In a sermon, "Provision for the Vision," T.D. Jakes bragged about his stable of luxury cars. His materialism resembles that of other prosperity preachers like Fred Price, who flies from coast to coast in his Lear jet, and I.V. Hillard, who wears full-length fur coats, an expensive diamond ring, and flies in his private helicopter to avoid traffic while traveling to the churches he pastors in north and southwest Houston. Prosperity preachers flaunt tremendous wealth before their congregants as... Read Full Story
In a sermon, "Provision for the Vision," T.D. Jakes bragged about his stable of luxury cars. His materialism resembles that of other prosperity preachers like Fred Price, who flies from coast to coast in his Lear jet, and I.V. Hillard, who wears full-length fur coats, an expensive diamond ring, and flies in his private helicopter to avoid traffic while traveling to the churches he pastors in north and southwest Houston. Prosperity preachers flaunt tremendous wealth before their congregants as... Read Full Story
With all this talk about grace and freedom, maybe it’s time for me to explain something. By that I mean exercising one’s freedom without knowledge, having no concern as to whether it offends or injuries a young and susceptible fellow follower. But I must hasten to add that I think such restraint is an individual matter.
It isn’t to be legislated, not something that should be forced on some other person. Constraints are acceptable and obligatory, but I fail to find in Scripture anyplace... Read Full Story
Sure, there are people who have been in possession of a good memory. For many of us, remembering is a talent, like talking in public, singing, reading, thinking, or swimming. We improve at an ability by hard work—direct effort applied with a fair deal of concentration, mixed with correct knowledge.
One of the most vivid weak points we regularly confess is in the field of recalling names.
We excuse it by pronouncing : “I’m not good at recalling names. “or “Your face is familiar, but... Read Full Story
Across the Bible, we see God reaching out to His creation to attempt to save and revive. Naturally, nowhere is this more clear than in the New Testament and especially in the Gospels thru the life of His son. Jesus came to earth to find and save those that were spiritually lost and bound by sin. By His own profession, He makes this clear when He tells His supporters that he didn’t come to judge humankind, but to save the lost from a unceasing death ( John 3:17 ). Frequently we are virtually... Read Full Story
To be’humble in heart’ as Christ stated He was, is to be submissive to the core. It involves being more interested by serving the necessities of others than in having one’s own wants met.Someone that is actually free handed is generous with their time and possessions, energy and cash. That one angle does more to squelch our joy than any other. So busy shielding and shielding and manipulating, we set ourselves up for a gruesome, intense existence. In our egocentric life, the principle of... Read Full Story
Shakespeare called it “the green sickness.” Bacon admitted “it has no holidays.” Horace announced that “tyrants never invented a bigger torment.” Barrie announced envy “is the most corroding of the vices.” Sheridan referred to it in his play The Critic when he wrote, “There isn’t a keenness so strongly rooted in the human heart as this.” Philip Bailey, the eloquent English poet of yesteryear, vividly described it as “a coal [that] comes hissing hot from hell.”.
The symbolism is good... Read Full Story
As our world is getting smaller, our minds appear to be following that lead. Our level of selfishness is inflating by the day. All of a sudden, nobody would like for you to attack their’space.’ Somewhere on the way to maturity the lessons get rubbed out. Our capacity to share what we have with others comes directly from the Lord our God, who led Paul to write [*CO]‘Do nothing from egocentricity or empty conceit, but with humbleness of mind regard one another as more significant than... Read Full Story
No words can describe what occurred in that little upstairs bedroom when the corpse started to stir and Elijah saw life returning to the boy’s body. No words can describe being in the middle of such a trial and then watching God, in an a miracle moment or period, work it out. Only you who’ve been there can nod, grin, and say,’Amen. I know exactly what you are describing ; i have seen God do it.’. That’s what we may have done, or maybe that is what some televangelist might do, but that is not... Read Full Story
All David had was a sling and a stone as he took on a giant wearing two hundred pounds of armor. It may appear silly, but that is the way God operates. In the final research, there had been a whoosh, whoosh, whoosh-one stone flew thru the air, and that is’s all there had been to it. It’s not that I am sure what your menacing giant is today. It may relate to your job, your roommate, or your varsity. Maybe it is a person, an action in the courts, unemployment, a tragedy. Maybe it is some worry... Read Full Story
