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I finished reading "The Treasure Principle" by Randy Alcorn today. There is a lot of great stuff in this book about giving and generosity. I wanted to share a few that challenged me and hopefully will challenge and bless you. "Tithing isn't the ceiling of giving; it's the floor. It's not the finish line of giving; it's just the starting blocks. Tithes can be the training wheels to launch us into the mind-set, skills, and habits of grace giving." "Ironically, many people can't afford to give precisely because they're not giving." "giving is a skill. With practice, we get better at it. We can learn to give more, give more often, and give more strategically." "What does it mean to give beyond our ability? It means pushing our giving past the point where the figures add up. It means giving when the bottom line says we can't." "The more you give, the more comes back to you, because God is the greatest ...

It is time to share again what books I am reading right now. Why? Because hopefully one of the titles might interest you and you would pick up the book and be challenged. One of things I learned early in seminary was that I needed to be a lifelong learner. What this means is that even though my formal education at Denver Seminary ended, I needed to continue to grow in my knowledge and experience informally. For me, I do this through conferences and observations from others in ministry, but more consistently through reading. Sidenote : I hated reading until I graduated from seminary, but now I love sitting down with a good book to help or challenge me in ministry. Here is what I am reading right now: Home Improvement: Eight Tools for Effective Parenting by Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller Spiritual Milestones by Jim & Janet Weidmann & J. Otis & Gail Ledbetter The Blessing by John Trent & Gary Smalley Unfashionable by Tullian Tchividjian The Treasure Princi...

This Wednesday, I will be leading a book discussion on Lord Foulgrin's Letters by Randy Alcorn . I have read the book twice and highly recommend it. As I reflected on what to write, I decided to quote Alcorn from his afterword. Alcorn writes, "This is reality, not myth-we are actually being watched, hovered over, and whispered to; not only by God and righteous angels, but by fallen angels, demons. These beings are likely present in this room as I write, and wherever you are as you read. If God were to open our eyes we would see angels, both fallen and unfallen , as clearly as I see this computer screen or you see these pages. "Paul took a particular course of action 'that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes' (2 Corinthians 2:11). The degree to which Satan outwits us will correspond directly to how informed-or ignorant-we are of his schemes against us. Lord Foulgrin's Letters is intended to make us more aware of those sche...

So, I finished "The Ishbane Conspiracy" by Randy Alcorn this weekend. It was a great book. As I mentioned previously, it is the sequel to "Lord Foulgrin's Letters". I even quoted some of the great thoughts from Alcorn in a previous post "Balancing Grace & Truth." Why you need to pick it up? As a parent, it is talking about issues that teenagers and college students are dealing with. It shows the importance of being involved in your kids' lives on a regular basis. Shows the dangers of alcohol, drugs, premarital sex, suicide, Ouija Boards, & witchcraft. Reinforces the impact personal evangelism and the church have on society. Entertaining and informative look at spiritual warfare. Let me close with a quote from "Lord Foulgrin's Letters" since I had to return "The Ishbane Conspiracy" to the library. Lord Foulgrin (demon) writes, "If all the Bibles in America were simultaneously dusted, the sun would be ...

I have been thinking about this topic for quite some time. It seems that we in the Body of Christ don't keep this balance of grace and truth very well. I know personally I struggle keeping the balance too. I believe that Jesus was the only person who kept the balance perfectly every time. Recently, I have been listening to different speakers online or through other venues. I came across a couple examples of this. The first was Mark Driscoll when he debated on Nightline about the existence of Satan. He didn't back down from the truth, yet he did it in a loving way. Another example was Chip Ingram who teaches the Bible concisely, yet does it in a gentle and caring way. I had mentioned in a previous post that I was reading "The Ishbane Conspiracy" by Randy Alcorn. I want to share some words from Prince Ishbane (a demon) writing to Lord Foulgrin (another demon) about this very topic: "The unpleasant fact is this: The vermins' (humans) hearts long for the Carpente...