In Galatians 5 & 6, we are reminded that Jesus came to set us free allowing us to live in His Spirit, not the fleshly desires of our sinful natures. We are free to live a lifestyle of pursuing Jesus desperately and bear His fruits of goodness to the world around us. This doesn't mean we are perfect, it means we live a repentant surrendered lifestyle of pursuing Jesus desperately with all our guts. When we blow it, we repent quickly, get back up, thank Jesus for the forgiveness He already pou...
May 19, 2025•22 min
(Acts 27:13-44) When life gets tough, the enemy tries to feed us lies in an attempt to get us to abandon God and lose hope. We have to stand on God's promises and know that God never fails. His love never ends. He has us safely held in His hands, no matter what is going on in life around us. Things may not always turn out as we expect, but God's plans always have our eternal best and the eternal best of those around us in mind. When the outlook looks unbearable, we need to remember the up-look....
May 17, 2025•16 min
In Galatians 3 & 4, Paul continued to emphasize that Christ followers are saved by faith alone and we live by faith. This faith comes by hearing the Word of God and believing God at His Word. There are no favorites in the Kingdom of God. When you repent from sin and commit your life to Jesus, you are His. You belong to His eternal family. We walk forth in the power of His Spirit, His grace, and in His victory. The Word of God leads us to Jesus. Through faith in Jesus, we are sons and daughte...
May 15, 2025•23 min
In Galatians 1 & 2, Paul reiterated the true Gospel Message of Salvation. He reminds us to stand firm by abiding in Jesus and to keep our eyes, hearts, and minds laser focused on Him. Paul teaches us to live in, boast in, and thrive in the powerful saving grace of our Lord and Savior. Paul didn't try to please people, he pursued Jesus passionately and was desperate to accomplish his will on the earth through the live the Lord had given him. He gives us a huge living example to follow today o...
May 14, 2025•21 min
In 2 Corinthians 12 & 13, we learn that faith that tested can't be trusted. God allowed a thorn in Paul's life to help keep him humble and fully dependent on the Lord. We need to live in the Lord's powerful grace every day. We need to live in the power of the Lord and His strength, not trying to do life on our own or in our own strength. We need to take our hands off and let the Lord lead and guide us in every step. It's okay to not be okay, because the Lord's grace, mercy, and love are powe...
May 12, 2025•16 min
(Acts 24:22-25:12; Acts 26:24-32) Once we repent from sin and turn to Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are covered by His Blood. We are covered by His redemption. We are covered by His love. There is no sin under the sun that hasn't already been dealt with by the power of Jesus' Blood. It's up to us to entrust our hearts and lives to Him and let Him take it all, faithfully trusting that He has us covered head to toe, now and for all eternity. It's up to us to trust His power and promises, living...
May 10, 2025•13 min
In 2 Corinthians 10 & 11, Paul reminds us we are in a spiritual battle every day and we need to stay armed with the Armor of God. We need to be intentional about how we send the time God has given us on this earth so we are not distracted and pulled away from God's will and plans for our lives. We need to pray continually. We need to mediate on His Word. We need to spend time with our Almighty Father so we know our Father's voice and can delete the lies the enemy tries to throw our way. We n...
May 09, 2025•21 min
In 2 Corinthians 8 & 9, Paul teaches us what gracious giving looks like. We are quick to pay when someone hands us a bill and pay our mortgages because we promised to pay them, but when it comes to reaching people and saving souls for eternity, people tend to shrink back. We are commissioned to reach souls and save lives for eternity. Our houses and collections will fade away, but eternity is forever. Nothing matters more than investing into the eternal Kingdom of God. He truly doesn't want ...
May 07, 2025•20 min
In 2 Corinthians 7, Paul encourages us - sinners saved by the powerful grace of God - to continue forward learning how to live under the guide, direction, and counsel of the Holy Spirit within us in faith - not by works. We live as broken vessels before the Lord with His power radiating within us. As we do, we radiate His glory to the world around us and testify of His power in our weakness. We need to be honest with each other, build each other up, love those God has placed in our lives deeply ...
May 06, 2025•15 min
In 2 Corinthians 5 & 6, Paul challenges us to walk by faith, not by sight. Faith is complete 100% wholehearted trust and confidence in the Lord God Almighty. It requires us to let go of control - take our hands off - and let God lead knowing He is all knowing and has our eternal best in mind. It doesn't mean we won't have to walk through holes here and there. It does mean that we walk through ever hole and valley knowing the Lord is carrying us over and through it all. We have to keep on wal...
May 05, 2025•21 min
(Acts 23) Jesus is Alive! He helps us as we testify boldly for Him to others. Just as Jesus stood by Paul, He stands by us. Jesus is with us, even if we don't always realize it or see it. We have to know and believe this - it's a promise - He is with us. We are never alone. We can have courage in and through every circumstance because we know that Jesus is with us. It's a promise we can count on and stand firm on every single day.
May 03, 2025•13 min
In 2 Corinthians 3 & 4, Paul shows us how abiding in Jesus and His powerful grace looks differently than a life living under the law. The law is a mirror that reveals to us why we all need Jesus desperately. The law directs our steps to Jesus because He is the Living Water that cleanses that grime from our lives. The mirror cannot cleanse us, only Jesus can. Jesus gives us His redemption, His righteousness, and His freedom. As He does His work cleansing us from the inside out, we want to pur...
May 02, 2025•24 min
In 2 Corinthians 1 & 2, we are reminded God is the only One who can bring true comfort. As He gives us comfort, we are able to comfort others. God's presence brings comfort. We can rest in His presence through prayer, worship, and spending intentional time in His Word. His promises are secure and eternal. Every promise of God is a resounding "YES!" Even when life feels like it's falling apart, Jesus is with us and we can trust Him in the moments ahead. He will hold us on His shoulders if we ...
May 01, 2025•21 min
In 1 Corinthians 15 & 16, Paul reminded the Church of the simpleness of the Gospel of Jesus. We as humans tend to complicate things and Jesus made it so easy. Jesus died for our sins. He was buried. He was raised from death on the 3rd day. If you repent and confess with your heart and mouth that Jesus is your Messiah - your Savior - and that God did indeed raise Him from the dead and because of Jesus, you will be raised to life with Him as well - you are saved. You are a child of the Most Hi...
Apr 29, 2025•25 min
(Hebrews 11) Faith is the assurance of knowing that something God promises is indeed true and real, even if we can't physically see or feel it yet. Jesus gives us every reason to believe in Him with all our guts. He pours out His love for us. He created us. He cares for us. He created this world and all the beauty within it. He came into the world in its fallen state and lived among us. He died for us. He rose from the grave to save us and claim victory over sin and death. He made a relationship...
Apr 26, 2025•16 min
In 1 Corinthians 13 & 14, Paul warns us that everything must be done and said in and through the love of Jesus. Gifts and service that are forced or done out of selfishness and pride, or to simply check off a "serving" box for the week, can actually cause division and confusion rather than encouragement and edification. We are called to build each other up in the Lord, not tear each other down. When we serve, our motives matter. The Church will be judged first when Jesus returns. Our sins wi...
Apr 25, 2025•22 min
In 1 Corinthians 11 & 12, Paul encourages us to imitate Jesus. Walk as Jesus walked. Live as Jesus lives. He encourages us to pursue Jesus desperately and encourage each other as one body to pursue Jesus desperately. God's grace and power shine brightest when we surrender our weaknesses to Him and let His glory shine through the cracks. The Love of Jesus works in and through as as we abide in Him. Our job on this temporary earth is to reflect Jesus. To reflect Jesus, we need to surrender our...
Apr 24, 2025•22 min
In 1 Corinthians 9 & 10, Paul shows us the importance of relying on the power and provision of the Lord as we carry out His will on the earth. The Lord will honor our faithful obedience and will meet every need along the way. There's nothing in this life more important that loving God and spreading His offer of saving mercies and grace to the world around us. The Lord directs us to glorify Him with everything. Loving Jesus and living for the Lord doesn't mean we do what we want and just add ...
Apr 23, 2025•21 min
In 1 Corinthians 8, Paul addresses whether or not its okay to eat foods sacrificed to false idols. The answer is yes and no. It depends. It is a big deal to do things like eating foods sacrificed to idols or drinking a glass of wine if the person you are eating with has convictions or struggles with such things. Food is a neutral element as is alcohol in and of itself. If someone struggles with these foods or things like alcohol addiction and you partake in these things in front of that person, ...
Apr 22, 2025•13 min
In 1 Corinthians 6 & 7, Paul gives direction regarding our relationships within the church and with each other. As a follower of Jesus, we are washed, sanctified, and justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of God. We have freedom and peace that is only found in Christ Jesus. The Lord wants us to walk in His wisdom and truth through His Spirit within us. He equips us, empowers us, and strengthens us as we choose to intentionally renew our mind in Him every day. We need t...
Apr 21, 2025•26 min
(Isaiah 6:1-4; Isaiah 52:13-53; John 20:11-18) The lie that launches most sin is the lie that tries to get us to believe that we are not loved. God loves us so much, He sent Jesus. Jesus sacrificed everything for us, and He stays present with us through everything ever single day. Love sends, love sacrifices, and love stays. Jesus loves us more than we can comprehend. If you want to know you are truly loved, you need to look at the Cross.
Apr 19, 2025•21 min
In 1 Corinthians 5, the Lord encourages us to run from temptations of sin and chase a lifestyle of pursuing Jesus desperately instead. Jesus wants our lives filled with His goodness, His presence, His joy, His peace, and His love. Sin destroys us in every way - physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Sin is the one thing that brings forth its own judgment. Jesus won't force us to choose Him. If we pursue sin, He will let us have our way. Jesus doesn't want us to experience sin. That'...
Apr 18, 2025•17 min
In 1 Corinthians 3 & 4, we are reminded to display God's glory to the world around using the gifts and talents God has instilled within us. We each have a different role to play all for the same purpose of reaching people with the Word of God's saving grace and saving souls for eternity. We aren't supposed to be worried or concerned with what others are doing. The Lord is using all of our different roles together to accomplish His purposes on the earth and to give Him glory. It's God who giv...
Apr 17, 2025•17 min
In 1 Corinthians 1 & 2, we learn that Jesus is with us when we humbly surrender to Him. We do not lack any spiritual gifts as we rest in the Lord. God will strengthen us. It is okay to have days that we may feel weak, because it is Jesus who gives us strength daily to be blameless, fully forgiven before Him. God is faithful. Period. No questions about it. We are called by God into fellowship, into relationship, and into friendship with Jesus. We are called to walk with the Lord and keep fall...
Apr 15, 2025•19 min
(Matthew 21:1-17; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-44; John 12:12-19) God promised to send a Savior who would crus the serpent. The final week of Jesus' life in human form was the ultimate fulfillment of that promise. Jesus' sacrificial journey to Jerusalem was the beginning of the end for Satan. Jesus is our eternal Prince of Peace and restores our peace with God. True faith means we trust and love Jesus with our hearts and lives no matter what happens on this temporary earth because we know we can tru...
Apr 12, 2025•14 min
In Romans 15 & 16, Paul reminds us that it is the God of hope who fills us with joy and peace as we entrust our lives to Him. Hope is a desire or expectation for a certain thing to come forth. We pray, we wait, and we trust the Lord for every outcome because our hope is in Him and He is faithful. We experience the peace and joy of the Lord because our hope is anchored in Him. As we move forward with Jesus and grow in Him, we join in unity together with other people who are passionate for Jes...
Apr 10, 2025•20 min
In Romans 13 & 14, Paul reminds us that God desires that all will hear His Word and have the option to repent and receive the Life that only Jesus gives. It's up to us to us to wake up every morning determined to not let pride and fleshly desires get in the way of what God wants to do through our lives. We need to surrender to Jesus every morning and follow wherever He leads trusting Him for every outcome. The opinions we have about the world around us don't matter. Saving souls for eternity...
Apr 10, 2025•21 min
In Romans 12, Paul emphasizes the fact that God has been overwhelmingly merciful to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Because of Jesus, we are justified by faith in Him. Just as we receive mercies from God, we are to pour out mercy to others - not in our own strength, but in the strength that comes through our daily worship to the Lord. As we worship Him in our daily lives, He renews our mind and gives us strength to continue pursuing Him, heart and soul. We need to be reading the ...
Apr 08, 2025•17 min
In Romans 10 & 11, Paul explains that the nation of Israel rejected Jesus as God's Son, our Messiah. However, the Gentiles received the message enthusiastically and the Gospel message of salvation continues to spread today. In Chapter 11, Paul looks at Israel's future restoration. God is not done with Israel. If you repent and surrender your heart and life to Jesus, you are spiritually grafted in spiritually to His holy nation - His holy root. You are grafted into His family. You are a child...
Apr 08, 2025•22 min
(2 Corinthians 9:6-15) Our lives should display the weight of who Jesus is - His glory - to the world around us as we live out His Word in our daily lives, through His power guiding and directing our steps and words. Jesus works within us to make us more like Him. We let Jesus do this work within us by trusting in Him, reading His Word, and praying continually. Noting on this earth will ever compare or satisfy like Jesus.
Apr 05, 2025•17 min
