What is holding you back from following Jesus? Maybe it’s not what’s holding you back. Maybe it’s what you’re holding onto. Many times in life, those things that we hold onto are what hold us back. Simon and Andrew were casting nets when Jesus called in Mark 1, “Follow me, and I will make you…

Anybody out there excited about a season of testing? No, I didn’t think so. Nobody raises their hand for finals week, medical tests, or running a gauntlet. Testing exposes weakness. It costs time we didn’t budget. It leaves us uncertain how we’ll perform until we’re already in it. Yet look where obedience led Jesus. We…

Thank God the USA has several special forces units! Special forces train for special missions, like raids, capture, reconnaissance, terminating high-profile targets, demolition, tasks few others could accomplish in places nobody else wants to go. Yet strip away the elite label, and every soldier who ever wore a uniform shares one mission: advance the cause…

Have you looked at the Gospel of Mark in a while? If there’s anything that Mark is known for, it’s a direct, action-packed delivery. He doesn’t ease into the story of Jesus Christ. There’s no genealogy or birth narrative. He just drops an understated declaration that is actually a theological bombshell when you dig into…

You can tell a lot about a tree by what hangs from its branches. Apostle Paul knew the same is true of faith. In Titus 3:8, he is emphatic: those who trust in God should be careful to devote themselves to good works. Of course, this is not to earn salvation. That’s found by grace…

Every believer has a “before” picture. Before grace found us, we were exactly what Apostle Paul describes in Titus 3:3, “foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures… hating one another.” That’s not someone else’s story. That’s ours. Now, Paul doesn’t say this to shame us. He says it to shape us. Titus…

Some truths get whispered because the speaker isn’t sure they’re true. Other truths get whispered because the speaker is sure but afraid of the cost of saying them. Apostle Paul allowed neither excuse for Titus. He said in Titus 2:15, “Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.” Here…

A lifeguard who pulls a drowning man from the water, saving his life, has done his job, but how much better would it be if that lifeguard took that man under his wing for a few weeks to train him to be able to swim better and avoid mishaps in the water? That would be…

Did you know the word “adolescence” didn’t exist until 1904 when psychologist G. Stanley Hall coined it to describe a bridge between childhood and adulthood? We typically think of it as encompassing the teen years, but that bridge keeps growing. Many now stretch adolescence all the way into their late twenties, delaying responsibility and commitment…

Dolly Parton recently passed away. Man, she was one of the best on so many levels. She seemed timeless, but time stops for nobody. As one generation dies, another rises up. And with all the greats in every generation, we wonder: will there be anybody to replace them? In fact, I’m reminded of that song…