The well-known story of Jehoshaphat describes one of the greatest epic battles in the history of Israel. Jehoshaphat, the king of Israel, received word from a friend that the combined armies of three enemy nations were on their way to fight him and conquer him. The...

What’s King Asa doing? No one’s attacking him. Everything’s peaceful, and this dude is building fortresses all over Judah. Well, there was trouble everywhere else. “All the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil. One nation was being crushed by another” (2...

No doubt when David was trying to cover his sin, he was “missing God.” Keep in mind that David is the same man who wrote most of the Psalms, the man who told us that he longed for God like a deer longs for water. He wanted the joy he once had to be restored. So when...

But how? We’ve spent the first half of this book considering some of the major whys of forgiveness. But like everything else in the Christian life, forgiving others is much more than what-fors and how-comes. Ours is an active faith. It is made alive and appealing only...

When the Lord opened Lydia’s heart to respond to Paul’s message, she extended hospitality and persuaded Paul and Silas to stay at her house. Because she was a Gentile, this visit might have been quite an act: of faith on Paul and Silas’s part. Hospitality like Lydia’s...

For many years, I was a part of a team that conducts revival meetings in local churches across the United States.1 I remember one particular church where the Spirit of God moved in an unusual way, bringing many church members to brokenness and repentance. During the...

If you have ever been around someone who has recently fallen in love, you know that every other word out of the person’s mouth seems to be about the new relationship. With starry-eyed enthusiasm, the person describes every detail, sometimes again and again! That’s a...

Over the last several decades, thousands of studies published in peer-reviewed journals document that the practice of attending church is associated with making people happier, healthier, better spouses, more generous, more ethical, more tolerant, and more civically...

“But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.” 2 CHRONICLES 15:7–8 NIV When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet, he took courage. He removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and...

Do you know what one of the biggest lies about the church is today? It’s actually been going around for a number of years now. You may have even innocently passed along this false information to others. After all, you’ve received your information from reliable...

I know just enough about computers, as they say, to be dangerous. But one thing I’ve learned the hard way is the meaning of that little button that’s spelled D-E-L. That’s right. The delete key. (I’m guessing you know about that one yourself.) Like you, I can think of...

Evangelism is so important for church growth that one can understand why many Christian circles tend to overemphasize it. Overemphasize? Before I answer this, I need to stress that I personally believe in evangelism so much so that I have dedicated my life to see that...

The Bible teaches us that there are three kinds of storms in life: storms that we bring on ourselves (like Samson and his self-induced troubles), storms that God causes (like the one that Jesus stilled on Lake Galilee), and storms that other people cause (as when Paul...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lldxDqDf0Ho

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Most of us are interested in change. Bestseller lists perennially include self-help books, and the New York Times even has specific categories for Hardcover Advice and Softcover Advice books. We attend...

So as I crave more of God, I want to have a meaningful dialogue with my heavenly Father, to enjoy more intimacy with Him than I’ve ever had before. And the only way I can have this kind of relationship is to keep my mouth shut at times, which is much harder than it...

A careful look at the New Testament reveals the nature of the church as essentially a lay movement. The Apostle Paul indicates that it was Jesus Christ “who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to...

The writer of Hebrews said, “Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity.” Hebrews 6:1 Many small group Bible study groups struggle because they do not do this—they do not move on beyond the elementary teachings....

There will come a time in your life when forgiveness will become your overriding preoccupation. You will either do something so shameful that you don’t think you can ever recover, or, you will be hurt so badly that you think your heart will break. Either way, all you...

Samson was a ruler in Israel for twenty years. His story is told at length in Judges 13–16. It began strikingly, with an angel’s announcement to his sterile parents that they would, miraculously, have a son and that he would become a judge in Israel. After Samson grew...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjCcTzh5cNU

Lydia was a Gentile convert to Judaism and a successful merchant of costly purple cloth. God opened Lydia’s heart as she listened to Paul’s message about Jesus; she became Paul’s first convert in Europe. After being baptized, Lydia begged the missionaries to stay at...