Blog Articles
Assurance of Salvation – Part Four: The Gospel of Salvation
The last article emphasized the importance of a correct diagnosis in order to find the correct cure. We noted Jesus came that we might have life (salvation), know it (assurance), and live it abundantly (revival). This installment is focused on salvation itself: How...
Assurance of Salvation – Part Three: Matching the Cure with the Need
A preacher friend operated under the philosophy if you get sick, just tough it out until you get better. He called once and told me he had indeed gotten sick, and though he was toughing it out, he had not gotten better. Finally, he visited a doctor. Upon examination,...
Assurance of Salvation – Part Two: Causes of Doubt
Why do people doubt their salvation? The primary reason is theological; a secondary reason is practical. Theologically, doubt arises when one switches focus from the object of faith to the subject of faith. The object of faith is Jesus, based on the specific word of...
Assurance of Salvation – Part One: It’s a Big Deal!
When clouds of doubt block the view of the sunshine of assurance of salvation, it’s a big deal. First and certainly foremost, eternal destiny is at stake for the one in doubt. To a sincere soul, this is huge. There is a psychological impact because where one will...
What Is the Meaning of the Wheat and the Tares in Matthew 13?
One of the parables of Matthew 13 speaks of tares sown among the wheat, and the passage has often been used in a way that leads saved people to doubt their salvation. What drives their questioning is a shift of focus away from Jesus, the object of faith, and toward...
Extremes, Hybrids and the Real Answer
Extremism is a common pitfall, and it has proven a great blessing to be awakened to the fact that one has become extreme. This certainly applies to cases of legalistic and, at the other extreme, relativistic approaches to Christian living. As a result, many recognize...
When Evil Affects You
“We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair.” 2 Corinthians 4:8 One of the great perplexities of life is when the evil doing of others affects you. The setting can vary from family situations to interactions among neighbors...
Inherently the Same, but Individually Different
From a response to The Liberating Life of Jesus: “I'm only through the introduction and I love so much that you flat out say Christians aren't meant to look exactly the same. That within the absolutes there are many variations. I'm a statistician and I can't help but...
You Shall Know Them by Their Fruits
What does “Ye shall know them by their fruits” mean in Matthew 7? Jesus makes this statement in Matthew 7:16. The previous verse provides surprising clarification: “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening...
God’s Economy of Faith
For business and trade, every nation employs an economic currency. In America, we use dollars; the euro is the choice of European Union member states; India has the rupee, China the renminbi (yuan) and Japan the yen. Economies have currencies. In God's Economy, the...
New Book: The Liberating Life of Jesus
Have you ever felt trapped in a box of someone else's making, perhaps a modern fundamentalist-style box, and yet, down deep, you know the Christian life is neither that nor an up-for-grabs version of your own making? In my early years of ministry, I was sincerely...
Good Hearing
For some, age brings a need for hearing aids, but regardless of age, we all need good hearing in the spiritual realm. Jesus designates two aids to good spiritual hearing. First, Jesus warned us to take heed what we hear (Mark 4:24). He offered this caution after...
A Garden and God
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth…And the LORD God planted a garden…to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food…and a river went out of Eden to water the garden” (Gen. 1:1; 2:8-10). God planned and planted the first garden...
The Urgency of the Hour
Years ago, I remember my father praying, “May the urgency of the hour be upon us.” If that was true in the nineties, it is certainly true in 2021. For many, the times are unsettling, but for the people of God, it is certainly no time for despair and lethargy. Though...
The Gift of Christmas
Jesus is the gift of Christmas, Love of God revealed to man, Born to die that He might save us, All in God's great master plan. Jesus is the hope of Christmas, Full salvation offered free, Christ in you the hope of glory, Gift of life and victory. Jesus...
The Real Battle
In the earthly realm, we observe battles and our senses offer us more than seeing and hearing should we find ourselves actively engaged in a struggle. But where truth is at stake and God's cause is the real issue, the battlefield is in the unseen realm. Battles for...
The Gift of Jesus Christmas Tract
Christmastime has an air of hope. Songs of Jesus ring out in the marketplace. The season is a wonderful opportunity to give out gospel tracts, and many include Christmas-themed tracts with the cards and letters they address to unsaved family and friends. Working as an...
Fishing for Souls
Years ago when my wife and I visited Israel, we got up early one morning to watch the sun rise over the Sea of Galilee. What an unforgettable and beautiful sight! It could have been a morning like that when Jesus walked along the Sea of Galilee and called out to Peter...
Awakening Saints & Sinners
In a portion of Scripture where Paul argues for the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (the fact that He is alive, and, therefore, real and worth suffering for) Paul boldly says, “Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I...
Otto Koning on Spiritual Warfare
Well do I remember being a bit frightened by the concept of “spiritual warfare” and then having my faith bolstered by the truth of the authority of the believer who accesses Christ's authority. Some years ago, after preaching a series on the Spirit-filled life, an...
The I AM and Time
In the Welsh Revival of 1904-05, David Matthews testifies in his book I Saw the Welsh Revival that as an unsaved man he pressed himself into the back of an overcrowded church. When he finally left and stepped back into the cool air he realized he had been in that...
Netcasters Evangelistic Training Course
There was a time when I would put hours and hours into soulwinning, but in spite of the effort, I had to admit I was having little impact. Let me tell you how God changed everything. Stirred to lead souls to Christ, I worked hard. I trained and became certified in...
Revival and Holiness
When revival comes and hearts are restored to life again as they experience the very life of Jesus within, holiness will follow. The Spirit convicts of that which is not the life of Christ. For some, the Spirit convicts of pride, envy, jealousy, strife, bitterness,...
Who Names and Who Claims?
I often hear people say (especially as they pray), “I claim such and such….” Is this legitimate? The word claim is used in the sense of “take by faith.” Former generations called it appropriation. As is often the case, there is a legitimate Bible truth and a going...
The Wind of the Spirit – Back in Print!
Let me tell you about a time when I thought I was going to get passed by and how the Lord mercifully met with me. In 1992-93, the Lord graciously launched me on a revival journey through a discovery of the meaning of grace, but there was so much more to learn. As a...
The Necessity of Believing
Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Two profound truths are set forth. First, without faith it is not possible to please...
The Unpardonable Sin
Occasionally, someone will ask with trembling what the unpardonable sin is. Fear in their voice and a troubled countenance suggest that they wonder whether they have committed this sin beyond all hope. Jesus said, “And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man,...
In the Last Days
This phrase from the Bible is highlighted in an enlightening way in the following letter written by Pastor Jim Bickel to his church family, Bethel Baptist Fellowship of Brooklyn, New York. In the troubled times in which we find ourselves, may we find hope in God's...
More Thoughts on Conviction vs. Convenience
For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. (James 1:6,8) Every child of God should have convictions. To be conviction-less is to be spineless, double-minded, unstable, driven by...
Conviction or Convenience?
Over the years, I’ve noticed that some so-called convictions are really more positions of convenience based on accepted positions and pressures from a given Christian subculture. I fell into this myself in earlier days. In such a setting, identity and even...
