Blog Articles
Assurance of Salvation – Part Ten: Testimonies of Salvation, Assurance, and Revival
Over the years, I have been an eye-witness to many examples of the Holy Spirit’s convicting work. The following real life stories highlight important differences among matters of salvation, assurance, and revival: Late on a Tuesday night, after a revival meeting...
Assurance of Salvation – Part Nine: The Gospel of Revival
In part three, we discussed matching the proper cure with the actual need. For those who have yet to receive eternal life, salvation is the cure. For those who need to know they have eternal life, assurance is the necessary remedy. For those who need to live the...
The Wind of the Spirit – an important study on the Holy Spirit
Have you ever assessed your life in Christ and wondered whether there is more to be had this side of heaven? Do you regularly try to make good decisions on your own? Are you attempting to live the Christian life in your own strength? If your attempts have fallen flat...
Assurance of Salvation – Part Eight: Counterfeit Conviction
Let’s clarify a common misunderstanding regarding conviction. In some cases, a person hears the gospel as a child and understands the basics of sin, judgment, and the need for a Savior (mind). The individual is convicted by the Spirit (affections) and believes in...
Assurance of Salvation – Part Seven: Wrong Focus, Wrong Cure
God’s desire is that His children live in the victory He provides through the indwelling Spirit, but if a focus on right living (performance) is adopted for assurance of salvation, believers can easily doubt their salvation leading many to get “saved again.” This, of...
Assurance of Salvation – Part Six: The Danger of Fallible Assurance through Wrong Focus
Assurance is good news! So how has it become bad news to so many? I have had numerous email and phone conversations with people needing assurance, and in many of these cases, believers have been hindered in some way by the wrong thinking of those who previously sought...
Assurance of Salvation – Part Five: The Gospel of Assurance
According to John 10:10, Jesus came that we might have life (salvation), know it (assurance), and live it abundantly (revival). Salvation is about receiving, and therefore, having eternal life (having Jesus, with all He brings: forgiveness, credited righteousness, and...
Assurance of Salvation – Part Four: The Gospel of Salvation
The last article emphasized the importance of a correct diagnosis in order to find the correct cure. We noted Jesus came that we might have life (salvation), know it (assurance), and live it abundantly (revival). This installment is focused on salvation itself: How...
Assurance of Salvation – Part Three: Matching the Cure with the Need
A preacher friend operated under the philosophy if you get sick, just tough it out until you get better. He called once and told me he had indeed gotten sick, and though he was toughing it out, he had not gotten better. Finally, he visited a doctor. Upon examination,...
Assurance of Salvation – Part Two: Causes of Doubt
Why do people doubt their salvation? The primary reason is theological; a secondary reason is practical. Theologically, doubt arises when one switches focus from the object of faith to the subject of faith. The object of faith is Jesus, based on the specific word of...
Assurance of Salvation – Part One: It’s a Big Deal!
When clouds of doubt block the view of the sunshine of assurance of salvation, it’s a big deal. First and certainly foremost, eternal destiny is at stake for the one in doubt. To a sincere soul, this is huge. There is a psychological impact because where one will...
What Is the Meaning of the Wheat and the Tares in Matthew 13?
One of the parables of Matthew 13 speaks of tares sown among the wheat, and the passage has often been used in a way that leads saved people to doubt their salvation. What drives their questioning is a shift of focus away from Jesus, the object of faith, and toward...
Extremes, Hybrids and the Real Answer
Extremism is a common pitfall, and it has proven a great blessing to be awakened to the fact that one has become extreme. This certainly applies to cases of legalistic and, at the other extreme, relativistic approaches to Christian living. As a result, many recognize...
When Evil Affects You
“We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair.” 2 Corinthians 4:8 One of the great perplexities of life is when the evil doing of others affects you. The setting can vary from family situations to interactions among neighbors...
Inherently the Same, but Individually Different
From a response to The Liberating Life of Jesus: “I'm only through the introduction and I love so much that you flat out say Christians aren't meant to look exactly the same. That within the absolutes there are many variations. I'm a statistician and I can't help but...
You Shall Know Them by Their Fruits
What does “Ye shall know them by their fruits” mean in Matthew 7? Jesus makes this statement in Matthew 7:16. The previous verse provides surprising clarification: “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening...
God’s Economy of Faith
For business and trade, every nation employs an economic currency. In America, we use dollars; the euro is the choice of European Union member states; India has the rupee, China the renminbi (yuan) and Japan the yen. Economies have currencies. In God's Economy, the...
New Book: The Liberating Life of Jesus
Have you ever felt trapped in a box of someone else's making, perhaps a modern fundamentalist-style box, and yet, down deep, you know the Christian life is neither that nor an up-for-grabs version of your own making? In my early years of ministry, I was sincerely...
Good Hearing
For some, age brings a need for hearing aids, but regardless of age, we all need good hearing in the spiritual realm. Jesus designates two aids to good spiritual hearing. First, Jesus warned us to take heed what we hear (Mark 4:24). He offered this caution after...
A Garden and God
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth…And the LORD God planted a garden…to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food…and a river went out of Eden to water the garden” (Gen. 1:1; 2:8-10). God planned and planted the first garden...
The Urgency of the Hour
Years ago, I remember my father praying, “May the urgency of the hour be upon us.” If that was true in the nineties, it is certainly true in 2021. For many, the times are unsettling, but for the people of God, it is certainly no time for despair and lethargy. Though...
The Gift of Christmas
Jesus is the gift of Christmas, Love of God revealed to man, Born to die that He might save us, All in God's great master plan. Jesus is the hope of Christmas, Full salvation offered free, Christ in you the hope of glory, Gift of life and victory. Jesus...
The Real Battle
In the earthly realm, we observe battles and our senses offer us more than seeing and hearing should we find ourselves actively engaged in a struggle. But where truth is at stake and God's cause is the real issue, the battlefield is in the unseen realm. Battles for...
The Gift of Jesus Christmas Tract
Christmastime has an air of hope. Songs of Jesus ring out in the marketplace. The season is a wonderful opportunity to give out gospel tracts, and many include Christmas-themed tracts with the cards and letters they address to unsaved family and friends. Working as an...
Fishing for Souls
Years ago when my wife and I visited Israel, we got up early one morning to watch the sun rise over the Sea of Galilee. What an unforgettable and beautiful sight! It could have been a morning like that when Jesus walked along the Sea of Galilee and called out to Peter...
Awakening Saints & Sinners
In a portion of Scripture where Paul argues for the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (the fact that He is alive, and, therefore, real and worth suffering for) Paul boldly says, “Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I...
Otto Koning on Spiritual Warfare
Well do I remember being a bit frightened by the concept of “spiritual warfare” and then having my faith bolstered by the truth of the authority of the believer who accesses Christ's authority. Some years ago, after preaching a series on the Spirit-filled life, an...
The I AM and Time
In the Welsh Revival of 1904-05, David Matthews testifies in his book I Saw the Welsh Revival that as an unsaved man he pressed himself into the back of an overcrowded church. When he finally left and stepped back into the cool air he realized he had been in that...
Netcasters Evangelistic Training Course
There was a time when I would put hours and hours into soulwinning, but in spite of the effort, I had to admit I was having little impact. Let me tell you how God changed everything. Stirred to lead souls to Christ, I worked hard. I trained and became certified in...
Revival and Holiness
When revival comes and hearts are restored to life again as they experience the very life of Jesus within, holiness will follow. The Spirit convicts of that which is not the life of Christ. For some, the Spirit convicts of pride, envy, jealousy, strife, bitterness,...
