Hezekiah and Makeovers

Hezekiah was a revolutionary for simple. He was extremely focused. He was against cluttered spiritual lives. Evidently God liked this characteristic about him because 2 Kings 18:3 indicates that Hezekiah did what “was right in the Lord’s sight.” He returned God’s people to the Lord. He brought them through an extreme makeover. He got rid […]

Only the Gospel Forms Deep Community

“PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST . . .”  This phrase is used countless times each weekend when churches gather for worship across the United States and around the world. And while such wording is helpful in describing the intimacy of our fellowship with God, it is only part of the truth—because it neglects the reality that […]

Remember You Are His Bride

As you live, remember you are the pure and forgiven bride of Christ. Remembering your identity as a pure bride should lead you to live pure and blameless. Purity is your new identity. To live impure is to not live the reality of who you really are. To live impure is to revert to your […]

Clarifying the Gospel

Gospel is derived from the Greek word evangelion, and it means “good news.” Thus, the gospel is fundamentally news and not advice. Advice is typically counsel about something that has not yet happened and requires the listener to do something. Dress like this for the date. Ask these questions in the interview. Use this type […]

Three Signals We Are Filled with Pride

According to C. S. Lewis, our pride is our greatest sin because we hate it in others while simultaneously being unconscious of it in ourselves. Others smell the odor of our pride and are repulsed by it, but often we are oblivious to our own stench. The story of King Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26) is […]

The Bride of Christ: Pursued and Purchased

The reality that Christians are the bride of Christ is illustrated in the Old Testament through the explicit story of Hosea and Gomer. Hosea was a prophet who ministered during a very rebellious period in Israel’s history. God chose an interesting way to get the attention of His people. When the Lord began to speak […]

Ready for Heaven?

Over the years serving on staff at a church I have heard church people make comments that cause me to think they’ll not like heaven very much, assuming they’re going. In reference to another ethnicity or culture, I have heard people say things like, “I am uncomfortable around those type of people.” I have wondered, […]

Reaching Men and the Jesus-Centered Leader

Brady Cooper is the senior pastor of New Vision Baptist Church, the church where I serve as teaching pastor. During Brady’s tenure, over the last nine years, the church has grown from 400 people in worship to 4,000. Brady is a man who is being formed by the gospel in his faith and in his […]

I Don’t Need Church; I Worship Him Alone

Perhaps you have heard someone say something like, “I love God but I’m not really into church.” Or “I don’t need to go to church to worship God; it’s more of a private thing for me.” There’s a common misconception, a common misunderstanding, that our faith is private. There’s confusion between a private faith and […]

Whose Am I?

Think back to your middle school years. So much of your day depended on your relationships. You worried about whom you would sit by on the bus because, in your mind, that indicated who you were as a person. Or you cared greatly about where you would sit during lunch. Or whose locker you would […]