Think Big

Benjamin, is this your report card?” my mother asked as she picked up the folded white card from the table.

“Uh, yeah,” I said, trying to sound casual. Too ashamed to hand it to her, I had dropped it on the table, hoping that she wouldn’t notice until after I went to bed.

It was the first report card I had received from Higgins Elementary School since we had moved back from Boston to Detroit, only a few months earlier.

I had been in the fifth grade not even two weeks before everyone considered me the dumbest kid in the class and frequently made jokes about me. Before long I too began to feel as though I really was the most stupid kid in fifth grade. Despite Mother’s frequently saying, “You’re smart, Bennie. You can do anything you want to do,” I did not believe her.

No one else in school thought I was smart, either.

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10 Curses That Block The Blessing

Even though God had delivered Larry completely from drug addiction, he had not been delivered from the uncontrollable outbursts of anger that had plagued his life. Larry had tried everything he knew, but he could do nothing to put these terrible moments of rage behind him. These outbursts would come upon him unexpectedly, and when they did, he said and did terrible things to his wife and even terrified his children. After violent episodes, he would apologize in tears and beg his wife to forgive him. Though he would promise to never lose his temper again, sooner or later his control would slip. During one extreme outburst he understood that he had become just like the generations before him, angry and violent. Though he had vowed never to do those things, he had become the very thing that he most hated. In a moment of revelation he knew that he was confronting a generational pattern, acting out his anger just as generations of his family had done before him. He went to the Bible a...

12 Ways To Be A Blessing To Your Church

Do you remember a statement similar to this one made by President John F. Kennedy? In his inaugural address on January 20, 1961, he said, “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.” I remember learning that famous quote in school. I think more people would be saved and ministered to if Christians had that same thinking in the Church today. Many times we have a tendency to look for ways to be blessed rather than looking for ways to be a blessing. Of course, you know as well as I do that the best way to have joy unspeakable in our lives is to be a giver. Real joy is in putting others first instead of ourselves. Click Here To Download The Book

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Today, social media platforms have invaded and taken over public consciousness. It has become a big part of day to day routines and an indispensable communication tool for people to connect and stay in touch. Consumers have used social media presence as one of the integral basis of a company’s legitimacy, reliability and viability. Businesses today are judged based on their Facebook or LinkedIn profiles, and consumers expect companies to respond to the concerns and queries they have tweeted within the day or within the hour. Suffice it to say, social media has managed to steal the thunder away from traditional marketing methods. Modern marketing strategies today have a mix of social media tactics as its integral component for reaching business goals. Click Here To Download The Book

Listening To The Spirit In The Text

Although the subject matter of this essay has been brewing over a long season, its present impetus stems from writing the commentary on Paul’s letter to the Philippians during Winter and Spring of 1994. As I worked through Paul’s text with great care, I experienced an ongoing encounter with the living God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — an encounter which happened in two ways. On the one hand, as I exegeted the text so as to articulate its meaning for the sake of others in the church, I was often myself so overcome by the power of the Word that I was brought to tears, to joy, to prayer, or to praise. On the other hand, I was also regularly experiencing the text of this letter in church settings, in such overwhelming ways, that I felt compelled to mention it in the final paragraph of the Author’s Preface: Click Here To Download The Book

Experiencing Jesus

From the moment we are conceived, we have a built-in desire to run the world around us so that it benefits us and serves us completely. Let’s face it: We are all born with a self-centered, me-first identity. We emerge from the womb a cry baby, our sole purpose being to see that every whim, desire, and need is fulfilled by those who have obviously been placed in our lives to accomplish this. In our eyes, the world revolves around us. The description I have just given is the essence of the sin nature. There is not one sin we can name that cannot be labeled selfish and self-centered. Furthermore, the original sin is addressed in the first commandment, which contains the antidote to the sin nature: Click Here To Download The Book

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Four Keys To Hearing God's Voice

We are going to make something that has been very hard, very simple. I could not hear God’s voice for the first ten years of my Christian life, and now I have spent 30 years teaching the Body of Christ how to do so. It is as simple as quieting yourself down, fixing your eyes on Jesus, tuning to spontaneity, and writing! And all Christians can do it! You can do it! Jesus promised, “My sheep hear My voice” (John 10:27). So you can hear His voice. His voice sounds like spontaneous thoughts that light upon your mind, especially as your heart is fixed on Him. And you can do this every day as part of your morning devotions. You can live out of His voice all day, by simply seeing Him alongside you (He is Immanuel, God with you), and staying tuned to spontaneity all day long. The Bible calls this abiding in Christ (see John 15:4) or “praying without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). Click Here To Download The Book

God's General - The Missionaries

This verse from the Word of God is a clear description of the men and women in God’s Generals: The Missionaries. Without exception, they were overcomers, not in their own strength but in the power of the Lamb of God, whom they loved and served wherever they were called. They had extraordinary courage to face unknown lands, persecution, family loss, and death, because they esteemed their love for Jesus Christ more highly than their own lives. In the midst of both triumphs and tragedies, they lived out phrases we take for granted today, such as “Fulfilling the Great Commission,” “The future is as bright as the promises of God!” and “Christ is either Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all!” The generals in this book were among the Christian pioneers who helped birth and develop modern Christian missions as we understand them today. They did not only speak about the need for preaching the gospel in “heathen” lands, but, by example, they also went and lived out their convictions on the missi...

Disciple

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The 21st Century Pastor

Being a pastor today is more difficult than anytime in memory. This century witnessed the collapse of the Christian consensus that held American culture together for centuries. The secularization of our culture pushed the churches to the margins of our nation’s consciousness. The moral relativism that accompanies a secular view of reality deeply affects the work of the church and its ministry. According to a 1992 Christianity Today survey, 1 66 percent of Americans believe there is no absolute truth. Significantly, among Americans ages eighteen to twenty-five, the number is 72 percent. The Christian faith adheres to a multitude of absolutes. No wonder ministry in and to this culture is more complex than ever. No wonder pastors and churches are increasingly viewed as curiosities or even threats to the public. Click Here To Download The Book

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