Truth Teacher

You wonder why it’s so hard to find some peace of mind? Well, peace is hard to come by when you live in a warzone. And like it or not you are in a war — a very serious one. This war is cosmic in its proportions. It involves God, humans, angels, demons, principalities, powers, nations, and antichrists. And do you know where the front of the battle is? It’s in your head. We Destroy Arguments Here is how Paul describes it in 2 Corinthians 10:3–5 (emphasis added): For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ. What are the satanic strongholds that spiritually imprison people, the strongholds that we seek to destroy? Arguments and opinions. Where is the battle raging? Where our thoughts are. And arguments ar...

“When the centurion, who stood facing him [Jesus], saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God! ’” Mark 15:39 “This way”?  After six agonizing hours on the cross, Jesus cries out in a loud voice (not easy to do when you can barely gulp enough breath to stay alive), “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  Only a few moments later, it says Jesus “uttered a loud cry and breathed his last” (v.37).  We know from John 19:30 that loud cry was “It is finished”.  Papyri receipts have been found marked with this single Greek word [ tetelestai ] to indicate “paid in full”.  His work was complete, our sins were "paid in full".  The Lamb of God, who became flesh, then bows his head and gives up his spirit [no man took it from him]. “In this way”, a hardened Roman soldier, accustomed to watching people die, sees something so remarkable, different, godly that he recognizes Jesus as the Son of God.  Think about that...

by Oswald Chambers “… choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve …” (Joshua 24:15). A person’s will is embodied in the actions of the whole person. I cannot give up my will—I must exercise it, putting it into action. I must will to obey, and I must will to receive God’s Spirit. When God gives me a vision of truth, there is never a question of what He will do, but only of what I will do. The Lord has been placing in front of each of us some big proposals and plans. The best thing to do is to remember what you did before when you were touched by God. Recall the moment when you were saved, or first recognized Jesus, or realized some truth. It was easy then to yield your allegiance to God. Immediately recall those moments each time the Spirit of God brings some new proposal before you.  “… choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve… .” Your choice must be a deliberate determination—it is not something into which you will automatically drift. And everything else in ...

Focused Devotion   Jesus did not say to make converts to your way of thinking, but He said to look after His sheep, to see that they get nourished in the knowledge of Him. We consider what we do in the way of Christian work as service, yet Jesus Christ calls service to be what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. Discipleship is based solely on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on following after a particular belief or doctrine. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). In this verse, there is no argument and no pressure from Jesus to follow Him; He is simply saying, in effect, “If you want to be My disciple, you must be devoted solely to Me.” A person touched by the Spirit of God suddenly says, “Now I see who Jesus is!”—that is the source of devotion. Misguided Belief Today we have substituted doctrinal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many people are devoted to causes and so few are devoted to Jesus Christ. People do not rea...

I know what it means to be out of work.  Even pastors can be laid off when the economy is tough.  Our church was 2 months behind in payroll and God had already laid it on my heart that it was time for a move.  So when the tough decisions had to be made, I was the obvious choice as the sacrificial lamb.  I was at peace with the decision for I knew that God was in control of “all things”.  Days, weeks and months passed by with virtually no nibbles, few prospects and no money coming in.  I thought I would have a new job in 1-2 months, how naive I was.  It has been said that it is easy to trust God in the good times.  How true, the real test comes under the weight of hardships.  In those Joseph and Job moments, when our lives are ripped out from under us and we are plunged into great difficulties, will our faith stand strong?  We will trust in God?  Do we take everything to Him in prayer and set aside our anxieties and fears? My quie...