Every person in every church and every pastor should never forget a singular, irreplaceable truth: Jesus is the head of the church. Jesus is first in everything. Get that priority confused and you invite the disintegration of what’s most important usually replaced by...
God is gracious and that is a very good thing, and, normally, we consider it a good thing. But what happens when God shows His grace to those who have hurt us or others? All of a sudden we're not so certain anymore. When God gives grace to the undeserving it raises...
We tend to get frustrated when things don’t go our way. And if we’re honest, sometimes our frustration is tied to our stubbornness. But what if God uses tough circumstances to get our attention for a reason? What if He wants to give us a second chance to overcome our...
There are some songs of the heart that we might rather not sing out loud. They express thoughts and feelings that are brutal and dark - feelings we'd rather others not know we feel. There are Song of the Heart in the Bible that curse others or invoke evil and they...
Ever felt like God was far away, uninterested, or worse yet, that He had abandoned you? You’re not alone. In Psalm 13, David expresses the raw emotion of wondering where God is when he needs Him the most. Far from being unspiritual, cries of lament create a dialogue...
Everywhere we look, we are confronted with messages telling us about the things we need to be happy and whole. If only we can get, the better phone, go on the better vacation, drive the better car, get into the better college, then we will be content. We will be...
With our eyes set on Jesus we’re changing to become Christ-like influencers. But what is the purpose of that change? Certainly, we bring God glory when our lives more closely resemble His Son. But living like Jesus also means we’re able to influence others by the way...
Saying, “I give up,” sounds like defeat unless we are surrendering to God. Victory and purpose in life are found when we live like Jesus lived. When we surrender continually to God we admit our absolute dependence on Him. And we acknowledge that our lives are really...