Many times when God wanted to change the destiny of a man, he first had to change the identity of that man. He would start by changing his name. In the Old Covenant, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham (which means “father of many nations”). ...
My son, Johnathan, just turned 10 years old. We love him dearly and therefore we chose his name wisely. My favorite New Testament character is John. I have always desired to emulate his intimacy with the Lord. One of my favorite Old Testament characters is Johnathan. I...
Names are extremely important! For example, I recall a young single mother who had identical twins. Because she was young, single and impoverished she reluctantly gave her identical twins up for adoption. One of the twins was adopted by a lovely couple in Spain and...
The Bible tells us, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people (the Greek word translated “peculiar” is peripoiesis, which comes from two Greek words meaning “to be made around”) that ye should show forth the praises of...
The Bible tells us, “Be ye angry and sin not, let not the sun go down on your wrath” (Eph. 4:26). This powerful scripture should indicate to us that there is a righteous and unrighteous anger. Righteous anger is an action directed towards a sin. ...
Have you ever seen one of those celebrity makeover shows? You know, the one where they randomly pick people off the street and then make them over to look just like a celebrity. Here at Joy Church we did a little parody of said program...
The Bible tells us, “That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus” (Philemon v.6). Here the Bible tells us by acknowledging who we are and what we have in Christ,...
Have you ever heard the expression, “Get real!” How about this one, “Keep it real!” With all the hypocrisy in the media, political arena and the sports venue, people are truly looking for authenticity…which I truly believe is vital. While I am all for biblical authenticity,...
Have you ever noticed how identity conscious people are? When Hollywood has its red carpet galas, interviewers will frequently ask, “Who are you wearing?” People identify with celebrities and some even think they look like celebrities. We presently have a deluge of “reality” shows because...
It has always been an identity issue! From the very beginning in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve were tempted by the devil…it was an identity issue! “If you eat of this tree, you shall be like God” (see Genesis 3). When Daniel...