Kingdom Vision

...for my eyes have seen your salvation (Luke 2:30)  When Simeon, who was very old man, recognized and announced that the child Jesus was the Messiah, he knew his hopes had finally come true. He had been "looking forward to the consolation of Israel" (Luke 2:25). In other words, Simeon was longing for the day when God would finally make things right for his people, Israel, and the world. In Simeon's mind, when Jesus arrived - that time had come. Here is the story: Luke 2:25–32  Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, 29 “Mas

From the excitement of letting the cat out of the bag about our upcoming new church to the realization that this is my first birthday without a message from my Dad, I'm finding myself feeling content and at peace today, overall. Well, I'm pretty excited for this coming year. For many years I've felt like I've been playing baseball using my left hand (I'm right handed) and now I'm on the cusp of switching around to my stronger hand. I had to go through the struggle (and the humility that comes with it) in order to be forged into a person built for the long haul. I've had to keep many of my passions somewhat subdued because my role has been to support others and help them to be great - and when you've spent your whole life being the 'star of the show' this is not easy. It has been the best training of my life. Life-Updates Career-wise, I'm thankful to continue my role as staff and worship pastor at NLV. With a new lead pastor coming our way thi

Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” Jn 10:31–32. Greetings kingdom visionaries! We know that Jesus was threatened and persecuted by the religious and political leaders of his day. As kingdom seekers, we must remember that there is a cosmic war happening and the front lines can be a bloody place. However, in today's climate, it seems that some people interpret all resistance or negative response as persecution. As a point of clarity, it's important to grasp how Jesus handles this assault in our text. His detractors are about to stone him and Jesus asks a simple question, "For which of these [good works] do you stone me?" The wisdom in this question cannot be understated. Jesus wasn't being threatened because of spreading false news, conspiracy narratives, off-color statements about opposing political parties, or being unkind towar