NextGenKent

The knowledge of God is a vital part of the well-being of your life--spiritually and otherwise God desires for you to know Him, but even more, God desires to reveal Himself to you. The knowledge of God is hidden--you cannot just expect to gain it. You need to especially understand that many will say they have it when in fact they do not. However, those who truly know God have very specific things in common. The Word of God reveals to us the knowledge of God , but it isn’t the only place our knowledge of Him comes from. However, every other place we obtain our knowledge of God will never contradict the knowledge available to us in the written Word of God. When I speak of the knowledge of God, I attach the knowledge of Jesus Christ of Nazareth and the knowledge of the Spirit of God--the holy Trinity, three in One, King of the Universe, and of my heart. Proverbs 2:5 tells us that your deepest respect for God , or the fear of the Lord, will accompany the knowledge o...

My daughter worked on her graduation display after I went to bed at 10:30pm. At 12:15am, she spoke into my bedroom, "Dad, I need your help with something. I spilled some paint on the carpet." My grogginess soon dissipated when I walked into the living room and saw an eight-inch circle of deep black. She had reached for something and turned over a pint full of tempera paint and had already attempted cleaning it up. "This happened in your bedroom once before ... and why we told you to have plenty of newspaper down..." No speech would help her (or the carpet) at this point, so I stopped, turned and headed for the Oxi-clean.  It was my problem now.  I could stop there because that is the crux of the theological moment for a life lesson that happened that night. At least the summary of what God spoke to my heart as I headed back up the stairs to go to bed.  We are going into the Pentecost season starting Sunday, and I am filling in the pulpit at a ch...

I have been in a place for the past week or so that feels like there is a plot against me. I cannot explain ALL, just that I feel a "dark cloud" over me, my spirit is agitated, I cannot connect with God, my wife, my kids, my friends--anyone. All of my words seem dampened and my mind and my heart seem to be too. In my spiritual journey, I have become more aware of times like these and others that effect me negatively, and have learned to pause, reflect and pray--even fast if goaded to do so. I continue to hold on to Jesus and seek to connect and somehow break through this crustiness that stands in my way.  There is no sense in believing it will all pass away soon enough--it always does, but I have never been better for it if I just trust such a time/season to "fate" and believe that "whatever will be will be." I am a co-creator with God, created in His image and bear the markings of Jesus on my spirit--the Holy Spirit testifies that I am His and He is...

Re-Imagining Youth Ministry :a blog mentorship experiment Yesterday I was visiting with a Senior Pastor and Youth Pastor of a church here in a small town in Oklahoma. I am coaching them and will be working with them to train some of their youth workers. These folks desire to be church B. They have a missional approach to ministry that to some, feels less flashy than the average youth ministry. So the youth pastor (let's call him Nate) was talking to the youth pastor down the street, who is in his 50's. As Nate was describing his ministry to this older youth pastor this is what the other youth pastor said to him.  "You send me your kids who want to have fun and I'll send you my kids who want to learn."--posted by Gerald Fees I totally get this. I just turned 50. I was raised under youth ministry professors who tried finding the balance to give to use youth ministry and Christian ed students, but hey, we were college students and we were already all about f...

If you have read anything about spiritual gifts, you probably know everything there is to know about them. Today I just want to go through a few passages to remind you what spiritual gifts really are all about.  The kicker:  When each part is working properly , the body grows, built up in love. There are three major passages that give the listings of not just spiritual gifts, but gifts, services, and activities of the Godhead in a believer's life: 1 Corinthians 12 (and lesser 14), Romans 12, and Ephesians 4. Number 1: The gifts (services and activities) are SPIRITUAL , which means they come from another realm and operate in the realm. These are not natural gifts, however natural gifts (like singing, artistry, etc.) can be used by God to bring about spiritual services and activities. In other words, our spiritual gifts can utilize the natural gifts to bring about God's purposes ( say, healing, or encouragement) . Number 2: These spiritual activities are EM...