How to Start a Power-Packed Effective Church: Lessons from Thessaloniki

Podcast: Light on Life Season Ten Episode Eighteen

How to Start a Power-Packed Effective Church: Lessons from Thessaloniki

How does one pioneer a power-packed effective church? That’s the question today. We are going to take a look at how the call of God and the zeal of the Lord upon the Apostle Paul turned into a power-packed Church in one of the ten most influential cities in the Roman Empire, the city of Thessaloniki. Now, one thing is certain from the following illustration — this is not how Paul did it. You know, about 350 years ago a shipload of travelers landed on the northeast coast of America. In the first year, this group of pioneers established a town site. The next year they elected a town government. In the third year, the town government planned to build a road five miles westward into the wilderness. In the fourth year, the people tried to impeach their town government because they thought it was a waste of public funds to build a road five miles westward into a wilderness. Who needed to go there anyway? Is that wild or what? Here were people who had the vision to travel three thousand miles across an ocean and overcome great hardships to get there. But, once they got there, in just a few years they were not able to see even five miles out of town. They had lost their pioneering vision1 F.B. Myer said, that the church that refuses to be a missionary church will become a missing church. the Apostle Paul didn’t get saved to sit — He got saved to be sent. The result of his obedience to go? The powerful church at Thessaloniki. How to Start a Power-Packed Effective Church: Lessons from Thessaloniki, that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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How God Uses Your Inward Conscience to Direct Your Life [Encore Podcast]

Podcast: Light on Life Season Eight Episode Thirty-One

How God Uses Your Inward Conscience to Direct Your Life [Encore Podcast]

Here’s a story that illustrates many people’s views on the role of the inward conscience. “A man consulted a doctor, ‘I’ve been misbehaving, Doc, and my conscience is troubling me,’ he complained. ‘And, you want something that will strengthen your willpower?’ asked the doctor. ‘Well, no,” said the fellow. “I was thinking of something that would weaken my conscience.'” There’s more to the conscience than being a ‘right and wrong’ referee. But that’s what we’ve been taught: that the conscience’s only role is to gauge morality.  Your inward conscience is the voice of your spirit. It’s how your spirit communicates with you. How God Uses Your Inward Conscience to Direct Your Life, that’s the focus of this week’s Light on Life.

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Secrets to Hearing God: The Number One Way God Leads You

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Becoming The Good Man God Wants You To Be

Becoming the Good Man God Wants You to Be

It has been said that “a child is not likely to find a father in God unless he finds something of God in his father.” Recently a gentleman asked the preschool class in their Sunday school to draw a picture of God. The intent was to use them as an illustration for the Sunday sermon. Toward the end of class, the children were excited to show off their work. They came up with rainbows and men with big hands. Finally, the daughter of this man showed him her picture: a man with a suit and tie on. “I don’t know what God looks like,” she said, “so I just drew my daddy instead.” What an awesome responsibility. You can live and blossom into the good man God wants you to be. A man who is respected and who models God the Father. What are some of the Bible characteristics of a good man? That’s what we are going to take a look at in today’s blog.

The Zoe Life of God in the Person of Jesus

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Five Things that Will Prick Your Conscience

Podcast: Light on Life Season Four Episode Forty-Eight

There Are Many Areas the Bible Points Out WHere the Spirit of God will Prick Your Conscience

The great attorney, orator, and statesman Daniel Webster was such an imposing figure in court that he once stared a witness out of the courtroom. Apparently, Webster knew the man was there to deliver false testimony, so he fixed his “dark, beetle-browed” eyes on the man and searched him. According to the story, later in the trial “Webster looked around again to see if [the witness] was ready for the inquisition. The witness felt for his hat and edged toward the door. A third time Webster looked on him, and the witness could sit no longer. He seized his chance and fled from the court and was nowhere to be found.” 1 That man ran out of the courthouse because his conscience was feeling guilty about the lie he was getting ready to tell. His spirit was trying to speak to the man. His conscience was trying to get him not to do it. Your conscience will do the same. It will try to lead you out of wrongdoing. Learning to listen to it is a part of growing up in God. Four Things that Will Prick Your Conscience, that’s this week’s Light on Life.

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[Tweet “Ultimate Love will warn you if you are going down a path will lead you off a cliff.”]

The Warning Aspect Of The Inward Witness

The Warning Aspect of the Inward Witness

In previous podcasts, we’ve looked at the conscience or the inward witness. We have seen that the conscience is the voice of your spirit. And, that the use of your conscience by the Spirit of God is the number one way that God will lead you in the everyday affairs of life. The conscience stays supple and sensitive by not overriding it. In today’s post, we take a look at the warning aspect of the inward witness.

[Tweet “There’s a negative side to the conscience, a warning side, a lack of peace side.”]

Conscience and the Inward Witness: A Look at the Spirit Led Life

Podcast: Light on Life Season Four Episode Forty-Six

Conscience and the Inward Witness: A Look at the Spirit Led Life

Here’s a story that illustrates many people’s view on the role of the conscience. “A man consulted a doctor, ‘I’ve been misbehaving, Doc, and my conscience is troubling me,’ he complained. ‘And, you want something that will strengthen your willpower?’ asked the doctor. ‘Well, no,” said the fellow. “I was thinking of something that would weaken my conscience.'” There’s more to the conscience than being a ‘right and wrong’ referee. But that’s what we’ve been taught: that the conscience’s only role is to gauge morality.  Conscience is the voice of your spirit. It’s how your spirit communicates with you. Conscience and the Inward Witness, that’s the focus of this week’s Light on Life.

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One Necessary Component You Need for Spiritual Growth in God

[Tweet “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ will set anyone free from the law of sin and death.”]

How the Holy Spirit of God Moves In Your Heart

How the Holy Spirit of God Moves In Your Heart

In 1 Corinthians 12:1, the Lord speaks of things pertaining to the Holy Spirit. Paul’s teaching is in reference to the fact that the Corinthians were apparently prophesying and pronouncing a curse upon Jesus. They were messing up the simple gift of prophecy. So Paul straightens them out by saying, Hey wait a minute, no one speaking by God’s Ho;y Spirit will ever defame Jesus. Believers of that generation needed to be admonished, taught and corrected when it came to working with this member of the Godhead. The situation is no different today. So, in today’s post, let us look at some ways that the Spirit of God moves.

[Tweet “With experience, you will begin to be able to discern the thoughts of the Spirit in your heart.”]

#S4-029: How God Uses Dreams to Direct His People [Encore Podcast]

Secrets to Hearing God

God Can and Does Direct His Children Through Dreams

Dreams played an important part in the lives of God’s people. Of the 116 references to dreams listed in Young’s Concordance, 52 come in Genesis during the early patriarchal period and 29 in the Book of Daniel 1. The book of  Zechariah is about eight special dreams that God gave to the prophet Zechariah, so he can tell God’s people what they mean. The dreams are all about God’s people rebuilding the temple, staying away from sin, and loving God with all their hearts2 Are you open to the Lord speaking to you in this way?

This is Part Six of the Series ‘Secrets to Hearing God’. You can find Part 1 by clicking ‘Are You Listening?‘,’Part Two by clicking ‘Are You Waiting?‘, Part Three ‘Are You Sensitive‘, Part Four ‘What’s the Number One Way God Leads You?‘, and Part Five ‘Dreams and Visions.

[Tweet “The Bible calls dreams night visions in Genesis 46:1-4.”]

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Secrets to Hearing God: The Number One Way God Leads You

Podcast: Light on Life Season Four Episode Forty-Seven

Secrets to Hearing God: The Number One Way God Leads You

Many times people seek guidance from the Lord in ways He did not intend. An example is fleecing. It is scripturally incorrect for born-again believers to put out fleeces in order to determine God’s will. It’s always best for ‘new creation’ men to stay with God’s Word in these areas. In the pages of the Bible, the Lord Himself gave us clear instruction about how God leads New Testament children. In fact, He details for us the number one way God leads us in the affairs of life, the conscience.

This is Part Four of the Series Secrets to Hearing God. You can find Part One by clicking ‘Are You Listening?’ Part Two by clicking ‘Are You Waiting?‘ and Part Three ‘Are You Sensitive’

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One Necessary Component You Need for Spiritual Growth in God

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#S4-026: Secrets to Hearing God: Are You Sensitive? [Encore Podcast]

You Can Develop Your Heart to Be Sensitive to God

Are you sensitive in your heart to the promptings and the urges of the Spirit of God? Are you hearing  Him? Are you easily moved by His gentle manner? Developing sensitivity of heart opens you to the life of God found in Jesus. For, the Spirit of God will lead you and guide you into all the truth about Him.

This is Part Three of the Series Secrets to Hearing God. You can find Part One by clicking “Are You Listening? and Part Two by clicking “Are You Waiting?”

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[Tweet “If you want to hear God’s voice, you have to develop a sensitivity to it.”]

Why You Should Be Easy To Be Holy Spirit Led

We should allow ourselves to be easy to be led by the Holy Spirit.

The story of missions in more modern times tells of missionaries whose plans have been changed by the Holy Spirit.  Alexander Mackay prepared for work in Madagascar but was directed to Uganda, to aid in founding one of the most remarkable missions in the world. Carey proposed to go to the South Sea but was guided divinely to India, to give the Bible in their native tongue to its teeming millions. Judson wanted to go to India, but his course was changed and he went to Burma instead. When David Livingstone was twelve years of age, he read an appeal for missionaries to go to China and he decided to go. His next decision was to be a medical missionary. With this in view, he began to complete his medical studies. About the time he was ready to go, the Opium War broke out and Englishmen could not go to China. Robert Moffat was in England at that time telling of the South African mission. Livingstone was interested in Moffat’s story and said: “What is the use of waiting for the end of this abominable Opium War? I will go at once to Africa.” Thus the Holy Spirit led Livingstone to Africa and the dreadful slave trade was laid bare to the world. [—Mrs. A. L. Aulick, J.H. Bomberger; Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 488–489.] In today’s post, we are going to address why it’s important for a believer to be easy to be led by the Holy Spirit.

[Tweet “Are you telling the Lord that His gentle voice in your heart is not enough direction for you?”]

Simple Spirit Lessons on Prayer and Being Led

There are multiple ways to be led by the Spirit of God. Here are some truths you might ponder in this area of being hearing God and allowing Him to lead you in your everyday life. Some of these lessons may help accelerate your learning curve and make your life more effective and fulfilling. Consider the following.

[Tweet “Being Spirit led must be your focal point because you only maximize what you emphasize.”]