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Why does Jesus wish we were cold?

March 7, 2019 // 20 Comments

“You gotta be hot, hot, hot for Jesus! You gotta get enthusiastic in evangelizing the lost. You gotta get on fire with passion for the Lord.” This is a message I used to preach, yet it is only half of what Jesus said. “You are neither cold or hot but lukewarm. I wish that you were cold or hot” (Rev. [...]

What does it mean to remove a church’s lampstand?

February 28, 2019 // 23 Comments

If you wanted to control people using fear and dark threats, you could become a Sith Lord, or you could take the good promises of Jesus, turn them inside out, and use them to terrorize God’s children. Let me give you an example: Unless you repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand out of its place. [...]

Are you working too hard for Jesus?

February 21, 2019 // 27 Comments

Who were the hardest working Christians in the Bible? The answer must surely be Paul and his friends, but many people will say it was the church at Ephesus. They say this because of what Jesus said in his letter to the church: “I know your deeds and toil” (Rev 2:2a). Commentators make much of Jesus knowing [...]

Are your deeds incomplete?

February 13, 2019 // 48 Comments

If Christians are worn out, it is for one of two reasons: (1) they don’t know how much their Father loves them and (2) they have an unbiblical definition of work. Hey, I’m not judging anyone here. When it comes to overwork, I’m guilty as sin. I’m a workaholic who regularly pushes himself past breaking [...]

Happy Birthday to us, and a free book for you!

February 5, 2019 // 49 Comments

Update: This book giveaway has now closed. Make sure you don’t miss out on future giveaways by signing up today. It’s free! Today is Escape to Reality’s 9th birthday, and to celebrate I’m giving subscribers free PDF copies of my most misjudged book, AD70 and the End of the World: Finding [...]

What does it mean to keep his deeds?

January 31, 2019 // 10 Comments

If you were to make a list of big topics discussed by Jesus and the New Testament writers, the subject of deeds or works would have to be on that list. They all spoke about it, and no one more than Jesus. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for not doing the works of Abraham (John 8:39-40), and said we would be judged [...]

What deeds does Jesus know?

January 24, 2019 // 32 Comments

“I know your deeds,” says Jesus to the churches. He exhorts the Ephesians to do the deeds they did at first (Rev. 2:5), he rebukes the Sardisians for having incomplete deeds (Rev. 3:2), and he promises to reward the Thyatirans according to their deeds (Rev. 2:23). Clearly our deeds or works matter to Jesus. [...]

Will Jesus return in 2019?

January 10, 2019 // 30 Comments

And so another year kicks off with a certain Christian magazines/websites making gloomy predictions about these last days. (I was going to provide some links here but it was depressing reading and I don’t wish to promote newspaper eschatology. If you’re interested, this stuff is not hard to find.) [...]

Is Jesus Returning Soon?

January 3, 2019 // 49 Comments

Me: “I am coming to your house soon.” You: “Great! When?” Me: “I have no idea. I don’t even know what day.” You: “Um, okay.” Me: “You’ll have to wait a really long time.” You: “But you said you’d be here soon.” Me: “Soon, sure! But it could be centuries.” If I delivered mixed [...]

Merry Christmas from the White House

December 22, 2018 // 22 Comments

I will not be sad to see the end of 2018. I don’t know about you, but this has been a year of low-level stress for us. Nothing major. Just a lot of rotten wood and asbestos in our house that had to go. And a roof, several walls, a few floors, and all the windows. We’ve had months of dust and disruption and [...]

You’ve got mail: Letters from Jesus, out today!

December 18, 2018 // 15 Comments

Last Friday I picked up a book containing the most important letters ever written. The letters had been penned by all sorts of historical figures. Yet the book contained no letters from Jesus. Not one. I can’t say I was surprised. Most people don’t know that Jesus sent letters. Do you know that the Son of God [...]

Who is an Overcomer?

December 13, 2018 // 26 Comments

To him who overcomes… (Rev. 2:7b) Jesus makes a promise connected with overcoming at the end of each of his letters. This promise leads us to wonder, how do I overcome? And what happens if I don’t? Is Jesus saying I can lose my salvation if I fail the overcoming test? Some define overcoming as a list of [...]