Friend Friday With Special Guest Pastor Das from India
In this episode I am interviewing Pastor Das who has raised up a trining school in India that sends out church planters into unreached areas of India. Just this year they will graduate and send 73 workers to accomplish the vision. Their motto is "Do, or die" They have committed themselves to making Jesus known even if it might cost them their lives to do so. You will not want to miss this very encouraging interview!
You may find out more about the work being done by visiting:
Pastor Das has a training school for raising of disciples of Jesus who will be sent out to preach the good news and plant churches in unreached areas throughout India.
This year they will graduate 73 such disciples who are being sent out!
They are really doing a great work in a very needy area of the world.
Set Free To Believe The Promises
Somethings seem too good to be true. Discover how you have been set free to able to believe and receive the things that seem too good to believe.
Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Thursday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!
We are free to believe in Jesus and that all the promises of God are yes and amen in Him and by that experience daily revival, or we can choose to put all our eggs of faith in the basket of the idea of revival as a moment in time that comes surprisingly like winning the lottery.
Jesus is an ongoing eternal source of life and hope that equips me to have an abundance of life to share with others and be instant in season and out of season.
The idea of revival on the part of some is a periodic occurrence that appears for a short while and then it is gone. Those who sought it are found longing all over again for it and talking about the good ol' days like God has left the scene.
I'm not saying that there aren't times when God has done amazing things that stood out in history and even changed whole nations as a result. History would prove that wrong very quickly.
My aim is to simply put the emphasis where it should really belong. The truth of the gospel concerning Jesus and the completed work He performed. A work that made us possessors of God's very own righteousness and brings us close in fellowship with Him.
There is a continual feast to be enjoyed and we are made divine partakers of His divine nature through faith in Jesus. We are also make partakers of His glory by a revelation of His love as Paul revealed to us in Ephesians. You will know more of His glory as you grow and increase in your knowledge of His great love revealed in Christ Jesus!
Go in that great love today and let others see Him living in and through you!
Grace and Peace in Excess
You have an abundance of a resource most people wish they could just have a little of. Discover how richly blessed with it you truly are.
Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Wednesday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!
2Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
He gave us something according to His divine power.
He gave us all things that pertain to life and godliness.
We possess it through the knowledge of Him.
By His glory and virtue with which He called us He also gave us exceedingly great and precious promises. By receiving such promises and walking in faith according to them we are made partakers of His divine nature.
This is how we escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
This is describing for us the new life we have in Jesus and the wonderful way in which it works in us.
Who would want to live like a beggar when Scripture clearly reveals we already have what we need with excess? I encourage you today to go live in the excess you have been given in Christ Jesus.
Getting Tuned In
Sometimes when things are unclear it can be hard to know just what to do. But if you can get tuned in to what is really clear you’ll know exactly what you ought to do. Discover how to get that clarity.
Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Tuesday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!
Encouraged By His Presence
There is a way to be encouraged regardless of what may be taking place in your life at this moment. We’ll discover what the secret is.
Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Monday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!
Friend Friday with Mark Machen
In this episode I interview my good friend Mark Machen who is the Pastor of Life of Faith Church in Irondale Alabama. Mark has something rich to share from the counsel of the Apostle Peter that I think will greatly encourage you today!
In this episode I interview my good friend Mark Machen who is the Pastor of Life of Faith Church in Irondale Alabama. Mark has something rich to share from the counsel of the Apostle Peter that I think will greatly encourage you today!
Connection Complete
If an electrical connection cannot be broken then there's no way power flow can be stopped when supplied. You have an unbreakable connection to a reliable power source.
Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Thursday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!
I was reminded recently of how a vehicle can sometimes act erratic and it seems like a dire situation when in fact it is something simple.
I had a car that whenever the battery terminals got a little corroded it would run like it needed a major repair. The engine ran rough, lacked power, and the power windows would often act up as well.
But the cause was the connection to the battery wasn’t working like it should! A good connection would always fix the problem.
You know, Jesus came to fix our connection with God the Father. That is what being saved really is about. Jesus came to reconnect us because when Adam sinned mankind’s connection to God was broken.
My car couldn’t fix itself. The car needs a good powerful battery but even if it has one it needs to be connected to that battery to function. My car needed me to make a good connection to the source of power for it. The same is true of us. We were disconnected and couldn’t fix ourselves we needed Jesus to do it.
Jesus didn’t come to make us able to keep the law so we could be good enough to get God to like us. Jesus came to reconnect us to God in real relationship. Jesus came to reconcile man to God. He did not come to connect us more deeply to the law, the law doesn’t care about us, it only cares about right and wrong behavior and justice being applied to it.
Jesus came to give us life with God by making us right with God by grace through faith! The just shall live by faith! You are right with God not because of anything you have done but only because you put your faith in what Jesus did. Now your relationship with the Father is connected at all times not based on your behavior but based on Jesus’ obedience. This is where our power to live comes from! God loves you and has made a way for you to belong to Him and have fellowship with Him! I encourage you to live your life connected today knowing that Jesus did everything needed for you to experience it.
Kept Safe With Hope
There is a security so profound that you can live confident you are taken care of in any situation. Knowing you're safe can bring comfort and fuel your peace. Take a moment to discover just how possible that can be.
Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Wednesday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!
When I was a small boy, like most boys, I had a vivid imagination. I would watch monster movies with my older brothers and then go to bed and get scared in the dark. I imagined that if I covered myself with my blanket pulled over my head that whatever was in my room couldn’t see me. Being hidden beneath my trusty blanket gave me the peace I needed to go to sleep. I would almost bet you’d be able to relate to that experience in your own childhood story.
Believe it or not in the Bible there is call for us as God’s children to use our faith and imagination to realize we have been safely covered and hidden. If we get hold of this revelation is can really help us in our times of anxiousness and fear. It can also help us in our times of temptation.
Colossians 3:2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
The reality of being hidden with Christ in God is everything! What can see us in that place and what could possibly get past God to get to us?
Even better is the idea of what we can discover about our God as our Father from being hidden with Christ in Him. There’s a lot of love to discover in that place.
It is from our position of being hidden with Christ in God that we discover who He is, what He has done and who we truly are and what we are to be.
You know, without the security of my trusty blanket as a kid I would have had many a restless nights and it would have taken a toll on me physically and mentally.
When it comes to spirit and soul true rest belongs to those who have the revelation of what it means to be in Christ. Our heavenly identity is inalterably tied to your position in Christ.
Our security is in Jesus and we are citizens of His kingdom which is righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. Having a tough time? Remember, you are under a powerful covering today. Christ is in you the hope of glory!
No Way To Lose
How bold in taking a risk would you be if you knew there was no way you could lose?
Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Tuesday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!
There’s something powerful in knowing there’s just no possible way you can lose or ever be completely defeated. I want to just read something to you real quick that is an undeniable truth full of promise and hope.
Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. 29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And having chosen them, He called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory. 31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. 35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. 38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
You and I are loved by God no matter what might be happening right now in the world around us or in our own personal lives! We are loved with an everlasting love because Christ is in us and we are in Christ by grace through faith!
I believe and because I believe I speak this good confession of faith. Why not hear yourself saying out loud what God says about you? I encourage you today to make a similar confession.
A Love That Is Guaranteed
Not many things can be counted on in this life but there is one thing that is for sure. That this short journey with me to learn this amazing promise for your life.
Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Monday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!
Have you ever found yourself thinking about the reason Jesus came and what He was really saying to us? I personally do not believe that Jesus came to say, "Why can't you be like me so the Father will love you?"
If Jesus had said that He would have made the Father’s love for us conditional with an unattainable standard applied.
Many years ago I was someone who thought that way and I was often discouraged as a result because I knew how much I wasn’t like Jesus. Thankfully the Holy Spirit revealed the truth of the good news to me.
I believe Jesus came because we were nothing like Him and even on our best days we still miss the mark. Thankfully we are told in,
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Think about it, God loved us even when we were not aware of Him and living in rebellion to Him.
Jesus gives us a righteousness we could never earn. A righteousness the Father would approve of and welcome. God’s own righteousness. The Bible says that God cannot deny Himself and since it is His Own Righteousness we now possess in Christ, He will not deny us.
The law of Moses was never a way of being made truly righteous before God. It revealed righteousness very clearly and as a result condemned us. That’s why when it was in force regular sacrifices were required due to the fact that no one fulfilled its demands. If the standard of holiness it required could have been attained there would have been no need for the shedding of blood for the remission of sins over and over again.
The righteousness God was desiring from before the foundation of the world is the righteousness we now possess in Christ. It was the solution His Son Jesus would provide. You see it was God’s plan all along that at the right time we would be made righteous by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.
We do not add anything to Jesus to have relationship with the Father and maintain it. Jesus completed the work at the cross, He rose from the dead proving He was authorized by God and then He ascended on high to sprinkle His own blood on the real mercy seat of heaven forever cleansing our sin. This means we are a people of great hope, promise and everlasting life! Jesus finished the work!
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus sweetest name I know! Go in the boldness this offers and share how you have a love that is guaranteed. Let them know that they too can know this love!
Friend Friday with Special Guest Jeremiah Johnson
In this episode I interview my good friend Jeremiah Johnson who shares of his experience with the love of God.
Jeremiah will encourage you in a major way! Enjoy and be richly blessed!
Greatly Loved
You are so greatly loved it would blow your mind to know just how deeply it goes.
At eleven years of age I lost my dad to suicide. It rocked my world in a major way that took me some time to recover from. I dealt with intense fear of loss for a long time after that. It was so bad it often interfered with my mom being able to go out of the house. I would panic that if she left she might get killed and I was terrified of losing her too. It was a prison, a torment. It took a while to overcome it to a level of being able function more normally but it wasn’t till I cam to know Jesus that it was truly broken in my life.
Loos is painful no doubt. I had my share of it too in 2020 like many others. I presided over too many services of loved ones of friends and my own family. But through it all one thing stayed consistent. By the grace of God and the friendship of the Holy Spirit I was keenly aware of the constant presence of god and the love He was showering upon me and the family during those difficult times. It was in such abundance I was able to offer continual encouragement to those around while handling tough situations of my own.
When the Scripture says that in my weakness Jesus is made strong it is not speaking tongue in cheek.
I felt so strengthened by Him in the midst of my loss it seemed scandalous. His love is that way. It comes through the fog of our hardships and pain sometimes in the most scandalous of ways keeping us strengthened with His joy so that others looking on wonder how we are able to have such. But this is the beauty of relationship with Him that is real, raw and sometimes ugly on our part. He takes our ashes and gives us His beauty. Oh how He loves us! His love is not conditional and my friend today He loves you just as much as he has any other day and always will. Be encouraged today no matter what you may be facing and know that you are greatly loved.
Very Well Known
Someone knows you better than you know yourself and in this case that is a good thing.
Sometimes when you read things certain phrases jump out at you. Such is the case when I read a certain passage in Scripture. It’s found in,
Luke 12:6 “Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
To really benefit from something powerfully spoken you sometimes need to pause with it and chew on it just a bit to get all the nourishment it’s trying to give to your soul.
Such is this passage. I marvel that there has never been even one sparrow at any given time that was forgotten by God. He has cared for each and every one of them and knows when they fall. That is attention on a whole other level.
But it doesn’t stop there. You see something even more important to capture is stated. God watches me so carefully that even the hairs on my head are numbered by Him. I must confess I am keeping His subtraction skills well tuned. But the beauty of this statement is that it ascribes an amazing value to me and to you.
You see we are of more value than the sparrows. So if God gives incredible attention to detail with sparrows and has never forgotten even one I find it difficult to believe He would ever forget me or you. There is a love and compassion that runs really deep with God and it was put on display at the cross of Jesus. Be encouraged today in knowing you are very well known by God and take time to get to know Him better by the grace that yours in Christ Jesus. I promise it will never be a waste of your time. Have a great day enjoying His love and attention in your life.
Some Things Just Are
Some things just are and that is a good thing in this case!
You know it’s interesting that even when it is cloudy somehow we know that the sun still rose and is shining above them. We simply trust that sun will rise each and every day and shine brightly with all of its glory. We even know that when night falls it is simply because the sun is shining on the other side of the world but we are certain it is still shining.
I know of no one that struggles with this reality because it is a known fact and it proves that some things just are. It says in the Bible in,
Isaiah 45:6 That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other;
God is always going to be who He has always been and is now. He never changes and He never has need to think He should. He is perfect in all of His ways. His wisdom supersedes all other wisdom known to man.
This great and mighty God, all powerful, all knowing, all wise, is Father to all who have come to faith in Christ Jesus! That means my friend that by your belonging to Jesus you are in relationship with the God who alone is God and although He is very great and mighty He has chosen to love you and be for you and to help you. Today whatever you may face you need to say to yourself, I belong to a very great God, a great big God, an all powerful God who loves me!
Tomorrow we will look at just how much He keeps His loving eyes on us to care for us and bring us into all He has for us. You will succeed when you turn to Him in faith and full assurance of His love. You’ll know there is nothing that can separate you from His love and that my friend is a very secure, shameless and powerful place to be. Have a great day and show someone the love of Jesus!
No More Shame
I share of my own battle with this and how to be free from it.
When I was a boy in elementary school I was an honor student. But the day came as I got a little older and distracted by sports and other fun things outdoor related that I slacked ever so slightly in my effort and actually got a C in one subject on my report card. I was embarrassed without anyone saying anything at all. But the principal thought it merited public attention. I was sitting in class when the loud speaker for announcements came on and to my surprise he read my report card to the whole school and then ended by saying I hope Tim will bring that C back up on the next report card. I was devastated and the kids, although shocked themselves, did not waste that opportunity to get at me.
When I came home I told my parents and my dad was furious. The next day I was in class and the speaker came on again. I was nervous wondering if I would be targeted again. I was, only this time the principle was making an apology and acknowledging the his actions were way out of line. I learned later that my dad had paid him a visit and was even in his office while he was making the announcement. Talk about taking the ammo away from the kids who just one day before were really laying into me. All of a sudden my shame turned to victory. I knew my dad had my back.
I share that to say there is an enemy out there who uses shame to imprison people in their soul. But if you give your shame to Jesus and make the confession that the blood of Jesus took care of it, that you belong to Jesus and you do not let yourself get all caught up in caring about what this world thinks, you will walk in a victory most never realize. You see God as your Father has your back and He is not shaming you to get you to perform for Him. He is loving you to set you free so you can be who He say you are and live in the abundance of life Jesus died to give to you. So tell shame to take a hike and embrace the love of God for you and smile through the momentary embarrassment of whatever it was that sought to shame you in the first place. Learn, grow and go be a blessing on the heels of whatever that was knowing your sins have been paid for past, present and future in Jesus. I promise you’ll have a much better day as a result.
Friend Friday with Tricia Gunn
In this episode I interview Tricia Gunn with Parresia Ministries in Alabama. Tricia is a very gifted teacher and encourager so you will not want to miss this.
Powerful Support
It’s amazing how courageous we can be when we know we have powerful back up. Discover just how great a back up you have.
Never Abandoned
It is empowering to know you’re never alone and especially to know you never will be.
Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Wednesday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!
Earlier this week my lovely wife Sheila and I got took some time to ourselves to go up into the mountains in my new birthday truck and enjoy some fresh spring sunshine and mountain air.
There’s a point where you cross over into the National Park and your phone can no longer get service. There are no towers available to use so no one can reach you. It is nice to unplug and just enjoy the sights and sounds of nature together without interruption.
You know while there is a possibility of disconnecting from technology and other sources of disruption and distraction, there is no way I am ever disconnected from the Holy Spirit. It is possible to less aware of His presence and availability but he is definitely with me regardless of how I feel or think in a given moment.
If you belong to Christ and have received the Holy Spirit too He is with you always as well. He will never leave you nor will He ever forsake you. You will never be abandoned. He is ever with you because His presence with you is based on the obedience of Jesus, not your obedience. That is comforting to know because even the well behaved blow it from time to time and need to know that when they do they haven’t scared or run off the Holy Spirit.
Oh the wonder of His grace and the steadfastness of His love! Be encouraged, the Holy Spirit is just as available to you today as He has ever been. Paul told the Galatians He is known, received and active based on faith not our works. So rest in Jesus and let your faith bring you to the place of sensing Him afresh today! He wants to work through you to bless others.
What If
One persons right perspective affected the course of history for all humanity in the most positive of ways. Your positive perspective can have a major impact as well.
Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Tuesday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!
I know it isn’t Christmas time but I need to bring to our attention something I feel is very important and encouraging to think about. Luke 1:28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”
Now that verse seems okay until you unpack the context Mary was living in. She was a young Jewish girl living in Nazareth under very difficult circumstances and being oppressed by the Roman Government at the time. In most cases many would argue she was anything but blessed and highly favored when you looked at the conditions in which she had to live her life.
So “what if” what if she had compared herself with others she knew of that lived at a much higher level of comfort and prosperity than she did and determined her perspective would be shaped by these comparisons?
Thankfully Mary chose to believe the angel despite the hardships she was under and accepted the invitation to become the mother of Jesus. The measure of our happiness is not to be determined by the things we possess or the level of living we can accrue in this life. It is best if it is determined by the blessing of life we have received in Christ Jesus. That’s the foundation of all lasting joy.
So I encourage you today to never allow your perspective to be colored by your surroundings or circumstances. Such things are never permanent anyway. Let your perspective be determined by His love for you today and always! Go and have a richly blessed day because you too are now favored and blessed in Jesus Christ.
A New Perspective
Perspective is powerful and having the right one is very important. You’ll be encouraged on how to establish good perspectives.
Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Monday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!
On this particular Monday I awakened to the realization that just yesterday I celebrated my 58th birthday. I am amazed at how time flies when you’re having fun. I don’t feel 58 years old but of course I am not sure what 58 should feel like. I do know that I am loved greatly by a faithful God who is now my Father, and devoted wife who is the greatest prize any man could wish for, and by children and grand children who make this life most enjoyable and this particular man very proud. Enough about me, what do you think about my hair? Just kidding of course.
Perspective is a powerful thing. A perspective sets the tone for the day. The amazing thing is I get to choose my perspective each and every day. I have found that I really need to steward my perspective because it affects how I view myself and others and it can skew the way I interact with them.
I am blessed! I’ve been immersed in the good news of Jesus that makes the subject of His obedience something worth understanding more completely. It has had a very positive affect on my perspective. Affects like, I know that I am loved, forgiven, and fully righteous and I know that God accepts me but even more than that, God actually likes me and is for me, not against me. These are powerful thoughts to wake up with each morning. They set me in a mood to encourage others. I no longer view Monday as a day of back to the grind, or bummer it’s Monday! Every day is a new opportunity when you know the good news of Jesus Christ.
So I just want you to know that you too are loved, accepted, forgiven and liked. In Jesus all the promises of God are yes and amen and today holds a new opportunity for you to see things from a better perspective where you live a favored life because of Jesus Christ. Enjoy this day and live like someone who is truly blessed!