The First Fruit Is LoveBut the fruit of the Spirit is love.... — Galatians 5:22When the New Testament was being written, there were four primary Greek words to describe the concept of “love”: 1) eros, 2) stergo, 3) phileo, and 4) agape. These four words conveyed four very different types of love. I want to talk to you today about these four different types of love; then I’ll tell you which of thes...  Read More

Here’s What the Holy Spirit Wants To Produce in You!But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.— Galatians 5:22,23One day while visiting a remote village in southern Moldova, a precious Moldavian family invited our family to come to their home for lunch. When we arrived, we could see a huge table s...  Read More

A True Child of God Cannot Continue To Habitually Practice Sin!Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.— 1 John 3:6A true child of God cannot continue to habitually live a lifestyle of sin! It is impossible! In fact, if someone claims to be a child of God but continues in a life of sin, it is more than likely that he was never genuinely born aga...  Read More

Do You Practice Sin in Your Life?Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.— Galatians 5:21When I was young in the Lord and read the list in Galatians 5:19-21 of the works of the flesh, I was afterward afraid that I wouldn’t be admitted into the...  Read More

Envyings, Murders, Drunkenness, RevellingsNow the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like....— Galatians 5:19-21When the Jewish leaders turned Jesus over to Pilate to be criminally tried in a ...  Read More

Strife, Seditions, HeresiesNow the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies.— Galatians 5:19,20I pray that God is opening your eyes to see the works of the flesh from a new perspective. This is clearly very important; otherwise, the Holy Spirit wouldn’...  Read More

Hatred, Variance, Emulations, WrathNow the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath....— Galatians 5:19,20I once heard our six-year-old son tell his nine-year-old brother, “I hate you!”I quickly went to my son and asked him, “What did you say to your brother?”He firmly told me, “I...  Read More

Idolatry and WitchcraftNow the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft....— Galatians 5:19,20When people hear the word “idolatry,” they almost always visualize a great, carved stone statue of a pagan god, with wild, naked natives dancing in the light of a huge fire burning at its base. But is this what the apostle P...  Read More

Adultery, Fornication, Uncleanness, LasciviousnessNow the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness.— Galatians 5:19We live in a day when moral standards have deteriorated. Things that were considered sinful and shameful one generation ago are now practiced in a widespread manner throughout the Church. Rather than acknowledge their sin and...  Read More

The Works of the FleshNow the works of the flesh are manifest.... — Galatians 5:19I’ll never forget the day I saw a terrible accident in the former Soviet republic where I lived. Right in front of me, an elderly man dashed into the middle of traffic. The oncoming cars were coming so fast that it was impossible for the drivers to put on the brakes and avoid hitting this elderly gentleman. He was hi...  Read More

How Would You Like To ‘Take a Stroll’ In the Spirit Today?This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. — Galatians 5:16How would you like to “walk in the Spirit” every day of your life? Does this proposal sound like an impossibility, or do you think that constantly walking in the Spirit is a possibility you should try to achieve? To answer the question of whe...  Read More

They Shall Lay Hands on the Sick, And They Shall Recover!And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. — Mark 16:17,18In Mark 16:18, Jesus said that believers would lay hands on...  Read More

If They Drink Any Deadly Thing, It Shall Not Hurt Them!And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.... — Mark 16:17,18In yesterday’s Sparkling Gem, I mentioned a religious group in the remote hills of some states that “takes up serpent...  Read More

They Shall Take Up Serpents!And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents....— Mark 16:17,18In the remote back hills of some states, there are religious groups who literally “take up serpents” as a part of their church services. These groups have taken Jesus’ words in Mark 16:17 and 18 literally...  Read More

They Shall Speak With New Tongues!And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues.— Mark 16:17Regardless of the denomination to which you belong or what you have been taught to believe, it is an irrefutable fact that Jesus said believers would speak with new tongues. In fact, Jesus affirmed that speaking in new tongues would ...  Read More

They Shall Cast Out Devils!And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils....— Mark 16:17I have had to deal with demonic manifestations on several occasions in my ministry. I remember one time when a young Satanist teenager came forward at the end of one of my meetings in a large church. That night this young man had come to realize that Satan’s powers had ta...  Read More

Are These Signs Following You?And these signs shall follow them that believe.... — Mark 16:17Moments before Jesus ascended to the Father, He told the disciples, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the...  Read More

What Does the Word ‘Preach’ Mean?...Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. — Mark 16:15In Mark 16:15, Jesus instructed believers, “...Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” But what did Jesus mean when He said that we were supposed to “preach”? Did He mean that every believer must have a pulpit ministry where he or she publicly stands in fro...  Read More

Going Into All the World In Order To Preach the Gospel!Go ye therefore, and teach all nations.... — Matthew 28:19...Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. — Mark 16:15Today I want to talk to you about the commission Jesus gave to the Church to go into all the world to preach the Gospel. In the two verses listed above, Jesus explicitly gave the directive for believers to...  Read More

Our Mutual Ministry Of ExhortationBut exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.— Hebrews 3:13If you want to fulfill God’s plan for your life, there’s one thing you must not do: Don’t forsake the daily fellowship and encouragement of other believers! Hebrews 3:13 tells us that we need to “...exhort one another daily....” But w...  Read More

Is the Holy Spirit ‘Tugging’ at Your Heart Today?For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.— Romans 8:14When your journey of faith begins, you may not have all the answers you would like to have before you take your first steps of faith. For instance, when my family moved to the other side of the world so many years ago, we sincerely thought it would be a one-year inves...  Read More

The Tongue Is Like a Snake!But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. — James 3:8When I was a boy growing up in Oklahoma, I loved snakes! In fact, I had a whole collection of snakes — rat snakes, corn snakes, king snakes, garter snakes, boa constrictors, Burmese pythons, and reticulated pythons. I even had several very poisonous snakes, such as the spotted, browni...  Read More

Are You a Revealer Or Are You a Concealer?But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. — James 3:8Have you ever felt stabbed in the back by someone who repeated secret information you had shared with him? How did you feel when you realized that person had betrayed his commitment to keep that information confidential?Has there ever been a time when you were guilty of...  Read More

What God Thinks About People Who Gossip!Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.— Ephesians 4:29When I was a young man, my family attended a church where the pastor was a fabulous Bible teacher. Wednesday night services were my favorite, because that is when he would really open the Word of G...  Read More