This page contains the resources that I have found useful in my personal and professional life. Admittedly, it is an eclectic list. It contains everything from quotes and books that I like to podcasts, videos, and slideshows.
If you don’t want to scroll through the entire list, you can click on one of the links below and filter the resources by specific category.
I will update this list as I discover new resources. If you have a resource you think I should add, please email me.
It is not enough to put our revelation into action, we must become students of miracles. That means the miracles that we experience must shape our thinking. God uses miracles to train us how to see differently. A miracle is a school. – Bill Johnson
What do you think of online cyber-church? Please leave a comment in the comments section or leave a voice mail by clicking on the side tab.
Here is an article on the subject from Christianity Today: http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2015/february/how-pastors-now-use-internet-ministry-barna.html
It is a curious coincidence that ‘stephanos’, the Greek word for crown, translates also as ‘Stephen’. Wasn’t Stephen a Christian martyr, perhaps even the first Christian martyr? At least Acts thinks so (Acts 7:58-60). With bold spirit breathing words, Stephen declared God’s dealings with Israel. I have read his words often and marvel at the turn in Acts 7:51. Stephen signed his own death certificate with those words. Couldn’t he have left those words out and lived longer? I mean, his story was accurate to this point. Do you muse about this? How many could Jesus have saved through a life lived instead of one tossed aside? God was using him to do miracles and wonders (Acts 6:8). Why not pile some more wonders up? You know stack them high and deep. Jesus has the answer to this. He said, “A single grain of wheat doesn’t produce anything unless it is planted in the ground and dies. If it dies, it will produce a lot of grain (John 12:24 GW). They buried Stephen. Devout men did what devout men do (Acts 8:2). Before his warm body could grow cold, the wonder of wonders started. Gospel germination began. The disciples scattered preaching everywhere because of Stephens death (Acts 11:19). Stephen produced more in his death than all the miracle credits he would have amassed by leaving verse 51 out of his sermon. And as for Stephen? ‘Stepahnos’ Stephen will wear the first New Testament awarded ‘stephanos’ crown of life. It’s all because he spoke out verse fifty one instead of playing it safe.
For more on this subject see ‘Enduring Tests and Trials: The Crown of Life; James 1:12’
As ISIS continues to wage genocide against Christians in Iraq, your voice is making a difference.
For months we’ve been telling you about the plight of Iraq’s Christians as ISIS has unleashed a barbaric and deadly wave of persecution throughout the region.
ISIS—the Islamic State—is using its radical jihadi army to target, persecute and murder Christians in unthinkable ways. ISIS is decimating churches, slaughtering Christian men, raping and enslaving Christian women and even beheading Christian children.
For months we’ve called it what it is: genocide against Christians.
For more on this see: http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/48299-finally-obama-admits-genocide-against-iraqi-christians
The idea of confirmation by trial is a Bible idea. God’s Word, for example, has gone through ‘verification’ seven times according to the psalmist (Psalms 12:6, 119:40). What about your words? How’s your count going? You remember Abraham? Do you recall how he faced the trial of his life about Isaac his only son? When God gave him his test results the Lord also said, “Now, I know that you will not withhold your only son from me.” The three Hebrew boys in Daniel (Daniel 3:8-30) also come to mind in this way. Tests sometimes come from the Lord (Proverbs 17:3, Psalms 66:10). They come by His still small voice speaking and asking you to do something way outside your comfort zone. Tests that have the Lord’s digital signature are unlike the enemies assaults in this way. God’s tests come to corroborate you, to confirm you (Zechariah 13:9), to add value to your life. It’s all positive. His workings make champions out of wannabes. The enemy’s tests come to destroy you. His bag is to make your life and testimony powerless. This negative stuff is what’s on James’s mind here.
For more on this subject see ‘Enduring Tests and Trials: The Crown of Life; James 1:12’
Short answer: No, he never drank green beer. Patrick was a maverick, an iconoclast, a trailblazer. And though he was high born, he never forgot the naked shepherd boy, cold and hungry and huddling on an Irish hillside. “The imagined Patrick to me is interesting as a cultural phenomenon, but not as a breathing man of faith,” said Philip Freeman, author of “St. Patrick of Ireland.” “He suffered terribly, was tormented by self-doubt, yet he always pressed forward to spread the Gospel.” He was also the first church father to speak out against the abuse of women, especially slaves. And at a time when Christian biggies like the Apostle Paul and St. Augustine never left the boundaries of the Roman Empire, Patrick was the first missionary to people considered barbarians. In the words of Thomas Cahill, “The step he took was in its way as bold as Columbus’, and a thousand times more humane.”
For more of this article see Who was St. Patrick, and Would He Drink Green Beer?
One reason God created time was so that there would be a place to bury the failures of the past. – James Long
“I’m so grateful the court decided that kids like me shouldn’t be silenced just because some people object to timeless American values,” said Jones, who was a defendent-intervenor in the suit.
“Ever since I was little, I’ve recited the Pledge of Allegiance because it sums up the values that make our country great. The phrase ‘under God’ protects all Americans — including atheists — because it reminds the government that it can’t take away basic human rights because it didn’t create them.”
A state judge dismissed the case brought by the American Humanist Association seeking to gut “one nation under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance after hearing Jones and her family’s testimony against it.
This is the second time a state court has stopped the American Humanist Association from outlawing the federal pledge. Their first state-level suit, raising identical claims, was unanimously rejected by Massachusetts’ highest court last year, according to the Becket Fund.
In a case filed in February 2014, the American Humanist Association, claimed the recitation of the pledge violates Article 1 of the New Jersey’s constitution. The case was filed on behalf of an unnamed New Jersey family from Monmouth County against the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District.
Last November, Jones told Fox News “our rights don’t come from the government but from a higher power, so they can’t take away the rights.”
“The message today is loud and clear: “God” is not a dirty word,” noted Eric Rassbach, deputy general counsel for the Becket Fund in a press statement. “The Pledge of Allegiance isn’t a prayer, and reciting it doesn’t magically create an official state religion.”
I was busy working about the kitchen when I noticed Henry, one of our pet gerbils sitting atop a stool next to the counter. A few moments later I heard a splash and then frantic scrabbling. The sound was mystifying. What was its source? Suddenly I knew. Grabbing from the corner of the counter a large tin which I poured used oil into I witnessed a sodden Henry going down for the last time. Fortunately for him I was able to grab his long tail and haul him out. As he huddled in a pitiful mess upon a kitchen towel I gently soaped him up and rinsed him in warm water. As the grease disengaged from his coat he raised his little head, straightened himself up and shook himself off. Henry was restored.The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made. Henry fell into the grease because he was somewhere he shouldn’t have been. He did not fall into the oil on purpose. His fall resulted from not knowing better. Sometimes this happens to us as God’s children. We fall. We fall into situations due to ignorance. Other times we fall into situations due to our own rebellious choices. Whatever the case the LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made. The LORD upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. Today you or I may be in a fallen state we may be bowed down by a situation incurred by our ignorance or perhaps by a rebellious choice. Whichever the case let us remember the LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made. The LORD upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. Let us lift our hearts and eyes to him who is faithful and allow ourselves to be restored.Prayer: Lord God and Wonderful Father thank you for your loving kindness which endures forever. Restore us this day as we may have need and bless us with a spirit of gratitude toward you, our Father, who loves us so. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen. Lynne Phipps lynnephipps@hotmail.com According to new research from Duke University’s Mark Chaves, speaking in tongues has jumped five percentage points and is on the rise among American churchgoers.
James 1:12 (ESV)
12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
The word ‘tried’ suggests authentication and approval. Let us address the typical ‘other side of the coin’. Some believers have fallen away when facing trials and tests. This is not new news under the sun. Why did they return to the world? They blamed the negative happening for their scurrying back to old ways. What did they miss? For one, standing against tests and trials affords you an opportunity at certification. You can show God, the world, and your relatives you are the genuine article. You can receive authentication as a real deal twenty first century believer by staring down the mud of difficulties. Get your certification. It builds aggressive confidence to know mud, guts, and the world’s puke can’t pull you down. What if you failed the test? The war is not over just because you spilled your coffee. Opportunities to right the course, for the fallen, exist through God’s mercy. Through repentance and restoration, renewal occurs. The lame can experience healing. The crooked can know a straight path again. With blood washed determination prodigals can still realize the life of a ‘blessed man’ and receive the ‘crown of life’.
For more information on the ‘Crown of Life’ see Enduring Tests and Trials: The Crown of Life; James 1:12