Practical Faith

As recipients of God’s amazing affection, no matter how little we think we are worth, the God of the universe, the Almighty God, the One who thought us up, and who thought we were such a good idea that He went through with making us – He ascribes the highest possible value to us! He values our lives at the price of His only Son’s life. We are beloved! We are cherished and treasured by the Almighty...

You are a living miracle. Experts and mathematicians who are way smarter than me have calculated the odds of all the variables working out to specifically create you are about 4 trillion to 1. How incomprehensibly miraculous is it that you exist!? You are no accident. You are not here by coincidence or by luck. You exist by design. Someone thought you up. From before the foundations of the earth w...

This is the season of Advent, when we celebrate Jesus’ birth! When the long wait for His arrival ends – and the celebration of Emmanuel – God with us – begins! It’s Christmastime! And all that goes along with this season is for Jesus!

Jesus’ second coming is actually talked about more in the New Testament than His first. We Christians make an enormous deal out of Christmas – and we should! – the Incarnation of God on earth was the event on which all of human history pivots! But Jesus Himself repeatedly called people to look ahead to His second coming.

We call the season of Christmas “Advent," which is a word that simply means “coming” or “arriving”, and there is a pattern to it every year. There is an annual rhythm to Advent which is also like an annual practice for the second coming of the Savior Jesus to earth – and it begins with Preparation. From the foundations of the earth – from the moment of humanity’s first sin against God – He wa...

Jesus is the centerpiece of Christmastime! And all that goes along with this season is for Him! Garlands. Lights. Tinsel. Bows. Wrapping Paper. It’s all for Him! Songs and Symphonies. Parties and Caroling. Ugly Christmas sweaters. Goofy Office Gift Swaps. Classic door decorations. Cheesy Christmas movies. Even when we don’t know it – even when we don’t mean to celebrate Jesus – all of it is in cel...

The worship of God is far more than the activities of humankind. In the natural world all around us, there is a service of worship that is happening all day, every day, around the clock, in adoration of God! The Bible frequently calls our attention to the ongoing worship that exists in the natural world...

We’ve been talking about how to clarify and pursue some dreams for our lives together with the Lord in really practical ways. Today, I want to offer just a few concluding thoughts to help you pursue your dreams together with the Lord – remembering that He designed you, Heloves you, and He knows the good plans He has for you.

Imagine that you were standing in a large room, like a big auditorium or gymnasium. You are standing in one corner of the room, and your dream of where you want to be is at the far corner of the room. That dream may be something for your spiritual life, or your home or family, or your career, or some other hope or wish or goal you have... But you can’t reach it from where you are.  It’s all the wa...

God’s journey for us in life rarely looks like a straight line arrow. It often looks more like zig-zagging line with lots of twists and turns along the way. Some of this is our doing; some of it is His; and in His sovereign mercy, He is weaving it all together into an amazing tapestry of faithfulness. Where we sometimes get into trouble in walking with the Lord is when we put our expectations abou...

There’s an important distinction between having clear goals vs. having just good intentions. All the hoping and wishing – and, even praying – in the world isn’t going to amount to anything if I don’t DO something about it. You have a vision for your future. You can see where you want to go. You’ve identified some simple, initial steps you can take in the right direction. And guess what? You are no...

What’s your dream? What are you dreaming about with God? What are your hopes for yourself? for your character? your family? your future? your legacy? These are ALL great things to have a vision for in your life with the Lord. Depending on the size of your dream, you might be just 10 steps away, or it might be 50,000 steps away. But once you envision with the Lord where you want to go with Him, and...

Today on Practical Faith, I want to lead you in a short exercise of dreaming with God about your future. You can do this wherever you are right now: in your car, at home, at the gym, wherever. For just a couple of minutes, we are going to talk and think about and practice dreaming together with God, who said, “I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to ha...

Today, we are wrapping up our short series on the topic of “Discipleship at Home,” and I want to address one of the most common objections I hear around this topic, and that is this: “It’s too late for me. I missed my chance. My kids are grown. I wish I had known about all this stuff earlier...”

Welcome back to “Practical Faith” – where today, we will continue in our short series on the topic of “Discipleship at Home.”

Today on “Practical Faith,” we'll introduce a short new series on the topic of “Discipleship at Home.” The way we grow is by practice. Family devotions for us through the years have been full of trial-and-error, starts-and-stops, and starting back over again. It has not been perfect, but we have tried to remain intentional and consistent in practicing some form of family discipleship together...

If you’re like me, then, we don’t want to do what only we can do in our lives. We certainly want to give our very best – but frankly – if this is just a human effort producing human results… then, what’s the point? But the hunger and the ache and the yearning of our souls is, “Oh God!, please come – please come – and do what only You can do among us!”

Persecution affects about 200 million Christians around the world today. Imagine the amount of faith in Jesus, and courage from His Holy Spirit it must take to live in a place where your neighbors or the government are openly hostile toward your faith in Jesus… You and I have the opportunity to pray courageous, faith-filled prayers now for our persecuted brothers & sisters around the world!

God has purposes for you in this generation – purposes that He has called you and equipped you and prepared in advance for you to fulfill. Our loved ones – our friends and family – our everyday connections in the world – they are hungering for the grace, the truth, the deliverance, the victory, the identity and purpose which we all know they are only going to find in Jesus. And Jesus is saying to...

God is already at work in the life of every single one of your unsaved friends. Every single one of them! And He is inviting you – He is authorizing you in the Name of Jesus – He is sending you! – to join Him in that miraculous work. Within the past 10 years in the U.S., a whopping 83% of all new church attendees came to church because someone invited them – either to a Sunday service, or to a sma...

God has purposes for you to serve right here – right in your very own town – among your very own generation, just like He had for David in the Bible...

To become like Jesus, we’ve gotta do three things: do things the way Jesus did them; pray in the ways that Jesus prayed; and believe like Jesus believed. Today we’ll talk about believing like Jesus believed. Believing IN Jesus is of utmost importance. Eternity literally hangs in the balance of it. But it is just the starting point of a life of following Jesus. To become like Jesus, we’ve got to be...

Becoming like Jesus means doing things the way Jesus did them.  It also means praying the way that Jesus prayed.

To become like Jesus, we’ve gotta do three things. We’ve got to do what Jesus did, pray like Jesus prayed, and believe like Jesus believed. So first up is: Do what Jesus did. Sometimes, as followers of Jesus, it can be cool to actually do things the way Jesus did them...

The Eternal Son of God – God, who made us in His image – He descended from heaven to earth and become like us in every way except sin. He made us like Himself. And then, after we messed it all up, He Himself became like us, so that He could enable us to become like Him again...