Are we truly committed to following Jesus? Do we even realize what that means? As I’ve been thinking about this, the words of Luke in Chapter 9:59 come to mind. It says this, “let me first go and bury my father.” It sounds like a legitimate excuse does it not? After all, how long does it take to bury someone? A couple of hours? But digging deeper into this and the culture of the day we can better understand Jesus’ strange response. One can observe the following: this man’s father was not yet dead and his son was using a common expression of the day, “Let me first go and…

Sometimes it’s good to have a change of location. It lifts your spirits and helps you to see with new eyes (vision). It may be you relocate to a new home, a new city or even a new country. Having done all of the above on many occasions in my life, and even though it can mean sacrifices, it can be exciting, challenging and sometimes scary. But while moving geographically you may feel all of these emotions temporarily, at the beginning, in the end the new prospects will more than compensate for the initial apprehensions. God knew this when he challenged the Israelites to leave Egypt to go into the…

Are you afraid? What are you afraid of? Heights, the dark, spiders, snakes, flying, elevators? Fear is a natural emotion and physical response to danger. It’s the body’s “flight and fight” response when adrenaline rushes to our rescue. It’s a natural reaction. But what happens when fear becomes prolonged, obsessive, out of control, consuming our every waking thought? The Bible talks about a spirit of fear in 2 Timothy 1:7. Paul says this to Timothy, “For you have not been given a spirit of fear but of power, of love and a sound mind”. He is encouraging Timothy to be bold in preaching the gospel and not to be overcome…