LifeLift

Life is full of interruptions. In fact, if it wasn’t for the constant nips and tugs at us, most of us could be far more productive.   Or so we think.   When you look through the Gospels, though, you realize that MANY of the great things Jesus did happened in the unplanned pauses of His day— in those interruptions.   Look at His story.   A few friends break a hole in the roof of...

Where you are isn’t who you are. It’s your location, for sure, but it’s not your identity.   We often confuse our place in life with our personhood— for good and bad. When things are going great, we tend to think too highly of ourselves. The opposite is true, as well. When things are crummy, we thing we’re a disaster…   Turns out, where you are is just your location. Nothing less, nothin...

Adam and I wrap our series of 3 talks here, landing on the premise that “all things work together at all times for your good” (Romans 8:28). Notably, Paul— the author of the verse— didn’t say that— ❌ all things are good ❌ all things are caused by God ❌ God only works the things together for the good in which it wasn’t your fault, that you had not part to play… Saint Augustine referenced this ve...

In the previous talk Adam and I discussed the first thing to do when you face trauma— recognize where you are and choose to feel it… We’re promised that Jesus meets us “in the fire,” and the truth is that we’re going to go through the pain… As Adam says, “It’s better to go through it WITH Jesus than it is to endure it without Jesus.” That leads us to the point of talk #2 in a series of 3: Sel...

Last year I met my friend Adam Hicks, a pastor at Desperation Church, in the Green Room at a church facility dedication. We have similar stories… 👉 happily married 👉 doing what you feel like you’re called to do 👉 things have never looked better 👉 the rug is pulled out from under you when the wife taps out Ohh…. 👉 you don’t necessarily get to go through it without others watching in and weighi...

If we took and poll and asked people what prayer is, most of them would say, “Prayer is when I talk to God…” But maybe it’s more about the PRESENCE than it is the words we say. (Especially when we realize that He already knows what we need before as ask, that He’s already promised to work all things together for the good, and that He’s told us nothing can separate us from His love.) If you’re stru...

ometimes it’s not what you say, it’s what you do… And that’s especially true when you live through something. When you exhibit a hope that defies that odds, a disposition that makes no (human and logical) sense yet seems steady, people take notice. And that’s a better explanation of your faith than the words you can spout from a book theology or even recite from Scripture. Sure, the words help. Bu...

We’re always looking for the next big thing, it seems— a project, a place, or even a person that will help grant us our identity and value. But the “big,” Biblically speaking, often comes through the small. In fact, the extraordinary— and supernatural— often breaks through the moments of ordinary and natural. In the Old Testament we meet King David, the man who established Israel as a dynasty. But...

Last week, I shared the first talk from a small group I co-led over a decade ago. This week, let’s continue… The second week of the “Simple Christianity” series at the Birmingham Dream Center (during our small group that ran from January 2011 through August 2011), we talked about this reality: Faith is more about LIFE TRANSFORMATION than it is amassing INTELLECTUAL INFORMATION. That sounds like a...

11 years ago I co-led a small group at the Birmingham Dream Center with three friends. It began small, but then grew… … and continued growing. In fact, within two months, we had 100 people attending our “small group.” Then, three months later, there were over 250. Here’s what makes it all the more strange… We held the group in the middle of the inner city (in an area that, particularly at that tim...

A few weeks ago, my friend Barry Cosper reached out about the LifeLift project. “Can you come talk about it at the minsters conference we do each Monday?” “Sure,” I replied. “And can you bring your Dad?” Dad wrote the original version of LifeLift 20+ years ago— back when he pastored Hilldale Baptist Church in Centerpoint (where I grew up). He handed the material over to me a few years ago to rewri...

So many people are looking for a grand word from the Lord about some secret revelation or the next big thing for their life, but they overlook the things He’s already clearly said. Namely, they side-step— even if unintentionally— His Word.   In this talk we discuss the notion that the Word:   Provides us with safeguards as we step forward in life Highlights our ability to steward what Go...

The second facet of the “power, love, sound mind” trifecta is love— something that’s been watered-down in our cancel culture.   In this talk we make four observations related to love. ⭐️   We begin here… ✅ The context of 1 Corinthians 13 isn’t (specifically) about marriage, it’s about spiritual gifts— that is, the supernatural empowerments God gifts His people (these are the focus on p...

The longest talk in the entire LifeLift framework follows the shortest. Here, we begin by discussing power, which leads us to the topic of the Holy Spirit.   Listen for five main headings—   ⭐️   The first is this—   ✅ Jesus is the Baptizer of the Holy Spirit.  John the Baptist said he baptized with water— but that Jesus would baptize people in the Holy Spirit, something...

In talk #2 of the Presence part of the LifeLift framework, we outline a “framework within the framework,” using 2 Timothy 1:7—   “God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.” This verse provides us a great outline to not only do the things Jesus did (i.e., WWJD?), but to ALSO do them in the same way Jesus did them… That is, we want to live do the ACTIONS of C...

There   are four facets to the LifeLift framework. The first two are—   👉 Identity (knowing who we really are), which was the subject of the previous 5 talks   👉 Presence (since we “live” Christ, as we learned in those five, developing an awareness of His presence is one of the best habits we can develop.   In this talk we shift from the first part of our framework to the sec...

We concluded the previous talk with the assertion that we’re now “full” of the “fullness of Christ,” who was full with the very presence of the Godhead. This reality enables us to live His presence— and empowers us to walk in HIs power throughout this world, functioning at a level that exceeds our natural capacity.   In this talk, we make four observations as to what this means…   ⭐️ &n...

In the previous episode we discussed the reality that we’ve been “included” in every facet of Jesus’ life… … including His death, His burial, and His resurrection.   That means that— in this life— we live a “resurrected life” rather than a pre-Cross life. Yes, we should be willing to “take up our Cross” and deny ourselves, but that’s only part of the story. The same power that raised Christ f...

Everyone wants to be included. In this talk we discuss how you were included— supernaturally— in every significant part of Jesus’ work on earth (and even some of His work in Heaven).   Here’s where we begin…     👉 Baptism is a picture of our eternal reality.   It might just “look” like a religious ritual, but there’s far more being signified by a person going “in and out” of t...

In this talk we pick up where we left off in the previous … (Last episode = Jesus shows us what God is actually like. This episode = He shows us what we’re really like, too.) Here’s the outline…   ✅ The name change = Jesus declared who Peter is before we ever saw the evidence. Jesus named Peter for who he was designed to be in the future, not how he acted in the past (or even the present). 
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One of the foundational concepts for understanding who you are is understanding who God is… … and that entails grasping hold of what Jesus actually came to do. ++++ Four big ideas to listen for in this talk— 👉 No one had seen God, until Jesus came. Some of the heroes of the faith encountered God throughout history in radical ways. In Jesus, rather than remaining “unseen” or being seen “in disguis...

Paul encouraged us to not stray from the simplicity that is found in Christ (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). His thought was, well… we tend to make things infinitely more complex. We tend to move towards complex religious systems. Jesus, on the other hand, came to make things easy. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Moses received the Law- ten commandments which, in Hebrew, were expressed using only ten words (they have a far mo...

Today I step back and talk about one of the big takeaways from the recent Oolapalooza. Namely, we’ve got to— 👉 Dream big, then 👉 Step small We often get these two backwards. We overestimate what we can achieve in a day, yet we underestimate the power of our dreams— and the greatness that’s been placed inside of us. So, here, we talk about what the dreams SHOULD be like… … and how they should eff...

Most of your visible success will come from the things you do no one else sees. Just like the seeds you sow. Most of the process of a plant’s growth happens beneath the surface, hidden in a place no one sees. Success— which we’ve defined as living up to your God-given potential in every area of life— is largely like that. Most of the factors that create visible success are invisible. They’re real...

I've learned that you can’t “cram" a harvest, and you can't microwave the results of your catalytic actions. I'd love to see the "dominos" fall in real life as quickly as the wooden props I’ve created topple onstage. The reality is, well, they don’t. Most precious things require time to mature.     Sowing and reaping is a principle implemented on the 3rd day of Creation when God spoke fo...