I often get frustrated with obstacles throughout my day. Lately, I’ve questioned my interpretation concerning difficult circumstances that I face. It is easy to interpret them and filter them through my physical eyes without ever considering the spiritual side of things. The Bible often causes me to look at things from a different perspective. Check out these verses: Be serious! Be …
I get asked often: “What are some good Bible verses to memorize?” If you are just starting to memorize Scripture or trying to go even further with this wonderful spiritual discipline, I would love to help. Here is advice I regularly give: Establish Fighter Verses – Acknowledge the weak areas in your life right now. Establish how the Devil is attacking …
Saturday’s night Family Night was incredible! Our team converted the Family Life Center into an airport, airplane, and African village!
We always desire to make the Word the center of our services, but it is especially helpful when the text leading us today focuses on the Word! 19 This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear,slow to speak and slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore, putting …
So excited for this movie to release on August 28, 2015. “War Room” will be a catalyst for prayer warriors to rise up everywhere.
I am honored to be able to partner again with the Kendrick Brothers and LifeWay to develop a curriculum on prayer. It is scheduled to release the same week as the movie.
Enjoy the video to discover more about the movie! You are going to love it!
We can study the pages of Scripture and believe that prayer works. Many of us can look back over our lives and testify to the power of prayer. But have you ever wondered what causes prayer not to work? What is so powerful to render our prayers ineffective? Our prayers cannot be thwarted due to the degree of difficulty concerning …
One of the most frequent questions I receive is: “How do I know God’s will for my life?” The Bible answers this question very clear. I hope this sermon will help you discover the answer. [This sermon is in a series of messages I make for a collegiate athletic team while they travel on the road. Coaches make this time optional on Sunday mornings …
Today’s services were guided by James 1:16-18: 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind …
This church sign is all types of interesting: JESUS IS MY PROZAC This church sign means all types of meanings to all types of different people. Some will laugh, some agree, and some will even be offended. Always think about what your outside message says to those on the outside.
Out of all the things the disciples saw Jesus do, they asked him to instruct them concerning how to do one thing: “Lord, teach us to pray…” (Luke 11:1). The next words he spoke were recorded and are often recited as the Lord’s Prayer (Matt. 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4). Out of all the language Jesus could have used and all the …
If you’ve been around North Side lately, you know that we are switching curriculum to The Gospel Project. I am really excited about this for 3 primary reasons: Unites Families – This curriculum will position our church to have every age, every group going through the same discipleship curriculum together. That means you don’t have to dig to find out what your …
A few years ago, I preached a sermon through the Book of Job. As if I was Job. Job was a righteous man who went through a terrible storm in his life. In this monologue, I shared the message of the entire Book of Job and showed how he stayed faithful through the storms. Pray this message can be a source …
So far, we have shared 5 songs from “The Word” project on a Sunday morning. Yesterday, the fifth offering was a song entitled “How We’ve Fallen” and it tells the story of Adam and Eve succumbing to temptation and bringing about the Fall of Mankind (Genesis 3). Since we were in James 1:15-17 on temptation, it made a great place …
I love Jesus and his Word! He is using his Word to grow us up in Christ. We focused on “The Source of Temptation.” James 1:15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming …
Dave Harvey made me think about ambition and the Kingdom of God. In his book, Rescuing Ambition, he shows a biblical approach to aspiring to do great things for God. Many think of ambition as nothing more than the drive for personal honor or fame. As a result, ambition—the God-implanted drive to improve, produce, develop, and create—is neglected and well …
This church sign reads: EXPERTS MADE THE TITANIC AMATEURS MADE THE ARK Noah would be so proud.
I am excited to report that I have already made some great progress in the writing of the prayer Bible study curriculum with the Kendrick Brothers. After a few weeks of study, writing, and working with some test groups, I have been amazed at what God is already doing through his Word to increase people’s prayer lives. I spent Monday and Tuesday in Albany working …
Fact: personality-driven churches exist. Whether you like it or not, we cannot escape it. While I have tried to deny its reality, it is inescapable. With every passing tweet, book, podcast, and social share, each of us can become more and more known by the personality of our leader or the DNA of our specific church rather than the person of …
[This sermon is in a series of messages I make for a collegiate athletic team while they travel on the road. Coaches make this time optional on Sunday mornings from a hotel room.] The sermon is from Ecclesiastes 2: 2 I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity. 2 I said of laughter, “It is …
Services started out with baptisms this morning! So wonderful watching these folks getting baptized and being reminded of how God is transforming lives around here! We sang “Doxology” with a little instrumental intro. After that, we introduced a new song from “The Word” project entitled “Amazed.” The song focuses on the ministry of Jesus and people’s reaction to him. I …
I first read Touch the World Through Prayer the summer I served with Kingdom Building Ministries in Colorado. I pulled it out last week to be reminded of this jewel on prayer written by a missionary to India. The author opened my eyes up to the power of prayer at first read and reinvigorated it again. He allowed me to …
This church sign is for you dog-lovers out there: GOD, HELP ME TO BE THE PERSON MY DOG THINKS I AM
“The Word” is getting closer by the day. As we attempt to tell the grand narrative of the Bible, we set out to compose songs that communicate those truths and worship Jesus at every stop. Our team has never studied more, prayed more, and analyzed more. We have spent an untold number of hours nitpicking lyrics because of our commitment to …
I talk about the need for family discipleship often. My doctoral focus was on equipping parents to evangelize their children. My current job expects me to equip homes to be the primary discipleship environment for our families. My most frequent requests to speak center around family discipleship. I champion family discipleship regularly. I love seeing when it is happening in …
Samuel the priest played a pivotal role in the nation of Israel. He had a miraculous birth (1 Sam. 1:20), a praying mother who dedicated him to priestly service (1 Sam. 1:27-28), a divine calling into ministry (1 Sam. 3:10), and a special role in the history of the nation to guide the people’s hearts back to the LORD (1 …
Today we focused on the need and the acquirement of godly wisdom. I love being a part of this church. We began by singing “My Tribute” by the late Andre Crouch and went straight into “How Great Thou Art.” We sang “Your Word” again this Sunday. It was great watching people connect with the truths of this song. We then …
I have read through Donald Whitney’s Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life a few times over the last few years. I reread it this week and reminded of what a treasure it is. It is not a good book on spiritual disciplines. It is the book on spiritual disciplines. The book is extremely biblical and practical. It is a needed …
What a loaded statement: LIVE SO FULLY THAT WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH WILL PICKET YOUR FUNERAL
Spending temptations are everywhere. With the click of a “Buy” button, you can easily get all your favorite music on iTunes and simultaneously run up a bill of a hundred dollars. Ultimately we spend and borrow, and we begin to develop a method of spending that is self-destructive. Unwise financial decisions will cost you more than what you ever …
We are making finishing touches on “The Word” songs for our big event in April. These are a special collection of songs as we walk through the grand narrative of the Bible. Please keep the prayers coming! Yesterday, we shared a new song from the upcoming project. This one is entitled “Your Word.” It was somewhat simple to begin songwriting …
John Hull and Tim Elmore’s book entitled Pivotal Praying is full of illustrations about the power of prayer. It also tries to direct prayers in specific situations. Here’s a few of my favorite takeaways: “Pivotal praying means we learn to pray at higher levels…Our prayer becomes mission driven not maintenance driven” (9). “I despaired at the thought that my life …
Don’t you just wish you knew the story behind some of these? DO NOT CRITICIZE YOUR WIFE’S JUDGMENT – SEE WHOM SHE MARRIED
Mormonism Travis Agnew taught a NSU course on Mormonism on Jan. 11, 2015. You can watch the video above or read the notes below. History Mormonism’s founder is Joseph Smith, Jr. born in Vermont 1805. His father was known for hunting buried treasure and his mother was highly superstitious. He was disturbed by the numerous denominations of Christianity and wanted …
After preaching Sunday morning, teaching on cults Sunday evening, I went home to get a few hours of sleep. My alarm woke me up at 3:45 AM Monday morning so I could get to the airport to make it to an early meeting in Nashville. While the conditions were tiresome, I was eager and humbled at the opportunity. I am …
Moses had led God’s people out of slavery in Egypt. Due to some disobedience on his behalf, he could not lead Israel into the Promised Land after shepherding these obstinate people in the wilderness for 40 years. Moses died on the border being able to see in the distance the goal for which he had been striving. After Moses’ farewell …
I love focusing on worship with worshipers. We started our services out by reading 1 Peter 2:4-10. We then sang “All to Us” and “Burning in My Soul.” It was great to see the focus early on in the services. After some announcements during offertory, we sang “10,000 Reasons.” I got up before the message to read parts of Psalm 103 …
This book by Mike Cosper is challenging me to the core. As a worshiper and a worship pastor, this read is essential. Some great quotes from the book: “Celebrity pastors and worship leaders are everywhere, leading services that seem more about spectacle than substance” (17). “The boiling, fiery, deadly presence of God is the natural reaction of holiness in the …
You must be logged in to post a comment.