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)

What Should We Do?

What Should We Do?

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We will all encounter a myriad of questions throughout our lifetimes. Some of those questions will be foundational and life-changing, while others will be more trivial and incidental. i would, however, contend that there is one question that stands out above all the rest. It is a question that arises from the depths of the very soul with which we were created. Sadly, it is a question that too many have ignored or rejected. But even one’s failure to respond is in fact a response. It truly is the most important question any of us will ever face.

It was a moment unlike any other they had ever experienced. Only those gathered in the upper room that day were anticipating the arrival of the Spirit of God, and even they had no idea when He would arrive. Everyone else in the city was going about their planned activities. Many were in the city to celebrate the religious Festival of Harvest (Shavuot). With great pomp and ceremony, the Jewish pilgrims had traveled to Jerusalem with their baskets containing their first fruits.

Walking Through a Vineyard With Jesus

Walking Through a Vineyard With Jesus

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Jesus and His disciples were headed from the upper room to the Garden of Gethsemane. His betrayal and arrest were now only a few short hours away. More than likely, they were walking through a vineyard in the Kidron Valley. It would have been a full moon, so they would have been able to clearly see all that was around them. Never being one to waste an opportunity, Jesus used the vineyard to teach them – and us – a foundational truth.

As i write this, i am reminded of a trek that i and a few friends made through a city in China several years ago. Some of the members of our group were from the US, and some lived in that city. Our Chinese friends were giving us a guided tour of some of their favorite sites. Along the way, we stopped at an art shop that had beautiful, colorful drawings hanging on the walls. And most of the sketches included a wise saying that was also penned in Mandarin on the canvas.

The Lost Son

The Lost Son

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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.

Commissioned by God

Commissioned by God

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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.

Every Assignment Has A Purpose

Every Assignment Has A Purpose

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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.

We Can Be Sure

We Can Be Sure

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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!

Who Should We Obey?

Who Should We Obey?

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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?

The Withered Fig Tree

The Withered Fig Tree

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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!

Sermon of Sermons

Sermon of Sermons

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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….

Can i Trust Him?

Can i Trust Him?

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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?

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