Ken Winter
Chosen to Serve

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There is no such thing as a perfect church. That statement does not come as a shock to any of us, whether we are a part of a church … or not. However, i do believe that those of us inside the church often tend to want everyone to believe we have it all together. We have a tendency to hide the “real me” behind a mask and cover up the things, the hurts, the doubts, and the imperfections that we don’t want anyone else to see. (It’s similar to the way most of us – believers and non-believers alike – tend to portray ourselves on social media.)

i also believe that those outside the church often project that false impression – that we think we’re perfect – upon the church, and enjoy highlighting the downfall of those within the church when they fall.

No, the church isn’t perfect, but then again, it never has been! But we endeavor to worship, follow, and follow the example of the only One who is and ever was perfect.

Chosen to Serve
Ken Winter
Perilous Times

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We live in a day filled with upheaval, confusion, and uncertainty. It therefore comes as no surprise that the rates of depression, anxiety, and fearfulness about the future continue to reach new highs  among adults in the U. S. according to a Gallup poll published in May 2023.(1) But as followers of Christ, we can take heart that the perilous times in which we find ourselves are also indicative of the days to come that Jesus described two thousand years ago. We can embrace the hope we have through the promises and assurance He gave to His disciples—and through them, to us.

Jesus was sitting on the slopes of the Mount of Olives with His disciples telling them about the perilous times that would signal the end of the age and His return.(2) The disciples, in turn, asked Him three questions:

1.    When will all this happen?

2.    What sign will signal Your return?

3.    What sign will signal the end of the world?

Perilous Times
Ken Winter
His Face Was Set

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The New King James translation of Luke 9:51 says “Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Jesus to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.” The timeframe of this particular journey recorded in Luke 9 was well over a year before Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday. He still had much yet to do, messages yet to preach, and miracles yet to perform. But in this verse, Luke is reminding us that Jesus never lost sight of why the Father had sent Him. No matter what was on His “to do list,” His face was always set, His eye was always focused, and His stride never wavered from His ultimate purpose.

Sometimes, as we remember the events of Holy Week, we can fall into a trap of thinking that Jesus’s crucifixion was the result of Judas’s betrayal, the Sanhedrin’s envy and hatred, Pilate’s spinelessness, and the soldiers’ cruelty. We can be lulled into thinking His death was involuntary. And salvation was the result of God taking something that the enemy meant for evil and using it for His glory and our good.

His Face Was Set
Ken Winter
Thomas (A Story of Guilt and Shame)

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NOTE: This week, just like last week, as we prepare for Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, i want us to look at the events leading up to those days through the eyes of the second of two of Jesus’s disciples. But in so doing, i want us to see how the sin they both harbored in their hearts kept them from seeing the truth of God in those events.

Too often, the sin we harbor in our hearts keeps us from seeing God’s truth. Instead of confessing our sin, we justify it, and thus we fall headlong down the slippery slope. This week let’s see if we can learn from the second of the two men who despite his personal walk with Jesus became blinded to truth. And let’s see if we can learn from him.

Though elements of the story you are about to read are fictionalized, the ultimate truth it reveals is very real!

Thomas (A Story of Guilt and Shame)
Ken Winter
Judas Iscariot (A Story of Selfish Ambition)

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NOTE: This week and next, as we prepare for Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, i want us to look at the events leading up to those days through the eyes of two of Jesus’s disciples. But in so doing, i want us to see how the sin they both harbored in their hearts kept them from seeing the truth of God in those events.

Too often, the sin we harbor in our hearts keeps us from seeing God’s truth. Instead of confessing our sin, we justify it, and thus we fall headlong down the slippery slope. Let’s see if we can learn from two men who despite their personal walk with Jesus became blinded to truth. And let’s see if we can learn from them.

Though elements of the story you are about to read are fictionalized, the ultimate truth it reveals is very real!

Judas Iscariot (A Story of Selfish Ambition)

Acts

The Language of the Heart

The Language of the Heart

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Thus far in my lifetime, the Lord has blessed me with the opportunity of visiting fifty-five of the nations that make up our world today. In most of those nations, He has further granted me the opportunity to participate in some form of worship celebration that was being conducted in the heart language of the indigenous people. By heart language, i mean the language that is the most authentic expression of the passion of our hearts. In most instances, it is the language that was spoken in our home during our formative years. In many nations today, it is different from the trade or link language that has been adopted by a culture in order for the people to communicate across a wide variety of heart languages.

Each time i have found myself in the midst of a worship experience that is taking place in a heart language other than my own of English, it has been an opportunity for me to experience a hint of what it will one day be like to be a part of “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. Each of us will be praising God in the language of our heart.

Are We Turning The World Upside Down?

Are We Turning The World Upside Down?

One day the apostle Paul and his traveling companions arrived in the city of Thessalonica. (You can read about it in the 17th chapter of Acts.) The city was named in honor of the step-sister of Alexander the Great, and was a prominent city of its day. Three rivers flowed from the city into the Aegean Sea which made it a major seaport for trade and transportation. It was declared to be a “free city” by the Roman government – which meant that it had an elected assembly that governed local matters and it had no occupying military force stationed within its walls.  

There was a synagogue in the city. Paul labored at his tentmaking trade through the week, and on three successive Sabbaths, he went to the synagogue. Every day he used the Scriptures (the Old Testament) to share the gospel message of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection.

After three weeks of ministry, Paul saw a large number of people believe….

Press On (even when the ship goes down)

Press On (even when the ship goes down)

In last week’s blog post, we looked at the assurance of God’s faithfulness as we encounter the storms of life. We looked at the storm that Jesus and the disciples encountered as they crossed the Sea of Galilee. We again witnessed His faithfulness in bringing His disciples safely to the shore. We were reminded that we can be confident in His miraculous ability to still storms that arise in our lives. But what do we do when He doesn’t still the storm? What do we do when the ship goes down?

The apostle Paul together with two hundred sixty-six other men found themselves in the midst of one of those storms in the Mediterranean Sea. A few in the group of prisoners, soldiers and sailors were followers of Jesus, but the large majority were not. It was Paul who had earlier expressed safety concerns to the ship’s officers before the storm arose, recommending that they find a safe harbor for the winter. But the ship’s owner and captain, motivated by their own personal avarice, assured the Roman centurion (the patron of the trip) that the journey could be made. Given the option of listening to experienced sailors or a tentmaker, the centurion opted to follow the advice of the former. 

Ultimately the ship was battered by gale-force winds that raged for days….

It Seemed Good To The Spirit

It Seemed Good To The Spirit

Whenever God is at work, there will often be people who attempt to put their mark on the work. They will endeavor to either add to, or take away from, the gospel. Often times, it is not an intentional attempt to distort the gospel; rather, it is borne out of personal, cultural or traditional influences. A group of men from Judea were deriding the Holy Spirit’s saving work among the Gentiles in Antioch (Acts 15). They believed that one could not be saved apart from the requirements of the law of Moses. Though they themselves had received salvation by believing in Jesus, they also believed that the laws they had followed since birth were a part of their salvation. They were mixing their personal religious experiences with salvation through Christ, and teaching a distorted gospel. They were saying that a Gentile had to first become a Jew in order to become a Christian. In essence they were saying that simply trusting in Jesus Christ wasn’t sufficient; they also had to obey Moses.

Peter himself had learned that salvation is not decided by whether one eats meat or doesn’t eat meat, or whether one eats pork or doesn’t eat pork. Salvation is not dependent upon whether we gather to worship on Sunday, or the Sabbath, or another day. It is not the result of keeping the Law, going through a ritual, or joining a church. We are all sinners before God, for whom Christ died on the cross. He was buried and rose again. He paid the price and extends His salvation to us by His grace which we receive through faith. There is one need, and there is but one gospel – with nothing to be added to, or subtracted from, it.

The church can still be guilty of trying to add to it today ….

It Is What It Is - Or Is It?

It Is What It Is - Or Is It?

Over the last fifty years, the idiom “it is what it is” has sprung forth from the fatalists in our midst who firmly believe that we are victims -- victims of our circumstances, our situations, our upbringing, our medical condition, etc. It communicates that we have resigned ourselves to the belief that our situation is immutable, and nothing or no one can change it. It is used to convey a sense of resignation, helplessness and hopelessness. “That’s just the way I am.” “That’s just the way my spouse is.” “That’s just the way my kids are.” “That’s just how people like me are treated.” “That’s just the way the system works.” “It’s always been this way, and it will never change.”

But the fact of the matter is that we will never know the truth of any situation until we have heard from God. In His world, an immutable truth is that sin separates us from a Holy God. And He Himself made the way – the only way -- whereby we might overcome that immutable truth. He is not dead; He’s alive. He is not distant. He is not silent. He is not weak. His arm has not grown short. He is mighty and He is able to save – spiritually, physically, and emotionally. Throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus healed. He raised the dead. He stilled storms. He met physical needs. He was the King of the reality that “it is NOT what it is, if Jesus says it isn’t”. And He still is! What He began to do through His earthly ministry, He still does. He is still full of surprises – for individuals, for families, for churches, and even for nations….

A Divine Appointment

A Divine Appointment

Divine appointments can occur at the most unexpected times and in the most unexpected ways. Just ask Philip. He was in the midst of a great spiritual awakening that was spreading throughout Samaria (Acts 8). God was using him in a great way, and many were repenting of their sins and believing in Jesus, when an angel of the Lord told him, “Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza.” God was directing him to leave a work among the multitudes to go to a desolate place. That doesn’t necessarily align with a successful career path from a human perspective – even if you’re a pastor. Whenever we hear a pastor announce that God has called him to go elsewhere, it is rarely to a smaller church. And such a move would be even more difficult, if we are serving in a place where the power and the presence of the Spirit of God is mightily at work, and many are coming to faith and the church is growing. But such was the case with Philip. 

We aren’t told whether or not he had a conversation with God as to the wisdom of such a move. However, with all we do know about Philip and his walk with God, i tend to think that he immediately set out on the journey to Gaza without ever questioning God. He was in Samaria because God had placed him there. The work that was occurring in Samaria was a work of the Spirit of God, and not of Philip. i don’t believe that Philip ever got confused about who was in charge. i don’t believe he ever tried to take any credit, or saw himself as being instrumental in any way. He was a man full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit – led by, empowered by and used by God for His purpose. Therefore, it didn’t matter whether the assignment was in Samaria, Gaza or Azotus. All that mattered was that he was in the place where God would have him.

Throughout my years serving with the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, i had the privilege of meeting thousands of men and women who….

Why Now and Not Then?

Why Now and Not Then?

i am currently writing the final book in the series Lessons Learned in the Wilderness. The book, entitled Until He Returns, focuses on the truths that God teaches us through the early church as recorded in the Book of Acts. In the third chapter of Acts we come across the man who was born lame. Each day his friends or family brought him to the Beautiful gate so he could beg from those who were entering the Temple. That had been taking place for a long time – so it got me to thinking…

Two months earlier, Jesus arrived in Jerusalem and was greeted by the multitude who was praising Him with shouts of “Hosanna!” Jesus’ journey ended at the Temple where He dismounted. He then entered the Outer Court and quietly walked around, looking, but not saying anything. He then made His way through the Beautiful Gate into the hall of prayer. There were a number of people begging at the gate. Some were lame. Some were blind. The lame man was more than likely one of them. Each had been brought by family members or friends in the hopes that their friend or loved one would receive charity – or possibly a miracle of healing. Jesus looked on the people with compassion. He didn’t ignore them, but on that day He didn’t stop to heal them. He continued on into the Temple and spent time in prayer. He and His disciples then quietly left.

Jesus returned the next day which was Monday….

A Drink At Joel's Place

A Drink At Joel's Place

As i write this i am in South Florida. Yesterday we experienced a brief tropical front of rushing wind and pouring rain. As i listened to the sound of the wind, i was reminded of that day recorded in Scripture when “suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind” (Acts 2:1 ESV). That led me in my thoughts to the message that Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost.  It is the prophecy of the last days as recorded by the prophet Joel. Joel was writing that the day of the Lord’s return would be heralded by the pouring out of the Spirit of God. This should not seem strange or contrary. Those gathered on the Day of Pentecost listening to Peter were witnessing the fulfillment of the beginnings of that prophecy. The day was coming when all of the prophecy would be fulfilled, but on that day they were seeing a glimpse of it. As the people looked and stared at a group of Galileans they would have been incredulous. The announcement that the Holy Spirit was being poured out upon a group of Galileans would have seemed incredible to the Jews, because they thought God’s Spirit was only given to a few select people (Numbers 11:28-29). But here were one hundred twenty of the followers of Jesus – men and women – enjoying the blessing of the same Holy Spirit that had empowered Moses, David and the prophets. The last days had dawned with the arrival of Jesus – and they would come to a climax with His return. The arrival of the Holy Spirit affirmed that they had entered into the first of those last days as foretold by the prophets.

Joel wrote that one feature of the last days will be the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on people of every kind – men and women, young and old, high and low. God's people will be clothed with power; they will receive power. And the main effect of this power seems to be bold, prophetic speech. Believers of all kinds are going to be so gripped by the Spirit of God that they see the greatness of Jesus and the purpose of Jesus with extraordinary clarity and speak it with extraordinary boldness. The people were seeing that take place before their eyes – from Galileans no less.

But though Joel’s prophecy pointed to a period of time that began on that day of Pentecost, it is a prophecy that points to the return of Christ. That means that we are in the midst of those days – until He returns….

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