He was Healed with 10W30 motor oil! "...and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Name of the Lord" (James 5:13-15).   Healing has always been apart of God's Covenant with us. James encourages those who are sick to be anointed with oil by the elders of the church so they will be healed. It is an act of obedience. James makes it very clear that "the Lord will raise him up."   I remember the first time a new elder (an automobile mechanic not familiar with the appropriate practice in regards to healing with oil) was called to go and pray for healing with a sick church member. In his ignorance, he

God gives us Vision. "And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision..."  (Acts 18:5-17).   When we are willing to serve Jesus as Paul did, we will be expected to receive direction and guidance from Jesus at any time, in a variety of ways, including visions. Paul had been preaching and testifying to the Jews about Jesus. Their reaction was so negative that Paul decided to leave and take the message to the Gentiles. In a vision, God told him not to leave town. He stayed on for one and a half years teaching the Word of God with great success.   Most Christians misread people's reactions to our

Should we Witness even in the Tough Times? "...King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. That is why some Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen - that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the

Jesus' Power is Perfect in Our Weakness. "I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained... Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak,

Who are the Super Apostles? "Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? We have been speaking in the sight of God as those in Christ; and everything we do, dear friends, is for your strengthening. For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder. I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the

How can we increase our Faith? ”The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?

The Good Soil of the Holy Spirit. "Hear then the parable of the sower..." (Matthew 13:3-9;18-23).   Jesus spoke in parables so that only those who were "to know the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven" would understand. In the parable of the sower, Jesus describes four kinds of soil, of which only one produces fruit. Only the "good soil" produces one hundred, sixty and thirty-fold yield of fruit.   I once talked to a Mennonite missionary who had spent 30 years in South America. He had built a church of 1,500 members with a staff of 7 pastors. He was proud of his achievement until he heard that 2 Pentecostal missionaries,

Are you Sheep or a Goat? "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, You did it to Me" (Matthew 25:31-46).    Here we have a preview of Judgment Day. There will be many surprises when we see who are the real sheep and who are the real goats. The sheep, Jesus warns, will be recognized as those who have looked after the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and the prisoner - because each one in need was really Jesus in disguise.   In the same manner that Jesus looks after our needs, as a privilege and without complaint - He expects us to care for the physical

We are responsible for our Poor! "Father Abraham...send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue" (Luke 16:19-31).   Here is a "rich man-poor man" story that should make everyone take inventory of their lives. "Wealth" and "privilege" that do not look after the needs of hungry people is called "unrighteous mammon". Selfishness is the problem. This story depicts a rich man who witnesses a beggar, Lazarus eating from his garbage, and then dying of starvation and sickness at his door. When they both had died, the rich man went to Hell, while the poor man went to Paradise where he had an

The Spiritual Gifts of the Holy Spirit. "For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you..." (Romans 1:8-17).   The church in Rome had a good reputation, and so Paul wanted to go and visit those believers and have fellowship with them. He prayed for them, "without ceasing," that God might let him visit them. It was his desire to impart some spiritual gifts to them.   This is a ministry that many of us have. We pray with people not only for salvation and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but for the "spiritual gifts"  (charismatic gifts) that Paul mentions later in (Romans 12:6-8;