Category Archives: General

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in your will carry it on to completion. (Philippians 1:6)

You’ve probably heard someone talking about “Plan B,” referring to an alternative plan of action to use if the original plan should go awry. Well, regardless of where this message finds you today, you are still on God’s “Plan A,” because in His economy there is no such thing as “Plan B” in the life of the believer.

All of us, when we look back over our lives, see a past littered with mistakes and missteps, sins and shortcomings that caused us to fall short of God’s best for our lives. But no matter what we have gone through, no matter how badly we believe we messed things up, God’s “Plan A” is still in operation. God has not revoked His original plan for our lives. God has not repealed His original goal for our lives. God has not rescinded His original desire for our lives. God is using everything that has happened in our lives to bring us into the fulfillment of His “Plan A” for our lives. And that plan for the life of every believer is, in a word, Christlikeness.

Romans 8:28-29 is God’s promise to work everything in our lives to accomplish His eternal plan for conforming us into the image and likeness of His Son. God takes our successes and our failures, our victories and our defeats, our triumphs and our tragedies, and works them all together for our good and His glory, and today’s verse, Philippians 1:6, assures us that nothing will keep God from making His perfect plan come together and be fulfilled. There is no “Plan B” in the life of the Christian. God is in complete control of all things, and He is fitting together every decision we make, both good and bad, even the really bad ones, to make us more like Jesus.

Let that truth set you free to rise above the waves of challenge today, knowing that He who began the good work in you is bringing it to completion in His time and in His perfect way.

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

To him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us . . . (Ephesians 3:20)

Age-related memory loss is one of the tragic results of the fall. We get old, we develop an increasing tendency to forget things, and then we die. Yet “Doxological Dementia” is not an age-related disease that afflicts the minds of the elderly; it affects all of us, both young and old alike, when we forget not only who we are, but more importantly, Whose we are.

The doxology of Ephesians 3:20 (a doxology is an expression of praise to God) is designed to deliver us from a form of dementia that robs our joy, restricts our freedom, and retards our growth. The apostle Paul used a profound term — immeasurably more — to express God’s superabundant ability to bless us beyond our imagination. Here are a few other renderings of what Paul was expressing: God is able to do far more abundantly . . . exceedingly abundantly above all . . . infinitely more . . . than all we can ask or imagine. In other words, there is no limit to God’s ability to bless His people according to His supernatural power that is at work in every one of His children. The same power that raised Jesus from the grave is the same power that is at work within us every day, moment by moment.

Now, unlike God, we have finite minds; not only that, but our finite minds are fallen, broken, and sin-stained, so we are incapable of comprehending the cosmic care that God delivers to us, care that is far above anything we can ask, imagine, dream, or desire. God, in His infinite wisdom, authority, and power, is in sovereign control of all things, and He is working all things together for our ultimate good . . . even when it does not appear that way to us.

When you face circumstances that argue against your hope, hope anyway, because you have a God who is ready, willing, and able to bless you immeasurably more than what you could ever imagine.

We are apt to forget these things and allow a bit of “doxological dementia” to seep into our thinking, so it is critical that we come into the presence of Jesus each day through prayer and the study of His Word. When we remind ourselves daily that He who is in us is greater than any power that can come against us, we will begin to personally experience the peace that truly passes all understanding.  

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

Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright. (Genesis 25:34)

Esau’s appetite got the best of him, and he settled for a bowl of stew, giving his birthright to his brother Jacob in return. How often we find ourselves like Esau, settling for some momentary treasure over and against our eternal destiny . . . despising our birthright?

When was the last time you settled for some stew instead of reaching for your Savior?

Think about it this way: God has given us many promises in His Word. But all too often we are not willing to wait on the Lord to fulfill them in His way and in His timing. Abraham and Sarah had God’s promise that they would be the parents of a son. From their perspective, however, it was taking God way too long to fulfill His promise, so they took matters into their own hands. Sarah gave her servant Hagar to Abraham, and they conceived a child who had no part in the promise of God. When we settle for stew over our Savior, it blinds our eyes, binds our ears, and blocks our forward progress.

The key that keeps us from settling for stew over our Savior is rooted in our focus. If we focus on the here and now, we will likely settle for stew. But if we keep our focus on the there and then — living in the light of eternity — we will look past the temporal and settle for nothing less than the eternal. Only an eternal perspective will positively impact our earthly priorities. Jesus made it clear that we are all treasure hunters. The question we must ask ourselves and answer each day is: What treasure are we hunting for?

We all know from personal experience that it is a pitifully poor trade-off indeed to settle for temporary pleasure when already have received every imaginable eternal treasure in Jesus. We must remember that we are children of the King and a royal priesthood by way of our second birth. We must never sell our birthright to acquire some temporal treasure — some earthly stew — when we have been given the greatest eternal treasure imaginable: Jesus Christ our Lord.   

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

When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw [Jesus] eating with the “sinners” and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” (Mark 2:16)

The self-righteous Pharisees and teachers of the law could not comprehend why Jesus would associate with the hated tax collectors and people who were regarded as “sinners” for one simple reason: They were blind to their own sin. Yet their indignant question to Jesus’ disciples, which was meant as an insult, provides a source of great comfort for all those who understand their own sinful, fallen, and broken condition.

To know that Jesus is a friend of sinners — to know that He actually wants to be with us– is to understand a profound and promising biblical truth. First, to be a friend of sinners means that Jesus willingly subjected Himself to living in a sinful, fallen, and broken world. As the second person of the Trinity, Jesus came down off His heavenly throne, took on flesh, and dwelt among us. Now, that is profound! Second, to be a friend of sinners means that Jesus intentionally invites us into an intimate, personal relationship with Him, even though we were rebels on the run away from Him, just like Adam and Eve ran from God back in the Garden. Now, that is promising!  

The self-righteous religious leaders who were scandalized by Jesus’ choice of companions believed their right standing before God was rooted in rigorous following of their rituals and rules. For them, it was all about the externals. But Jesus made it clear that our right standing before God is rooted in a right relationship with Him. And let me make something perfectly clear: The reason Jesus ate with sinners is because they were the only ones He had to eat with, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Jesus sought out relationship with the outcasts, the socially unwanted, the marginalized, and the ostracized. He came to seek and save the lost.

Regardless of where this message finds you today, whether you are weathering storms or basking in sunshine, Jesus came for you. He lived for you. He died for you. He rose from the dead for you. And He is coming back for you. Remember, Jesus being a friend of sinners did not mean He condones sinful behavior. He didn’t spend time with sinners to join in their sinful ways. Rather, in His infinite love, Jesus was calling sinners like you and me to turn way from our sin and turn toward our Savior. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow,” He promises us; “though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool” (Isaiah 1:18).

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

I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten. (Joel 2:25)

When I look back over the years, there are some seasons in my life that, if I could, I would like to do over again. Yet I am reminded that God has promised to restore even the years the locusts have eaten. And they have eaten more than their fair share!

I am sure we all feel that way from time to time. When we do, we need to cry out to Jesus and ask Him to rescue us from such “stinking thinking.” We must remember how limited our perspective of life is. We are like a schoolchild peering through a quarter-sized hole in a wooden fence. Not only do we see only a tiny portion of what God is doing in our lives, we understand even less than that! That is why we must always remember that Jesus Christ is all about redemption, not do-overs! Jesus is busily engaged in redeeming all the time that we think was wasted, because there is no such thing as wasted time. God is working all things together for His stated purpose of conforming us to the likeness of His Son.

Now, I recognize that all of us have a past that is littered with losses. There have been painful seasons, fruitless seasons, selfish seasons, and prodigal seasons in our lives. But regardless of where this message finds you today, you must forsake regret and look to your Redeemer, who has promised to make all things new, including you. He is at work in you this very minute, sharpening and shaping you into His image. Live in that confidence, Christian, and that confidence will rise to hope.

Remember, Jesus is Lord, and He has made a seemingly impossible promise: He will restore the one thing we simply cannot save or store up – time. Let us be clear: the lost season will not be restored, but the lost Savior will be. Jesus will deepen our dependence upon Him. Jesus will heighten our hope in Him. Jesus will strengthen our surrender to Him. We do not need Jesus to redo anything in our lives. We simply need Him to do what He has promised: to redeem and restore the years the locusts have eaten.

Oh, what a Savior we have in Jesus!

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

If we live, we live for the Lord. (Romans 14:8)

Each day, we wake up in the crosshairs of two ways to live: We can live large for the Lord, or we can live little for ourselves. The first way leads to a life of meaning, significance, and purpose; the second leads to a life of meaninglessness, insignificance, and purposelessness. The choice is always ours.

To live large is to live for the expansion of the cause of the Kingdom of Christ. It is to actively participate in making all things new, by sharing the good news of the Gospel with all those we come in contact with. Living large is declaring the truths of the Gospel with both our lips and our lives. It is living a life that is marked by loving God and loving our neighbor, regardless of the cost or circumstance.

To live little, on the other hand, is to live a life of personal peace and self-fulfillment. Remember, when you fix your eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2), your life expands to the boundaries of God’s kingdom. But when you focus on yourself, you shrink the size of your life down to the size of your life.

Who have you been living for lately? Look to Jesus, and let Him enable you, empower you, and equip you to live for nothing smaller than Him. When you are living for Jesus, it may not look like you are living large from the world’s perspective, because unbelievers measure “large” by what you get. But when you are living for Jesus, you are truly living large, because He measures large by what you give.

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

Today is Memorial Day, a time to remember all those who paid the ultimate price in defending our great nation. Sadly, for far too many Americans, it is a day that merely marks the beginning of summer and the first three-day weekend since the first of the year.

What does Memorial Day represent for you?

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. (1 John 3:16)

To be sure, there is no greater demonstration of love than to lay your life down for another. The freedom we enjoy in this country is not free! It came at great cost to a great many. All those who served–and their families–paid some and some paid all so that you and I might live in the greatest country on earth. Our military men and women from all branches of our armed forces paid a great price so that every U.S. citizen can enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. How thankful are you for that freedom today? 

In 1884 the noted jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. said this during a Memorial Day speech: “Our dead brothers still live for us, and bid us think of life, not death—of life to which in their youth they lent the passion and joy of the spring.  As I listen, the great chorus of life and joy begins again, and amid the awful orchestra of seen and unseen powers and destinies of good and evil, our trumpets sound once more a note of daring, hope, and will.”

Holmes was telling us that our brave military men and women who paid the ulti

mate price would want us to focus on the results of their sacrifice: life and living life to the fullest. This, Holmes believed, is the best way to honor their sacrifice.

The very same thing is true for those who profess Jesus as Lord and Savior. We remember and proclaim His death when we partake of the Lord’s Supper, but Jesus has called us to live a life of abundance for the glory of the Almighty. 

I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly.  (John 10:10(

Are you currently living an abundant life for the glory of God? God never called you to muddle around on the mudflats of life. God has called each believer to soar on wings like eagles and pour ourselves out for something bigger than a life marked by self-survival, self-centeredness, and self-fulfillment. And we have been given this great privilege because Jesus was willing to lay His life down for us.

God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

It is right today to give thanks for every person who has ever served this great nation. If you have the opportunity of thanking one of these men or women in person, do it. And we particularly want to give thought to — and thank God for — all those brave American soldiers, sailors, and airmen who laid down their lives for our freedom.

Yet behind this tremendous temporal blessing is an even greater eternal blessing, a blessing we receive because of the ultimate price Jesus paid on our behalf on a cross raised on the hill known as The Skull. He laid His life down for us to set us free for all eternity.

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

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person. (Revelation 3:20)

Here is a biblical truth that is hard for many of us to internalize: Our Lord Jesus, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, the Alpha and the Omega, desires intimate communion with each one of His children. And His desire is not just for communion each day, perhaps for 15 minutes in the morning or at the end of the day, but moment by moment. Jesus Christ is consistent, immutable; His desire for us is unchanging. We, on the other hand, are inconsistent and sinful; our hearts drift in and out of close communion with Jesus.

We know that we enjoy eternal union with our Lord Jesus. Once Jesus raised us from death to life, we were His, and nothing can ever separate us from Him — not our sin . . . not Satan . . . nothing can take us from the palm of His hand (Romans 8:38-39, John 10:28). But from time to time — and sometimes the intervals between “time to time” are all too brief — our hearts drift away from our devotion and dedication to Jesus. Often we do not even recognize the drift until we find ourselves far away from the anchor of our soul, much like a careless swimmer may be inexorably pulled away from shore by a rip current. My own experience has been that it is usually the people closest to me who recognize my heart drift before I do, and that is because the way I am relating to Jesus always affects the way I relate to others.

The key to keeping our hearts beating for Jesus is to draw near to Him each and every day. The more time we spend in His presence, the more fixed we will be in our focus on Him. When we are spending consistent time alone with Jesus, we will not hear any other knock on the door of our heart or any voice on the other side, because we will be enveloped completely in the presence of the Lord who loves us. At this level of living, we will experience exactly what we were made to experience in this life: the presence and the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.

How are things with you these days? Have you been experiencing any heart drift lately? What would the people closest to you say? Pause in His presence today and listen closely; Jesus is knocking on the door of your heart and calling to you. Open the door wide, and receive all the blessings He has in store for you today and every day.

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

Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! (1 Corinthians 9:16)

We all have a tendency to find shade under the tree of “woe,” which is a poor place to find protection from the withering sun of tribulation.

• Woe is me! I got cut from the team.
• Woe is me! I did not get accepted at my college of choice.
• Woe is me! I did not get the job I wanted.
• Woe is me! I was passed over for that big promotion.
• Woe is me! There is too much month left at the end of the money.

We learn to “woe” at an early age, and it can follow us throughout our entire life if we are not careful. Yet there is one “woe” that is worthy to be used in our conversation: the “woe” that comes from the pen of the apostle Paul. So convicted and captured by the Gospel was Paul that he measured his entire existence in terms of the truths of the Gospel flowing through his words, his works, and his witness. For Paul, life was all about Christ — “To me, to live is Christ,” he said (Philippians 1:21) — and Paul’s heart beat for nothing smaller than Jesus after his Damascus Road experience with the risen Savior changed Paul from the inside out.

This is to be the condition of every child of God. Not that we are all called to be vocational preachers of the Gospel; you may be a truck driver, a teacher, or a tax attorney. Yet every disciple of Christ is called to be a channel and a conduit of the love of God in Christ Jesus. The truths of the Gospel are to flow through our thoughts, words, deeds, and desires. We are to preach the Gospel to all those we come in contact with; our lips and our lives should both bear witness to the truth of new life in Christ Jesus. We are to both declare the Gospel and demonstrate it, regardless of the cost or circumstance. When we don’t do these things, we find ourselves in the same condition as Paul, painfully conscious of the worthy “woe” of failing to preach the Gospel.

Have you been sharing Jesus with others lately? Is your life a confession of the truths of the Gospel to all those with whom you come in contact? Are God’s kingdom priorities your priorities in both your personal and professional life?

Let us never utter another “woe.” Let us keep our focus on our King and work to expand His kingdom everywhere we go. May we joyfully declare the truth of salvation through faith in Christ, and may our lives, by grace through faith, demonstrate the power of Jesus Christ to fill our hearts with the fruit of His Spirit.

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

Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”  (Matthew 8:21-22)

Jesus made some startling statements when He was teaching about the cost of following Him, and His words before us today are no exception. We don’t know if this disciple’s father had already died or if the disciple simply wanted to put off following Jesus until the father did die. But what is crystal clear is that Jesus was not about to accept any excuse for delaying in following Him. There is a cost to following Christ, and those who are not willing to pay it cannot be His disciples.

It’s important to understand that Jesus’ admonition to this disciple did not contradict the biblical mandate to honor your father and mother. What Jesus was teaching is that no relationship is to rise above the relationship we have with Him. Loyalty to Jesus is to take priority over loyalty to anyone and everyone else. The best way I can summarize what Jesus was teaching is to say, Don’t love your family relationship less; simply love Jesus more.

This disciple’s request surely seemed reasonable on the surface. But Jesus never allows His disciples to engage in “surface” living; He demands that all His disciples live at the level of undivided devotion to Him. No earthly care is to become more important than our eternal commitment to Christ. Jesus will tolerate no rival, nor should He! Nothing in this life should eclipse our loyalty to the Lord (Exodus 34:14). Our decision to follow Jesus for the first time must not be delayed, and our decision to continue following Jesus each day after that must not be delayed either!

If you have been putting off following Jesus for any reason, remember that earthly gain is a terrible exchange for eternal glory. There is only room for one person to sit on the throne of your life: it will either be Jesus or you. Choose this day whom you will serve without delay, and may you always serve the One who is worthy of your undivided attention and affection.  

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