Many men and women had been together during Jesus’ ministry. For some reason, Jesus decided he wanted twelve men to lay the foundations of the New Covenant. Not forty-two. Not ten, or even eleven or thirteen. Does this mean those who weren’t chosen had a lesser role in the kingdom? No, it only means this is what God did. Just ...
In 1 Kings 22, King Ahab and King Jehoshaphat have decided to go to war with a neighboring nation, even though the prophet Micaiah has told them King Ahab will die in battle. Ahab decides to go to battle anyway, but just in case the prophet is right Ahab decides to disguise himself in battle. Ahab seems to think he’s ...
King Jehoshaphat decided that he wanted to build a fleet of ships to search for gold in another land. His mistake, however, came when he decided to take on a business partner. He paired up with the King of Israel, King Ahaziah, without considering God’s desire. Ahaziah was known for his wickedness and not someone God wanted partnering with His ...
When Daniel worked for King Belshazzar, Daniel’s peers became jealous of his excellence. So they set out to destroy him. But as they looked for ways to trap Daniel, they realized that he had such high integrity, the only way he could be trapped was with his faith in God. Their attempt to use his faith against Daniel, backfired however, ...
If you are in a tricky situation at work resist the temptation to slander or quarrel. Take the high road because: If you live in a stable community where people aren’t moving all the time, most people know most people. The person you're slandering could be someone’s cousin or best friend. Quarreling with or slandering someone’s character creates a toxic ...
Our ministry hosted 25 CEO’s to tour Cambridge Engineering in St. Louis. Part of the tour allowed us to attend a daily 15-minute voluntary staff meeting. In only 15 minutes they did stretching exercises, showed 25 brief videos of quality improvements produced by staff, shared praise reports, and presented a gag gift to an intern! Cambridge believes building community and ...
While traveling home from St. Louis, Kathy and I stopped at a truck stop and ordered breakfast. After waiting 25 minutes for our food, Kathy stared at the food counter hungry and frustrated. One of the other waitresses noticed Kathy’s stare and asked if she could help. After Kathy explained the situation, the waitress said, “You have an excellent waitress. ...
While touring a manufacturing plant, Kevin, the plant CFO, shared with us his views on time clocks. He concluded that “time clocks can make for lazy managers.” Instead, Kevin’s company chose to change the procedure to one where people matter more than the process. Their managers strive to know their people’s timeliness and challenges well enough that time clocks aren’t ...
In 1 Kings the prophet Elijah had just had a mountain top experience. God had performed a miracle for Elijah, resulting in the embarrassment and deaths of 850 false prophets. Instead of celebrating, however, Elijah received a message from Queen Jezebel that she planned on killing him by the next day. Out of fear, Elijah fled to the wilderness to ...
Putting his life at risk, the prophet Elijah meets with his arch enemy, King Ahab, and demands that the King gather the false prophets and meet him on Mount Carmel. Standing before Ahab and 850 false prophets, Elijah challenges them and their gods to a test. After considerable time mocking their gods, Elijah, finally calls on his God. In 1 ...
Equipping Others to Do Work Differently
