By Steve Horn By now you all know that another school shooting has happened — this time in Santa Fe, Texas. Closer to where I live, in the town of St. Martinville, Louisiana, my wife’s hometown, several students died the same day in a car accident. Fun events for seniors, who were anticipating their last day, were canceled. As I sat down to put some thoughts down, I got a news alert that a plane has crashed in Cuba. Meanwhile, high school graduations in my area were happening all weekend. Keenly aware that these graduating seniors aren’t reading my blog today or any day, if I could address every graduating senior, my words would go something like this. Be thankful. Life is fragile. Life is short. Life is far from perfect. The only way to live life to the fullest is to be thankful. Be thankful because you know you didn’t get to where you are by yourself. Be thankful for parents, teachers, coaches, ministry leaders, the military, police, first responders, doctors, dentists, nurses, and many others. Most of all, give thanks to God. I went to a high school sports awards program the other night put on by our local paper. I was thankful and impressed that most every student gave thanks to God. Alex Haley, author of … [Read more...]

By Joe McKeever Only Jesus. No one has been to Heaven except the One who came from there. (John 3:13) How clear is that? He is the One who knows. No one can come to God the Father except through Jesus. (John 14:6) How clear is that? He is our mediator. No one can know God unless Jesus reveals Him to them. (Matthew 11:27) How clear is that? He is the revealer. There is no other name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Only Jesus. (Acts 4:12) How clear is that? He is our Savior. Jesus said He was given authority over all mankind. (John 3:35; 13:3; 17:2 and Matthew 28:18) How clear is that?  He is Lord. Here’s an outline that sums it up for me.  It got me out of bed in the middle of the night recently. Use it if you can and if the Lord leads. There is only One who has come from Heaven – and He alone is our AUTHORITY on matters of Heaven and eternity. (John 3:13) That’s why even the Father told people, “Listen to Him!” (Luke 9:35) There is only One who has gone to the cross and made atonement for our sins–and He alone is our SAVIOR.  (John 3:16) That’s why the Holy Spirit draws people to Him. He is the door. (John 10) There is only One who has risen from the dead and … [Read more...]

By James Dobson What will be your legacy on behalf of those you love? Will you help them build a foundation of faith that will sustain them through the trials of life and take them into the better world beyond? Will they be there to greet you and the rest of your family and Christian friends on the other side? That is my prayer for you. A day of celebration is coming like nothing that has ever occurred in the history of mankind. The Guest of Honor on that morning will be One wearing a seamless robe, with eyes like flames of fire and feet like fine brass. As we bow humbly before Him, we will hear a great voice out of heaven saying: Now the dwelling place of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. (Rev. 21:3–4) And, again the mighty voice will echo through the corridors of time: Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living … [Read more...]

By Richard Land As we prepare to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Israel's independence (May 14, 2018) we need to explain to others, and to remind ourselves, why many evangelicals fervently support Israel and the Jewish people. According to Lifeway Research in Nashville, at least half of self-identified evangelicals believe that at some point in the future most Jewish people will accept Jesus of Nazareth as the promised Messiah. Additionally, large segments of American evangelicalism believe that God has made certain promises to His chosen people, the Jews, that He did not make to Gentiles — including possession of the Promised Land of Israel forever, in belief, in unbelief, in obedience and in disobedience, unconditionally forever. These beliefs are based on the Abrahamic Covenant that God made with Abraham (Gen. 12:1–3). In this covenant with Abraham, God not only promised the land of Canaan to the Jews forever, He also promises to bless those who bless the Jews and curse those who curse the Jews. Consequently millions of evangelicals believe that if they want God to bless them individually, and America collectively as a nation, then they need to bless the Jews. This means among other things, that anti-Semitism … [Read more...]

By Rick Warren “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you” (1 Peter 5:7 NLT). It takes more than willpower to stop worrying. You already know that, because you’ve already tried it. You’ve thought, “I shouldn’t worry about this,” yet you just keep on worrying about it. It’s going to take more than your willpower to stop worrying. It takes four things: 1. You have to get to know God. Jesus says in Matthew 6:32, “People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things” (The Message). If you don’t have a relationship with God, you have every reason to worry. You’ve got to get to know God! As a believer, you have a heavenly Father who has promised to take care of you. You are God’s child, and children get special privileges. When you worry, God says, “You’re my child. Why are you acting like an orphan?” 2. You have to put God first in every area of your life. Matthew 6:31-33 says, “Don’t worry at all about having enough food and clothing. . . . Your heavenly Father already knows perfectly well that you need them, and he will give them to you if you give him first place in your life and live as he wants you to” (TLB). Anytime you take God out of the center of your life and put … [Read more...]

By Steve Horn What if your Mother’s Day is not a Hallmark movie? Naomi, the mother-in-law of Ruth, had every right to ask that question. Ruth could too for that matter. After a couple of names and places in the opening verses 1-3, verses 4 and 5 have a staccato-like feel filled with a series of events that could simply be labeled, “Bad News.” The Bible tells us that at some point in this time of the judges, there was a famine in the land of Promise.  (Ruth 1:1). Living in Bethlehem (a town that means by the way, the house of bread), there was a man by the name of Elimelech (God is my King) and his wife, Naomi (Pleasant or Sweet One). They had two sons — Mahlon and Chilion. By the way, Mahlon means “sickly” and Chilion means “frail.” Can’t you see it? It’s a rather sad tale. “Hello, my name is ‘God is my King’ and this is my wife, ‘Sweet One.’ We are from the ‘House of Bread,’ but we left there, because there was a famine in the land, and we were about to starve to death. Meet our two kids, ‘Sickly’ and ‘Frail.’” The old line, “If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all” comes to mind. We might laugh, but believe me, they weren’t laughing. It could be that their move to the land of Moab was … [Read more...]

By Waylon Bailey Last Sunday, our church family celebrated with over 40 high school seniors at our church. We recognized them in the morning worship and rejoiced with them and their families at a luncheon afterwards. Graduate recognition is a fun time to preach. It seems that people are more ready to hear than at other times. At the worship services I preached about “Four Things to Do Before You Leave Home.” At the luncheon I had a few more minutes with graduates. At that meeting I had four more suggestions for them. These are the kind of suggestions that fit us all. First, remember the magic words. I was shocked that not everyone knew the magic words. I often speak about the magic words at weddings as well. These magic words–please and thank you– will never wear out or go out of style. Everyone appreciates kindness from others. No matter where we are in life kind, gentle, appreciative words are fitting. Second, use your Bible daily. College students often forget that God has an important word for them as well. We gave out great Bibles yesterday. I made a challenge to not neglect those Bibles. Third, choose your friends wisely. We always become like those people we hang out with. Since that is the … [Read more...]

By Joe McKeever In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness.  For we do not know how to pray as we should.  But the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  (Romans 8:26) Tomorrow is the National Day of Prayer.  That’s a good thing.  It keeps us focused on the importance of prayer, and probably dumps a load of guilt on all of us for not praying more or better. Three aspects of prayer make it difficult, and probably even unreasonable.  And then, one overwhelming reality keeps us at it with the strong confidence that praying is the best thing we can ever do. The three impossible aspects of prayer that befuddle us… –One.  The Object of our prayers is unseen. In prayer, we are addressing One we’ve never seen and can’t even prove exists.  And yet, we keep at it, drawing aside day after day, year after year, speaking to the Invisible, Unprovable Lord in the firm belief that He is there, that He hears, and cares and will answer. Is this bizarre or not?!  Smile, please. –Two.  The expression of our prayers is uncertain.   We simply do not know how to word our prayers.  We are mortals addressing the Immortal, the creation speaking to the Creator, sinners kneeling before … [Read more...]

By Greg Laurie “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” - 2 Timothy 4:7 In the Greek games, a judge would stand at the finish line holding laurel leaves in plain sight. This was the reward given to the victor. As the runner came around that last stretch, feeling exhausted and unable to go another inch, he would catch a glimpse of the prize in the judge’s hands. And then a new burst of energy would kick in. That is the picture we find in Hebrews 12:1–2. “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (NKJV). Looking unto Jesus. . . . This keeps us going. We can get discouraged in the spiritual race. People let us down. They disappoint us. They don’t appreciate our hard work. They don’t see our efforts. They don’t see our real motives. They criticize us. But we say, “I’m not running for you. I’m running for the Lord, and I’ll keep going.” We have to keep our eyes on Jesus Christ. Our prize is the crown of righteousness that He will give to us. That is why … [Read more...]

By Stewart Holloway Life brings storms. Experience teaches you that you are either in a storm, coming out of a storm, or eventually going to head into a storm. How can you manage these times in life? Enter John 6:16-24. The disciples of Jesus found themselves in a ferocious storm. The fierce nature of the storm combined with their experience of seeing what they thought was a ghost on the water caused them to freak out. The storms of life are scary. Most of them come upon us rather fast and furious. You have no warning before you get the call about that accident. You have no time to prepare when you walk in and get that pink slip because the company is downsizing. You can’t make a plan when you suddenly get a life-threatening diagnosis. The storm rages. The thunder crashes, and the waves crash in before you can even get a grip on the situation. There are a couple of reasons storms come into our lives. Sometimes we are caught in a storm because we have disobeyed the Lord. The story of Jonah comes to mind.  Sin destroys. It can destroy our health, our families, our businesses, and more. Sin always brings a storm. Other times, however, we are caught in a storm even though we have obeyed the Lord. That’s … [Read more...]