Forgiveness is a decision you make to refuse to live in the past. It’s a conscious choice to release others from their sins against you so that you can be set free. It doesn’t deny the pain or change the past, but it does break the bitterness that holds you to the wounds of the past. Forgiveness allows you to let go and move on. You offer this forgiveness freely because God has forgiven you freely. Main Points: 1.  If there is anything that threatens to destroy our relationships, it is bitterness and unforgiveness. Wounds hurt deeply. Words spoken are impossible to forget. It seems that ..read more

Without reading the Old Testament we cannot see the full plan God has for His people. Don’t just read half of the story. Read the beginning. Discover what God has said and what He is doing in the lives of those who will trust Him.  Main Points: 1.  The practice of neglecting to read the Old Testament is not unusual. Except for the books of Psalms and Proverbs, many Christians do not read much of the Old Testament. 2. We must come to realize that we cannot fully understand the New Testament without the Old Testament. The New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old Testament.  3 ..read more

God's interruptions remind us that our knowledge and perspective is very limited. We cannot see and know as much as God. So, we surrender to his plan, recognizing we serve a God who has all knowledge, and he knows what is best for us. So, if interruptions are God’s plan for us, we must embrace them. Main Points: 1.  So, what do we do when we are interrupted and we sense that God is at work in the interruption? First, let me encourage you to pause and take a breath. It’s so easy to become irritated and reactive when we face the frustration of an interruption. 2. Second, pray and ask God ..read more

Think about this: You might miss greater opportunities from God if you can’t be trusted to obey God in the small things. There is a powerful question embedded in this verse:  Can you be trusted with obeying God in the small things? Will you seize the small opportunities God gives you, recognizing they truly make a difference? Main Points: 1. So often we miss these opportunities to serve God because they are small. We don’t recognize them as a chance to be a blessing to someone because, after all, it’s such a small thing. Instead, we are looking the big things. We are looking for open do ..read more

It’s through the power of the Holy Spirit that we are able to break the patterns of the world that we have lived by for so long. Now, through Jesus, we can be transformed, and this transformation takes place by a renewal in our minds. As a result, we begin to live by new patterns. Holy patterns. Holy habits. Main Points: 1. In today’s culture we sometimes talk about habits in their negative connotation. We’ll say, I’m struggling to break some bad habits.” But what if you could form some new habits. What if you and I developed some holy habits? What if we created some habits that helped us gr ..read more

If you really believed that Jesus would return tomorrow, what would you do differently from what you are now doing?  Would you maintain the same schedule you have set for yourself?  Would you adjust your plans? Main Points: 1.  Yes, as believers, we are waiting for Christ’s return, but our waiting is not passive. It is an active waiting. I believe there are three primary things we are to do as we wait for the return of Christ. 2.  God gives each of us opportunities to represent him and to tell of his saving grace. As we wait for his appearance, we take advantage of these ..read more

Remember this, we serve a God who can bring peace in the midst of the fiercest storm. He’s never faced a storm he couldn’t calm.  Main Points: 1. Many of you find yourself in the midst of a storm. Some of you are facing storms in your relationships. Some are facing heath storms or financial storms. Others are facing storms in your work or even your ministry. 2.  With just a word, Jesus can calm your storm.  All we have to do is be like the disciples and turn to him. Cry out to him today. He will either calm the storm in our outward circumstances, or he will calm the storm ins ..read more

I’ve found that often times worry has to do with the fear of what could possibly happen. They haven’t happened. We don’t know if they will happen, but we fear it could happen. This internal stress causes anxiety, fear, and apprehension. Not only can it make us emotionally and mentally unwell, but it can also cause physical illness too.  Is there a cure? Main Points: 1. The dictionary defines worry as giving way to anxiety or unease: to allow one’s mind to dwell on difficulties or trouble, whether actual or potential. 2. So, is there an answer? Is there a cure for worry? Is Jesus’ comman ..read more

Someone once said, “'A student learns what his teacher knows, but a disciple becomes what his master is.” Isn’t this the goal of the Christian life, to become like Jesus in our character and conduct? Main Points: 1. What is discipleship? I like this definition by Pastor Tony Evans. He wrote: Discipleship is that developmental process that progressively brings Christians from spiritual infancy to spiritual maturity so that they are then able to reproduce the process with someone else. The singular, overarching goal of a disciple is to bring all of life under the lordship of Jesus Christ and t ..read more

As a Christian, we must allow the Word of God to determine how we see and interpret the world around us. This will only happen if we consistently read and meditate on scripture. As we do so, the Bible influence our thoughts, our understanding, and our actions. Main Points: 1. It is important to remember that a worldview is comprehensive. It affects every area of our lives, from money to morality, from politics to art. True Christianity is more than a set of ideas to use at church. Christianity as taught in the Bible is itself a worldview. The Bible never distinguishes between a “religious” a ..read more