"Judas quickly stepped up to Jesus and said, “Shalom, Rabbi,” and he kissed him on both cheeks." (Matthew 26:49, TPT)It's beyond comprehension that Jesus, who could have called legions of angels to His defense (Matthew 26:53)...and could have cursed the conniving chief priest like the fig tree and withered up that wicked, lie-promoting man seeking false witnesses when he should have sought the Tru...  Read More

It's the blushing stuff, especially Leviticus 15 in our reading for today. These are the facts of life, nothing hidden or made less awkward or offensive. These laws make sense. If you consider a million plus people camping in an arid wilderness...no running water, no indoor plumbing, conditions rife for the spreading of disease...all of these laws protect a nation from a deadly outbreak that could...  Read More

In a powerful continuing ed session for District Pastors yesterday, Missionary John Haines was teaching on the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). He placed it in a Jewish Rabbinic (religious teaching) setting, and basically used their tradition of practical instruction. One line he repeated struck me: "Pray the life you live, live the life you pray." This was Jesus' way, and a section from our Matthe...  Read More

Whatever you think of the account the deaths of Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's sons (Leviticus 10:1f), you and I know by faith that God's judgments are just, for He looks on the hearts of humans. Extreme as it seems, we are reminded in Leviticus 11:44-45 that God is holy, and He calls us to holiness. His appointed spiritual leaders should lead the charge. Speaking of leading the charge, it was the appoi...  Read More

This morning I had one of those majorly frustrating techno-moments. The thoughts I composed and recorded were ready to be published. When I pushed the 'publish' button, an error message appeared with the instruction to log in again. No problem, I have saved my log-in. Click. Poof. All my wisdom disintegrated into the cloud and all I was left with was the heading. Today was one of those days: accou...  Read More

On Sunday, Pastor Deserea had us all say, "No!" Basically anything that is unlike God, displeases Him, or keeps us from an unbroken relationship with Him is to be avoided at all costs. Likewise, she had us all say, "Yes!" to the limitless possibilities in embracing Christlikeness. Early on in the wilderness journey, Israel encountered God's awesome holiness. We read the fear and awe accounts. In o...  Read More