Ken Winter
They Raised A Generation Who Did Not Know Him

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In these days of my life i find myself reflecting on the fact that God has blessed me with a godly heritage.

The question before us is, what are we modeling for the generation that we are raising up? Is our relationship with our LORD one that we desire for our children and grandchildren to mirror? Are we passionately pursuing our LORD with all of our heart, soul, and mind, and actively walking with Him in His mission? Or are we merely going through the motions?

They Raised A Generation Who Did Not Know Him
Ken Winter
I Look To the Mountains

It has been several weeks since i posted. Many of you know that i have been walking through health challenges. By God’s grace, and in His strength, i am now able to share with you that He has carried me through these most recent developments. He has used this time to remind me just how faithful He is, and just how dependent i am upon Him.

I Look To the Mountains
Ken Winter
Advent – We Three Kings (Balthazar’s Story)

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Introduction to this post:

This is the fourth of this year’s weekly Advent posts. Those of you who have followed the blog for more than a year know that it is my annual practice to post a weekly story for the season of Advent about the incarnational birth of Jesus. My hope is that the stories have become a part of your Advent tradition as you remember and celebrate the Good News of the advent of our Lord and Savior.

This year’s posts are as follows:

Week #1 - November 27th: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (Joseph’s Story)

Week #2 - December 4th: Away in a Manger (Achim’s Story)

Week #3 – December 11th: Silent Night (Moshe’s Story)

This week - December 18th: We Three Kings (Balthazar’s Story)

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My name is Balthazar and I am a lifelong student of the science of the stars….

Advent – We Three Kings (Balthazar’s Story)
Ken Winter
Advent – Silent Night (Moshe’s Story)

If you would prefer to listen to this post as a podcast, CLICK HERE.

Introduction to this post:

This is the third of this year’s weekly Advent posts. Those of you who have followed the blog for more than a year know that it is my annual practice to post a weekly story for the season of Advent about the incarnational birth of Jesus. My hope is that the stories have become a part of your Advent tradition as you remember and celebrate the Good News of the advent of our Lord and Savior.

This year’s posts are as follows:

Week #1 - November 27th: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (Joseph’s Story)

Week #2 - December 4th: Away in a Manger (Achim’s Story)

This week – December 11th: Silent Night (Moshe’s Story)

December 18th: We Three Kings (Balthazar’s Story)

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I am a shepherd named Moshe.

Advent – Silent Night (Moshe’s Story)
Ken Winter
Advent – Away in a Manger (Achim’s Story)

If you would prefer to listen to this post as a podcast, CLICK HERE.

* * * * *

Introduction to this post:

This is the second of this year’s weekly Advent posts. Those of you who have followed the blog for more than a year know that it is my annual practice to post a weekly story for the season of Advent about the incarnational birth of Jesus. My hope is that the stories have become a part of your Advent tradition as you remember and celebrate the Good News of the advent of our Lord and Savior.

This year’s posts are as follows:

Last week - November 27th: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (Joseph’s Story)

This week - December 4th: Away in a Manger (Achim’s Story)

December 11th: Silent Night (Moshe’s Story)

December 18th: We Three Kings (Balthazar’s Story)

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My name is Achim. My family and I live here in Bethlehem, the town of our ancestor David, the shepherd king….

Advent – Away in a Manger (Achim’s Story)

Easter - The Brother

Easter - The Brother

NOTE: My three-week series of short stories surrounding the ministry, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus concludes this week. These stories are fictional first-person accounts of three different men who encountered and responded to Jesus in very different ways. My prayer is that, through the stories, you will see Jesus and be reminded of the Good News of Easter.

The Rich Young Ruler (Reuben’s Story) – March 17

The Servant (Malchus’s Story) – March 24

The Brother (Jude’s Story) – This week – March 31

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My name is Jude. I am my mother Mary’s fourth son, the third by her husband Joseph. I am six years younger than my half-brother Jesus, three years younger than my brother James and one year younger than my brother Joseph. I have one younger brother, Simon, and two younger sisters, Mary and Salome. My youngest sister was named in honor of a woman who befriended my mother as a young girl when she was pregnant with Jesus; she continues to be a life-long friend.

As you might guess, I am a carpenter, just like the rest of my father’s sons. I was fifteen when my father died….

Easter - The Servant

Easter - The Servant

NOTE: My three-week series of short stories surrounding the ministry, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus continues this week. These stories are fictional first-person accounts of three different men who encountered and responded to Jesus in very different ways. My prayer is that, through the stories, you will see Jesus and be reminded of the Good News of Easter.

The Rich Young Ruler (Reuben’s Story) – March 17

The Servant (Malchus’s Story) – This week – March 24

The Brother (Jude’s Story) – March 31

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My name is Malchus. My father is a servant to the High Priest Ananus ben Seth, whom you know as Annas. He served Rabbi Annas from the days before he became high priest, and from the days before I was born. I was six years old when our family moved with Rabbi Annas and his family into the palace of the high priest. Of course, we lived in the servants’ quarters while they lived in the palace.

Though there was never any question that I was the child of a servant – which also made me a servant – children in a palace tend to find one another. The high priest’s oldest daughter, Leah, was a year younger than I was. Though she and I were not the only two children in the palace, we were close in age so it was inevitable that we would play together….

Easter - The Rich Young Ruler

Easter - The Rich Young Ruler

NOTE: Starting today and for the two weeks that follow, i will be posting a total of three short stories surrounding the ministry, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. These stories are fictional first-person accounts of three different men who encountered and responded to Jesus in very different ways. My prayer is that, through the stories, you will see Jesus and be reminded of the Good News of Easter.

The Rich Young Ruler (Reuben’s Story) – This week – March 17

The Servant (Malchus’s Story) – March 24

The Brother (Jude’s Story) – March 31

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I am Reuben, the oldest of my father’s six sons, and I grew up in Jerusalem. My father is a member of the Great Sanhedrin – a position he has held since I was a mere boy. He serves that grand body as its treasurer, overseeing the finances of the temple. His position has not only provided him with great influence among our people, it has also brought him great wealth.

He is a contemporary and confidant of our former high priest, Annas, and together they crafted many ways to increase the temple treasury – which also brought them personal gain. Their relationship dates back to their early years in rabbinical school and blossomed into a strong, lifelong alliance….

The One Who Stays

The One Who Stays

Today you will KNOW that the Great I AM is the One who stays! Wherever you are standing … whatever you are walking through … and whatever you are facing in the path ahead … you will KNOW!

If there has been any question or doubt that God is with you, today that will be settled – once and for all! Today your “hope” will no longer be a “wish”; it will become a confident assurance. It will no longer simply be a longing or desire; it will become the source of your longing and desire. Today your “faith” will no longer be based upon sincere intention; it will be founded on immutable truth. Your faith will no longer be based on an idea or an ideal; it will be firmly planted in the Person of the Almighty God….

Here Again

Here Again

Often as we journey through the wilderness of our lives, we think we’re all by ourselves. We begin to think that there is no one else walking through a wilderness like ours, and no one else who understands what we are going through. We allow ourselves to become isolated and alone … and from there we fall headlong into despair.

During the years the Israelites were walking through their wilderness, a census was taken that indicated there were over 600,000 men.(1) It represented men who were able to go to war, aged twenty years and older. Estimating the number of women and children, as well as the tribe of the Levites that were not included in this count, the total number of Israelites easily approached or exceeded two million people, which equals or exceeds the population of ninety-four countries in our world today. This truly was the nation of Israel. This nation was prepared to mobilize an army in excess of 600,000 men if the need arose; that number would only be exceeded by the armies of seven nations in our world today. Are you getting the picture that this was not a small group of people?

And yet, they too, felt alone and isolated!

You Lack Only One Thing

You Lack Only One Thing

We live in a day in which our sense of worth most often comes from what we do, what we possess, how others see us, or what we have achieved. Recently my pastor reminded us that even the games we play reinforce that belief. The winner of the board game of “Life” is the one who amasses the most possessions before arriving at “Millionaire Acres.” As a matter of fact, that’s true of most of the games we play. We win by defeating others, by coming out on top, by amassing the most points or objects. All too often, we are so driven by our misguided sense of worth that we are willing to win at any cost.

Our misguided sense of worth isn’t a new thing; it dates back to the days of Adam and Eve. They bought a lie, and then their son Cain killed his brother Abel out of jealousy. We’ve been buying the lie and comparing ourselves to others ever since.

As we read through the Gospels, we find that there were many who even followed Jesus for all the wrong reasons. They wanted to have more and be more. They followed Him, seeking what He could do for them – a miracle, a meal, riches, or perhaps even a position in His kingdom. Sadly, most would eventually turn away from Him – rejecting His teachings … and most importantly, rejecting Him….

Endora's Story

Endora's Story

This Friday, February 19th, i am releasing my new book of short stories for Easter entitled The One Who Stood Before Us. It is a collection of forty short stories. Each one of the stories are eyewitness accounts from people who encountered Jesus. Most often in the Gospels we hear about the encounters that Jesus had either through His perspective or through that of the Gospel writer. Through these fictional stories, i endeavor to allow us to hear about the encounter through the eyes of the individual. Some of the individuals come straight out of the Gospels, like this one; and others are representative of the many other people who were in the crowds, whose stories are not told to us.

This is a story you will recognize from the Bible, but i have given the woman a name, and i have added fictional details to enable us to understand what her life was probably like prior to, as well as after, her encounter with Jesus. She had a story just like each one of us. i pray her story challenges and encourages you in yours!

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My name is Endora and I am neither Roman nor Jew; I am a Samaritan, living in the village of Sychar. You might think you have never heard of our village before, but you would be wrong. We actually have quite a history – much of which you already know….

Never Lost

Never Lost

[A personal note: i actually wrote this blog post several weeks ago – before the events of January 6th. But once those events occurred, i paused its publication because i did not want anyone to mistakenly connect what i was saying with that event. This is a post about the confidence we can have in God in every circumstance we may encounter or experience in our lives. It is not about armed rebellion. It’s about a trustworthy God!]

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We see a sharp contrast between two groups of people when we read the account of the Israelites marching around the walls of Jericho.(1) On one side of the wall stood the people of Israel. They were confident and assured that, though they were facing an imposing enemy, their God would grant them victory. They weren’t trusting in any person, or any group of people; nor was their confidence in their own power or ability. Their confidence was in their God!

On the other side of the wall stood the citizens of Jericho, as they cowered in fear. It wasn’t a reverent fear of God; rather, it was a paralyzing fear.(2) They knew the God of the Israelites had already given their land to His people.(3)

The posture of both of those groups of people was completely determined by their view of God. Thirty-five hundred years later in 2021, that is still the case. Our posture is also completely determined by our view of God. We face many unknowns, just like they did. The enemies we face may look different, but the God we follow is not….

The Sorrow Won't Last

The Sorrow Won't Last

Jesus was speaking words of encouragement and truth to His disciples that night as they walked from the upper room to the Garden of Gethsemane.(1) Earlier that night, He had used the traditional observance of Passover to teach His disciples new truth. And His teaching did not stop when they left the upper room, it continued throughout their journey.

Allow me to point out that Jesus never wasted a moment or a motion. Nothing with Jesus is perfunctory. No moment of traditional “religious” reflection passes without Jesus using it in our lives to open our eyes and hearts to His truth. No journey we take is solely about the journey. Jesus uses every moment of the journey to reveal His truth about Himself and about ourselves. His reflections along the way are not purposed to scold us or defeat us. His words to us throughout the journey are intended to lead us to a greater understanding of Him, as He draws us closer to Himself. Jesus knew what was ahead for His disciples. He was using that time to prepare them. He knows what is ahead for us, as well – and He is using this time in our respective journeys with Him to prepare us.

i wonder how attentive the disciples were to all Jesus was saying. Were they even listening?

A Royal Connection

A Royal Connection

Recently, my cousin Calvin forwarded a document that he had come across that traced our family tree back to English royalty. It indicated that King Edward III of England was our 22nd great grandfather (GG), and that other notables in English and European history, including King Edward II (23rd GG), Charlemagne (41st GG), and Edmund Mortimer (20th GG) were also positioned as branches along this illustrious family tree. Someone had gone through painstaking effort to assemble this ancestry listing all the way back to the middle of the first century A.D. To say the least, the document was very impressive!

i was considering writing the current royal family to see if arrangements could be made for us to come for a visit to Windsor Castle since it was the birthplace of my 22nd GG. i was certain that the royal blood coursing through my veins would insure an immediate affirmative response. Who knows – this knowledge may have also surfaced the birthright of a forgotten knighthood? The list of possibilities soon became endless!

Until the next morning, when i received an email from another one of my cousins….

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