"And Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.'" Look at how Jesus opens this moment. "All authority in heaven a...  Read More

"And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.'" After the fall of man and after the flood that wiped the earth clean, God comes to Noah and says something that sounds incredibly familiar. "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth." On the surface, Genesis 9 looks just like Genesis 1 all over again. God blesses, God says be fruitful, God says ...  Read More

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." There is something in Genesis 1:28 that is easy to read right past, but once you see it, everything changes. Look at the order. "And God blessed them. And God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply.'" Did you catch it? God blessed them first. The blessing came before t...  Read More

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"For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things." So here's where Paul takes us. After talking about what we surrender and why we pursue and how we keep moving... he reveals what breaks his heart.People. Lost people. ...  Read More

13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, 14 I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus. So Paul makes something clear here. He hasn't arrived.He says, "I do not consider that I have made it my own." This is the apostle Paul. That man who wrote m...  Read More

Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus.  This might be the most important thing we talk about all week.Our pursuit is not our effort to gain something from God. It is our response to Christ having first pursued us.Read that again if you need to.Paul says, “I press on to make i...  Read More

 "But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ." So Paul had a list.And it was impressive. Circumcised on the eighth day. Of the tribe of Benjamin. A Hebrew of Hebrews...  Read More

"And the men of Israel went out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and struck them, as far as below Beth-car." Now, Israel had just experienced something incredible. God thundered from heaven. The Philistines were confused and defeated. Victory was handed to them. And now they had a choice.Do we stay here? Do we celebrate? Or do we take ground?Israel pursued.Now watch this. The text says they...  Read More

"And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in." Here's what I need you to know right now. The fast that fails produces nothing. The fast that forms produces character. But the fast that frees? It produces a future.So what I'm seeing is this. Look at what God promi...  Read More

"Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men." Now watch this. Everything we have been talking about... the open hands, the generous heart, the releasing instead of grasping... this is exactly what Jesus did.So what I'm seeing is this. Paul tells us that Jesus, ...  Read More

"Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?" Here's what I see in this passage. Every single thing God describe...  Read More