Ken Winter

October 18, 2023

The Lost Son

Ken Winter

October 18, 2023

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Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach.(1) The Pharisees and their scribes continually criticized Jesus because He was associating with “such sinful people” — even eating with them! The religious leaders were functioning under the false belief that there is a hierarchy of sin – dividing “acceptable” sins from those that proper Jewish society would have deemed to be “unacceptable”. They would have identified “notorious sinners” as people who led conspicuously immoral lives and/or engaged in highly questionable occupations.

But it also would have included people with certain diseases or disabilities that were perceived to be a sign of some great sin. This group would have been physically and morally unapproachable by these religious leaders. Tax collectors were generally hated and despised by their fellow countrymen. Therefore they would have also been considered to be a part of this larger group. No “respectable” Jew would have had anything to do with this collection of “notorious sinners”. The Pharisees viewed this group as being “beyond saving” and viewed themselves as not being in need of saving. Sadly, the Pharisees never saw themselves as being among the lost.

Ken Winter

October 11, 2023

Commissioned by God

Ken Winter

October 11, 2023

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Be ever mindful that our God is always at work preparing us for what He is preparing for us. And His preparation is perfect, because He knows what we will need and He knows what we will encounter. He knows the plans He has for us – “plans for good and not for disaster, to give a future and a hope.”(1) He has been at work all around us every day of our lives leading up to this very moment. He has been at work long before we ever knew it – and even before we knew Him! Every circumstance, every situation and every experience we have ever encountered has been authored or permitted by the Sovereign God to prepare us for this moment and for those ahead. Every unexpected twist and turn have been designed to prepare us for those unexpected twists and turns that we will encounter in the journey ahead.

Joshua had been Moses’ understudy for forty years. He had seen his mentor lead the people through the challenges of the wilderness – many of their own making, and some the result of the challenges of the wilderness itself. And on the eve of their entry into the Promised Land, as we see recorded in Joshua chapter 1,(2) God confirmed that now was the time for the mantle of leadership to be placed upon Joshua. And in so doing, God was giving him something even greater than all those years of preparation – God was giving him His charge – His calling – His commission.

Ken Winter

October 4, 2023

Every Assignment Has A Purpose

Ken Winter

October 4, 2023

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The psalmist David records in the 37th Psalm: The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. That was true of His chosen people, the Israelites, and it is true of us today. His plans and the way He orders our steps are not haphazard. He has a purpose and a plan, even when we have no idea what it is. And the details surrounding our every assignment are very exact though we may not recognize them. We see that truth revealed throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

One of those places is in the Book of Numbers, as we see the Israelites’ journey through the wilderness. Did you ever stop and think about all of the logistics involved in moving a group of people, numbering between one and two million, from Egypt to the Promised Land? i am mindful of all of the planning that went into a trip for my wife, two children and me, when our children were younger. i am also mindful of the occasional disagreement that arose over who sat where, who slept where, who got to go first, etc. Now imagine doing that with upwards to two million people! God was leading His people on a journey through the wilderness and He would leave no detail unresolved.

Ken Winter

September 27, 2023

We Can Be Sure

Ken Winter

September 27, 2023

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The wilderness is that place – or more accurately those places – in our lives, where we are outside of our comfort zone. The wilderness is a place that is unfamiliar and, most often, uncomfortable. It is rarely, if ever, our final destination; rather, it is that place through which we must pass in order to get to the other side.

Sometimes we venture out into the wilderness willingly, because we know that the pathway to our desired destination leads through it. It could be the circumstances surrounding a move from one place to another, or the unknowns of moving from one position to another. Though we entered into the wilderness expectantly, and more than likely excitedly, we still encounter the unexpected twists and turns of the wilderness along the way. But more often, we enter into a wilderness involuntarily – either through the onslaught of a severe health issue, the loss of someone near and dear, the unexpected loss of a job, or the like. We didn’t volunteer for this journey, and we don’t like it one bit!

Ken Winter

September 20, 2023

Who Should We Obey?

Ken Winter

September 20, 2023

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What do we do when those around us are telling us to do one thing, but our conscience says quite another? Or what do we do when the culture surrounding us advocates one thing, when what we know to be true is quite different?

Most of us are familiar with the Hans Christian Andersen folktale entitled The Emperor’s New Clothes (first published in April 1837). As you will recall the emperor becomes convinced that a new suit of clothing of unparalleled beauty and quality has been crafted for him to wear that can only be seen and appreciated by those who are truly wise and discerning. It is an innocent child who ultimately has the courage to say, “But he hasn’t got anything on!”

Sadly, we, too, are often told to accept truths that are not true, and believe facts that are as baseless as the emperor’s nonexistent clothing. What are we to do? Who should we obey?

Ken Winter

September 13, 2023

The Withered Fig Tree

Ken Winter

September 13, 2023

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Two days had passed since the people had cried out, “Hosanna,” as Jesus arrived in the city. For the third day in a row, Jesus and His disciples were headed back into Jerusalem after overnighting in Bethany. On this morning, they passed a dead fig tree. And there was something unusual about the way this tree had died. The disciples noticed that the tree had withered from the roots up. It has shriveled due to a complete lack of water and nutrients. The apostle Peter spoke up to remind everyone that the Master had cursed this seemingly healthy tree only one day prior. In that one day, a tree which had been full of leaves and had given the outward appearance of health and growth was now completely withered and dead. A process that should have taken weeks, or maybe even months, had occurred overnight. Not only was it seemingly cut-off from its source of water at its roots, but also all of the moisture that had existed within the tree had evaporated.

In an earlier post entitled The Lesson of the Fig Tree, we looked at the fact that the tree which had been created to be fruitful had been found by Jesus to be fruitless. On this morning, immediately following Peter’s pronouncement, Jesus began to teach the disciples about faith. Though it may seem like it is an abrupt change of subject . . . it was not!

Ken Winter

September 6, 2023

Sermon of Sermons

Ken Winter

September 6, 2023

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Over the years, God has used many preachers to teach me His Word. Some were at a distance, like John Piper, Warren Wiersbe, Chuck Swindoll, John MacArthur, and Tim Keller. Some have been close and personal, like Henry Blackaby, Keith Thomas, Mark Becton and David Platt. Some have spoken through the ages, like Charles Spurgeon, Jonathan Edwards, D. L. Moody and A. W. Tozer. Others date back to the New Testament, like Paul, John, Peter and James, as well as the Old Testament prophets like Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Zechariah. But as greatly as the Father has used each and every one of these men – and so many more – to be heralds and teachers of His Word, all of them pale in comparison with Jesus.

One day He gathered the multitude that had come out into the countryside to hear Him, and He began to teach… the greatest sermon that ever was – the sermon of all sermons. Jesus taught….

Ken Winter

August 30, 2023

Can i Trust Him?

Ken Winter

August 30, 2023

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If you were to ask me to name some of my favorite books – other than the Bible – My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers would be at the top of my list. God has used that book more times than i can count to reinforce His truth in my life over the years.

Such was the case this morning. Chambers asks the question, “Can you trust Jesus Christ where your common sense cannot trust Him?” What am i to do when everything around me points to doing one thing, but i know God has told me to do another? OR, what am i to do if i find myself in the midst of a hopeless situation, but Jesus has told me to trust Him?

Ken Winter

August 23, 2023

Finish Strong

Ken Winter

August 23, 2023

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In his last letter, the apostle Paul told his protégé Timothy that he had fought the good fight. He had finished the race. He had kept the faith. He had completed what God had set before him. His life is an example to us to not stop short of the goal . . . to not give up . . . but to finish strong!

Sadly, the Israelites demonstrated to us what it looks like when we give up and don’t finish strong. The LORD had led them to conquer the individual lands that He had given them to possess. And He said, “I have given you victory over the land.” But repeatedly throughout the first chapter of Judges we read, they “failed to drive out the people living” in the land. The tribe of Judah failed to drive out the people living in the plains who had iron chariots. The tribe of Benjamin failed to drive out the Jebusites. The tribes of Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher, and Naphtali failed to drive out the Canaanites. The tribe of Dan failed to drive out the Amorites. Each of the tribes stopped short of the direction the LORD had given them, and the long term result was catastrophic.

Why did they stop short?

Ken Winter

August 16, 2023

The Goodness of God

Ken Winter

August 16, 2023

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It is all too easy for us to lose sight of the grace, mercy and goodness God extends to us each and every day of our lives. We can so easily develop a mindset of entitlement. We can begin to think we deserve every good thing we have, as well as every good thing we don’t have. We can act as if God’s role is to serve us, instead of the other way around. We can easily forget that every good and perfect gift comes from Him.

One day, seventy years after God led the Israelites out of Egypt, their leader, Joshua, assembled them for what would be his last time. He reminded them that seventy years earlier they had been the property of their Egyptian masters. They had possessed very little, if anything, that they could call their own. They had taken their direction from the Egyptian pharaoh, his government and their masters. Egypt had been built, fed and maintained through the strain of their backs and the sweat of their brow. The only act of service they were not permitted to perform was to serve in the Egyptian army, for fear by their masters that armed Israelites would turn against them.

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