Author: Jojo Agot

Pastor at Victory. Faculty and adviser at Every Nation Leadership Institute (ENLI). MA in Theology and Mission at Every Nation Seminary.

Talking Behind Someone’s Back

And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” –Matt.9.11

Their tactics were so immature and childish, not to mention desperate. They knew they could not stand to reason with Jesus face to face so they approached His disciples to insinuate that something was wrong with Jesus’ having dinner with sinners.

Two things worth mentioning here:

One, when you have trouble with someone, take it up to the right person right away. You don’t need to go around telling other people about it. If you do, you will just sound like you are desperate for attention and approval. Be man enough and face the person. Let him hear those concerns from you.

Two, beware of people who whisper in your ears. If they don’t have the courage to bring their concerns to the right person, it’s probably because their concerns are unreasonable or plain wrong. These kinds of people sow discord.

Let the Pigs Drown

And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region. — Matt. 8:34

Strange of them to ask Him to leave. Never before in their lives have they seen someone who could cast out demons. Never before in their lives have they seen someone who could drive away what’s tormenting their town. Never before in their lives have they seen someone as miraculous.

And yet the one thing they focused on was not their gain of having Jesus in their town but their loss of a herd of pigs. Pigs! They preferred swine more than their deliverance. Temporal economics over eternity.

Continue reading Let the Pigs Drown

Someday

Someday, all the dark, joyful, shocking, painful, sweet, confusing events that both offended us and amazed us; all the things that happened but we never quite understood; all the things that worked against our happiness and comfort; they will all be revealed as a complete picture of God’ providence and how He used each single one of them to prod us along in our holy walk with Him. All tears and sighs will turn to worshipful celebrations. Someday we will understand.

Stirred to Worship

Augustine’s Confessions:

Man is one of your creatures, Lord, and his instinct is to praise you. He bears about him the mark of death, the sign of his own sin, to remind him that you thwart the proud. But still, since he is a part of your creation, he wishes to praise you. The thought of you stirs him so deeply that he cannot be content unless he praises you, because you made us for yourself and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you.

Ministry Qualifications

Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.

1 Timothy 3:2-7