Ken Winter
Between the Already and the Not Yet

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As Jesus sat on the slopes of the Mount of Olives, teaching His disciples, He began this particular discourse with the admonition, “be on the alert,” and concluded with the exact same words. In reading His words in the Gospel of Matthew, we see that He directed this message to four distinct “audiences.”

First, He addressed His disciples' specific questions. Second, since Jesus’ earthly ministry focused primarily on the Jewish people, this message was also directed to them. Third, He spoke to His church—those who would follow after Him, including us today, who will be with Him in heaven before the Tribulation. (By the way, as a side note—as His people we will escape the Tribulation, but He never promised that we will escape tribulation.) Fourth, He was speaking to His followers who would come to faith in Him during the Tribulation (after the rapture, but before His second coming).

For those of us in that third group—believers following Him today—we live in a place between the “already” and the “not yet.”

Between the Already and the Not Yet
Ken Winter
Simple Stories, Profound Truths

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When Jesus spoke to the crowds, He often used simple stories (parables) to communicate profound truths about the Kingdom of God. Have you ever gotten confused over what Jesus was saying? If so, you’re in good company because even the apostles were confused—until they were filled with the Holy Spirit. The good news is, if we are followers of Jesus, we have that same Holy Spirit inside of us to reveal all truth.

Once, the disciples asked Him, “Why do You use parables when You talk to the people?” Jesus replied, “To those who listen to My teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.” He added, “I use parables because they look, but don’t really see. They hear, but don’t really listen or understand.”

Jesus was emphasizing profound truths ….

Simple Stories, Profound Truths
Ken Winter
No More Manna

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Have you recently lost a job or seen a significant income stream dry up? Are you feeling discouraged or confused about what’s happening? Are you struggling to make sense of an unexpected change in your life? There’s a lesson to be learned from the Israelites’ experience soon after they crossed into the Promised Land.

Few Israelites were old enough to remember the days before they ate manna. For them, it had become a basic staple of their diet—like fresh ground peanut butter is for me today. The generation that perished in the wilderness had been the ones grumbling, “If only the LORD had killed us back in Egypt… There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.”God responded to their complaints and miraculously provided them with manna.

No More Manna
Ken Winter
The Staff That Blossoms

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There is a powerful example in the Book of Numbers that illustrates how we should live as followers of Christ. Ironically, this example arose from a dispute among God's chosen people. They were arguing over who should hold the highest position. In some ways, this mirrors the debate among Jesus’ disciples about who would be the greatest in the kingdom. In both cases, selfish ambition reared its head, just as it often does in our own lives.

God decided to put an end to the controversy about who should serve as a priest on behalf of the people. Despite the judgments of death God had already rendered earlier in the passage, He now used a life-giving sign to settle the issue once and for all.

The Staff That Blossoms
Ken Winter
Seen the Cloud? See the Glory!

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If you are a follower of Christ—if you are one of God’s children—He promises to go before you, not just some of the time, but all the time. When we walk in His way and according to His will, He guarantees that every step we take is sure and secure—even when it doesn’t feel that way! As long as we are walking in His way to the best of our understanding, we can trust that every situation and circumstance—whether He placed it there or not—will work for our ultimate good, His purpose, and His glory.

Let’s consider an example of this truth. From the day the Israelites left Egypt, the Lord gave His people a constant reminder of His presence. He sent a pillar of cloud to guide them by day and a pillar of fire by night, so they could travel without losing sight of His leading. In Exodus we read, “The LORD did not remove the pillar of cloud or the pillar of fire from the sight of the people.” This visible reminder was with them for the entire month since their journey began.

Seen the Cloud? See the Glory!

Holy Spirit

The Power of God Can’t Be Bought

The Power of God Can’t Be Bought

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Four years had passed since the Holy Spirit had been given to the Jews.(1) “A great wave of persecution” had begun on the day that Stephen was killed.(2) It swept over the church, causing many believers, except the apostles, to scatter throughout Judea and Samaria. Despite this dispersion, the church continued to grow. The apostles remained in Jerusalem for a season to shepherd the still-growing church through her infancy, despite threats from the religious leaders and the persecution directed toward the other believers. It is very possible that the initial persecution was primarily aimed at the Hellenistic Jewish believers, as was the case with Stephen.

Philip, the second of the seven Hellenistic Jewish leaders selected to minister to the widows, was directed by God to go to Samaria.  Jesus had previously prohibited His apostles from going there.(3) However, now the Lord was inviting Philip to enter into the labor He had begun about seven years earlier through His encounter with the woman at the well.(4) Philip was not only to declare God’s Word but also to demonstrate God’s power through miracles.

In Whose Name Have You Done This?

In Whose Name Have You Done This?

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It started with the testimony of a lame man who was faithful to give praise to God for what He had done. Often that’s how God begins a work of salvation. Just like it happened through the woman at the well in Sychar. It also happened through the faithfulness of the young boy who gave his sack lunch to Jesus. And it happened through Lazarus when he walked out of that tomb.

Seeing and hearing that the man born lame was now walking, leaping and praising God, the people in the Temple were “absolutely astounded,” and they “rushed out in amazement” to where the man was “holding tightly” to Peter and John. “Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd.”(7) He wasted no time in asking the crowd two questions to get their focus on the right Person: “what is so surprising about this?” and “why stare at us as though we made this man walk by our own power or godliness?”

It would have been easy for the group to get carried away by the sight of the miracle and totally miss the Miracle Worker.

How Can This Be?

How Can This Be?

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The early church looked radically different from the world around them . . . to the point others were drawn to ask, “How can this be?”  In the Book of Acts, Luke records, “On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages,  as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers. They were completely amazed. “How can this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages!”

Revival Over Capacity

Revival Over Capacity

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i came across this picture earlier today on the internet. Regrettably i don’t know who took the picture, so i am unable to acknowledge them as the source. But i do know that it was a traffic sign placed by state troopers on a highway outside of Wilmore, Kentucky. Safety concerns have developed regarding the town of Wilmore, with its population of 6,000 people. It’s the home to Asbury University and Seminary.

You are probably aware that something has been taking place for the past couple weeks on this campus of 1,600 students. Some would call it a revival; others would call it an awakening. i’ll leave it to the theologians to decide what to call it. (However, for the purpose of this post, i’ll use the term “revival” since that is the way it has been publicly referenced.) What i do know is that on February 8th young men and women began to sense the Spirit of God moving in their hearts. Dr. Kevin Brown, the president of the university has said, “We are experiencing an historic moment at Asbury University. Since our regularly scheduled chapel service on February 8, there have been countless expressions and demonstrations of radical humility, compassion, confession, consecration, and surrender unto God.”

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.

Grace-full

Grace-full

Grace. Undeserved favor. Unmerited blessing. Grace extended to us by God. Grace extended by us toward one another. How often do we treat grace as if it is a right we deserve, but at the same time a possession that we choose to grudgingly grant – or not grant – to others? Our social media feeds bear witness to the fact that most frequently we are much quicker to receive grace than we are to extend it.

At the same time, we often confuse grace with license. We act as if we think we deserve grace; therefore, we can do or act in any way we desire, and still expect to receive it.

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 ….

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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