hope.

This is a short-clip from one of my pastor's sermons a couple of months ago. It is DEEP and it is incredibly moving. Watch it and be blessed by Him!

ready to have your mind blown?

Think about this: if the distance between the earth and the sun is 92 million miles was the thickness of a sheet of paper, then the distance from earth to the nearest star would be a stack of paper 70 feet high, and the distance from across our galaxy would be a stack of paper 310 miles high. And our galaxy is just one little speck of dust in the universe, as it is. And if there is a person who holds all of it together with the Word of his Power, his pinky, as it were, is this the kind of person you ask into you life to be your Personal Assistant?

no one.

"There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God." 1 Samuel 2:2

Want to hear some INCREDIBLY refreshing news?! There is absolutely NO ONE like our God. His nature is PERFECT. The works of His hand are indescribably beautiful. His kindness is overwhelming. His love is completely UNCONDITIONAL. He is ready to forgive. He is your Rock when everything else seems to be crumbling from under your feet. His arms stretch further than the east is from the west. And you know what? They're wide open for YOU. Run into those arms and embrace His never-ending COMPASSION. He is your Jehovah Jireh. God provides.

seasons.... have reasons

” For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

God has ordained seasons and cycles in our lives. Sometimes, when our dreams aren’t coming to pass on our timetable, we can be tempted to get frustrated. But we have to be careful not to allow our attitude to keep us from moving forward.

Understand that in God’s kingdom, every season is not harvest. There are plowing seasons, planting seasons and watering seasons. Sure, we would love for every season to be a time of increase; but without the other seasons, we wouldn’t be prepared. It’s during the plowing seasons when God’s bringing issues to light that we need to deal with. He’s getting us prepared for promotion. If you’re not making as much progress as you would like, the key is not to lose any ground. Don’t go backwards. Hold your position by keeping an attitude of faith and expectancy, even when it’s hard. Keep plowing by speaking the Word daily. As you do, you’ll pass the test, and God promises your due season is coming!

borrowing this from....

a good friend of mine, Mark Driscoll. kidding. I have never met the man in my life! But he is a brother in Christ and has some good advice to pass on to believers....

We’ve all been there, the conversation is going fine—and then somehow, someway the conversation turns to Jesus.

While the conversation was on the last topic, you were fine, you were laughing, you were yourself, you were having fun, but suddenly when it turns to Jesus, you get weird. You get tongue-tied, cottonmouthed, you start breathing heavily, you get very serious, almost cold. Any hint of joy is gone from your demeanor and you begin to talk to them about the Greatest News Ever.

Do you see the contradiction? When talking about anything else, you’re fine. But when you talk about the gospel, your demeanor betrays your message.

Always Be Prepared

The Apostle Peter instructs the early Christians in their conversations with those outside the faith by saying “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you …” (1 Peter 3:15).

Do you see what he said there? In your hearts, regard the Christ the Lord as holy, always be prepared to make a defense—always. We always need to be ready to talk about the hope that is in the gospel of Jesus Christ. You never know when the Holy Spirit is going to give you that moment. You need to be prepared. Usually that is precisely why you get weird: you’re not prepared.

“

If the gospel is true... then we should have no insecurities talking about it.

”

Know the Gospel

Start by preaching the gospel to yourself. Read passages about the gospel. Listen to how your pastor talks about the gospel, and be ready. Even if you don’t have all the answers to people’s questions, you can say something like, “I’m not sure, I’ll have to look into that.” Don’t get weird, don’t get defensive, and don’t get frustrated.

If the gospel is true (and of course we believe it is) then we should have no insecurities talking about it, just like we would talk about anything else that is true. This 1 Peter passage tells us Christ is Lord. Some of this purely comes down to repititions. The more you talk about Jesus, the more comfortable you are going to be with these types of conversations. In the end, the one who has the power to draw people is God who is sovereign over your conversations and interactions with those who don’t believe the gospel—it’s not all up to you. Relax a little.

In Your Hearts Honor Jesus

The Apostle Peter begins this instruction by saying, “in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy.” In your hearts, always lift up Christ, always submit the conversation to him, and trust him! Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you up. When you do it, “do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience” (1 Peter 3:15–16). After the conversation is over, trust Jesus for the effects of the conversation. Ultimately you are the messenger of the gospel, not the message itself. God is the one who ultimately evangelizes to them and changes hearts.

“When we see this love at work though the heart of Hosea, we may wonder if God is really like that. But everything in the Word and though experience shows us that He is. He will gave man the trees of the forest and iron in the ground. Then he will give to man the brains to make an axe from the iron to cut down a tree and fashion it into a cross. He will give man the ability to make hammer and nails, and when man has the cross and the hammer and the nails, the Lord will allow man to take hold of Him and bring Him to that cross; He will stretch out His hands upon it and will allow man to nail to Him to that cross, and in so doing will take the sins of man upon Himself and make it possible for those who have despised and rejected Him to come unto Him and know the joy of sins removed and forgiven, to know the assurance of pardon and eternal life, and to enter into the prospect of the hope of glory with Him forever. This is our God, and there is none like Him.” Donald Gray Barnhouse

insight from Max Lucado

By Max Lucado

“You try one door after another, yet no one responds to your résumé. No university accepts your application. No doctor has a solution for your illness. No buyers look at your house.

Obstacles pack your path. Road, barricaded. Doorway, padlocked. Do you know the frustration of a blocked door?

God uses closed doors to advance his cause.

He closed the womb of a young Sarah so he could display his power to the elderly one.

He shut the palace door on Moses the prince so he could open shackles through Moses the liberator.

He marched Daniel out of Jerusalem so he could use Daniel in Babylon.

And Jesus. Yes, even Jesus knew the challenge of a blocked door. When he requested a path that bypassed the cross, God said no. He said no to Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane so he could say yes to us at the gates of heaven.

It’s not that our plans are bad but that God’s plans are better. “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,so my ways are higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” (Isa. 55:8–9 NLT)

A blocked door doesn’t mean God doesn’t love you. Quite the opposite. It’s proof that he does.”