“Make Your Time Count!” (excerpt from chapter six): Time is an interesting concept. Before God created the heavens and the earth there was no time. God is eternal, and therefore he is outside of time. And yet God entered time when Jesus Christ took on human flesh and was born into our world as a baby. We like to think that we are masters of time. We even have atomic clocks these days to measure time out precisely to the nanosecond, but we don’t really understand time. There are times when time seems to go rushing by, and then other times when the clock seems to stand still. There are times wh ..read more

“Make Your Money Count!” (excerpt from chapter five): Jesus said in the gospel of Luke: “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). Did you catch that? It’s a warning. Watch out! Be on your guard! Don’t be tricked into thinking that the more stuff you have, the happier you will be. Of course, this runs counter to everything the world tells you about your money. We live in a spending culture. We think money is for spending. We put bumper stickers on our cars that say, “He who dies with the most toys w ..read more

“Make Your Prayers Count!” (excerpt from chapter four): One reason to pray early is because God’s mercies are new every morning. We read in Lamentations: “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22-23). You might not be a morning person, but our God is a morning God! His mercies are new every morning! Every morning when you wake up God is waiting to meet with you. He has fresh grace and mercy for you. You need only spend time with him to be strengthened for your day. King David knew h ..read more

“Make Your Faith Count!” (excerpt from chapter three): Faith means trust. We see this in the classic definition of faith found in Hebrews 11: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Heb. 11:1). That phrase “being sure” translates a word that means “substance, confidence, assurance or trust.” Faith means trusting what you can’t readily see. The person who trusts their spouse doesn’t follow them around everywhere, checking all their phone records and reading all their emails. Why? Because they don’t have to see it in order to believe. They trust their sp ..read more

“Make Your Rest Count!” (excerpt from chapter two): When was the last time you felt completely rested? No anxiety; no stress; completely calm; completely relaxed. I told someone this week, “I am working hard on a sermon on rest.” Now that might sound like a contradiction but work and rest really do go together. They go together in the Bible, one following the other in Genesis chapters one and two. And they go together in life. You need a strong work ethic before you can develop a strong rest ethic. We hear a lot about work these days, but not so much about rest. It’s been said: “We have becom ..read more

Free advance review copies: The fourth book in the Understanding God’s Word series will be releasing next month, and I am looking for advance readers. The book is called Lord, Make My Life Count! It’s a short book (six chapters), and an easy read. Drawing largely from the wisdom portions of the Bible, this book focuses on six key areas of life: 1) making your work count; 2) making your rest count; 3) making your faith count; 4) making your prayers count; 5) making your money count; and 6) making your time count. Here is the full schedule and details: January 20-31: Sign-ups for the reading gr ..read more

If you are looking for some Advent reading this December, let me suggest my new book on the names of Jesus from Isaiah 9:6. You can check it out on Amazon here: Name above All Names (Isaiah 9:6)   This book works well as devotional reading in preparation for Christmas. It would also make a great Christmas gift for the reader on your list. I hope you enjoy it!   The prophet Isaiah spoke of a child who would be born a ruler and king. How would people recognize this baby when he was born? Isaiah identifies him for us by his names: “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, P ..read more

Ten lepers were healed. Nine went to church. One went to Jesus!   I preached on Jesus and the ten lepers this past Sunday from Luke 17:11-19. It was my first time preaching on the passage and I really enjoyed it. One thing that stuck out to me was at the beginning of the passage all ten lepers called out to Jesus in a loud voice for healing. And then later on, the one leper who returned came back praising God in a loud voice. It raises a good question. Do we praise God as loudly and as passionately when he answers our prayers as we do when we call out to him for help? Anyways, if you wo ..read more

Bible commentator Matthew Henry made the following entry in his journal the night he was robbed. This is a great example of “giving thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). “Let me be thankful first because I was never robbed before; second, because although they took my purse, they did not take my life; third, because although they took my all, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.” (Matthew Henry)   Note: Click here to view books in the Understanding God’s Word series.   ..read more

Free advance review copies: The next book in the Understanding God’s Word series comes out next week. It’s a Christmas book on the names of Jesus in Isaiah 9:6 (Wonderful Counselor; Mighty God; Everlasting Father; Prince of Peace). I am looking for a group of people who would be interested in reading the book and possibly leaving a review on Amazon when it is released. It’s a short book (only five chapters), and an easy read. I have a limited number of advance copies available. If you are interested in being a part of this group, just let me know and I will send you a link where you can downl ..read more