By Rick Warren “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” - (Psalm 139:16 NIV). God knows everything about your faults and failures and your feelings and frustrations, and he also knows what your tomorrow holds. He knows your future. The Bible says that even before you were born, God knew all of your future: “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Psalm 139:16 NIV). From his perspective, God can see past, present, and future all at once. That should give us great confidence in God. It’s comforting to me that he knows everything that is going to happen in my life. He not only knows about the future, he’s also there in the future. He not only walks with us day by day, he can also walk in our future. God is already prepared for everything you’re going to face tomorrow, next week, and next month. What the future holds may surprise us, but it doesn’t surprise God. Nothing ever catches him by surprise or makes him say, “Oh, really?” Next month or next year, you may be faced with a crisis, and you may ask, “What’s happening? Where is God?” God’s been there all … [Read more...]

By Steve Horn Five miracles happened as Jesus hung on the cross. The day became night, symbolizing Jesus taking the sin of history upon Himself. Next, the temple veil was split from top to bottom, symbolizing a new covenant of salvation available and accessible to all. Today, we examine the third miracle. Matthew reported an earthquake. I believe that this “splitting of the rocks” points back to a statement Jesus made to the Pharisees as He was welcomed into Jerusalem on the Sunday before that Friday. Luke provides the details of the entry into Jerusalem as recorded in Luke 19: “And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way. And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen; Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.” When we collaborate the accounts from Matthew and Luke, we … [Read more...]

By Stewart Holloway Face it. As a leader, you are going to to get frustrated . . . aggravated . . . and just plain out mad. Some preachers might say, "I am so grieved in my spirit", but they're just trying to cover the fact that they are ticked off! Things aren't going to go as you had hoped. People are going to disappoint. Nay sayers are going to say. Complainers are going to complain. "Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate." (Thank you, Taylor Swift). It happens to all of us. Preachers have "preacher Mondays." That's when we want to quit because Sunday didn't go quite like we had hoped. Maybe bankers have banker blues, and lawyers have lawyer lulls. I don't know what you call it when you've had enough, but you have those times. And, guess what? It's o.k. Really? Yes! On Wednesday nights at our church, I've been teaching through Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. These books of the Old Testament cover the story of God, with the assistance of Moses, leading the Israelites out of Egypt and toward the Promised Land. I've been interested to notice how many times Moses got ticked at the Israelites. I mean, sling some spit, kick a cat, scream in a pillow mad! A couple of times he even tells God, … [Read more...]

By Waylon Bailey Jesus taught revolutionary ideas. Because of this, even His own disciples had to ask what His parables and teaching meant. They also seemed to be bothered that the Pharisees had been offended by the teaching of Jesus (Matthew 15:1-21). What did Jesus teach that seemed to turn everything upside down? Jesus defined religion differently from the Jews of His day. They saw religion as rules and regulations to be followed. They wanted everyone to conform to their teachings–even those which did not come from Holy Scripture. For example, they were disturbed and agitated that the disciples of Jesus did not wash before they ate. It’s important to note that this was not a cleanliness requirement. They didn’t know about disease and germs. What bothered them was that the disciples of Jesus did not follow the decrees of man! Jesus instead pointed out the decrees of God. The Pharisees were much better at keeping man’s laws than God’s laws. In fact, the teaching of Jesus made that clear. They also seemed to want to keep man’s laws more than God’s. For that reason, Jesus called them out for their hypocrisy. Jesus reminded His own disciples that it is not the outward but the inward that is most important. It … [Read more...]

By Rebecca Holloway When I awakened this morning, Evan and Zach were lying on the couch - one on one end, one on the other. I picked Evan up to take him to the table for breakfast, and he pressed his cheek up against mine, which is how he shows love. We ate breakfast and laughed and talked the whole time. We discussed our trip to South Dakota this summer and how we would be traveling through several states before getting there. Zach excitedly showed me the map of South Dakota in his atlas, pointing out we would be traversing the whole bottom of the state. After breakfast, I dressed Evan as always and brushed his teeth. While we were doing that, I gave him extra kisses and played with him. It was a totally normal morning. Mundane, even. I was dreading picking up my phone this morning. Dreading what the memory for today would be. There was a picture taken a year ago today that still haunts my nightmares. March 20, 2017 was one of the most horrific days of my life. It was the day we almost lost our Evan. I still can't talk about that day without tearing up and crying. In fact, several weeks ago Stewart took me with him as he visited a church member who was in the same ER where Evan had been. Walking down … [Read more...]

By Greg Laurie For me it’s always a great thing to start something fresh. I love it when Daylight Saving Time begins and we spring forward an hour. It’s like getting a whole new part of the day. I also love the first day of spring. I like the way everything looks after it rains. And as an artist, I love a blank sheet of paper. Another thing that’s great is when you come to the end of a great difficulty or failure and can have a fresh start, a new beginning. Moses, the world changer, changed the world for the captives of Egypt, the nation Israel. He led them to a new beginning in a new land. And the way he did it all was by faith. But before this happened, Moses himself needed a new beginning. You probably know the story. He killed an Egyptian and went into exile for 40 years. But the Lord spoke to him and recommissioned him to service. Moses had crashed and burned, but God gave him a second chance. God gave him, and ultimately the Israelites, a new beginning. It comes down to this: When you’ve been changed, you want to see others changed as well. Or to turn that around, if you don’t want to see others changed, then how have you really been changed? Jesus said, “But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little” … [Read more...]

By Steve Horn Some of you sports fans like me know the phrase “March Madness.” This is the phrase that identifies the NCAA basketball year-end tournament that crowns the National Champion for both men’s and women’s basketball. I was thinking about this phrase “March Madness” in relation to my own schedule. We have major church events for the rest of this month, and I have a number of ministry, personal, and family matters to complete. (And, I’ve got some basketball to watch!) We are all busy. How do we survive and thrive in these busy seasons of life? Prioritize. I have learned throughout life that we all basically can find a way to do what we really want to do. No one person can do everything, but we can’t use this as an excuse to do nothing. Pray to seek the Lord what should be your priorities. Worship. Worship must be a priority. Personal time with the Lord and corporate worship with our church family must be a priority. In my own life, I have learned that I must be more disciplined about personal worship in times of intense busyness. No one else helps me to protect my time alone with God. Everybody thinks their issue is more important than anyone else’s issue. We must resist the urge to give in to the … [Read more...]

By Waylon Bailey As we move toward Easter, I want to move us toward the cross. The cross of Christ is the heart of the Gospel. Because of the cross we have hope for the future. The cross brings us into right relationship with God and opens the way to God. No wonder the coming of Christ into the world divided time and changed the course of world history. Because of the cross, all sinners are able to share in the inheritance of the saints. Paul gave four unique contributions we receive from the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross (Colossians 1:13-14). First, the cross delivers us from the domain of darkness. “All we like sheep have gone astray” (Isaiah 53:6). We were born into darkness and apart from the saving work of Christ on the cross we remain in darkness. But God in His mercy has rescued us from the domain of darkness and brought us into His light. Second, by the cross we have been transferred from darkness into light, from sin into newness of life, and from slavery into freedom. We are a part of the Kingdom of God’s Son whom He loves. Third, the cross is the method of our redemption. We who were slaves to this world and its sinful passions have been bought out of our slavery. To be redeemed is to … [Read more...]