God takes forgiveness very seriously. If you want to live the Christian life & experience the benefits of the Christian life & walk in the sweetness of God's fellowship & enjoy his unlimited mercy & compassion & forgiveness—he expects you to show the same mercy & compassion & forgiveness to others.

Following Jesus always leads to a cross. If you want the blessing, set out on the “Jesus road,” knowing there is a cross somewhere up ahead. Those who follow him will never be put to shame. They are the ones who endure their trials with grace, find God’s approval & in the end finally receive the crown of life.

The rich man & the poor man stand on the same ground before the Lord. Your net worth (or lack thereof) has no impact on your standing in heaven. The ground is level at the foot of the cross.

We always need God’s help. We don’t need God’s wisdom some of the time. We desperately need God’s wisdom all the time.

Staying in the boat may be comfortable & safe, but that’s not what the life of faith is all about. Jesus calls us to find out what he is doing in the world & then to fling ourselves wholeheartedly into his cause. In the end, who looks better? Peter who tried & sank or the other 11 who didn’t even try?

Joy grows best in the deep soil of the sovereignty of God. If you know that God is in control, you can be satisfied at a very deep level even while you weep over what is happening around you & to you.

We all know that the Lord has placed us IN COMMUNITY with friends and families and in marriages … all for a purpose. While we can certainly share many reasons for these purposes, today I want to focus on just 1 thing: building & leaving a living, loving, lasting legacy!

In the end prayer is not a burden; it’s a blessed privilege. We should not pray because we must, but because we want to. And why bother praying if you don’t believe God will answer you? Pray with confidence, expecting that God will answer. Nothing is too great to ask & nothing is too hard for the Lord.

The only way to go is forward. When you are tempted to despair, remember that you can’t go back, you can’t stay where you are, but by God’s grace you can move forward one step at a time.

Remember this. When you fail—not if—but when you fail & when you struggle & when you fall, remember, you’ve got good company. His name is Paul & he didn’t do so badly. So, look up my friends. And when you feel trapped in the muck & mire of sin—run to Jesus & embrace the cross. Turn to him with your whole heart & you’ll discover that you can become more than a conqueror through him who loves you.