Author Archives: Pastor Tommy

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. (1 Peter 4:12)

In a fallen and broken world filled with fallen and broken people, one thing is certain: everybody suffers. From the loss of a relationship, a job, or a loved one to the more mundane but no less real experiences of loneliness, disappointment, or unmet expectations, every heart is hurting in one way or another. The Scriptures are unflinching in their assertion that the Christian life comes with sorrow and difficulty.

After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you into his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. (1 Peter 5:10).

Peter wrote to encourage believers who were often in the midst of unbearable suffering, and this passage provides us with four action words that God in Christ promises to perform in the lives of all those who faithfully follow wherever He is leading us:

Restore – God will eventually restore whatever we have lost for the glory of God and the expansion of His kingdom.

Confirm – God will give us truths that transform our lives, and those truths can come to us in no other way other than through suffering.

Strengthen – God will strengthen our resolve to keep getting up every time we are knocked down, conforming us more and more into the image and likeness of Jesus.

Establish – God is building our lives on rock, not sand, and this can only happen through the storms of life.

God has promised suffering with no particular time limit or level of intensity attached to it. Suffering may not cease; in fact, it may continue to intensify until you cross the Jordan. But He has also promised to restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish us for His glory and our ultimate good.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

[Christ Jesus] made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:7-8)

When you hear the word “king,” what comes to mind? Many readers will likely think of words like power, privilege, wealth, excess, greed and nobility. But the true King is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and His life did not look anything like our mental picture of an earthly king. There may be no better word to characterize Jesus than humility.

In today’s passage, we see the ultimate act of humility in the life of Christ: Not only did He leave the glory of heaven to come to earth and live as a human, choosing to serve rather to be served (Matthew 20:28), but He gave His life in perfect obedience to the Father for our salvation. When Jesus willingly laid down His life for us on a cross, He demonstrated for all the world to see that He was the promised Suffering Servant the prophet Isaiah described:

Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:4-5)

Jesus left the glory of heaven, took on human flesh, embraced a life of rejection and persecution, and was ultimately mocked by sinful men, who jammed a crown of thorns onto His head and nailed Him to a wooden cross. Why did He submit to that horror? So that we who have trusted in Him can have eternal life. Accepting death on a cross was the ultimate demonstration of humility by our Humble King, and His Father in heaven placed His stamp of approval on the Son’s atoning work by raising Him from the dead.

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:8-11)

Have you bowed your knee to this humble King? Have you confessed Him as your Lord and Savior? If not, there is no better time to do that than right now.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

I think we would all agree that life presents us with more than its fair share of tough times. In today’s verse, Jesus flatly tells us that our lives will be challenging and marked by difficulties. So how do we “take heart”? How do we get through the troubles of life?

Spending time each day in the Word of God will bring you face to face with the only One who can lighten your load as the waves of challenge batter you throughout each day. Below are a few passages of Scripture to marinate in and meditate on that will give you the strength — not just to survive, but to thrive along the way.

Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved. (Psalm 55:22 ESV)

I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. (Isaiah 41:13)

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:6-7)

The more time you spend with God in His Word, the lighter your load will become. Continue to look to Jesus, lean on Him, and learn from Him. You’ll be glad you did!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? (James 4:1)

The reality of Satan’s attacks on the lives of God’s people is clear and present. Yet we must be careful not to blame our sins on Satan, practically echoing Flip Wilson’s comedic punch line, “The devil made me do it!” As James observed in our text for today, our primary concern must be what is going on within us, not what Satan is doing to us.

Jonathan Edwards said that when the church is revived, so too is Satan. Edwards was right, but we must always take time to examine our own hearts, just as James’ epistle exhorts us to do. James warns that fights and quarrels are a result of our desires that rage within, and we must be careful not to define “desires” only in a sinful and negative way. Many good desires can cause fights and quarrels and ultimately enslave us. The desire to be right is not bad, but when it rises above being loving, the enemy within is rearing its ugly head. The desire to be needed is not sinful, but when it rises above humble service, the enemy within is rearing its ugly head. The desire for financial gain is not wrong, but when it rises above being faithful to God, the enemy within is rearing its ugly head.

Satan is a sly and remorseless adversary, but our most dangerous enemy lies within our own heart, and this is the place where the battle must be fought. The only hope of winning this battle is for Jesus to supernaturally change and transform our hearts. Remember, until Jesus shows up, the sickness of the heart is both terminal and incurable. But when Jesus raises us from death to life, we are given a new heart (Jeremiah 31:33), and that new heart begins beating for something other than the self.

That “something” has a name: Jesus Christ. Jesus is on a mission to rescue us from the sea of self-absorption, self-centeredness, and self-rule, but this change happens daily, not in a day. We must be willing to fight the good fight of faith each and every day as we make our way into glory. As Jesus said, we are to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him wherever He leads.

What has your heart been beating for lately? A little self-examination can go a long way in helping you take sword to the enemy within, knowing that the good work Jesus began in you He will one day bring to completion. Our worst enemy is never outside of us; our enemy is always within; when we acknowledge this truth, we can go to work on winning the war within through the power of the Holy Spirit, “because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4 NKJV).

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” (Matthew 6:24)

Both the Old and New Testaments provide many principles about the way we are to handle money – from the way we earn it to the way we spend it – and all of them will reveal the true condition of our hearts. Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there you heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). All the way back in the days of Jesus, materialism had a grip on many, revealing the true condition of their hearts and the god they had chosen to serve. Only one thing can sit on the throne of our lives: either God or something much smaller than God. Money is at the top of that list of “small things.”

Look at it this way: Either we will take orders from our Master or our money. We simply cannot serve both at the same time. Please note that Jesus never said that we cannot serve God and have money. We need money to pay our bills and to put food on the table and clothes on our back. Jesus did not teach a poverty gospel; what He did teach is that it’s not what you possess, it’s what possesses you. There is no sin in having money. None! But there is often great sin in the priority we place on our money. One of the best ways of examining our hearts to see whether or not money has a grip on us is to see what we are doing with the discretionary portion of it. We need only to check our bank statements to see where our true treasure is.

Focusing too much on our money keeps us in fear of never having enough of it, and this fear keeps us from even considering choices in life that would provide us with less money. Yet there are times when God is actually calling us into this. If God has promised to meet all our needs – and He has – then we can trust Him even when we cannot trace Him, and that will mean putting His plan and purpose for our lives ahead of our own.

So if we can only have one Lord, the question is: Who is lord of our lives? Is it money or our Master? When you look back on some of your recent decisions, are they finance-based or faith-based? To be sure, we need money to live, but we must not love money. I long ago lost count of how many times I’ve heard people misquote 1 Timothy 6:10 by saying, “Money is the root of all evil.” That’s not what the Bible says! What 1 Timothy 6:10 does say is that “The love of money is the root of all evil” (emphasis added).

We cannot be a soldier in two different armies at the same time. As disciples of Jesus, we are to renounce all other gods, and that most certainly includes money. Remember, a master is anything that enslaves us, and anything smaller than Jesus cannot and will not sustain. When the Lord described Himself as a “jealous God” (Exodus 34:14), He meant what He said! God will tolerate no rival, and that includes money. But He has promised us, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things [food, clothes, a place to live] will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).

God will meet all our needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). So that means we are free to love Him and Him alone. He gives us money to live . . . not to love.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good. (1 Peter 4:19)

When was the last time you were on a roller coaster? I got on the Space Mountain ride at Disney World with my kids a few years ago . . . which was a mistake of gargantuan proportions. The crazy twists and turns had me hanging on for dear life! As we were hurtling through the dark “mountain,” I told myself grimly, “There is no getting off until the ride is over.”

The same thing is true with Christianity. The Christian life is filled with all sorts of crazy twists and turns, and once it starts, we are on the roller coaster ride until it ends on the other side of glory.

Sometimes the roller coaster ride of my redemption has me wanting to get off. It can seem like everything is out of control and the wheels are coming off the track. Doubt begins to derail my devotion; confusion begins to cloud my commitment; worry begins to weaken my walk with Jesus. With each turbulent twist and troublesome turn, we must remember that there always has been and always will be an occupied throne in heaven. Jesus is seated on it, and He is in complete control of everything that is going on in the universe . . . and that most definitely includes our lives too. I need to remind myself over and over again that nothing happens to me that doesn’t first pass through His nail-scarred hands.

How are things with you? Has life been feeling like a roller coaster ride these days? Has the Lord been taking you through some loop-de-loops in your life? Fear not! Just like my kids on that crazy Space Mountain ride, you can release your white-knuckle grip and actually throw your hands up in the air and shout for joy, because the One who died for your sins is guiding you through every unexpected high and every stomach-churning low in life, and He is using all of them for His glory and your ultimate and eternal good.

Christian, God’s promise is clear: “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion” (Philippians 1:6). Hold fast to it!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus.  (Hebrews 12:2)

When we shift our focus away from Christ and put it on our circumstances, we miss much of what God is doing in our lives. We lose focus. We lose peace. We lose hope. Like Eeyore, Winnie the Pooh’s gloomy friend, we have a tendency to imagine that we are “grinning and bearing it,” forcing a smile, when we are actually greeting others with a miserable and mournful countenance.

But this is not for you! When the storm winds are blowing, keep your focus on your Savior. When the waves of challenge are washing over you, keep your focus on your Christ. When Peter got out of the boat and was walking across the water, all was well . . . as long as he kept his focus on Jesus. But as soon as he shifted his focus to the winds and the waves, he began to sink. The same is true for all of us. Sinking is a certainty when we allow what is going on around us to determine what is going on within us. The author of Hebrews gives us the prescription to make sure we are Eeyore no more:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith . . . (Hebrews 12:1-2)

Jesus promised we would have trouble in this world. Life is chock full of challenging circumstances, and if we focus on what is going on around us, soon what is going on within us will be marked by worry, fear, and doubt. We will begin to sink. When that happens — and at times it will, no matter how committed we are to focusing on Jesus — let us remember what Peter did. He cried out to Jesus, “Lord, save me!” And that is exactly what Jesus did.

So do not fear, for I am with you;do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

My God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)

There are a number of ideas and events that can cause us to wonder whether Jesus is more than enough in our lives. Today we will focus on loss. When we lose something or someone, we can get caught in the untruth trap of wondering if Jesus is more than enough to meet us in our place of deepest need because that loss is so great in our lives. I have fallen into this trap on more than one occasion; perhaps you have too. I hope that today’s message will encourage you and empower you to rest in the reality that, no matter what you are going through, Jesus is more than enough for you!

The German hymn writer Catharina Von Schlegel put it this way hundreds of years ago: “Be still my soul, your Jesus can repay from His own fullness all He takes away.” Those words are as lovely as they are true, but the battle to sustain in the midst of loss is as real as it is raw, because we are still in the process of being conformed to the image of Jesus. It is not uncommon for us to ask questions like, “Why did God allow this to happen?” . . . “Why is God allowing this trial to continue?” The pain is all too real, but we must learn to look beyond the pain, where we will find the purpose of God. The cross of Jesus makes it clear that there is purpose in pain — all pain — regardless of how agonizing that pain may be.

Job is a wonderful example of someone who understood this truth. God allowed Satan to test Job, and the test was severe. Job lost his wealth, his health, and all ten of his children. He even lost the respect of his wife, who urged him to “Curse God and die” in the midst of his terrible pain. Job did not understand the reasons why he had suffered all this loss, but he trusted in the fact that God is good and was working all things together for his good. Job blessed God as he rested in the reality that God is in sovereign control of all things, including all his losses and crosses:

Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” (Job 1:20-21)

Through every loss, God proved to be more than enough for Job. God showed Job his hope and his happiness were not to be found in anything smaller than God Himself. And that is exactly what Job was able to do. He trusted God even when he could not trace God, and he was able to see God’s purpose in his pain. Job came to the conclusion that God was more than enough, no matter what he was going through.

The question is, “Do we believe that too?” If we fix our focus on Jesus, we will be able to rise above every wave of challenge, knowing that Jesus is always more than enough . . . no matter what.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. (Psalm 119:1)

Containing 176 verses, Psalm 119 is the longest psalm and the longest single chapter in all of sacred Scripture. Inasmuch as we do not know the identity of the earthly author, we know the heavenly One, and what Psalm 119 contains should arrest our attention and strengthen our resolve. This psalm can be divided into a several themes – such as persecutions, afflictions, and the challenges of daily living – but the theme I would like to focus on today is the importance of the Word of God.

When you read through Psalm 119, take note of the words that are used for the Scriptures: law, precepts, statues, testimonies, judgments, commandments, word, and ordinances. The Word of God is mentioned in nearly every verse; most scholars agree that only five of the 176 verses do not make a direct reference to the Scriptures.

Why should this be a source of eternal encouragement to you today? Because it not only expresses the character of the Scriptures, but the character of our Savior too. Here are just a few verses to consider as a sampling of many throughout this magnificent Psalm:

The Word of God and He who is the living Word of God are both . . .

• Wonderful – V. 18
• Trustworthy – V. 42
• Truthful – V. 43
• Righteous – V. 62
• Faithful – V. 90
• Eternal – V. 89
• Immutable – V. 89
• Light – V. 105
• True – V. 160

The beauty and the blessing of the Word of God as it is set forth in this amazing chapter cannot be overstated. God’s Word is as pure as it is powerful . . . as wise as it is watchful . . . as encouraging as it is equipping . . . as life-giving as it is life-changing. God gave us His Word in a book, not for it to collect dust on a shelf, but to be meditated on and marinated in every day of our lives. The more time you spend in the Word, the better you will be able to live according to God’s perfect plan and purpose for your imperfect life.

The second verse assures us, “Blessed are they who keep his statues and seek him with all their heart.” If that describes you today, praise His mighty name! If not, you can do something about it right now. As James, the brother of our Lord, assured us, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8 ESV).

I’d like to close by encouraging you to memorize verse 75, which I am sure you will find to be most helpful, especially during times of trial: “I know, O Lord, that your laws are righteous, and in faithfulness you have afflicted me.” In faithfulness – not in anger or disappointment or disgust – does our loving Lord send us storms. Let that truth keep you going, confident that God is using it all to conform you to the image of His beloved Son, Jesus.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Cast all your cares on him because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)

Just like casting a fishing line out onto the water, we are to cast all of our cares on Jesus because He cares for us. Lord knows, none of us can hide our burdens, anxieties, difficulties, and cares; they are published on our face, they are broadcast in the tone of our voice, they are revealed through our eyes. I hope you will let today’s verse encourage you to give all of your cares to the One who cares for you far more than anyone else could possibly care.

Here are a few practical steps to consider:

Step #1 – Acknowledge Your Cares

There is no need to deny the difficulties of daily living. Ever since Adam and Eve’s terrible fall in the Garden of Eden, all of life is marked by “thorns and thistles” – troubles, trials, temptations, and testings. Jesus told us there will be a lifetime of problems: “In this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33). So acknowledge your cares and concerns to Him.  

Step #2 – Cast Your Cares

When the waves of challenge wash over you, cast them to Jesus. When the storms winds are howling, cast them to Jesus. When you find yourself in a fire or a flood, cast them to Jesus, because he cares for you. Remember, immediately after Jesus warned that we will have problems, He went on to say, “But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Never forget that the power in you is greater than any power that comes against you. Not only does Jesus care for you, He is the only One who can carry each and every one of your cares. So cast them on Jesus!

Step #3 – Trust Jesus

As it relates to care-casting, experience has taught me two things: Once we have cast our cares, either Jesus will take them completely from us or take us through them. Either way, we must trust that Jesus’ plan our lives is better than our plan. Jesus knows exactly what we need and when we need it, and that includes the cares of life.

In closing, as you continually practice care-casting, keep this little phrase before you: I WILL, THY WILL. This is shorthand for “I want your will for my life because Thy will is better than my will.” When you do that, submitting your life to Him and trusting that He cares for you, you will be reminding yourself that all things are ultimately working together for your good and God’s glory. And that is the essence of care-casting!

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!