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)

Stories of Hope (Part 1) – The Despairing Father

Stories of Hope (Part 1) – The Despairing Father

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Jesus came to bring

good news to the afflicted,

healing to the brokenhearted,

freedom to the captive,

comfort to those who mourn,

joy to those who sorrow,

gladness instead of tears, and

praise instead of despair.(1)

If there was ever a day we needed to be reminded of the message of hope to be found in Jesus, it is today. Beginning this week and continuing for the following two weeks, i will be posting three stories about men and women who experienced that message of hope at the moment of their greatest desperation.

Stories of Hope (part 1) - The Despairing Father (This week – June 29)

Are We Known For Who Our God Is?

Are We Known For Who Our God Is?

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In his letters to the churches in Galatia and Philippi, Paul wrote that he was “crucified with Christ. I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me. For me to live is Christ.”(1) Paul’s identity was in Christ and he was writing the churches to remind them that as followers of Jesus, their identity was to be in Him as well.

The same is true for us … or at least it is supposed to be. But is it? Or are we better known for what sports team we follow, what political party we are a part of, what school we are alumni of, or what social issue we champion? It is easy in our day and time for our identity to get lost in our many interests that divide us and not in the One who died to draw us to Himself.

We would do well to heed a lesson from the Israelites….

The Minority Report

The Minority Report

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Are you at a place in your life journey right now that you believe God is telling you to do one thing, but the obstacles ahead just seem too overwhelming? Are your eyes of faith saying one thing, but your eyes of fear are saying another?

Eyes of fear will always look up at the obstacles from man’s perspective; eyes of faith will always look down at the obstacles from God’s perspective. Eyes of fear will always gaze out from under the circumstances; eyes of faith will always look over the circumstances in light of God’s promises. Eyes of fear will always be blinded by the visible; eyes of faith will always be illuminated by the unseen assurance of God.

Twelve men were sent ahead to explore the land….

No Matter Where We Are In Our Journey

No Matter Where We Are In Our Journey

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It really doesn’t matter where we are in the journey – at the beginning, the midpoint or the end. God uses it all! As a matter of fact, He assures us that what He begins, He completes – and He ultimately works through all things for our good and His glory – even when we can’t see it, or fathom how that could be the case.

The Israelites had lived in Egypt for 430 years. As a matter of fact, it had been 430 years to the day. If you recall, God led them into Egypt. He sent Joseph, son of Jacob, ahead to prepare for their arrival by using for good that which his brothers had intended for evil. Now, 430 years later, the Lord was leading His people to embark on a journey to the land that He had promised their patriarch Abraham; a journey that would lead through the wilderness.

For centuries they had cried out to God for deliverance.

Is He Worthy?

Is He Worthy?

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This past Sunday as our faith community sang the confessional worship song “Is He Worthy?” (lyrics below), i found myself pondering, “Do i really believe what i am singing? Is God truly worthy of all blessing, honor, and glory? And if He is, am i really living out my life as if He is?”

Those questions caused me to think about the early believers we read about in the Book of Acts.(1) Because they truly believed God is worthy, there was a conspicuous transformation that occurred in their lives. It changed the way they thought about everything – themselves, their priorities, their relationships, their time, and their possessions. They immediately recognized something that appears to be more difficult for us today.

A Journey to Our Well

A Journey to Our Well

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There is a journey that each of us take most every day. It is a journey to a “well” where we go to meet a need in our lives. Its purpose may be to fill an emotional emptiness, provide mental stimulation, meet a spiritual need, or satisfy a physical hunger. The needs we feel may vary and the places we go to appease them may look different, but we all have a “well” to which we go.

Sometimes we go to our well not even recognizing what our need truly is. We go to meet a perceived need, when in reality our need is something entirely different. It may be a need that we openly acknowledge and embrace, or it may be one we deny and reject. It may be a need that leads to our being built up, or it may be a need that leads to our being torn down. Whatever it is, we think the well to which we are going will meet the need.

Such was the case with the Samaritan woman …

Chosen and Called

Chosen and Called

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In the Book of Judges we read, “But when the people of Israel cried out to the LORD for help, the LORD raised up a rescuer to save them….”(1) The rescuers were a succession of ordinary men, and one woman, who were chosen and called by God to be used in extraordinary ways. They are referred to as the judges of Israel.

In those days, the people repeatedly chose to turn away from God and do evil in His sight. Their actions led to their enslavement and oppression by wicked kings. The people cried out in their distress, and God in His mercy raised up a man, or in one case a woman, who He chose to use to rescue them from their distress. They enjoyed a period of peace … until they again began to seek their own way.

The Load Is Far Too Heavy

The Load Is Far Too Heavy

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Have you ever found yourself being weighed down by a burden of leadership? It could have been as you led your family, your co-workers, a group from within your church, or a group of friends. Whatever the group was, God had ordered your steps to be in a position of leadership with the group.

At first, everything seemed to be going smoothly, but then the group encountered some type of difficulty. The “honeymoon” period ended abruptly and the people around you began to murmur and complain. You may be feeling weighed down in your role of leadership even today.

The Israelites often turned to murmuring throughout their journey in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land….

God, You Left Out A Few Details

God, You Left Out A Few Details

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The day Moses stood before the burning bush, God gave him a promise. He promised that after Moses had brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, he would return to that very same mountain to worship God. God didn’t tell Moses all that he was going to encounter along the way, and that is often true for us as well.

A number of months passed between the day God gave the promise as recorded in Exodus 3, and the day Moses and the people arrived back at the mountain in Exodus 19.(1) During those intervening months, Moses suffered rejection from his wife when the journey first began.(2) He suffered ridicule from the Egyptians when he delivered God’s message.(3) He suffered rebellion from the Israelites almost every step of the way.(4) As a matter of fact, he was subjected to more grumbling, complaining and death threats than anyone before or since has been forced to endure. And God never mentioned any of those details when He gave Moses His promise. God never said, “After you have endured being the object of rejection, ridicule and rebellion, you will return here and worship Me.” God, however, did say, “After you’ve completed the assignment I’ve given you, you will return here and worship Me.”

God didn’t tell Moses all that he was going to encounter along the way….

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.

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