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We are accustomed to only think of the work of the Holy Spirit as power for ministry within the church. However, the Scripture is abundantly clear that the Holy Spirit empowers people to walk with Christ everywhere. Perhaps one of the most unique signs of a movement of the Spirit of God is found in Malachi 4:5-6: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the…

As a father of ten children, I read a lot to my children. When they are young, they like me to read little kids’ books, many of which are designed to teach children lessons about life. Many of these nursery rhymes and folk-tales have tremendous application to the local church, but perhaps none is greater than “The Little Red Hen.” In this story, the little red hen finds a grain of wheat. Instead of eating it right away, she decides…

If Christians need power, where does this power come from? The simple answer is the Holy Spirit. God chose to give us His power in the person of the Holy Spirit. This process is called the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. The word baptize means “to dye” meaning that every fiber of our being is fully immersed into and changed by the Holy Spirit. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is in all four Gospels, and it is prominent in…

Many years ago, I was struggling with what I saw in the Christian world around me. Something was off, very off, but I could never put my finger on it. During this time a friend of mine gave me some CDs with sermons on them by various men. As I listened to the sermons, something within me clicked. This is it! They have what I am looking for. However, I still could not define what “it” was. As I listened…

This past August marked twenty years of me serving in pastoral ministry. Over the years, God has taught me many lessons. Here are some of them in no particular order: I have made more mistakes than I can count. The ministry is all of His grace, not my works. It is a miracle that I am still in the ministry. God alone has sustained me. If you do not know that you are called by God, you will never make…

Every four years, we all hear the same familiar refrain, “This is the most important election of our lifetime. If __________ wins, America will become unfixable.” This is propaganda to incite fear. Politicians and their advisors know that fear is one of the strongest emotions and causes people to do things that they otherwise would not do. Unfortunately, countless Christians have fallen into this trap even though a spirit of fear does not come from God (2 Timothy 1:7.) In…

Over the last sixteen years, we have witnessed a miraculous change at Antioch. When I arrived as pastor over sixteen years ago, the church was like virtually every other church in America: we lost 80-90% of our young people to the world by the time they were twenty years old. This continued for several years. However, by the grace of God we have seen that trend completely flip. Currently well over 90% of the young people raised in our church…

October is Pastor Appreciation Month. During October, most churches do something nice for their pastor. As a pastor of a great church, I have been very blessed with creative and meaningful gifts over the years. In fact, much of what I say here, I say because of how meaningful Antioch’s members have been to me. As October approaches, what is it that your pastor truly wants? As a pastor it is really awkward to ask for specific things. I am…

A very close friend of mine is a missionary in a hostile country where they still have the death penalty for converting to Christianity. He and I talk often and encourage one another in the work that we do. A while back, I shared with him my frustrations at the lack of fruit that I was seeing in the church God has graciously allowed me to serve. Today, while walking to work, I was able to share with Him about…

So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I…

In just a few weeks, I will turn 38 if the Lord wills. As this birthday approaches I have had many thoughts on my life that I wanted to share for the edification of others. (It will sound like rambling, but there is a point, I promise.) I also want to be transparent. Many times we see people on the outside and have no idea what is actually going on in their lives. I hope this view into my personal…

Quite often David’s adultery with Bathsheba is used by Christian people as a means of support or encouragement to those who have fallen into sin. There is no doubt that David repented and that God forgave Him and used Him for His glory. This is a tremendous testimony to the grace of God and His redemptive power. However, I feel that many times we shorten the narrative and ignore the consequences of his sin. Yes, Uriah died. Yes, David’s reputation…