Prepare for Life

I had been taught that experiences with the Holy Spirit were not for today, that we have the settled Word of God and do not need supernatural experiences. But I felt so dry inside, like a gear grinding against metal needing oil. I read the book of Acts and saw the amazing activity of the Spirit there. I began to wonder what happened to the Holy Spirit? Was He on break? Is there more to the Christi...

What if I told you the Lord wants to bring you someone who will comfort you when you are sad? He will bring guidance when you don’t know what to do. He will never deceive you. He will always bring you the truth. He will teach you and give you the very words you need to say. He is your advocate, your counselor, your helper. He prays for you and through you so that your prayers are effective. He ini...

The amazing thing about the holiness of God is that He isn’t just holy, He calls us to be holy too! In fact this is explicitly spelled out for us in I Peter 1:15-16, Like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior because it is written, “You shall be holy for I am holy.” We are clearly called to be holy. Wow. Is that even possible? The short answer is yes, but only t...

As we walk on the ancient paths with the Lord we are learning more about God and how to relate to Him. This week I want to focus upon something we don’t hear much about these days: God is holy. He is not just holy, He is holy, holy, holy. We sing about His holiness in our worship songs, we call the third person of the trinity the Holy Spirit, we use the words holy and holiness, but what exactly do...

As we walk with the Lord on the ancient paths how we perceive and respond to Him are all important. We all probably know the child’s blessing that begins, “God is great, God is good and we thank Him for our food”…such a simple prayer, such a profound prayer. God is good AND God is great. These are two very different concepts about God and they elicit two very different responses. God is good, He i...

We all need hope. I think we are hard-wired for hope. When we go through tough times we need hope so we can hang on and persevere. Hope anchors our soul and keeps us steady, helping us to persevere when things look bleak.

I have one more key for you. This will be your go-to key. You will use this key every morning and evening and several times a day as you walk on the ancient paths with the Lord. It is the key of having a grateful heart.

Before we move on, I want to focus for another week on that big key on your key chain, the key of forgiveness. There is one more person you may need to forgive. You may have overlooked this person; you may need to forgive yourself! I have shared with you that after I came to know the Lord, I basically decided that I wanted to go to heaven some day but that I wanted to run my own life in the meanti...

I remember talking about the importance of forgiveness one day in Bible study. After class I visited with some friends and was late leaving. As I walked to my car I passed two women sitting in a suburban with the engine running. The driver’s side window rolled down and a woman with tears in her eyes, sobbed, “Do I really have to forgive him?” My heart broke for her. I didn’t know her story but I c...

Today I want to give you another big shining key for that key chain I gave you recently. These keys will help you as you walk on the ancient paths with the Lord. This key is important. It has to do with our personal relationships. This key will keep you out of one of the sneaky traps of the enemy of your soul, it is the key of not seeking your own revenge.

Imagine a janitor pulling out a heavy laden key ring loaded with lots of different keys. That is exactly what I want to give you today for your journey as you walk through life on the ancient paths with Jesus, a key ring that is loaded with keys. You will need each of these keys. These keys represent many different characteristics of a life that pleases God. You will need to employ these keys so t...

Does anyone want to know God’s will for your life? Does anyone need God’s direction about a specific matter? Does anyone have a decision to make about a school or a job or some other situation and you need to discern God’s plan? Today we are going to learn about knowing and following God’s plan for your life.

Today I want to give each of you a flashlight. The Psalmist says, Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Psalm 119:105. This flashlight represents the Bible, the Word of God as it lights our path. The Bible will shine on our course, it will set our boundaries, showing us the potential wrong turns and the dead ends, the places that are out of bounds. We especially need this flash...

I am so glad you have responded to the Lord’s invitation to join me as we walk with Him on the ancient paths! This journey will be rewarding and fulfilling, but it may be difficult in some ways. We may end up with some blisters on our feet and some sore muscles on our backsides but it will be worth it. Remember this trip is not about the destination but the journey. Savor each step of the way.

I want to invite you to join me on a journey. We are not going to the latest “in” spot. This isn’t about setting trends or even crossing a destination off your bucket list. In fact this trip is not about the destination, it is about the journey. The Lord’s voice is issuing the invitation. There are many voices clamoring for our attention, pulling on us, distracting us. In order to hear this voice...

I believe the essence of Christmas is celebrating that the God of infinite majesty and glory went on mission to our humble planet and invaded humanity to be born as one of us as a helpless baby. Matthew sums up the Christmas story with one word, Immanuel. And they shall call his name Immanuel, which translated means, “God with us.”. Matthew 1:23. God has come among us. This is the essence of Chris...

In the fulness of time the Christ child was born. His birth was not set in a palace but a humble stable, away from the pageantry of royal birth. Even though his arrival wasn’t noticed by the elites of this world, it was marked by unusual confirmation from a variety of sources. Angels became visible in the heavenlies over Bethlehem and heralded his birth, the shepherds in the fields beheld the glor...

In the fulness of time, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law. Galatians 4:4. Jesus was born to parents who were faithful to the law. Both Mary and Joseph were devoted to God and so they raised their son to be observant. Jesus was never legalistic, yet he perfectly fulfilled the law. In his words, he did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill the law. This was true even when he...

In the fulness of time, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law. Galatians 4:4. Jesus was born to parents who were faithful to the law. Both Mary and Joseph were devoted to God and so they raised their son to be observant. Jesus was never legalistic, yet he perfectly fulfilled the law. In his words, he did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill the law. This was true even when he...

Galatians 4:4 says, But when the fulness of time came, God sent forth His Son….What do you think this verse is talking about? The word fulness means completeness. The fulness of time as it relates to the birth of the Lord Jesus refers to the fact that all the details that needed to be in place so He could be born were completed. All of the preparations for the birth of the Messiah have been accomp...

Joseph is a bit of a mystery man in the Bible, but what a sweetheart! We only know a few facts about him. We know that he was a carpenter by trade and that as Matthew 1 opens, he was betrothed to Mary. We know that he was alive when Jesus was twelve when their family went to Jerusalem for Passover. We can surmise that he probably died some time before the crucifixion of Christ because Jesus entrus...

Mary spontaneously burst into praise from her devoted heart with what we have come to call the Magnificat in Luke 1:47-55. This name comes from the first word of the Latin translation. Mary’s song reveals that her heart was saturated with the word of God. In these 9 verses that there are 15 quotes from the Old Testament. They can be summed up with these words, For the Mighty One has done great thi...

In ancient days when a king was planning to visit a land he would never show up unannounced. He sent a herald ahead of time to declare his visit. The herald, appointed as the king’s messenger, made sure the people knew the king was coming. The message of the herald caused the people to take practical steps as they anticipated the arrival of their king. They responded by patching up roads and clean...

Before we go further with this story of the first Christmas and leave the genealogies of Jesus, I want to take a minute to consider something very unusual. Open your Bible to Matthew 1 and focus upon three names, Tamarin verse 3 and Rahab and Ruth in verse 5. Also, look at the words "the wife of Uriah" (who we know was Bathsheba) in verse 6. It is astounding that these four women were included in...

We have seen there are many prophecies that promise the Messiah will come through the blood line of David. And there are many more that promise he will be in the royal line of David which would go through his son, Solomon. But by the time of Christ the scholars knew they had a problem. In Jeremiah 22 around the time of the Babylonian captivity, God got fed up with King Jehoiachin of Judah, the las...