Most Christians struggle with doubt at one time or another. Doubt is not sinful but it can be dangerous. It can also be a spur to enormous spiritual growth. It’s what you do with your doubt that matters. Here are seven simple suggestions about how to handle your doubt.1. Admit your doubts and ask for help.Tell the Lord about your struggles. G…
This morning in Sunday School Mike Ferris led a discussion regarding the Second Coming of Christ from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. He pointed out that our focus ought to be on the fact of Christ’s return, not on the timing because no one knows when he will come back. The lesson dovetailed nicely with the pastor’s sermon on the same topic, t…
Starting next Tuesday (January 13), I’m going to be on the air live on American Family Radio. For over a year I’ve been taking part in a monthly program on AFR called “Fire Away” where we discuss various hot topics and invite calls from listeners across America. AFR has just launched a brand-new format on 126 stations called…
This week we’ve been doing some major housecleaning that started when we decided it was time to get things organized. In our particular situation, there is really no demarcation between our home and the ministry because, as I like to tell people, the “world headquarters” of Keep Believing Ministries is in my office at home and in …
We have just uploaded a new podcast called Life on the Edge. In it I argue that being saved doesn’t mean being safe in the world. Being truly saved means being so safe in God that you are willing to risk everything for the sake of the Kingdom. The message, which was originally given to college students, challenges all of us to stop playing it…
Millions of people have watched the amazing feats performed by Penn and Teller, magicians extraordinaire. What you may not know is that Penn Gillette, the vocal one of the pair, is also an outspoken atheist. Recently a Christian gave him a Bible as a gift after a performance. Instead of being offended by this sort of old-fashioned evangelism, he wa…
Over the holidays I had several AOL subscribers ask if I had stopped the weekly sermons. The answer is no, I haven’t stopped, but AOL has been blocking them since the middle of November. That means that over 600 people (out of 5200 on the subscriber list) aren’t getting the sermons at all. We have tried several things to get the sermons…
This morning’s funeral service for John Sergey lasted an hour-and-a-half, longer than usual, but that was to be expected for a man who lived so long (91 years) and accomplished so much. But in listening to family and friends, one fact stood out above everything else. John Sergey was a man of prayer. I think Sergei Nikolaev, pastor of the Temp…
After a quick weekend in Dallas, we are back in Chicago very briefly. Last Monday night John Sergey passed away at the age of 91. During our years in Oak Park he became more than a friend. He was a mentor, a fellow elder, and he was a personal hero to me. Twice we traveled to Russia together–once on a 17-day trip that took us from Leningrad (…
I wasn’t planning on blogging about this until I read Joe McKeever’s fine article called When to Retire and What to Do Then in which he quotes George MacDonald who said, “The first thing in all progress is to leave something behind."And all God’s people said, “Hmmmmm." What are you going leave behind in o…