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This weekend we Americans celebrate 250 years since we as a people declared our independence from the King of England creating a new nation whose founding and ongoing guiding principles would be to guarantee freedom of conscience to all people. Freedom to chose their own course of thought, of career, of worship. The freedom to pursue their own course, to lift their own stations in life based on…

Viking— a verb meaning to go rogue, raiding and conquering, joining a band of free warriors breaking away on their own to raid and conquer. It often wasn’t considered a good thing by those who stayed behind and played by the rules, at least not until they saw the rewards. Several yearas ago, after dillegently serving–serving, serving serving–the church and climbing up the leadership ladder of…

Time for a final decision Problem– By God’s grace and through the blood of Christ, the very thing the Law was intended to accomplish when it was handed down to the Israelites at Mt Sinai so long ago was happening; people who had never known the Law nor any of the prophets were treating one another with love and respect, they were forsaking selfishness in exchange for selflessness, despair for…

The Barbarian Woman in the Kingdom The church, and the world, are in desperate need of strong women who know what it means to be a woman, a woman who knows who she is and is not swayed by lies, haters and losers. We need women who retain that innate barbarian instinct of confidence, passion for life and for what’s right, and a willingness to stand up and be heard when all is coming at her to…

The Barbarian Man In our woke, politically correct—‘There are no absolutes and the real heroes are those who pretend they are someone they are not and the villains are those who disagree’ —world, where we make our own truth and everything that was once held true is now hateful and hated, it is getting harder and harder to be a man. Masculinity is toxic. Unless you are a woman being a man, then…

This life is too short to play games; God put you here for a time such as this. In my book, Barbarians in the Kingdom, I speak of getting back to what’s important, staying true to the heart of Christ we receive when receive Him. And doing it with the simplicity of mission that the barbarian mindset embraced. When I think of simplicity of purpose I think of Jesus. He had one basic purpose and He…

Jesus wants more than a meet and greet, He wants you, He wants a relationship with you, He wants you to trust Him and let go of all that hinders you from receiving all that He has for you as a redeemed child of God. His love for us, and our failure to recognize it, cost Him more than we can ever fathom. But we must try. You were there So I want to try to take you there, to the cross on that…

“I was getting cold, my feet hurt and I was exhausted, especially as the drugs and alcohol were now sending my system into crash mode.  I sat down on a guard rail post and started to pray; ‘Lord, no one will help me, I don’t know if I can make it, please give me strength!‘” As we head into Passion week, we reflect on the cross. Why the cross, why was it necessary for the Son of God to suffer…

What does it mean to be a Christian?It’s so much more than what our enemies believe, those in Islamic nations who believe that geography and culture make us Christian, and thus would overwhelm or outright destroy us in the name of their dark god. It is more than, sadly, even many in our churches believe, that it is knowing the right verses, going to the right church, and being good.When we make…

Why do we do so much teaching in the church? Because that is also what Jesus modeled, as did the apostles. Jesus did a lot of teaching, and especially during the last gathering with His disciples. We don’t necessarily see that so much in Matthew’s account of the last supper. But John apparently took real good notes because we find Jesus’ words on that fateful night recorded quite extensively in…

Brand me a loon, a false prophet or a radical, I don’t care. This is a warning to the church from the Holy Spirit. This message is concise, and, I believe, straight from the heart of the Lord. Let those who have ears to hear, hear what the Spirit is saying to the church. AI Is not of God. It is an idol, a false god. Beware those who use it to represent God, whether in song, sermon prep or…

I believe, as I said last week, that we are seeing the beginning of a new season, spiritually. A time of great battles, great victories accompanied by the shaking of norms and traditions, of great harvests and huge challenges to our faith, our commitment and our willingness to hear and obey the voice of God and to be true to His word and His Spirit even when powerful voices are telling us; this…

“The Spirit is moving and we, the church, need to be ready, to be diligent and open for the rawness of this movement“ So, what exactly are we to do when we gather?  How do we facilitate that? Lots of questions. What are we supposed to be doing here, when and for how long? Why are there so many differences in the churches? Why are there so many similarities? Do we do things just because we…