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NewsthinkHow the Modern Computer Was Invented...By Accident | NewsthinkHow the Modern Computer Was Invented...By AccidentA chance meeting between John von Neumann and Herman Goldstine led to the modern computer. Try https://brilliant.org/Newsthink/ for FREE for 30 days, and the first 200 people will get 20% off their annual premium subscriptionHighly recommend the book The Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann by Ananyo Bhattacharya: https://www.amazon.com/Man-Future-Visionary-Life-Neumann/dp/1324003995/Newsthink is produced and presented by Cindy Pom
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2025-09-2111 min
About MansfieldAM251 - Real Mansfield Foodie Ron McCranie: an Interview IIStories we’re covering this week:• Hometown Holidays is one for the record books• Walk talk big money in A Moment With The Mayor• City breaks ground on Geyer Commons• St. John Lutheran gears up for its eighth annual drive-through Nativity• Mansfield Police officers sport a new look• Methodist Mansfield hospital volunteer receives prestigious recognition• In Sports, it’s hoops, hoops, and more hoopsIn the Features Section:• Angel Biasatti talks about staying healthy and within budget this holiday season in Me...
2024-12-111h 05About MansfieldAM250 - Real Mansfield Foodie Ron McCranie: an Interview IStories we’re covering this week:• Subcourthouse stuck in a smelly situation• Local nonprofit receives sizable grant from area car dealership• Builders Association names Mansfield as its Municipal City of the Year• In Sports, all eyes are on Lake Ridge basketballIn the Features Section:• What’s going on around town? Tourism Manager Tim Roberts gets us up to date in the Cultural Arts Calendar• Angel Biasatti talks about protecting your health and safety as you age in Methodist Mansfield News to Know• Ang...
2024-12-041h 03
The Higher Christian Life083 - Salvation and the Deception of Non-Saving Faith“Faith or No Faith, That is the Question”All throughout Scripture, we see examples of people who have faith, but it’s non-saving faith. After all, every one of us has some type of faith, and we exercise faith every day. We have faith a car will stop while we cross the street, we have faith our prescriptions will do what our doctor told us they would do, we have faith a chair will hold us up when we sit down in a crowded restaurant, and we have faith the sun will come up in the morning as we pre...
2024-05-0820 minThe Higher Christian Life082 - The Dependent Relationship of Jesus With His FatherImitation is the Highest Form of FlatteryJesus did something that seems so out of place for us today, living in a culture that exalts pride, ambition, and independence— He voluntarily lived in a dependent relationship with His Father and deferred all glory to Him. But He didn’t have to live this way. This was His voluntary choice between equals. And remember, Jesus is God Himself, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father. He is the Second Person in the Trinity, and not some innately subservient, second-class God.To set the scene, Jesus is in the mids...
2024-05-0535 minThe Higher Christian Life081 - D.L. Moody and the Higher Christian Life“What Am I Missing?”As believers living in the Laodicean church age (Rev. 3:14-22), we often look back and marvel at the extraordinary lives of our Biblical heroes and spiritual giants who have gone before us. We see them in Scripture, read their biographies, watch movies about their lives, study their teachings, and aspire to experience the intimacy and devotion they had with God that allowed them to do great things. Yet, for many of us, there seems to be a sad disconnect between the vibrant, Spirit-filled experiences we admire in these heroes of the faith and the co...
2024-05-0311 minThe Higher Christian Life080 - How to Hear God’s Voice When He Speaks“Follow Me, and I Will Make You… Whatever I Want”In the Gospels, we encounter a radical figure who issues a bold invitation to those He calls unto Himself: “Follow Me.” These words, spoken by Jesus, are not merely a suggestion but a summons, a mandate to leave life as we have always known it and embark on a journey that has no end— at least on this side of heaven. His invitation is to die to self, to follow Him wholeheartedly, and to imitate Him in all aspects of life.Or, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously said...
2024-04-0436 minThe Higher Christian Life079 - Embracing the Call to Radical ChristianityChallenging the Status QuoWe live in a world where the term “radical” often evokes images of extremism and division and has developed a rather nasty reputation in our culture since the ’60s. Therefore, it may come as a surprise that at the very heart of Christian discipleship lies a call to a radically different way of life. This radical lifestyle is not about taking up arms or shouting louder than the voices of opposition. Instead, it’s about embracing a radical love, a radical commitment, radical obedience and sacrifice, and a radical transformation that only comes from fully...
2024-03-2652 minThe Higher Christian Life078 - How to Prepare Yourself to Meet With GodDisclaimer: Let’s Define Some TermsAs we discovered in Part One of How to Experience God When You Pray— when we talk about experiencing God in prayer, we are specifically defining prayer as more than a monologue, but something even deeper. It is a true, two-way conversation with God, where you speak, and He listens, and He speaks, and you hear His voice. Then, as the abundant life revealed (John 10:10), we rinse and repeat, as often as we like, and grow in our relationship with Him through a true conversation in prayer. Nothing is greater than having God...
2024-03-2347 minThe Higher Christian Life077 - How to Experience God When You PrayThe Joy of PrayerWhat if your times of prayer could become so much more than reciting words or listing random requests? What if your prayers could transport you into a holy place to experience God’s presence in a very real and tangible way? What if you began having personal, life-changing encounters with the Creator of the universe every time you prayed? And what if you had the confidence to know, to truly know— that God hears your prayers and delights in answering them? How would this change your prayer life?All of this is not o...
2024-03-1249 minThe Higher Christian Life076 - The God-Ordained Way to Increase Your FaithJust Get Out of the Boat! In almost every area of life, when we commit to a plan of self-improvement, we expect to spend time, incur costs, and suffer strain during the process. It just comes with the territory. Whether we decide to get in shape and eat healthier, or go back to school and change careers— everyone seems to follow the same pattern of sacrifice that defines our struggle, and they seldom complain about it. And when we have achieved our goal, we look back at the sacrifice as a badge of honor, something we are proud...
2024-03-0750 minThe Higher Christian Life075 - Be Encouraged by the Small Words in ScriptureThree Small Words from John 15In John 15, Jesus lays out our position in Christ and the key or path to the Higher Christian Life in the story of a vine and its branches. I mean, it really couldn’t be more clear. This key is found in the simple word abide. We are to abide in Him— which means “to rest, remain, dwell, to make our home.” Or, literally, “to be united as one with Him in heart, mind, and will.” It is the definition of a fully surrendered life.Yet before we discover the concept of abiding in...
2024-02-1449 minAbout MansfieldEconomic Spotlight: Ron McCranie, Owner, Oaken DigitalThe About Mansfield Economic Spotlight, sponsored by Mansfield Economic Development Corporation — a ten-minute feature with Ron McCranie, owner of Oaken Digital.Oaken Digitalhttps://OakenDigital.com
2024-02-0810 minThe Higher Christian Life074 - The Purpose of the Christian Life – Experiencing GodThe Problem: Dry Ritual Without RelationshipFor many believers, Christianity has become a religion of rules devoid of a relationship. We know we should have a quiet time, serve in church, avoid sin, and so on. But all this outward conformity easily lacks the inward reality of actually connecting with God. We act spiritual, without ever experiencing the presence of the Spirit. And that is a sad, yet common experience for many today.How did this happen? Partly because we’ve made faith all about knowledge over an encounter with God. We prize book learning, doctrina...
2024-02-0644 minThe Higher Christian Life073 - Experiencing True Repentance from Psalm 51How to Experience God Through RepentanceIn our quest for a deeper relationship with the Lord, we have been talking about what genuine repentance looks like in real-time. And we found ourselves in the middle of Psalm 51, examining six key words in David’s prayer of repentance that show us how to not only receive forgiveness from the Lord, but how to experience His presence in the process. And, as a reminder, the six key words found in Psalm 51:10-12 are as follows:Please Do: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and Please Do: ren...
2024-02-0247 minThe Higher Christian Life072 - Our Identity — Stop Striving, Start AbidingEmbracing Who We Really AreD.L. Moody, while on his European crusade in 1873, was so inspired by a conversation he had with British revivalist Henry Varley that he prayed:“The world has yet to see what God can do with, and for, and through, and in a man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him. By God’s help, I am to be that man.”This is the essence of the desire to be all God created you to be— to be “all in for Him,” as they say. The problem is, after we co...
2024-01-2343 minThe Higher Christian Life071 - “Uh, My Bad,” Doesn’t Really Cut It AnymoreTen Aspects of True Repentance that Gets God’s AttentionGiving God a flippant “my bad” when we mess up just won’t cut it, no matter how hard we try to make it work. Too often, we deal with our sin through superficial apologies, not grasping the gravity of how our choices offend our Creator and grieve His Spirit.But in Psalm 51, David shows us a better way. His raw, honest prayer of remorse models how genuine repentance can thoroughly transform us and restore our fellowship with God. In his plea to God, David holds nothi...
2024-01-1548 minThe Higher Christian Life070 - 1 John 1:9 – One Condition and Two PromisesThe Conditional Promises of GodOne familiar “if / then” passage, often called the “believer’s bar of soap,” is found in the first chapter of the first letter of John. In it, we find one “if” condition and two implied “then” promises God grants to those who meet His one “if” condition. And the two promises of God encompass the totality of salvation this side of heaven, both our justification and our sanctification.If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness – 1 John 1:9What Does...
2024-01-0414 minThe Higher Christian Life069 - Abraham’s Journey of Faith in God’s PromisesFaith and Courage— Two Sides of the Same CoinThe Biblical story of Abraham is profoundly human— a narrative full of twists and turns, triumphs and failures, poor decisions and their unintended consequences, and, of course, drama— much like a Netflix mini-series. Yet, throughout the trials of his faith, we see Abraham continually return to a place of trust in God’s promises. And the trajectory of his life models for us the possibilities and pitfalls of our own spiritual journey.The Call and the PromiseIn Genesis 12, Abraham, then called Abram, receives a divine c...
2023-12-2907 minThe Higher Christian Life068 - Our Salvation – It’s More Than You Ever ImaginedDifferent Strokes for Different FolksSalvation means different things to different people. For some, it’s a “get out of hell free” card, the cosmic fire insurance policy they checked off and filed away years ago. For others, it’s trying to be a good, moral, upstanding person and attend church— at least on Easter and Christmas. Most don’t give it much thought beyond hoping to end up in the Pleasant Place and not the Hot Place when they die.But is that really the extent of what Jesus accomplished on the cross? Did He endure scourg...
2023-11-1916 minThe Higher Christian Life067 - True Signs of a False, Counterfeit SalvationDeception: the Currency of Our CultureDeception runs rampant in our world today. Just look around. False teaching, twisted values, distorted truths, and outright sinister lies bombard us from every side. Even in the church, not all professing believers have embraced the genuine gospel— which means not all who claim to be saved are, in fact, saved. And this is the most frightening deception of all.As Jesus warned in Matthew 24, spiritual deception will flourish in the last days. “Take heed that no one deceives you,” He told His followers, “for many will come in My name… and w...
2023-11-1716 minThe Higher Christian Life066 - Abiding – The Key to Lasting Surrender and JoyNo More Roller-Coaster LivingWhen it comes to spiritual disciplines like surrender or yielding our life to the Lord, the hardest part is not the act of initial surrender, but the journey of remaining surrendered to Him in the days and months ahead. For most believers, this journey can be discouraging, filled with success and failure, ups and downs, and sometimes, you may even feel like giving up. But that should never be the case. After all, it is the Holy Spirit living in you that seals you in Him and is the deposit, the guarantee of the...
2023-11-1416 minThe Higher Christian Life065 - The Seventh Step – Don’t Leave Home Without HimWe’ve Only Just BegunWe are now at the last step to surrendering our lives unreservedly to the Lord. And this seventh and final step deals with how to keep close to Him, and how to remain surrendered and submitted, even after the initial awe of the experience begins to wear off and we let our guard down. Don’t be deceived— yes, it will happen to you, just like it has happened to all those who have gone before you in seeking the Higher Christian Life or the life of full surrender.Even though w...
2023-11-0413 minThe Higher Christian Life064: The Sixth Step – Surrendering to the Holy SpiritGod is Three and Three in OneWhen we decide to fully yield our lives to the Lord, one essential step is surrendering control of everything to the Holy Spirit, who is probably the most overlooked member of the Trinity. And this is because the doctrine of the Trinity, or trying to explain the triune nature of God, is one of the most confusing teachings in Scripture. After all, we are finite beings who think in finite, logical, cause-and-effect, terms. Yet God is infinite, off the scales, and His nature is beyond what we can explain or log...
2023-11-0114 minThe Higher Christian Life063 - The Fifth Step – Surrendering to God’s SovereigntyHe is God, and We Are NotBy nature, we are control freaks. We pray for divine healing, but only after our physician shakes his head and says, “Well, there’s nothing left to do but pray,” and our medical insurance runs out. We claim Matthew 6:33, where Jesus promises to meet all our needs, but again, only after we max out our credit cards and can’t make the minimum payments. In other words, we try to fix everything our way, in our own strength, and ask no one for advice or help. It’s only when we come up sho...
2023-10-2811 minThe Higher Christian Life062: The Fourth Step – Presenting Yourself as a SacrificeFirst Step Three, Then Step FourOf the seven steps to living a fully surrendered life to God, perhaps none is more vital than the fourth— offering ourselves, specifically our bodies, as a living sacrifice to Him. But this can only be accomplished after we have done the hard work of denying ourselves and dying to self, which was the point of the third step (Matt. 16:24). Death and denial must take place before we present our bodies (flesh) to Him as an act of worship and sacrifice. You will ultimately fail, horrendously, if you try to reverse the o...
2023-10-2615 minThe Higher Christian Life061 - The Third Step: Dying to Self to Gain Him“Lord” Jesus Christ also means “Owner” Jesus ChristSurrendering your life fully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ is no small or simple matter. But I’m sure you are painfully aware of that by now. It requires making the conscious choice each day to deny our natural desires and humbly submit to His leadership and control. And that’s where it begins to chafe. We love the Lord Jesus— but we probably love the “Jesus” part more than we love the “Lord” part. But as Jesus commanded, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself (ouch), and...
2023-10-2408 minThe Higher Christian Life060: The Second Step – Confession and RepentanceSurrender Your Life? The Choice is YoursSurrendering your life to God is a profound journey that transforms your relationship with Him into something many only dreamed about but few ever expected to happen. In fact, full surrender to Him is what He requires (that is why He is called Lord and Master), but is often conveniently glossed over in our churches today. We feel more comfortable with terms like servant or disciple or follower— rather than anything that resembles submission or smacks of surrender to anyone, including the Lord. We want Jesus as a friend with a Get...
2023-10-2310 minThe Higher Christian Life059 - The First Step in Surrendering Your Life to HimSurrender is a Lifestyle, Not a One-Time EventWhen you surrender your life to the Lord, you will notice it is not a one-time event. You don’t just say a prayer or make a vow and it’s done. It is a process, usually full of ups and downs, that may take some time to master. But even as a process, it must have a starting point. And that point recognizes who God is and your responsibility to yield to His lordship. Everything follows this first step.The seven steps of surrender are as follows...
2023-10-2108 minThe Higher Christian Life058: Embracing a Full Understanding of SalvationThe Living Hope We Have in ChristDark times can profoundly shake our faith and assurance in God. Ongoing trials, deep hurts, and spiritual warfare can make us lose sight of the incredible hope we have in Jesus Christ. But despite the darkness, Christ’s resurrection guarantees our justification, sanctification, and future glorification. This living hope is ours both now and for all eternity.Justification – God’s Complete ForgivenessWhat does justification mean? Simply put, it is God’s complete forgiveness through Jesus Christ. When we put our faith in Christ, trusting in His sacrifice...
2023-10-1049 minThe Higher Christian Life057 - Experience Freedom and Power in Your Christian LifeThe Higher Christian LifeLet’s talk about something that has captivated believers for generations— the Higher Christian Life. This term refers to a life of intimate fellowship with God that goes beyond the ordinary Christian experience. Popularized by 19th-century revival and devotional preachers such as Andrew Murray, Oswald Chambers, and R.A. Torrey, and brought into the Christian mainstream by the Keswick movement, this life is characterized by holiness, surrender, and a depth of relationship with God that taps into His supernatural power in ways seen in Scripture, but seldom experienced in contemporary church.¹In this...
2023-10-0417 minThe Higher Christian Life056 - Letting Go and Letting God – Steps for Total SurrenderThere is So Much More to This Life in ChristAs followers of Jesus, you and I long to live the spiritually charged, victorious life He promises in Scripture— an abundant, overcoming life marked by joy, peace, purpose, and the wonder of having the mind of Christ. But let’s face it, our everyday experience often falls painfully short of the dynamic faith and unimaginable blessings described in God’s Word (Eph. 3:20). But it doesn’t have to be that way.So what’s the key to unlocking this life to the fullest in the power of the...
2023-10-0213 minThe Higher Christian Life055 - The Difference Between Living or Just Being Alive“I am the Resurrection and the Life”We have been talking about the Higher Christian Life for quite some time. And today, we will discover Jesus pointing to this manner of life, the “abundant life” as He called it in John 10:10, while He was trying to encourage Martha at the tomb of her brother, Lazarus. Do you remember the story? If so, we will see Jesus offering us a life truly worth living and not one of mere existence, of just being alive. It’s the difference between experiencing an exhilarating life of wonder and joy or an artificiall...
2022-03-1044 minThe Higher Christian Life054 - How to Know the Will of God When We PrayHow Can I Know the Will of God…For many believers, prayer is often confusing and frustrating. We pray earnestly, with as much faith as we can muster up, and many times the answer to our heartfelt prayer is no, or worse, silence. And if we have this experience with prayer and faith repeatedly, eventually, for most believers, we rely less on prayer and more on our own efforts to make things happen our way. Now, instead of praying, “Your will be done,” we pray, “Lord, please bless the works of my hands,” whether or not it is God’s will.
2022-03-0643 minThe Higher Christian Life053 - Faith, Revival, and the Example of George MullerWill You Not Revive Us Again?When we look at the condition of our world and of the spiritual temperature of the church, the clear assessment is that we need revival. Not a revival meeting or a revival as a once-a-year event, but a revival akin to an awakening, like our nation has experienced in the past. It is a re-capturing of lost spiritual ground, exemplified by what Jesus said to the church at Ephesus, “I have this against you, that you have left your first love” (Rev. 2:4). Understanding our present condition, revival would be to rekindle that lo...
2022-02-2253 minThe Higher Christian Life052 - Immanuel and the Higher Christian LifeAnd You Shall Call His Name Immanuel…One of the unmistakable truths that leads to a fuller understanding of the Higher Christian Life is our embracing the fact of the Holy Spirit living in us. Now, I know you know that… at least cognitively, as a fact, and probably have this truth hidden for safekeeping somewhere deep in the recesses of your brain. But that’s not where the reality of this wonder takes place. And it is not the knowledge of this truth that leads to the Higher Christian Life, but the experiencing of this truth.We e...
2022-01-2837 minThe Higher Christian Life051 - How to Understand the Fear of the LordThe Fear of the Lord is …We have shared in the past how we often find a fuller understanding of the Higher Christian Life in the small words of Scripture. Simple, often overlooked as unimportant words like “know” or the various Greek definitions of our single-use English word translated “love” give us insight into the heart of God that can bring great intimacy with Him. And this principle is also true of harsh words, unkind words that seem inconsistent with the love we experience from God. In particular, the command to “fear” God or the “fear of the Lord” can also...
2022-01-1712 minThe Higher Christian Life050 - Living in the Kingdom, While Living on EarthLiving in the Kingdom of God…We, as believers, are dual citizens and live in two kingdoms. We have temporal citizenship in this world, or so it seems, maybe as a citizen of the United States or whatever country you may be from. But more importantly, we are citizens of the Kingdom of God, citizens in His eternal Kingdom that has no equal. And both kingdoms have rules, make demands, and pull us in opposite directions.Promises empower one Kingdom. And the other kingdom is full of disappointments.Note: For a faith exercise and to...
2021-12-1555 minThe Higher Christian Life049 - Something More Powerful Than Your FaithWhat Is More Powerful Than Our Faith?The trait that defined the members of the early church that seems absent in the church today is found in the simple word, power. And it is the very same power (dúnamis) that was promised through the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8) and received by those in the early church (Acts 2:4). Uh, the same power we supposedly received when we were “sealed” by the Holy Spirit who came into our lives as the “guarantee” of our eternal salvation (1 Cor. 1:22).So if we have the same Spirit they had, and the same po...
2021-12-131h 04The Higher Christian Life048 - Jesus and His Dependence on the Holy SpiritAfter He Through the Holy Spirit – Acts 1:2As we continue looking at the book of Acts, especially the account of the lives of those in the early church, we are stopped cold in our tracks and amazed by a small, cryptic phrase found in Acts 1:2. And in these four small words, through the Holy Spirit, we find great encouragement in our own quest for the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16) and our goal of being more like Him (1 John 2:6), being complete in Him (Col. 2:10), and experiencing the Higher Christian Life (John 10:10).Let me explain.When...
2021-12-0918 minThe Higher Christian Life047 - School’s Out— Time to Do SomethingYou Shall Receive Power – Acts 1:8We have two key objectives in mind. One, to grow closer to our Lord and experience the Higher Christian Life, or at least try to understand what the Higher Christian Life looks like in real-time. And two, to have our faith grow to the point we will be spiritually prepared for the chaotic times coming our way and the trials, tribulations, and persecutions, that will most certainly follow. These, in my opinion, are noble endeavors. And both of them can be fulfilled by studying the book of Acts and focusing on the powerf...
2021-12-0759 minThe Higher Christian Life046 - How to Experience Freedom From Your “Besetting Sins”Forgiveness: Past, Present, and FutureIf we were honest with ourselves, most of us would admit it is sin that keeps us from experiencing the Higher Christian Life. And it’s not our horrible, gross, never-talk-about, sin that grieves His Spirit the most. It’s the sin we commit over and over again, the sin we have long since given up hope for ever gaining victory over. It is the sin, no matter how small it may seem to others, that has now become part of our lives and defines our inability to claim what is rightfully ours, the...
2021-12-0733 minThe Higher Christian Life045 - To Know or Not Know, that is the QuestionKey Word for the Higher Christian Life: ginṓskōWhen it comes to the Higher Christian Life, one of the most important words in Scripture is ginṓskō. In fact, I’m not sure we could overstate that fact. The difference between the lukewarm life with Christ, which He has much to say about in Revelation 3:16-17 and has plagued the church for centuries, and the Higher Christian Life we are striving for, is found not in academic head knowledge, but in firsthand experience with God and His Word. In other words, it is one thing to know something...
2021-10-2815 minThe Higher Christian Life044 - The Higher Christian Life is Often Found in Small WordsThe Importance of Small WordsOur faith, unfortunately, is often based on head-knowledge or mental assent and only becomes real to us when it is experienced, firsthand, in the midst of a tough time or by a trial by fire. And the Higher Christian Life is not a life of intellectual assurance only, but of faith based on our experience with the Holy Spirit who now lives in us. After all, unless our faith is tested by trials and tribulations and we experience its truth, it doesn’t become real to us and remains academic in nature. This...
2021-10-1822 minThe Higher Christian Life043 - The Lord’s Supper and the Higher Christian LifeJesus First Became a Bondservant...There are many questions Christians have about the Lord’s Supper, and not all of them revolve around the nature of the substance of the bread and wine. There is the question about timing, how often are we to celebrate it? And then questions about meaning, is it symbolic, or does it truly transfer some tangible grace to those who partake?But the biggest question, for me, is in regards to its significance. After all, there is a judgment attached to the Lord’s Supper. The Scriptures teach those who partake...
2021-09-1744 minThe Higher Christian Life042 - To Reckon or Not Reckon, that is the QuestionThe Cross Not Only Paid For Your Sins...We have been looking at the three key truths that will allow you to experience the surrender that leads to the Higher Christian Life. Let’s take a moment for a quick review.Truth One – You are incapable of pleasing God or producing anything good with your flesh (your sinful nature) no matter how hard you try. It cannot be done, has never been done, will never be done, by anybody, ever. And you can find the foundation of Truth One in Romans 7:15-25, especially verse 18.For I kn...
2021-08-3150 minThe Higher Christian Life041 - Holy Men Spoke as They Were Moved by the SpiritWe Need Holy Men of God to be Moved by the SpiritWhen we begin to seek God’s wisdom through a deep study of His Word, it is good to remind ourselves of exactly what we are doing and how the Bible is unique from all other literature. It is more than the words of man, it is the very words of God. I know, for the skeptics, that statement seems presumptuous, maybe even arrogant. But it is nonetheless, true.Let’s look at just two truths about the Scriptures that will begin to reveal...
2021-08-2715 minThe Higher Christian Life040 - Bible Study is a Marathon, Not a SprintFirst, What Does it Say?Before we actually begin to look at the Proverbs to glean the wisdom of God, we first need to remind ourselves what Bible study entails and how to mine the depths of God's Word for the treasure often buried just below the surface. Note, we are committing ourselves to Bible study to experience God and His wisdom. Not Bible skimming or even Bible reading. Those may have their place in our spiritual lives, but not if we strive to have a deeper intimacy with the Lord and experience the Higher Christian Life.
2021-08-2518 minThe Higher Christian Life039 - How to Discover the Wisdom of GodChrist Jesus, Who Became For Us…This past Sunday, we talked about how we as Christians and His church are to respond during the dark times we see encroaching all around. What are we to do? How are we to think and feel? What is God’s will in all of this?Just think about what we have experienced as a culture since the beginning of the year.In DC, there was a rally turned riot (depending on how you view the events of January 6th) that many claim was the beginning of an insu...
2021-08-2315 minThe Higher Christian Life038 - What Are You Lacking in Your Spiritual Life?What Do You Need From Him the Most?Yesterday we showed how the Holy Spirit, who now lives in you, is fully capable of meeting any need you might have. After all, He is fully God in every sense of the word. So it would stand to reason that as God, the Holy Spirit is all-powerful (omnipotent), all-knowing (omniscient), and ever-present (omnipresent), among the other attributes of the Almighty. So whatever your need, I think He can handle it. Don’t you?Remember, He is all you need. So there is never any reason to look el...
2021-08-1917 minThe Higher Christian Life037 - He is All You Will Ever NeedAnd You Are Complete in Him – Colossians 2:10We have spent some time discovering the spiritual fullness of realizing that the Holy Spirit, who is fully God in every sense, lives in us. Not around us or beside us or with us, but in us. And since He is God, what more do we need? Why do we desire less when we already have everything? What does the landfill have to offer us that is more alluring than a week at the beach or a five-day trip to Disney World? It doesn’t make much sense, does it?Yet, we still...
2021-08-1815 minThe Higher Christian Life036 - Your "Desire" for the Higher Christian LifeWhat Does “Desire” for God Have to do with Inflation?Usually, I send out an encouraging post regarding the Higher Christian Life and the importance of drawing close to Him in these times of trouble. But today, it’s going to be a bit different.We have often discussed the importance of desire, especially when embracing the Higher Christian Life. In essence, we can have all the knowledge and understanding necessary to experience the Higher Christian Life, but without a desire to pay the price and “count the costs” (Luke 14:28) required for deep intimacy with our Lord, noth...
2021-08-1715 minThe Higher Christian Life035 - What Church Could Look Like TodaySecond Verse, Uh… Should Be Same as the FirstIn Matthew 10, we see this amazing account of Jesus sending His disciples out without Him to do what He was doing while He was with them. It was almost a picture of what life would be like after Jesus was physically removed from their presence and the Holy Spirit was given to them to “abide” with them forever (John 14:16). This was their first mission trip, their first job as His apprentice, the first time they flew solo. And He didn’t send them out unprepared. He gave them the same pow...
2021-08-1215 minThe Higher Christian Life034 - Whatever Your Struggle, He is More Than AbleWhat Does it Mean to Have the Holy Spirit Live in Us?As Truth Two reveals, when the Holy Spirit, God HImself, takes up residence in you, He brings with Him all the power, love, wisdom, understanding, joy, peace, and gifts of the Godhead. Let this truth sink in, God now lives in you. Not with you or by you or around you. But the Holy Spirit actually lives, right now, in you. Which, as the Scriptures teach, makes you a temple of the Holy Spirit, a dwelling place of God. Consider this:Or do you not know that...
2021-08-1213 minThe Higher Christian Life033 - The Holy Spirit Now Lives in YouWhat Does it Mean to Have the Holy Spirit Live in Us?In Truth Two, we see God giving us the Holy Spirit to live and dwell in us in order to both “will and to do for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). In other words, as we discovered yesterday, the Holy Spirit is active in us to accomplish what God has predestined simply for His good pleasure, or because He wanted to. And what He predestined for us is to be “conformed (to be similar in essence or nature) to the image (an exact representation) of His Son” (Rom...
2021-08-1017 minThe Higher Christian Life032 - The Holy Spirit Provides All You NeedThere’s Nothin’ You Need, He Ain’t Got!In this post, we will begin to explore the second of these three great truths designed to free us from the guilt and shame of trying to live the Higher Christian Life in the flesh, by the power of our own strength and resources, and failing miserably. Sound familiar? Unfortunately, it is a description of many who begin their walk with Christ in faith, only to think they are now mature by trying to complete their walk with Him in the flesh. As if faith and dependence on Him is a...
2021-08-0917 minThe Higher Christian Life031 - God Only Disciplines Those He LovesThe Good News and the Bad News in the Higher Christian LifeYesterday we began to look at Truth One regarding the discouragement that comes with continual failure to live the sanctified life in the flesh. And we concluded it is impossible for us to produce anything good in our flesh since it is still intertwined with our fallen, sinful nature. Therefore, it seems we have spent most of our Christian life trying to prove Truth One is false and we can, contrary to Scripture (Rom. 7:18), produce good with our flesh under the allusion God will be impr...
2021-08-0615 minThe Higher Christian Life030 - I Know that “In Me, Nothing Good DwellsWhat We Cannot Do, No Matter How Hard We TryToday we will begin to look at the first of three key truths that will help you overcome the disappointment of trying to live the Higher Christian Life in your own strength and failing— which is a certainty. You cannot, under any circumstances, live in the flesh that which can only be lived through His Spirit. It cannot be done, no matter how hard you try. And the more you try, the more your spiritual life resembles a mouse on an exercise wheel, constantly straining to the point...
2021-08-0514 minThe Higher Christian Life029 - He Both Can and Will Fulfill His Promise to YouHe is Both Able and Willing to Fulfill His PromisesWhen it comes to the Higher Christian Life, what we are striving for is a deeper, more intimate relationship with the Lord. We want to grow closer to Him and experience Him in ways we never have before. We want to enter into uncharted fellowship and communion with Him. In essence, we want to “know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Phil 3:10). Literally, as this verse states, we want to “have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16...
2021-08-0415 minThe Higher Christian Life028 - Victory is Found in Believing God's PromisesVictory is Found in Believing God’s PromisesIn our last podcast, we shared the hope of true victory over our continued failure against sin and introduced three truths we must believe to enter into the joy of the Higher Christian Life. Over the next few days, we will dig deep into each of these truths to understand the importance of our unwavering faith in God’s promises. For without faith, it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6). But we know that, don’t we? Yet we fail in our faith, nonetheless.Think about your spiritual l...
2021-08-0115 minThe Higher Christian Life027 - But What Happens When We Fail?What Happens When I Fail at the Higher Christian Life?We have spent enough time since our last teaching for you to have either experienced the joy of wonderous success in the Higher Christian Life or the bitter gall of continued failure. My guess is that it’s a little bit of both— probably light on the success side and heavy on the failure. And a constant diet of failure can lead to disappointment, discouragement, self-loathing and self-doubt, depression, and the overwhelming urge to give up and quit. But quitting never accomplishes anything, especially in the spiritual life....
2021-07-3014 minThe Higher Christian Life026 - The Unlimited Possibilities of FaithWe have spent the last few sessions unpacking the three key truths that must be believed in order to receive the Higher Christian Life. By now, these should be second nature to you. But there are two aspects to these three truths. One, naturally, is the truths themselves. And the other, of equal importance, is that these truths must be believed. In a word, faith. It is the fact you must believe by faith what these truths state. This brings us to the topic for today, and that is faith. Abundant faith, achieving faith, overcoming faith, non-wavering faith. Faith. So let’s...
2021-05-0515 minThe Higher Christian Life025 - “Why Did You Doubt?”We will close our study of the three key truths that must be believed to experience the Higher Christian Life by looking at one final example of how to commit yourself, in total dependence, to the Lord for safekeeping. This is truth number three. In essence, it is His job to “present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 24), and not yours. We must learn, by faith, to trust Him to complete what He has begun in our lives by His power and not struggle in our own. And this is hard. Why? Because it require...
2021-04-3017 minThe Higher Christian Life024 - It’s His Job to Make and Keep You HolyToday, we will begin looking at the last of the three truths that must be believed in order to experience the Higher Christian Life. These truths speak of the character of God and our need to let Him both make us holy and, as hard as it sometimes seems, keep us holy in His sight. Remember, Jude 24 states, “He is able to keep you from stumbling”— so His ability is not in question. And 1 Corinthians 1:30 further reveals that Jesus “became for us… sanctification.” So He is what He desires us to be. Seems simple enough. But how does knowing what He can do (keep u...
2021-04-2815 minThe Higher Christian Life023 - Does God Love You as Much as You Love Him?Today we will begin to look at the second of our three key truths that lead to the blessings of the Higher Christian Life. As we have learned, the first truth declares you must believe God is able (He possesses the power and ability) to keep you from falling or faltering in your life of holiness (Jude 24). And once God’s ability is firmly settled in your mind, the second truth takes the first one and makes it personal. The second truth states you must remove from your mind all doubt and fear that He is not willing to keep ...
2021-04-1414 minThe Higher Christian Life022 - Is it Possible to Live a Holy Life?As we dive deeper into Jude 24 and the first of our three truths we must believe in order to experience the blessings of the Higher Christian Life, we find ourselves today faced with one all-important question: Is it possible for me to live a holy life? In other words, can I experience victory over my sin and shortcomings on a permanent, daily basis? Can I feel the pleasure of the Lord as I allow Him to live His life through me and therefore reflect the character of the Holy Spirit? And if Jude 24 does teach that God will “keep me fro...
2021-04-1313 minThe Higher Christian Life021 - What Does “Keep You From Stumbling” Mean?We have been looking at the first of three truths that must be believed before you can progress into the Higher Christian Life. Believing these three truths provides you with the confidence of knowing that God not only can, but will “present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 24). The first truth reveals how big your God is compared to how big your problems are. And this cuts deep into the object of your faith. Is your faith centered on God? Or is it on your past experiences, both good and bad? The first truth states...
2021-04-1213 minThe Higher Christian Life020 - “Now to Him Who is Able”As we have shared in the past, the way to fully understand a particular passage is to first determine what it says. And then, what it means. Yesterday we looked at Jude 24 to determine exactly what the passage says by examining the meaning of the words when they were written. And what we discovered was quite eye-opening and encouraging regarding what God is able to do to help us in our deeper life of sanctification or holiness. Today, we’re going to begin to see exactly what Jude 24 means and how it is to be applied to our lives. And this is wher...
2021-04-1016 minThe Higher Christian Life019 - My God is So Big, So Strong, and So MightyIn our last time together we looked at the three key, no vital, truths that must be believed in order to win the war with our doubt and discover the permanent, abiding Presence of the Holy Spirit in our life as we embrace the Higher Christian Life. Today we will dig a bit deeper into the firsts of these three truths, namely that our God is Able (He possesses the power and ability) to keep us from falling or faltering in our life of holiness.The Scripture we are to wholeheartedly believe is found in Jude 24. In th...
2021-04-0916 minThe Higher Christian Life018 - I Know He is Able, But is He Willing?As we have shared previously, the ability to maintain the Higher Christian Life is found the same way it was originally obtained: by faith. We have come to understand that, in the same way the confession of our sins leads to instant forgiveness, it also leads, according to 1 John 1:9, to our instant and immediate cleansing “from all unrighteousness.” And for this promise to become a living reality in you, it must be believed by faith. Unfortunately, many believe this truth only until they wake up the next morning feeling something less than they did the night before. Then, they surrende...
2021-04-0713 minThe Higher Christian Life017 - Stop Working Against Yourself!Yesterday we talked about the importance of self-control in your personal life in order to maintain intimacy with the Lord and experience the Higher Christian Life. We also looked into the testimony of Paul (1 Cor. 9:24-27) regarding his commitment to a life of self-discipline in order to make sure, when all is said and done, he would not be “disqualified” or unapproved, unworthy, worthless, rejected, or deemed a castaway by the Lord. After all, the most important thing in Paul’s life was not the temporal pleasures of sin, but the ecstatic joy of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ through th...
2021-04-0617 minThe Higher Christian Life016 - Self-Control and the Higher Christian LifeIn an earlier post, we discovered the importance of knowing, by faith and experience, the victory we have over the power of sin by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. And this knowledge only comes from faith. If God says, and He does, that He provided the means for you to have victory over sin, then our task is to simply believe what God has said and avail ourselves to what He has provided. Nothing else is needed. This is the key that opens the door of victory. But then, how do we maintain the victory we have won? W...
2021-04-0516 minThe Higher Christian Life015 - How to Have Victory Over the Power of SinIs it possible to know, to actually know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I have victory over the power of sin in my life? Absolutely! But not on your own or by your own strength. To fully understand what the Holy Spirit does for a man totally consecrated to Him, all we need to do is take a quick look back at the early disciples and see how their lives changed once they received the Holy Spirit. They are, for me at least, the greatest testimony to the power of a life surrendered to the Holy Spirit and...
2021-04-0213 minThe Higher Christian Life014 - Self-Examination and the Higher Christian LifeWe have previously written about the process each of us goes through in receiving the Higher Christian Life. However, truth be told, one of the most important, yet overlooked aspects of receiving the Higher Christian Life is a time of honest self-examination whereby we prepare ourselves for more of Him. And since holiness is the primary attribute of the Holy Spirit (hence, the word Holy), we should expect to have a time of spiritual house-cleaning before we invite our Holy Guest to possess more of us. But be warned, although the end result of spiritual self-examination is wonderous, the actual...
2021-04-0115 minThe Higher Christian Life013 - What is the Higher Christian Life?For those who truly desire to experience more intimacy with Christ, one of the stumbling blocks that will hinder you from embracing the Higher Christian Life is the so-called lack of Biblical examples of what the Higher Christian Life is all about. And this hindrance is often the result of not looking into the Scriptures with open eyes, but with a presupposition to a particular theological bent. For example, if you come to the Scriptures believing God no longer moves among His church as He did in the book of Acts, you will discount and ignore and try to ex...
2021-03-3116 minThe Higher Christian Life012 - The Higher Christian Life is Not About Seeking SignsOften, in our search for the Higher Christian Life, we can be easily led astray from simple, child-like faith to demanding a sign or some miraculous proof to believe. And this detour from what pleases the Lord (faith) to the abyss of doubt can happen subtly, under the cover of darkness, like a growing cancer, until we no longer seek for more of Him. Instead, we seek more of what He can do or how what He does makes us feel. Seeking signs or “attesting miracles” is the opposite of faith. Please understand, we can have faith in signs themselv...
2021-03-3013 minThe Higher Christian Life011 - How Do I Glorify God in My Body?Regarding the Higher Christian Life, we have discovered some truths that should change our lives. For one, Jesus said in John 14, we “know (ginōskō)” the Holy Spirit, for the Holy Spirit “dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:17). Then, in Romans 12:1, we are urged to “present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service.” But who do we present our bodies to? What Person of the Godhead accepts the sacrifice of our body? It is not the Father, who now sits on His throne in heaven, and has no need of a body. It is no...
2021-03-2914 minThe Higher Christian Life010 - Our Need for the Higher Christian LifeAs we have shared, the key verse regarding the blessings of receiving the Spirit and His inaugurating the Higher Christian Life in each of us is found in John 7:38. Here Jesus said, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” In this Jesus was speaking about the Holy Spirit, whom “those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:39). But the Holy Spirit is now given. And Jesus is now glorified. So what does this say about our...
2021-03-2618 minThe Higher Christian Life009 - The Aim of the Higher Christian LifeIn a previous podcast, we introduced the importance of living, not for the applause of man or for our own self-gratification (no matter how noble our pursuits may seem), but solely for the pleasure and approval of God. In other words, we aim to be like Jesus. Our ambition is to live to hear the Father say, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25:21). And our single desire should be like that of Jesus, who said, “I always do those things that please Him” (John 8:29). This, and this alone, is the aim of the Higher Christian Life.But it is usua...
2021-03-2515 minThe Higher Christian Life008 - The Holy Spirit as Your Burden-BearerIn looking at the testimonies of great men and women of the last church age and their experience with the Higher Christian Life, I want to pause today and examine just one more, the life of Adoniram Judson (A.J.) Gordon (1836-1895). He was an American Baptist preacher (who ministered alongside D.L. Moody in his Northfield Conventions), writer, composer (“My Jesus, I Love Thee”), and founder of Gordon College and later Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. But more than that, he was a man who had an experience with the Holy Spirit that changed his life and ministry. And in almost...
2021-03-2419 minThe Higher Christian Life007 - The Process for Receiving the Higher Christian LifeThere is a process each of us goes through that leads us from where we are in our spiritual life to where we desire to be. Or, from the nominal Christian experience that most of us fixate at, to the Higher Christian Life, the “abundant life” Jesus promised (John 10:10). Everyone goes through it. Some stay at one stage longer than others. And some move quickly through many of the early stages only to get hung-up on a latter one. The process or stages in our awareness of this Higher Christian Life are general in nature and differ in details from pers...
2021-03-2314 minThe Higher Christian Life006 - Why Most Fail at the Higher Christian LifeNobody wants to fail, at anything, ever. We strive to be winners and not losers. We tell our kids that “if you try hard enough, you can do anything!” We don’t start a business to fail. We don’t start an exercise program to fail. We don’t enter into marriage to fail. Failure is not an option. Yet for those who have experienced the Higher Christian Life, many of their testimonies talk about multiple failures, often over many years, before any success. So why is that? Why do most people fail at their attempt to live the Higher Christian Li...
2021-03-2222 minThe Higher Christian Life005 - Living for the Pleasure of GodOne key to experiencing the Higher Christian Life is the understanding that we live, not for the applause of man or for our own self-gratification (no matter how noble our pursuits may seem), but solely for the pleasure and approval of God. Because quite honestly, everything else is temporal. Our single desire should be like that of Jesus, who said, “I always do those things that please Him” (John 8:29). Jesus lived His life for the pleasure of the Father. And to experience the Higher Christian life, so should we.Oswald Chambers says it this way in the March 17...
2021-03-1920 minThe Higher Christian Life004 - Holiness and the Higher Christian LifeOne of the two Scriptures that reveal the importance of holiness and living the Higher Christain life is found in Psalm 24. Here we see David beginning with a statement about the unsurpassed greatness of the Lord (Psalm 24:1-2) and then, based on His greatness, David poses both a question and an answer. The question is a logical one and goes something like this, “How can we get close to a God who claims ownership of the earth and ‘those who dwell therein’? (Psalm 24:1). How can I get to know a God as powerful and holy as this?” And how can I ever...
2021-03-1816 minThe Higher Christian Life003 - Abiding in the Higher Christian LifeOne of my spiritual mentors is a man named Andrew Murray. I was discipled for the most part by his books and devotions that I was blessed to encounter early in my Christian life. His writings are devotional in nature and have ministered to my soul for years and have always challenged me to want more of Jesus in my daily walk with Him. Some of his books that are regarded as classics are “With Christ in the School of Prayer”, “The True Vine”, and especially, “Abide in Christ”.For those of you who aren’t familiar with Andrew Murra...
2021-03-1718 minThe Higher Christian Life002 - Oswald Chambers and the Higher Christian LifeWhen we read the testimonies of those great spiritual heroes of days gone past and hear them describe the time leading up to their baptism in the Holy Spirit and their living the Higher Christian Life, a certain pattern begins to emerge. Granted, all their individual experiences are different, since God chooses to reveal Himself in the way He chooses to each of His children. So we obviously can’t put God in a box and demand He deals with everyone the way He deals with us. There is no cookie-cutter scheme that works for everyone. Yet in examining these...
2021-03-1620 minThe Higher Christian Life001 - The Higher Christian LifeYesterday was a wonderful day together as we committed ourselves to strive after what the saints of old called the “Higher Christian Life” and Jesus described as the “Abundant Life” found only in Him.“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” – John 10:10.The context of this verse is Jesus revealing Himself as the “good shepherd” who “gives His life for the sheep” (John 10:11), in contrast to a “hireling” (John 10:13) or “thieves and robbers” (John 10:8) who care...
2021-03-1524 min
Realty Ideas Per DayBattery ChangeHey, everyone. It's Bob McCranie with Texas Pride Realty and your Realty Idea of the Day is time change, obviously, we're gonna send that out, everybody remembers to send that out, but also, time to change the battery in your smoke detector.
So I'm huge about fire safety. If you watch me, I talk about fire safety at least two, three times a month if I can. Changing the batteries is important. Now, some smoke detectors are coming with lifelong batteries, that's great. But there's still a lot of smoke detectors out there that require the square 9-Volt batteries. I...
2018-11-0101 min