Last week we discussed how the most successful in any field are usually those who do the basics the best. I am sure you have noticed how I repeat some of these principles. I may try to say them a little differently, using different stories, but they are nevertheless the same principles. I am trying to make the teaching interesting and effective. Repetition is required in developing any skill, including Christian character. The wise embrace repetition and are always those who are the most serious about training and practice.

The Lord uses the title "Lord of hosts," or "Lord of armies," over ten times more than He uses any of His other titles. He is a martial God, a military leader. In the time to come, we will see the whole advancing church taking on a military demeanor—one of such discipline and resolve that the world's military leaders will envy it.

Two things that we know the Lord especially loves are unity and diversity. The Lord loves diversity so much that He even makes every snowflake different. No two trees are alike. Every leaf is different from every other leaf on the planet. He made every human being different from every other human being. The Lord's creativity and love of diversity is prevalent throughout His creation. It is therefore understandable that these two would be blended into a fundamental principle of how He will rule in His kingdom. Unity in diversity is a basic principle of His government.

        The greatest Christian life will be lived closest to Christ, loving Him most, and thereby loving others most. To understand Christ and His love, we must first comprehend what He says in Isaiah 55:9:

         As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.

          A key to fulfilling The Great Commission is to have a church that is a demonstration of the society of the kingdom. As given in Scripture, the church has the most simple, but brilliant structure ever devised for a society. Of course, we would expect nothing less from the King of kings who is building this church. This week we will look at just the basic elements of this greatest society ever devised.

Conferences have been a basic part of our ministry since 1990. MorningStar will have hosted over one hundred conferences this coming year, and we have felt a grace on each one to go at least a little higher than the previous ones. Even so, we had sensed that our recent Harvest and Worship & Warfare Conferences were going to be special, and we were not disappointed. Every one of our team and staff that I talked to said they felt that they were the best conferences we have ever had, and we have had some historic conferences.

        For many years now we have been saying that each year would be more challenging than the last. I don’t think we have been wrong yet. What can we expect for 2014? It will be even more challenging too, but that does not mean it will not be a great year. Keeping in mind that victories don’t come without battles, and no great victories without great battles, this is the year we can expect some breakthroughs and a turning. Now is the time to see these crises/opportunities and prepare for them.

Can the Markets Resist the Devil?
The present stock market slide is not the beginning of a cataclysmic collapse in the U.S. economy. Stocks may drop lower for a time, but the Dow will find a consistent floor above 7,000 and the Nasdaq is close to its bottom in this present slide as well. This will be closer to the actual value of American business, which in the long term is healthier for both the economy and the markets.

         We think in words. For this reason, words have been the most powerful social force on earth, changing nations, forming cultures, and dismantling them. Dictionaries help establish the definitions of words, and a friend sent me this one that had recently been added to one of America’s foremost word authorities. This is the definition: