Abraham & Isaac & Jesus

Continuing through the Gospel Project Chronological, this last week has been amazing.  In addition to the curriculum, our church is providing weekly Bible readings that go along with the lessons. While all of the focuses have been great, this week’s was very significant for two reasons: 1) Jesus saved my son, Obadiah, through the reading of Scripture this week associated …

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When Bitterness Hinders Prayers

Did you know that Scripture teaches that God refuses to hear certain prayers? If I had been aware of malice in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. However, God has listened; He has paid attention to the sound of my prayer.  -Psalm 66:18-19   This verse has an interesting connotation.  What is the difference between having malice in …

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The Battle Plan for Prayer Bible Study [Join Us at North Side]

By now, many of you have seen War Room.  This powerful movie has caused many people to consider the power of prayer. I had the extreme privilege to work with the Kendrick Brothers to develop a Bible study on prayer.  It is entitled, The Battle Plan for Prayer Bible Study. This was the fourth project I got to develop with …

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God’s Covenant with Abraham

Continuing through the Gospel Project Chronological, we have come to the part of Scripture detailing God’s Covenant with Abraham. In this session, we will learn that God is a covenant-making God.  Because of sin, the people on earth had been separated from God (Eden) and each other (Babel), but God chose one man, one family, through whom He promised to …

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Praying for the Fruit of the Spirit

It is a natural thing to pray for others.  When it comes to praying for ourselves, we can easily get confused.  What exactly should we pray for? Usually, prayers we offer for ourselves can focus on safety, security, or sanity.  Our prayers can be limited to simple endurance through difficult or unsure situations.  But, how should we pray for ourselves? …

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God Has to Humble Himself to Behold Our Extravagance

Our church is loving the Gospel Project Chronological!  Just six weeks in and all ages are learning so much and uniting together through discussion and application.  Amazing to watch. In this week’s session, we see humanity’s propensity for inventing ways to build up our own prestige and bring honor to ourselves.  As we build our kingdoms and lift up our …

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The Devil Is Out to Get You

Our lives are full of obstacles.  Each of us know the frustration of dealing with unexpected circumstances.  Some of you may have faced barriers to overcome in order to make it to church this week.  Maybe you even struggled to make it to your discipleship group. What did you have to overcome this week to make it to church or …

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Prayer Guide for Your Spouse and Children

Regardless of your current family situation, each of us have people we consider family.  It is easy to resort to worrying for our family or attempting to fix all of their situations, but are we strategically praying for them? When King David was nearing his death, he prayed over the entire nation of Israel but eventually he focused his prayer …

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Notes on Noah

This week has been jam-packed with all types of Kingdom goodness.  With all the great time we had at the Gathering, I have not posted my notes on this week’s discipleship group focus with Noah and the Ark. Here are some notes I made during personal and group study: God’s regret was not based on what he had done wrong, …

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Prayer and the War Room

In this North Side podcast episode, I got to share concerning my connection with the movie War Room and the curriculum from the Kendrick Brothers’ films. Beyond the story of how God brought some things together, Strutton and I give some tips on what we are learning about prayer.  Hope it encourages you! By the way, you can get all podcast …

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God, Cain, and Abel

I have learned so much from our study in Genesis 4 this week. This biblical story has been a major part of my life this week: My wife and I studied it together. My discipleship group studied it. My children learned about it. Our college group studied it. Our Bible reading plan went around it. I have had numerous discussions …

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I Don’t Pray for Politicians and Persecutors (And I Need to Change That)

The more you pray for different types of people, the more prayer becomes a habit in your life. While we all have prayed for family, friends, co-workers, and gospel workers, did you realize that we aren’t actually commanded to pray for those people?  Obviously, we should pray for anyone and everyone, but these groups are never singled out for our …

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The Cross Disarms the Cherubim

I was excited about others learning a lot in the Gospel Project.  I was thrilled when I saw how much my children were learning.  Have I mentioned how much this material is pushing and teaching me? Here are some of what I have been learning this last week as we studied “Human Rebellion” in Genesis 3: Satan’s strategy hasn’t changed …

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The Common Denominator

Do you remember lessons on the common denominator?  There are two uses of this phrase: a number that is a multiple of all the denominators of a set of fractions a common trait or characteristic shared in differing situations While I am sure you checked out this blog in order to sharpen your math skills, I actually wanted to talk with …

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For Such a Time as This (Maybe)

I got the privilege to preach in the North Greenville Chapel service today.  It is always great to be back at my alma mater, but I consider it a huge responsibility to preach to that student body and faculty. Today, I preached a message entitled, “For Such a Time as This (Maybe)” from Esther 4.  I have always interpreted the story …

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Hallowed Be Thy Name

  You never know what is going to happen when you work with kids in the church.  Years ago, I was teaching a group of children and heard one of the most bizarre statements. I asked if any of the children wanted to pray and one boy raised his hand.  I didn’t hear anything he said after the second word: “Dear …

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How Was Eve Supposed to Help Adam?

Our church has been enjoying the Gospel Project curriculum.  I have heard so many great comments from all ages! This week, it was great how time with our college group studying Genesis 2 led to discussions about dating and marriage. After God created all things by using his words (or the Word), he created one thing with his hands – …

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Pray for Gospel Workers

Pastors and ministry leaders pray for many people, but how many people actually pray for them?  We should be thankful for these effective prayers that are prayed by these righteous gospel workers on our behalf (James 5:16), but we must also not neglect to pray for them. The enemy is prowling around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour …

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In the Beginning, God…

While I was excited about utilizing the Gospel Project to unite all ages with one curriculum, I never imagined I was personally going to get so much out of it as I have.  I have loved the group interaction time, the discussion time with our family, and utilizing the family Bible reading plan. I taught the first lesson with my …

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Creation & Legos

Studying the Scripture together as a family is important.  Studying the Scripture as a church is important.  If you can combine those two things, you can make some significant progress!

We unite our church’s curriculum so that all ages are all learning the same thing at the same time.  It’s so helpful for church and family discipleship to take place more naturally.  As I learn in my group, I know what my kids are learning and we can stay on the same page throughout the week.

One night, I was asking my children what they knew about Creation, Eli (7) told me what God created on each day, Obadiah (7) told me that all things created were meant to give God glory, and Gloria (3) told me that everything God created was good.  I think they were getting it!

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Praying God’s Word

One of the best ways to pray is to pray using God’s Word. Follow me on this journey through Scripture for a moment. When Moses encountered the burning bush in the wilderness, he turned aside to behold this spectacle.  When the bush called his name and began talking to him is when things really got interesting (Ex. 3:4).  As God …

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God Doesn’t Respect the Prayers of a Bully

God takes seriously how we interact with those in our family. Children are called to honor parents (Ex. 20:12; Eph. 6:1-2; Col. 3:20). Fathers are instructed not to provoke their children (Col. 3:21) but to bring up their children in the instruction of the Lord in a gentle way (Eph. 6:4). Husbands are called to love their wives and wives …

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Finding Contentment

“Daddy, I need some sweet tea!” As Gloria began to beg for some of that Southern goodness, her older brother, Obadiah, stated, “Gloria, you want some sweet tea.  You don’t need sweet tea.” What a simple lesson that I need to learn. There is a difference between what I want and what I need. In prayer, we must constantly perform a …

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Prayers for the First Day of School

In our community, many families are starting the school year today.  It is an exciting and yet anxious time for many. If your heart is concerned with anxiety or worry today for your family, I want to help give you some focus for your prayers. King Solomon was described as being wiser than any other man (1 Kings. 4:31).  He …

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War Room: A Movie Practiced Before It Was Produced

On August 28, War Room hits theaters.  It’s a powerful movie about prayer that has the potential to change your life for the better. Since I got the privilege to help develop curriculum with the Kendrick Brothers, I got to watch different edits of the movie months ago.  Watching the film and working on The Battle Plan for Prayer was pivotal in my …

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The Double Standard Concerning Women and Lust

Sunday’s message on “A Call to Holiness” was very eye-opening for many people.  We live in a sex-saturated culture, and hopefully the sermon served as a wakeup call to many concerning thoughts and actions that are unbiblical and damaging. Per conversations I’ve had since then concerning lust, pornography, and sexual immorality, I am always intrigued by a certain line of …

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Lead Us Not Into Temptation

Yesterday’s sermon on sexual immorality was so helpful.  1 Thess. 4:1-8 is crystal clear concerning God’s expectation of us. What do you do when you are tempted?  Pray!  Jesus taught how. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.  -Matt. 6:13 These final two petitions of the Lord’s Prayer ask for protection from temptation and …

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Paul’s Prayer Request

We studied Ephesians 6 this week at Summer Roundtable.  The discussion was a rich time in the Word. This passage reminds us that the armor of God is essential to spiritual victory.  Studying Ephesians 6, we see what Paul instructs that is essential after one has put on the armor of God. 17 Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword …

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Scheduled Prayer

I got to teach on prayer last night at our Summer Roundtable (and again this Wednesday).  Loved our time in Luke 11:5-13 as we discussed prayer. I had so many great conversations with our folks about how they are progressing in their prayer lives.  It made me so excited about the upcoming study, “The Battle Plan for Prayer.” With all …

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Fuge Camps 2016

This month has been one of the craziest, most fast-paced, powerful months of ministry I’ve ever experienced.  In addition to being at North Side most Sundays and doing a lot of work remotely at night, I went from Family Camp to Fuge at Mississippi College to VBS to Fuge at Charleston Southern University. The sobering reality of Monday morning is that it …

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You Learn to Pray by Praying

Psalm 15 describes characteristics of a godly person.  It contains qualities to which we should aspire and other qualities to which we should avoid.  In the passage below, reflect on the qualities that grab your attention. Psalm 15:1 Lord, who can dwell in Your tent? Who can live on Your holy mountain? 2 The one who lives honestly, practices righteousness, and …

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Identifying the Real Enemy

We have a real enemy.  Oftentimes, we live like our family member is an enemy.  Maybe it is a co-worker out to get us.  It could be that friend that stabbed us in the back. Those people might be your enemy.  But in reality, there is an enemy greater than those who really has your destruction in mind.  If you …

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Forgive Us Our Debts

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus offered a challenging prayer point: And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  -Matt. 6:12 This petition is very unique compared to the others.  This request for pardon comes with a distinct stipulation: forgive us as we have forgiven others. We understand that we need forgiveness.  None of us are righteous …

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Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

Give us today our daily bread.  -Matt. 6:11 This petition in the Lord’s Prayer is asking God to provide for our needs.  After the Exodus, the nation of Israel wandered through the wilderness.  God promised to “rain bread from heaven” (Ex. 16:4) for the people.  One interesting fact about this provision was its unique nature of being a daily provision. …

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The Cure for Anxiety

Anxiety can be a practical sign of a theological problem. When we become anxious, we are refusing to acknowledge who God is and what God can do.

The Prayers of Mrs. Judy

Yesterday, marked 1-year after the passing of Mrs. Judy.  It is hard for me to believe.  As I talked with Scott yesterday, we reminisced about his precious wife, the ebb and flow of the last year, and God’s faithfulness throughout this entire time. One of Scott’s greatest desires is that Judy’s legacy will continue to impact lives as she did …

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Teach Us to Pray

What would our lives be like if we truly believed in the power of prayer?  Think about Jesus’s example for a moment. Yet He often withdrew to deserted places and prayed.  -Luke 5:16 The gospels are full of evidences of Jesus praying. Jesus prayed alone (Matt. 14:23; Mark 1:35; Luke 9:18; 22:39-41) Jesus prayed in public (John 11:41-42, 12:27-30) Jesus prayed …

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You Pray Too Long

  So thankful for the time our church focused on prayer in yesterday’s services.  I was thinking this morning of why people are often fearful to pray. One of the main reasons people are intimidated to pray in public is due to a misunderstanding of prayer rhetoric.  While we claim to believe that all prayers are equal, we tend to …

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How to Pray for Your Church and Your Pastor

I was running around Sunday morning between services talking with people and putting out fires when a staff member handed me an envelope and said, “Someone left this for you.” I have done this long enough to know that if someone drops off a letter to you before a service, it could be an encouraging note or it could be …

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