READ: Song of Solomon 1, John 8, James 2 INTIMACY WITH THE KING For the most part we are satisfied with surface intimacies. Pure, deep, unadulterated intimacy is rare–even in Christian marriage. Song of Solomon unsettles us, for it unashamedly calls for the rawest intimacy with no less than God Himself. The poetic sexual imagery […]
Region: Arab World
Abiding in Jesus: December 8
READ: Ecclesiastes 12, John 7, James 1 THE GLORY OF ONE It is all to easy to speak gospel truth for self-glorifying ends. Jesus warned, “He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but He who seeks the glory of the one who sent Him is true” (John 7:18). We are sent into the earth to speak […]
Abiding in Jesus: December 7
READ: Ecclesiastes 11, John 6, Revelation 22 NO MORE CURSE Jesus is coming soon. If this was true 2,000 years ago (Rev. 22:12), it is more true now. The day that Jesus returns will live not in infamy, but in eternity–for from that day on there will be no more curse (v. 3). Oh, what […]
Abiding in Jesus: December 6
READ: Ecclesiastes 10, John 5, Revelation 21 NO MORE DEATH A colleague was shot and killed in Benghazi, Libya yesterday. This man moved with his family to exalt Jesus among precious Libyans and was murdered as he jogged yesterday morning. For him there is the glorious presence of Jesus; for his friends and family there […]
Abiding in Jesus: December 5
READ: Ecclesiastes 9, John 4, Revelation 20 HARD WORK IN THE HARDEST PLACES “I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” (John 4:38, NASB) Wherever we go in ministry and mission, we either benefit from the labor of others or we contribute […]
Abiding in Jesus: December 4
READ: Ecclesiastes 8, John 3, Revelation 19 INEVITABLE DEMISE Jesus is the only one who grows ever stronger; all the rest of us decline. The eternal life we will enjoy is granted to us from the majesty of the Godhead. We participate in it and it becomes fully ours by inheritance, but with no diminishing or […]
Abiding in Jesus: December 3
READ: Ecclesiastes 7, John 2, Revelation 18 TONE DEAF Father Macarius was a church leader in the early days of Christianity in Egypt. A young believer approached him and asked him what it meant to live the crucified life, what it meant in effect to live dead. Macarius had him go to the grave of a […]
Abiding in Jesus: December 2
READ: Ecclesiastes 6, John 1, Revelation 17 ENDING WELL: PENTECOSTAL DEATHS We love Spirit-fueled beginnings. We love when God by His power starts something new and fresh. We love Alpha. But we are not so sure what to do about Omega. Pentecostal Christians in particular seem to have a difficult time when the Spirit of […]
Abiding in Jesus: December 1
READ: Ecclesiastes 5, Luke 24, Revelation 16 GOD’S FOOLS God does not suffer fools; He has no pleasure in them (Eccles. 5:4). An incomplete view of God casts Him as a benign and cuddly grandfather, somewhat clueless to our sin and comprehensively approving of our person and actions. God is approachable and should be, but […]
Abiding in Jesus: November 30
READ: Ecclesiastes 4, Luke 23, Revelation 15 A YIELDED SPIRIT Jesus continually does things that defy comfortable definition. His teaching does not soothe but stirs up the general population (Luke 23:5). His person separates and divides families, yet unites violent Pilate and wicked Herod (v. 12). The wonders of incarnate God lavished on a tiny […]
