Alabaster Group

Ahab's downfall at Ramoth Gilead was settled in heaven before the method was, and God still cared which method was chosen. Among many viable paths, He picks one. Jesus required John to baptize Him rather than the reverse, not because John's desire was wrong, but because that path fell short of fulfilling all righteousness. We tend to mistake one true facet of God's will for the whole of it, settli...

The story of Jonah gives us unique insight into the sovereignty of God’s timing. Our foolish and rebellious decisions never catch God by surprise and his plans unfold in ways that account for our cooperation with Him or lack thereof. Nothing that we say or do can delay or expedite God’s will, but how we relate to Him definitely impacts the role that we play in his ultimate story. The challenge as...

There are rewards for our good works, but only God’s grace is sufficient to cleanse us from the sin that so easily clings to our hearts. If we are diligent in pursuing righteousness, we can become deceived somewhere along the way that our own righteousness can make up for our faults, but this is a grave deception. Not only are we incapable of fixing ourselves, we are not even capable of judging ou...

When our religious efforts bear no fruit, the problem is not wrong methods but a defective science that cannot be engineered away. If true spiritual possession is the fruit we seek in the Kingdom, and we have yet to see it, we must reinvestigate our science, i.e., our “ground truth.” Joseph is a clear example that being a successful renter in Egypt and a permanent owner in the promised land are ve...

David Hogan, accompanied by his wife Debbie and family, shares a series of somber yet powerful testimonies highlighting the necessity of endurance in our walk with God. Despite the loss and suffering that we experience in this life, our hearts must be steadfast in our call to make disciples and advance the Kingdom. Brother David reminds us that trials are the training ground for perfection, and tr...

While often overlooked, dignity is an attribute that God expects us to not only embrace but to grow in over time. A lion is endowed with a certain majesty that is not dependent on its environment. In the same way, the Lord has made us and crowned us with a certain glory that is not defined by our circumstances. The more we acknowledge this, the more we are able to walk in this god-given dignity. I...

During this Q&A session, David Hogan, and his wife Debbie, share with us stories, testimonies, and wisdom that they have gained over decades serving the Lord in Mexico. The Hogans reflect on the nuances of balancing ministry and family, the personal costs and discipline required for a life obedient to God, and the importance of yielding to God’s sovereign will even when things do not go the wa...

Stories throughout the Bible show us that spiritual inheritance is often gained through a breakthrough triggered by injustice. The promise spoken to Abraham was not only realized because of his faith, but because of the injustice that his descendants experienced. The persistent widow received an answer not just because she prayed, but because she demanded justice where it was lacking. Knowing that...

Freedom is merely the foundation of faith; maturity comes through the restraint of the Lord that narrows our path. Unlike King Uzziah, who overstepped his calling, when we embrace God's specific harness on our lives, it prevents self-destruction. By choosing this narrow way over broad possibilities, we move from unguided freedom to becoming useful servants of divine purpose. Galatians 5; Proverbs...

The story of King’s Saul disobedience reveals to us what God means by desiring someone “after his own heart.” By disregarding Samuel’s instructions, Saul demonstrated that he had elevated the opinions of men over the pleasure of God—the exact opposite of what the Lord is looking for. Like Nehemiah, who did not let political, social, or religious pressures distract him from his assignment, we are c...

True wisdom is not transferable knowledge but a spirit that cries out in every facet of life, inviting us to learn from our mistakes and think like God. The more we do so, the more we reflect the beauty of God’s character. Just as the Queen of Sheba was left breathless not by Solomon’s arguments, but by the manifest beauty and order of his court, we are called to build lives that trigger a respons...

True spiritual maturity is found in moving beyond a relationship with God defined by needs and wants to one anchored in free will and choice. While God faithfully meets our basic needs to deliver us from the "slavery" of survival, His ultimate desire is for us to relate to Him as free sons and daughters who act out of voluntary devotion rather than necessity. Just as Nehemiah chose to rebuild Jeru...

Righteousness is not merely a moral attribute but a tangible form of spiritual power. When we perform acts of integrity—such as returning a poor man’s pledge or giving alms like Cornelius—we are accruing a memorial of righteousness that carries weight in the heavens. Like a pendulum raised to its peak, these quiet sacrifices build a storehouse of potential that can be converted into action. The Lo...

In different areas of our lives, we can easily become one of many: one of many students, employees, citizens, customers, residents, etc. But to God, we each hold a unique place in His heart and He desires to relate to us in a way that can’t be replicated or replaced. When we recognize this about our relationship with God, it also becomes easier to love others in the same way that God loves them—no...

Many times, the healing that Jesus offers us restores not only our bodies, but our souls. Suffering over long periods of time can take a toll on us such that our dignity begins to erode, and it becomes harder for us to believe that we are valuable in God’s eyes. When Jesus encounters the leper, He does not just heal him, He emphasizes that God desires to heal him, and in doing so, restores a digni...

True relationship with God is not measured by the "mighty works" we perform or the hours we log in service to Him, but by the alignment of our hearts with His. It is possible to be an "employee" of the Kingdom, using God’s power and gifts while remaining a stranger to Him, but we are called to a deeper intimacy. Like the bondservant in Exodus 21, our relationship can transition from being one of t...

The story of Ananias and Sapphira teaches us a very important lesson: the only faith that is acceptable to God is an authentic one. The Lord is not interested in a version of ourselves that is contrived or curated for the eyes of men; He’s interested in a sincere faith that is consistent regardless of who is watching. It is easy to forget that all that we will give an account for all that we say a...

Life often feels like a complex mixture of the good and the broken, leading us to dismiss certain parts of our history as worthless or distracting from our ultimate purpose. However, the Scriptures reveal that small things, whether good or bad, can have a large impact on our direction, acting like rudders that guide the entire course of our lives. God frequently uses the “seeds" of our youth—plant...

God has ordained specific times and seasons for every purpose, and these are determined by His divine timeline rather than our own human milestones. While we often struggle with delays, the life of Abraham reveals that God can use our trials—even our "barren" seasons—to preserve us from the consequences of our own weakness. True maturity comes when we refuse to let worldly success or human influen...

Whether we are in positions of great authority or trying to live a life pleasing before God, discernment is an indispensable tool that we will always have to use. Maintaining adequate discernment, however, is not trivial. Anything in our hearts that has not been surrendered to God will cloud our judgement and make us incapable of exercising right discernment. But when we keep our hearts pure befor...

The decisions we make have ramifications far beyond the present moment we find ourselves in, and none of us have the ability to predict those effects ahead of time. On issues of right and wrong, we may be tempted to trust our own judgements, even over and above the Lord’s, but doing so would leave us susceptible to profound errors that negatively impact us and those around us. Whether we are decid...

The Bible tells us that God opposes the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. For those who desire to live a righteous life, this truth presents a significant problem: many of the good things that we are called to do can become the very source of our pride. Acquiring knowledge, avoiding sin, being diligent in our work, maintaining spiritual disciplines—all of these, although right for us to do,...

The tools that God uses to shape us into the man or woman He has called us to be are often the very things that make us the most uncomfortable. One of those tools is loneliness. While we were not created to be alone in perpetuity, God allows us to go through seasons of solitude so that we might experience aspects of his nature that we would not otherwise experience. When we embrace these moments o...

A quick survey of our lives and the Scriptures reveals that God does not treat us all equally. As we walk with God, He allows us to go through circumstances that are in proportion to the measure of the faith that He wants to draw out of us. As sons and daughters, we should not expect this journey of faith to be easy, because the discipline of the Lord never is. But, we can be sure that it is worth...

Weakness is not something that we readily embrace. It is uncomfortable to be put in situations where our human strength and abilities come up short, but such moments are precisely when the power of God is made manifest through us. God allows us to be weak, vulnerable, and stretched beyond our limits, so that we would come to experience his strength in tangible measures. Although sometimes scary, G...