Restored in Him

I got up this morning at 5:30 to make a short pit stop before eking out another hour of sleep - or so I thought. Upon flushing, I heard what sounded like a waterfall and quickly realized I was filled to overflowing, and not in a spiritual way. Someone clogged the toilet, and it wasn’t me. I’ll leave it at that. I asked our Golden Retriever, Tucker, about it later and he had no comment. After scrambling around to mop up the bathroom AND basement floors, I…

The human soul is a place of profound mysteries. God is a person of infinite creativity. He can do this any way he wants. Sometimes he goes straight for the wound or the brokenness. Having had that healed, we find it far easier to resist the enemy and renounce our sins. Sometimes it requires binding the enemy first, simply so we can think clearly enough to do the repenting and find the healing we need. This is an outline to the process whereby we become holy in his name.…

It is a stark reality, isn’t it? Whether intentionally or unintentionally—and “even if we deny it”— our spirits have been formed by a lifetime of experiences, choices, and interactions. We have become a certain type of person. In many cases, the influences of this world have shaped our personality and character without our direct forethought or intention, in ways that leave us broken, wilting, and in desperate need of transformation into Christ&rsquo…

Did you ever think about who you’d like to meet in Heaven, other than Jesus? Some of the characters in the Bible will be fascinating to hang out with and grab a cup of coffee, even though I don’t drink coffee. Imagine sitting down with Noah to ask how he wrangled all the animals and got them on the ark before it started raining. Or Moses to share what it was like walking through the Red Sea on dry land. Then there’s Joseph, and David, and Peter, and Paul,…

I can’t begin to tell you how many times I heard these words from Dr. Charles Stanley. “Obey God and leave all the consequences to Him.” He was a beloved follower of Jesus and someone that mentored me through many years as a young man. Some of those years represented the most difficult season of my life. I had the privilege of meeting Dr. Stanley when visiting First Baptist at the old church location on Peachtree in Atlanta. He was a gentle soul displaying…

"Perhaps no event in the life of Jesus more powerfully demonstrates the radical nature of his dependence on God and his obedience to God’s will than the prayer he offered up in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before his crucifixion. Jesus, like everyone else living during the Roman Empire, knew full well the brutality that was execution by crucifixion. The drawn-out process would be utterly humiliating and excruciating. Jesus knew that he would feel, as any…

Listen The Israelites themselves grumbled against God and against Moses (Numbers 21:4–5). Despite all that God had done for them, they were not satisfied and rebelled against him. Their rebellion could not go unchecked, and so God initially sent judgment on the people (verse 6). God’s ultimate plan though was to redeem and bless his people, restoring their relationship with him. They confessed their sin and ‘the Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and…

Listen I volunteer at the County Prison in our community along with my wife Colleen. We teach inmates on matters of identity in a 6-week class. We challenge both men and women to think of themselves in the way God does, not as the world around them might. As a beloved Child of the King. King Jesus. Recently we attended a conference sponsored by Support for Prison Ministries, the organization we work with, under the Chaplaincy program they provide for inmates. Lewis Lee was…

Listen I’ve had the privilege to serve those experiencing homelessness for well over a decade. As part of the leadership team at our local Mission, my greatest and most joy-filled times have come when I’m teaching and interacting with our guests. It’s what I’ve been called to do. Helping those who have struggled financially for a variety of reasons and are considered somehow less than the rest of us. In God’s eyes that is simply not true. The…