportunity to examine our practices and redefine what it means to be the Church. Here are seven things that, I believe God is saying, must change. 1. The Church Cannot Continue as it has Functioned for Our Lifetime. God is calling us away from the definition of the…

Dear Visionary Leader: Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, “Little faith will bring your soul to heaven, but great faith will bring heaven to your soul.” How would you like to have great faith? When we came to Jesus Christ, God enrolled us in the School of Faith. Life is the classroom, the Bible is the textbook, the prophets and the apostles are the professors, and Abraham would have to be the Dean in the School of Faith. Abraham was an amazing man. His name is loved and revered by Jews and Christians alike. He’s called the “father of them that believe.” In Hebrews 11:8-15, we read: “By faith Abraham, when he…

Dear Visionary Leader: In Hebrews 11:7, we read concerning Noah, and “by faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”   The Titanic set sail in 1912. The same year my grandmother was born. It was coined unsinkable, yet, that’s about the only thing it ever really did; sink! It was filled with lavish splendor. There were ballrooms, theaters, beauty salons, tennis courts, sauna baths and much more. I believe the sinking of the Titanic is a…

Dear Visionary Leader: Enoch is an unusual Bible character who appears three times in the Word of God, but he is an important figure in studying the Second Coming. In Genesis 5:21-24, we are told of his birth, that he walked with God, had a son, and was raptured into heaven. In Hebrews 11:5, we read that he pleased God and that he was translated into heaven. In Jude 14-15, we learn that he preached to the ungodly of his day and warned them of the coming of the Lord in judgment. As we continue our series entitled, Walking In The Hall of Fame of Faith, we have now come…