The entire Bible is fully inspired, but there are two letters that seem to have dropped straight out of heaven.

They are Ephesians and Colossians. High water marks in the written Word of God.

It is for this reason that I’ve often ministered out of these two letters.

A 6-part series that I delivered several years ago has been uploaded to the podcast. It takes a narrative approach to Paul’s amazing letter to the Colossians. The parts are as follows:

Encountering Christ in Colossians: Part I – the historical background of the letter.

Encountering Christ in Colossians: Part II – the main points of the letter with some practicals sprinkled in.

Encountering Christ in Colossians: Part III – the big picture of Colossians 1 and 2.

Encountering Christ in Colossians: Part IV – Colossians 1:24-29 expounded.

Encountering Christ in Colossians: Part V – Colossians 3 to the beginning of 4 expounded.

Epic Jesus: The Christ You Never Knew – Colossians 1:15-22 unveiled.

You can freely hear these messages via iTunes, Podbean, or RSS below.

Note of Interest: I delivered most of these messages while I was writing Jesus Manifesto. And I sampled one of the more unique chapters from that book to the audience beforehand. You’ll hear it in one of the audios.

Plans are being laid for more exciting episodes for the podcast. Subscribe so you don’t miss any.

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In 1927, the famed British philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote an essay entitled, “Why I Am Not a Christian.”

Russell’s essay inspired the title of this post.

By “Christian,” I mean someone who has trusted their life to Jesus Christ as Crucified Savior and Resurrected Lord and seeks to follow Him each day. (I’m keenly aware that the term “Christian” has been hijacked to mean different things, hence the need to define.)

Three things to keep in mind about this list:

1) This isn’t a list of theological reasons (e.g., God chose me in Christ before the foundation of the world and the Holy Spirit revealed Christ to my heart).

2) This isn’t a list of why I am indebted to Jesus (He owns me; He bought me with His blood; He died for my sins, etc.) Instead, they are intellectual/emotional/experiential reasons why I trust in and follow Jesus.

3) This isn’t an exhaustive list (I can certainly list more reasons), and it doesn’t reflect any particular order or priority.

At the end of the list, I have a question for readers who aren’t following Jesus at the present time. And I’m really looking forward to hearing what they have to say.

So share this post via Facebook and Twitter using the links/buttons below. Continue Reading…

There’s a big difference between the conviction of the Holy Spirit and the accusation of the enemy.

It’s the difference between the finger and the hand.

Let me ‘splain.

The word “devil” means slanderer. The nature of our enemy is to slander, defame, and accuse.

In the book of Revelation, satan is called “the accuser of the brethren.”

One way he accuses is in our conscience, overwhelming us with a sense of condemnation and unworthiness to the point of despair and even hopelessness.

Standing in the virtue of the blood of Christ is the remedy for the enemy’s accusations.

“They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb . . . ” Continue Reading…

“Buy the truth and do not sell it—wisdom, instruction and insight as well.”

~ Proverbs 23:23

In this world, falsehoods are cheap and pervasive. But divine truth is costly.

There is a price tag attached to it.

You cannot buy truth with physical money. It can only be obtained by heaven’s currency.

Here are four of truth’s costs: Continue Reading…

In the Spring of 1998, I spoke at my second national conference.

In the introduction to the message I delivered that year, I fleetingly mentioned that psychologists have studied the developmental stages of human life, using this fact as an illustration for what followed. The rest of the 45-minute talk was about Jesus Christ and how He’s building His church today.

After I finished, a 45-minute Q & A followed.

The first person who asked me a question was a woman (about 30 years my senior at the time). She spoke for about a minute, telling us all about the evils of psychology.

She then ended with a question asking me why I mentioned psychology in my talk.

I answered briefly, mentioning what clinical psychologists do in their research, and then went on to the other questions, which were all on point.

But I was floored. Continue Reading…