The Stranger (Author Unknown)

The Stranger

A few years after I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around from then on.

Job’s Views on Wisdom

I have been going through Job again, and when I reached chapter 22-23, where Job described the “heritage of the oppressors” and showed the foolishness of anyone who set his heart on the things this world has to offer, he breaks out into a striking description of the trouble and pain that men expend as they search for earthly treasure. He then contrasts the wisdom that allows them to obtain the riches hidden in the earth with the value of “digging” for the wisdom that comes from above.

Receiving Revelation

If you are a preacher, missionary or teacher, I want you to think about something. When you go out to evangelize or stand in a pulpit, ask yourself, what are you teaching? Is it what a person taught you? Is it a rehashing of the revelation of some “great” teacher? Or, have you experienced your own personal revelation of Jesus Christ? Now there’s the secret. If you have, is it a revelation that is still growing? Is heaven opened to you?

An Honest Assessment of Life

Last August, I shared how several years before, it must have been in 1983 or 84, I don’t remember, but my wife and I visited a brother, Len Bridges, who was dying of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (or ALS, also referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease). He had been in tremendous pain for months. We originally went to minister healing to him, but it ended up that he ministered to us.

You Are In The Family

Jesus made a magnificent statement. Look in two chapters. First, John 14, then in John 17:

“The person who knows my commandments and keeps them, that is who loves me. And the person who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and make myself plain to him” (John 14:21).

A Lesson On Nourishment

I am always amazed how the Spirit of God works. Let me give you an example what I mean, by sharing something that happened recently. I often receive emails or “Instant Chats,” or maybe I meet someone at the store . . . whatever the occasion or format involved, I suddenly discover the Lord getting involved. Just the other day, I was chatting with a friend and he said,

Our Pursuit of God

In Psalm 27, David cried out to God in an intense urgent prayer. In verse 7, he pleads, “Hear my voice when I call, LORD; be merciful to me and answer me” (Psalm 27:4). His prayer was focused on one thing—just one desire and only one goal in mind. For a lack of better words, it became an “all-consuming” passion for him.

Stolen Hearts

I am sorry if this shocks you, but I have fallen so in love with my Lord . . . I can honestly say that I fully understand what Paul was saying when he wrote, “I look upon everything as loss compared with the overwhelming gain of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord. For his sake I did in actual fact suffer the loss of everything, but I considered it useless rubbish compared with being able to win Christ.” (Philippians 3:8).

“Forbearing” and “Forgiving”

Yesterday’s message as well as this morning’s hits me harder than probably any of you. There was a time, not too long ago, when I was struggling with “living” this out in my own family. I won’t go into all of it, but my youngest son and I have were “butting heads” with each other for a couple of years now and eventually it was elevated to where he wouldn’t speak to me—which obviously made things very difficult in our house.