There are many simulation orange drinks out there. These wanna-be orange drinks are a mixture of various chemicals that seek to mimic the God-created sweetness of the orange—and fail miserably. Plain and simple, to make true orange juice, you need oranges. The same is true with making spiritual revival. There are many things that masquerade as “revival" in the Church today like cheap imitation orange drinks, but there is only one genuine kind of revival. And that is revival instigated and empowered by the Holy Spirit of God. So, if we as believers are dependent upon God to bring about true revival—what is our role as the Church in seeing authentic revival return?

On September 27, the Christian hero who labored under the code name "Brother Andrew” went home to be with Jesus. In his departure (at the age of 94), we lost a truly remarkable man. This message is a mix between a tribute to the extraordinary man and a spiritual exhortation gleaned from precious words spoken before he passed.

We often divide Christians along the lines of those that feel their way to Truth and those that think their way to Truth. This is an absurd division that has been sponsored by the Devil from the beginning. For actually both methods (thinking and feeling), absent the strength of the other dimension, leads to a deranged form of Christianity. Either to use your head and forsake the heart-dimension of the Christian life, or to use your heart and forsake the clear revealed Truth on the matter, are both foolishness. God designed us with a mind and a heart. And the truest form of Christianity must understand how to wield both in tandem and balanced concert. A form of modern liberalism has crept into the Church of Jesus Christ that has veered from the Truth in an effort to show the heart of Jesus to the ever-growing population of God forsaking oddities sprouting up on the world’s stage. But, the answer for these hurting people is not a flood of sincere emotion. It’s Truth. But this Truth must not be dished out absent the heart of God.

"What God has joined together, let no man put asunder." This is a line commonly repeated in the classic Christian marriage ceremony of today. And it's spoken for good reason. But the number of people that understand “why” it is traditionally spoken or, for that matter, “what it exactly means” are few. It’s a Biblical phrase—in fact, it’s a phrase spoken by Jesus Himself. And its rich meaning has certainly been lost on many young couples getting married today. But, this phrase has usefulness even beyond marriage. It’s also a Biblical Truth that can apply to a myriad of important topics. It would do us good as the Church to revisit this extremely important concept of “God’s sacred joining together.” Because when we understand that God's yokings are sacred and significant, it helps to better train us how honor those yokings and to keep them from being “put asunder.”

The Christian life asks us to give up being a “somebody” and become a "nobody”. As a “somebody” there are certain jobs that we would never choose, want, or desire. However, strangely, as a “nobody” our tastes change, and suddenly we find ourselves craving the jobs that the “somebodies” reject. And these very tasks become the jobs that the “nobodies” all want. This message explores the missionary work of one of Eric’s favorite missionaries to Papua New Guinea (Hint: it’s not Stanley Dale) and demonstrates the true, world-altering power of being one of “Christ’s nobodies”.

The fear of the Lord seems strangely absent from the Church these days. A cavalier, loose, and even sloppy attitude has replaced the reverence and the healthy trembling amongst the saints. Every now and again it is good for those of us that call ourselves believers to visit the idea of God’s Holy Presence in order to freshly sober our meditations and sharpen our worship. Our God is a loving, kind, and gentle God, but He is also Holy, Holy, Holy. And these seemingly contradictory attributes, when taken at face value, actually work to reveal the grandeur of our God in such a beautiful and profound way to our souls.

Who is Jesus? Is He merely a good godly man or is He, in fact, God Almighty? The answer to that weighty question is everything to the life of a believer. Did the life of Jesus begin in the womb of Mary or, as the Scriptures boldly proclaim, is His life from of old and from everlasting? When Jesus asked Peter, “But, who do you say that I am?” It’s critical that each of us run smack into the frankness of that very question and wrestle until we realize His true awesomeness and can answer along with the apostle, “You are the Christ!”

A storm has the potential to go one of two ways. It could bring devastation and destruction or it could bring life-giving moisture. The key to turning the storm—even the most fiendish of storms—is to remember that our Lord is the Superintendent over all storms, and He is very capable of bringing life out of every bit of bluster. This is a message about seeing God take our personal bluster and turn it into a beautiful portrayal of His goodness and grace.

So many of us throw up pathetically bland and prosaic prayers into the heavenlies—prayers that massively underestimate the power and ability of God to save, to act, and to do. God is the God of the Impossible, but we often times mix Him up with ourselves, and presume that He would prefer to work in the realm of the simple, easy, and predictable. But God loves big faith. He loves it when believers actually believe that He will do big things for those that ask big things of Him. Let’s join with Elisha in saying, “I want double!”

This message unpacks the theological mindset that the missionaries of this past century shared that led them to radical givenness and great risk on the mission field. And it’s a mindset that, for the most part, is no longer present in the modern Church. Simply put, the mindset was, “Bring back the King!”