Dr Paul Allen

Now, if the power of the kingdom is the Holy Spirit, then kingdom power was given to the church on the Day of Pentecost. It is more than power and authority. In a saying of key importance, Christ announced to His followers, “It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). Believers inherit the kingdom “lock, stock, and barrel.” The kingdom power, which rested on Christ Jesus, was there to work signs and wonders. The same Spirit is given to those within the kingdom of God for the same kingdom purposes.  As John the Baptist revealed, “Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptises with the Holy Spirit” (John 1:33). The Spirit, who endowed Jesus, now endows His people with the same power. There is a difference between Christ and His followers, and it is rather noticeable! The difference is first Himself—who He is. Those who say, “The words of Christ on our lips are the same as those on Christ’s lips,” must remember this:...

 

“As stewards of the gospel , we must love our Muslim neighbours by presenting Christ to them.” “Since its founding, the Jenkins Center has provided and produced resources to help Christians boldly, respectfully, and relevantly proclaim the gospel to Muslims.” Sharon, who has a burden  to reach the lost, attended a Jenkins Center event, and “I left that hall with tears in my eyes and a burden in my heart.” The Jenkins Center stands on biblical values and offers students a way to learn how to reach their Muslim neighbours. Go Deeper:   Read the full article  here.

Scot Lothery We live in a bad-news world. Each morning, we wake up and see it in the headlines on our news apps. In the evening, we see bad news again on the local news. The daily reports are relentless and overwhelmingly negative; the ratio of bad news to good is 10 to 1. Some people suggest this disparity is simply emphasis, but bad news has the upper hand. It always looms on life’s horizon. Every time something good happens, it’s followed by a “Yeah, that’s good, but . . .” That’s not pessimism. It’s the reality in a broken world. As a result, we all need to hear more good news. And not just the temporary sort that makes us feel better for a fleeting moment. Whether believers or unbelievers, we all need a daily dose of good news that transcends all the bad and puts every bit of it in a hope-filled framework. We need a message that flips the script on our bad-news world. That’s precisely what the gospel of Jesus Christ does. His message is so good that no bad news can bring it down. ...

My yard is littered with awful yellow weed-flowers. Yes, dandelions. As a kid it was great fun to pluck a fuzzy white one, hold it up, and blow. This scattered the fluff into the air, eventually landing again in the grass. At the time, I had no idea I was spreading this wild invasive weed to disturb the carefully manicured grass. Now as a homeowner and the resident gardener, each weekend I toil to pluck up this weed that seems to spread regardless of what I do to stop it. Dandelions multiply and spread by nature, much like the gospel. Consider for a moment how news of Jesus spread wherever he went (Mark  1:21 –28, 40–45; 5:1–20). Despite Jesus’s best efforts to temper the excitement, his fame and healings spread far and wide. It was like the ripe dandelion scattering into the wind, taking root wherever it flies. The gospel travels like that, from person to person, family to family, and community to community. The word of God takes off like this, with a life of its own, in...

“And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.” ( Acts 4:18 ) Every Christian knows that he or she should witness for Christ, but most are very reluctant to speak in His name very often. The most obvious reason for this hesitancy is fear. Sometimes we may be actually forbidden, as were the apostles, to teach of Him, but their courageous answer was: “We ought to obey God rather than men” ( Acts 5:29 ), and so they prayed: “Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word” ( Acts 4:29 ). More common than fear of physical persecution or personal harm, however, is fear of ridicule, or loss of prestige or position. Such fear is out of character for real Christians, “for God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” ( 2 Timothy 1:7 ). If we love the Lord and those for whom He died, we must learn to conquer our fear of men. One of the sadd...