Joe McKeever
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6 Secrets Some Pastors Don’t Want You to Know
A deacon told me he and his wife witnessed a fistfight their first Sunday at our church. The story comes at the end of this. Now, perhaps a better title of this should be “Secrets some pastors perhaps don’t want you to know.” It goes like this: Let’s suppose you are considering joining Clearview Springs
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How to Rejoice When All You Feel Is Pain
They’re always listening. The world is constantly watching when God’s people go through disasters, experience heartaches, and deal with bankruptcies and setbacks. How will the so-called “God people” handle these trials? Will they grow angry and curse, lose their temper and drown their sorrows in the bottle? Or will they live up to this heavenly
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31 Reasons Why God Put You in a Church
A lady who read our blog commented that when she was widowed, her church did not minister to her. And no, she said, “I did not seek counsel from my pastor. I sought help from the Bible and the Lord alone.” I’m thinking she was saying that somewhat pridefully. I may be reading it wrong.
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Why Tithing Has Nothing to Do With Legalism
“God is able to make all grace abound toward you, so that you, always having enough of everything, may abound to every good work” (2 Cor. 9:8). Over the years I’ve been doing this website—some 15 years now–I have occasionally written about tithing our income to the Lord through His church. Invariably, among the responses
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Stop Blaming the Wrong People for Our Culture’s Wickedness
“How often I would have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not!” (Matt. 23:37). You were unwilling. I would, but you would not, God says. As a result, Jerusalem was reaping what she had sown. Getting the consequences of her neglect. The resources of heaven
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What to Do With Your Pesky, Wayward Thoughts
“We are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5, NASB). “Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer” (Ps. 19:14, MEV). The thought that flitted through my brain that night scares me to this
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7 Things You Should Remember This Father’s Day
“…. you … honor your sons above Me” (1 Samuel 2:29b). Eli was an indulgent father, and God held him accountable for it. “O my son Absolom, my son, my son Absalom! If only I could have given my death in your stead, Absalom, my son, my son!” (2 Sam. 18:33). David could be a
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Do You Really Have Self-Control?
“He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city” (Prov. 16:32). And on the other hand, “He who has no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls” (Prov. 25:28). Self-control is a
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What Scripture Can Teach Us About Germ Warfare
“That which goes into the mouth does not defile a man, but that which comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man” (Matt. 15:11). How’s that again, Lord? It would be easy here to say the Lord Jesus did not understand microscopic things like bacteria, viruses and germ warfare. Louis Pasteur was still eighteen
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If You Struggle to Find Your Identity in Christ, This Could Help
We are loved. We are winners. “I’m me and that’s good. Cause God don’t make no junk.” —from a poster by a child in a ghetto. (source unknown) The man said, “I think my wife’s health problems go back to something in her childhood, as to how she was treated. She seems to have trouble accepting who she
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5 More Scriptures That Will Keep Drawing You Back to the Bible
On Thursday, I shared with you five passages of Scripture that are sure to keep drawing you back to the Bible day after day. They are some of my favorites, and I love how those well-known, familiar passages keep yielding insights and blessings. So, I decided to share five more with you. I believe and
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Scriptures That Will Keep Drawing You Back Again and Again
This is semi-funny. In my retirement ministry—preaching in various churches—I naturally preach the passages that mean a great deal to me. And, since I know them so well, in many cases I quote the verses from memory. Often, I don’t even carry a Bible to the pulpit with me. To read, I need cumbersome reading glasses, and if I
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Unwise Prayers You Hope God Never Answers
Dear Lord, even if I pray in faith and dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s but am praying something I will regret forever and is not what You have planned, please ignore me. Thank you for hearing this prayer! Three men in the Bible—really godly men, the best of the bunch—prayed at
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The One-Word Reason You Should Never Live in Fear
A program on a science channel dealt with “Venus: Earth’s Evil Twin.” The two planets are similar in size, and according to the experts, have the same origin. But Venus is hellish, with acidic atmosphere and temperatures in the monstrous range. Early in the program, the scientists began telling how Earth’s future is to become as
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Your Strongest Encouragement to Stop and Pray During Your Day
“O You who hears prayer; to You all flesh will come” (Ps. 65:2). God hears prayers. It’s what He does. God delights in answering the prayers of His children. Scripture is consistent on this. The disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” He said to them, ‘When you pray, say: ‘Our Father …” (Luke 11:1bff). Slow down.
