Bringing Scripture to Life

When you read the title of this blog post, please understand that I am not intending any disrespect to anyone who has ever lost a loved-one before, nor am I making light of the pain that comes from losing someone close to us. These are very personal as well as very painful events that take place in all of our lives. What has inspired this post though, was a thought that came to me in prayer a few months back. It was while I was officiating a funeral for a believer who had went home to be with the Lord. The thought came to me while in a prayer group before the service. One of the men who was praying said the word "funeral" as he was in prayer. Not that anything is wrong with the word "funeral" per se, because that is technically where we were at, and what we were praying over. However for me, the word funeral has such a solemn, permanent, and emotionally negative feel to it. Now, when it is the funeral of a person who did not trust in Jesus Christ, this is exactl...

Yesterday I had the honor of sharing the pulpit with Greg Laurie at Harvest Christian Fellowship. Okay, Greg wasn't actually there with me, but I did get to speak at a believers "Going Away Party", that was held at Harvest C.F. The going away party was for my friend Steve Esaki. Steve was a man who spent 54 years of his life rejecting God, until September 5th of this year, when he surrendered his life to Jesus, by confessing his sins to God, and placing his trust in Jesus alone for salvation. Steve's salvation was due to the steadfast prayers of his wife and her faithful walk with Jesus over the past 30 years, as well as the prayers of many believers throughout the years, and of course, the incredible mercy and tender heart of God to open up Steve's heart and give him understanding about Jesus. While at Steve's going away party, I shared an incredible event that took place between he and I, while visiting him at the hospital less than 24-hours before he wo...