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You may not think of yourself as controlling. You’re just trying to protect the people you love and keep things from falling apart! Lysa TerKeurst reveals how fear can quietly drive our need for control, but how trusting God with the things we can’t fix can bring freedom and peace. You can’t control every outcome…but you can trust the One who can.

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Lysa TerKeurst describes how you can trust the Lord with one of your kids.

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Reading from 1 Kings 18:45-46, “Meanwhile the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain started falling and Ahab rode off to Jezreel.  The power of the Lord came on Elijah and…he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel” (NIV).

Elijah, the prophet who brought down fire, is now the prophet who brings down rain.  Elijah, the prophet who knelt on Mount Carmel in prayer, becomes the prophet who descends in a flurry.

His action inspires us to do likewise.  Lift up your eyes!  Trust the promises of God.  Apart from them life will beat you up.  But armed with them, you will weather any storm.  How different our lives would be if we heeded the promises and not the problems!

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For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

Our son had the privilege of playing on a state championship football team in high school. And that’s a really big deal! They were the toast of the school, heroes of the town, for a while, until next year. Some of those heroes came back from college to visit the old alma mater, and you know what? They just weren’t a big deal anymore. Some new guys were the ones wearing the jerseys now and getting all the attention. Sorry, guys! Last year’s glory - yesterday’s news. What do you bet those guys will still be looking for someone to tell about the big game when they’re 70 years old?

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Things That Really Last Really Matter.”

Forgotten victory, tarnished trophies—that’s the story of most of life’s great achievements, isn’t it? A big deal for a while but quickly faded. The title we fought for and got will be someone else’s before long, and it won’t even take a day to change the name on the door. All those achievements that mean so much at the time, all the rewards we wanted so long—gone so soon…except for one.

And it’s revealed in our word for today from the Word of God in Daniel 12:2-3. “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.” Two eternal addresses—every person you’ve ever met, every person in your life will spend forever at one of these two eternal destinations—heaven or hell. The only thing they have in common is that they’re both “everlasting.”

That ultimate values-clarifier provides the backdrop now for Daniel 12:3, the path to a greatness that will never die. “Those who are wise shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars for ever and ever.” Tell me, what have you done in your life, or what can you do with the rest of your life that will give you a greatness that will make you “shine like the stars for ever and ever?” Only one thing. Lead people to God’s way, and in so doing, help them change their eternal address from hell to heaven. That’s ultimate greatness. It’s the kind of spiritual greatness your heart is hungry for.

What’s exciting about this greatness is it’s within everyone’s reach. You don’t have to be especially intelligent, or educated, or talented, or good-looking, or rich, or well-connected. This has nothing to do with your ability, only your availability for God to speak through you to explain what His Son did on the cross for the people you know. And, in fact, this helping people to go to heaven is the real reason why you are where you are. Jesus placed you there so people there could find Him. So, how are you doing with that? Your eternity-changing assignment is why you are who you are, why you’ve been through what you’ve been through, so you could talk to people like you and they’d listen to you when you tell them about what Jesus did for them.

I don’t know what you’re focusing your best energies on right now, your influence, your prayers, your time, your ambitions. But if it doesn’t impact eternity, it is too small to matter. That’s why the Bible says, “He who wins souls is wise” (Proverbs 11:30). I know you want to make a greater difference with the rest of your life than you’ve made until now, don’t you? There is no greater difference you could possibly make in the life of someone you care about than to help them be in heaven with you forever.

Every person you know who doesn’t know Jesus - in your family, every person you work with, every person you go to school with, that’s a future in hell or heaven. Be the one who tells them how they can be a future resident of Heaven. Introduce them to Jesus and your Bible says you’re going to shine like the stars, forever and ever!

There’s encouraging news out of Idaho. A federal appeals court has ruled that Idaho can fully enforce its pro-life abortion ban while a legal challenge moves forward. The Ninth Circuit put a hold on a lower-court decision that would have created a broader exception allowing abortions when a pregnancy threatened a woman’s health—not merely when necessary to save her life. 

This is an important reminder that the fight for life did not end with the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs. The question of abortion is now being fought in state legislatures, state courts, federal courts, and at the ballot box. 

Idaho is standing up for its unborn children. And pro-lifers must remain engaged, because protecting life requires perseverance.

Anne shares about Bible study and a relationship with Jesus from Psalm 62:1.