What have you done with your invitation to the biggest celebration on earth? In a discussion with the religious, self-righteous leaders of His day, Jesus addressed this question in The Parable of the Wedding Banquet (see Matthew 22:1-14). The Invitation Rejected (Matthew 22:1-7) Jesus began the story by setting the scene. He described a king’s […]
The Invitation (Matthew 22:1-10)
Solomon’s Secrets to Leading Leaders – Develop Our Skills (Proverbs 22:29)
To lead leaders, we must develop our skills. Solomon invited: “Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank” (Proverbs 22:29). So, how do we become skilled in leading leaders? First, we work hard. Solomon observed: “Lazy hands make for poverty, but […]
Solomon’s Secrets to Leading Leaders – Love a Pure Heart (Proverbs 22:11, 29)
Have you ever struggled with influencing your boss? Are you unable to effectively communicate with your spouse? Does the coach of your team seem immovable? In our sinful nature, we have a tendency to respond to conflict with other leaders in three foolish patterns. First, we act with an impure heart, one with mixed motives, […]
Thermometer or Thermostat (Romans 12:2)
Do you ever ask God what His will for your life is? Often, we wonder about the source of the temperature in our life. We ask ourselves, “Is this desire merely from me or is it from God? How can I know if this is really God’s will?” The answer comes from whether we are […]
Three Habits of Highly Destructive People – Pride of Life (1 John 2:15-17)
How do you keep score in life? We all select some sort of measurement of success that drives our behavior. It might be money, accolades, assets, degrees, vacations, or even our good works. When we keep score of our successes by standards diametrically opposed to God’s, we focus on measuring our record of achievement by […]
Three Habits of Highly Destructive People – Worldly Power vs. Godly Power (John 19:30)
Have you pursued control apart from God, this week? Herod the Great learned firsthand the results of lusting for power apart from our Creator. After a lifelong pursuit of the lust of his eyes, Herod died out of control, lying in the darkness of his Jericho palace in 4 BC. Historians say that he passed […]
Three Habits of Highly Destructive People – Lust of the Eyes and the Light of Christ (John 8:12)
Are you locked in the darkness of the lust of the eyes? Are you desiring power apart from God? The light of Christ will set you free. Jesus searched to humbly unlock and gently restore the spiritual inner beings of everyone. He spent 90 percent of His life in Nazareth, a city nestled on ten […]
Three Habits of Highly Destructive People – Powering Up (Proverbs 27:20)
Solomon taught that the eyes are never satisfied (see Proverbs 27:20). We desire one more deal, one more illicit relationship, one more achievement, one more title, one more company. Consequently, whether at work, home, in the community, or even at church, we power up on others to achieve more. We power up physically, claiming, “I’m […]
Three Habits of Highly Destructive People – Power (1 John 2:15-17)
Do you desire control apart from God? Worldly power is the desire for more control than we were designed by God to have. The apostle John called it the lust of the eyes, the second of three habits of highly destructive people: “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone […]
Three Habits of Highly Destructive People – Pleasure and Temptation (1 John 2:15-17; 1 Corinthians 10:13)
Are you struggling with any sort of physical temptation? It might be over-eating or restricting; sex outside God’s design or even withholding yourself from your spouse; over-training or not exercising at all; or the abuse of alcohol and drugs. John referenced this as the lust of the flesh (see 1 John 2:16). Regarding our physical […]
Three Habits of Highly Destructive People – Pleasure (1 John 2:15-17)
Do you pursue satisfaction of your desires apart from God? In our fallen nature, we lust for sex outside God’s design. We crave food beyond that which is healthy, life-giving, and nutritional. We restrict intake in order to feel thin. We pursue the rush of a drug or the escape of alcohol in attempts to […]
What Can We Learn from Solomon? (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)
Life apart from God is meaningless. A divided heart led to a divided kingdom. It’s the first sin. It’s the wide gate. It’s love of the world. King Solomon pursued earthly knowledge for the sake of contentment, possessions for the sake of significance, military might for the sake of control, money for the sake of […]
Solomon Pursued Pleasure for the Sake of Gratification (Ecclesiastes 2:1)
What kind of pleasure do you seek in order to gratify your desires? Pleasure is defined as “enjoyment, delight, amusement, or happiness.” Too often, we seek happiness apart from God. Solomon sought pleasure from wine, women, and song: “I thought in my heart, ‘Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what […]
Solomon Pursued Money for the Sake of Security (Ecclesiastes 5:10; 7:12)
Where do you turn for security? Is it a person, a place, or a thing? Security connotes “safety, refuge, or a sanctuary.” Oftentimes, we seek security from money. Solomon was wealthier than any other king on the planet (see 1 Kings 10:23). “The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents” (1 […]
Solomon Pursued Military Might for the Sake of Control (Ecclesiastes 4:13-16; 8:2-10)
Do you ever abuse control? When given more responsibility, do you exercise more and more authority over those around you? Control means “to roll against.” When seeking control, we roll our will against others. Pursuing the development of his own mighty hand, Solomon experienced control issues. Israel’s king ruled over God’s people (see 1 Kings […]
Solomon Pursued Possessions for the Sake of Significance (Ecclesiastes 2:4-8a, 11)
Have you ever pursued the accumulation of possessions for significance? Significance includes the word, “sign.” In essence, significance says, “Hey, look at me.” Sometimes, we think possessions will bring us the attention and meaning we seek. No one has attempted this at the level of Solomon. The King of Israel constructed the temple in seven […]
Solomon Pursued Earthly Knowledge for the Sake of Contentment (Ecclesiastes 1:12-18)
Have you ever encountered God, yet pursued knowledge, possessions, might, money, or pleasure apart from Him to satisfy your desires? No one in history did this like Solomon. Solomon was the Son of David and Bathsheba; named Jedidiah, which meant “loved by the Lord” (see 2 Samuel 12:24-25). He became Israel’s third King who led […]
In Christ to Instruct – Connect with the Heart of Others (2 Timothy 2:22-26)
Have you ever tried to debate someone into the kingdom of heaven? Perhaps, what started out as a healthy exchange of different experiences led to a foolish argument that didn’t honor the heart of Christ. Paul taught we connect with the heart of others by avoiding stupid arguments that produce quarrels (see 2 Timothy 2:23). […]
In Christ to Instruct – Heart to Heart (2 Timothy 2:22-26)
When you communicate with others, do they connect with God’s heart? When we are in Christ to instruct, we connect heart to heart. We engage with God’s heart to reach the hearts of others. God’s heart is the vertical component of the cross; the hearts of others represents the horizontal component. What is the spiritual […]
In Christ to Instruct – Getting the Word into Our Words (2 Timothy 2:14-21)
How often does the wisdom of the Bible flow into your words? When we are in Christ to instruct, we get the Word into our words. The Word represents the vertical, our words the horizontal. We are to keep reminding others of what we glean from the Word, warning them before God against quarreling words […]