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.

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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)

Nicodemus - The Inquirer

Nicodemus - The Inquirer

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NOTE: Have you ever stood at the crossroads of a decision when the world around you was telling you to do one thing, but deep down inside you knew God was wanting you to do another? Did you ever wish you could sit down with Jesus and discuss it with Him? If so, you can relate to Nicodemus.

He knew that he was standing at the most important crossroads of his life. He knew that despite whatever success he had enjoyed in his life to that point, his life legacy would be determined by how he now responded to Jesus. The same is true of us. Our response to Jesus will determine our life legacy.

This week’s post is another one of my fictional eyewitness accounts. i pray Nicodemus’s story helps you know how to respond.

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My name is Nicodemus, and I grew up in Capernaum along the Sea of Galilee as the eldest son of a respected family in our village. My great-great-grandfather led the group of settlers sent by our Hasmonean King John Hyrcanus I to establish this fishing village. This was a part of the expansion led by the Hasmoneans to populate more of the wilderness lands north of Judea. My great-great-grandfather had been chosen to lead the effort because our village was to be named in honor of his father, Nahum….

Zebedee - The Fisherman

Zebedee - The Fisherman

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NOTE: Did you ever feel like God was at work in everyone’s life … except yours? Did it ever seem to you that everyone around you was being called to new and exciting opportunities … but somehow you were being left behind? Or, if you are a parent, have you ever had to release your family to the Lord, entrusting them to His care, as they embarked on a journey that would lead them away from you?

If so, you can relate to Zebedee. This week’s post is another one of my fictional eyewitness accounts. i pray Zebedee’s story speaks to those same feelings in your own life.

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My name is Zebedee, and I grew up here in Bethsaida along the Sea of Galilee. I believe that even a bad day on my fishing boat is better than any day on dry land – but don’t tell my wife! Though, truth be told, she knows me better than I know myself. Salome (not to be confused with Mary’s childhood friend who has the same name) and I have now been married for thirty-three years. Though she grew up as a merchant’s daughter, she quickly learned what it was like to be a fisherman’s wife, and she never complained. I am a truly blessed man because of her….

A Conversation with a Pharisee

A Conversation with a Pharisee

Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin. Pharisees were zealous in their keeping of the Laws of Moses. They were all about “doing” the right things – in so far as they defined those “right things” to be. They were well known to strain the letter over the spirit of the Law.(1) For example, the Pharisees developed such detailed rules for the observance of the Sabbath that they missed the whole purpose for why God created it to begin with.(2)

Since the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin were charged with interpreting what the “right things” were, it placed them in a position of great authority. There was no higher position of political power for a Jew in the time of Christ. Nicodemus was also considered to be one of the wealthiest men in Jerusalem of his day. So, he had it all – position, power, and money. And he was checking off the boxes – he was doing all the “right things.”

A Lesson from Zacchaeus

A Lesson from Zacchaeus

Most of us, at some point in our lives, have hosted a guest – and probably on more than one occasion. It could have been for a meal. It could have been for an overnight stay. It may have been longer. Some of you may be hosting a guest right now … and you’re wondering if they will ever leave!

The guest may have been a family member, or a friend, or an acquaintance. They may be strangers that you were asked … or compelled … to host. You may have been preparing to host your guest for some time. In fact, you looked forward to their arrival with anticipation. Or maybe, you wouldn’t go right to “looked forward to their arrival.” Or perhaps, your guest unexpectedly showed up.

Over the years, we have been the host to guests in each one of those situations … and we have also been the guests received by gracious hosts in each one of those situations. i am particularly mindful of occasions when we found ourselves stranded while we were traveling overseas, and unexpectant hosts very graciously took us in….

No Turning Back

No Turning Back

Regardless of our age, many of us have found ourselves, at some point, harkening back to the “good ole days.” Those days may not even have been that long ago. Most of us find ourselves harkening back to the days before COVID.

Whatever those days are for you, you probably remember them fondly. Our memories tend to wash away most, if not all, of the challenges, complications and difficulties those days actually contained. In truth, as we look back, we recall that time as more idyllic, less complicated and more fulfilling than it really was. And – if during our stroll down memory lane – we happen to recall any of our sinful behavior during those days, we tend to gloss over the sin, and instead, long for the temporary pleasure it provided.

That impulse to harken back to yesterday is often triggered by the overwhelming challenges of our current reality….

For Us or Against Us?

For Us or Against Us?

There are big challenges ahead! As a matter of fact, you might be right in the middle of one of the biggest challenges you’ve ever faced. We have a number of friends who are walking through tough battles with cancer right now. Others who are scheduled for major surgeries. Still others who are battling serious cases of COVID-19.

Others of you are facing serious challenges at work with your boss, with a co-worker, or with a project you need to complete. Some of you are facing huge financial issues, or family challenges, or major life decisions – and the obstacles surrounding them seem insurmountable.

No matter what the challenge is, we would do well to take a page out of Joshua’s playbook.

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.

A Word of Comfort

A Word of Comfort

Jesus and the disciples were in the upper room. They had just finished eating their supper when Jesus announced that He must leave them, and they would not be able to come with Him – at least for now. Remember, they had given up everything to follow Him. He had been the center of their lives for the prior three years. And now He was going away?

They had no idea whatsoever as to what was going to happen in the next few hours. The idea that He would soon be arrested, by that time tomorrow His body would be laying in a tomb, and in three days He would arise from the dead, was not even a possibility in their minds. Instead, they were still all contemplating what position they would hold on His cabinet when He declared Himself to be the Messiah and established His earthly kingdom.

To make matters even worse….

Hills and Valleys

Hills and Valleys

A few years ago, the Lord blessed my wife, LaVonne, and i with a “mountaintop” experience of a lifetime. He orchestrated events so we could enjoy ten days of extended quiet time with Him in an upper room in the city of Jerusalem. It was not “the” upper room where the apostles gathered; but for us personally, it was our “upper room”. It was a place where the Lord permitted us to wait before Him, to hear His voice, to experience His presence, and to be renewed through the filling of His Spirit. Though i know that He is able to do those things in my life wherever i am – whenever i am willing to be still before Him – it was an added blessing to do so there in Jerusalem where the Lord Himself says that He will one day make His home among His people.(1)

As we ate our meals on the rooftop overlooking the city, we could hear the joy of children laughing and playing in the near distance, mixed with the sounds of gentle breezes and the chirping of birds. i envisioned – as best i could – what that day will be like when our Lord returns to make His home there among His people.

As the time drew to a close, i knew that we could not tarry there

God's Not Done With You

God's Not Done With You

When was the last time you messed up? For most of us, we don’t have to think back very far. It was within the last ten minutes, or earlier today, or yesterday. i know it most certainly has been for me. If your answer is more than a week ago, i want to challenge you to rethink your answer, and reconsider all of your thoughts, attitudes and actions over the past week. I think you’ll find that it was more recent than you think.

As I said, for most of us, the answer will come more immediately to mind. We know we messed up. But some of us haven’t done anything about it. We’ve just continued to feel bad about it ever since.

David, the shepherd king and psalmist, knew exactly how we feel when he wrote….

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