The Game of Chicken is a game typically played by rakish, foolish young boys that are old enough to have a driver’s license but young enough to still lack common sense. To win the Game of Chicken you must risk life itself. But, to lose this game, means to be called a “chicken”—and for most young boys, being called a “chicken” is simply not a digestible option. Like rakish, foolish young boys, the Devil loves the Game of Chicken. And he is very good at it to boot. And whether we want to play this idiotic game or not, as believers, we find ourselves constantly engaged in this life/death face-off with the powers of darkness. And if we as believers are going to prove victorious in our stand-off with this ancient foe, we need to know how to call our enemy’s bluff and keep our left tire on the white center line.

One of the most important building blocks in a strong and robust faith is knowing the unchanging nature of our God. Simply put, He doesn’t change. The world around us may prove fickle, but not our God. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. In order to enjoy a great relationship with God, a believer must get a clear grip on this beautiful truth.

God is in the business of making old things new. And His chief target for this masterful redemptive regenerative work is us. But, not all of us are as interested in new as He is. We tend to cling like Saran Wrap to the old. But, the Christian life is best understood and discovered when the old is forsaken and the new is embraced.

Oomph is a strange and fascinating word. Not only does it have an interesting onomatopoetic sound, but it is also toting around a deeply significant truth. The word “Oomph” has come to mean “exertion” or “strength invested into a task”—and that is an idea that is near absent in the modern Christian experience, but desperately in need of returning. Because Christianity that is worth its salt involves an active, aggressive, soul-sweating givenness to the multitudinous tasks of spiritual obedience. In other words, it doesn’t shrink back from doing hard labor for Jesus Christ, but courageously exerts and spends itself on assignments that would cause normal everyday humanity to blanche.

Smiles have been harder to come by since the pandemic era. And, at the same time, hope and the sense of a secure future have both taken a definite nosedive in their respective stock values. But, as believers, we can’t fall for this classic ruse. The Devil has always been in the business of fretting, foreboding, and fear. His plan is simple—to dupe the masses into transferring their investment portfolios of faith from “a strong anticipation in God's ability to save" into the worthless business of hell—dread, panic, and a dismal outlook. As believers we are in the business of smiling, laughing, rejoicing, and leaping for joy. It’s high time we get our game on.

Sharing Jesus with this world is not just a sizable task, it's a supremely difficult one. So, how do we do it? Do we start yelling from the street corner? Do we wait for someone to come up to us and ask us about the hope that lies within us? How exactly is this done? What is our role? When should we speak? When should we stay silent? The answer to these questions is a bit complex and has more than a few variables interwoven into it, but one of the keys to unlocking this mystery is understanding something known as jurisdiction. It’s a big word, yes, but even a child can understand it. And when you know your jurisdiction, you can more effectively know what your role is in this grand adventure of changing the world for Jesus Christ.

The Church is facing unprecedented challenges today. And the battle over gender and identity is one of the strangest problems in the mix, leaving many of us scratching our spiritual heads in total bewilderment. But, God has not left us bereft of wisdom. He has supplied us with everything we need for this hour in history. This message unpacks the challenge of gender confusion and supplies Biblical insight into how to potentially address this strange and befuddling issue.

The Good News is supposed to be exactly that—good news to the soul. But, many believers get their spiritual Ph.D. in the Devil’s opinion regarding themselves as opposed to God’s opinion. We must be experts on the Truth and not spend another moment meditating on the Devil’s nonsense. When we come to Christ via faith, there is a redemptive ripple effect that takes place in our lives—overwriting all the Devil’s false claims about our value, our purpose, and our destiny, and replacing these false claims with heavenly truths that are rightfully deserving the title, “Good News.”

So many today live out their Christianity with a limp. They don't run “The Race” given them with gusto. Instead, they waddle down the narrow way with a petering whimper. What’s needed is an understanding of Biblical Grace. And not just the grace that rescues from the penalty of sin, but the variety that rescues from the oppression of sin. There is a lost and dying world about us, but most of us are still so self-focused that we remain the object of need instead of the minister of grace to other’s needs. This pattern must change.

The Three-Day Test is a heavenly gift that few of us appreciate. In fact, most of us greet it with grumbling rather than rejoicing. And that is a transgression because the Three-Day Test is a gift of explosive growth, of radical breakthrough, and of spiritual Life. To NOT appreciate the exquisite possibilities baked into the Three-Day Test is to risk missing out on the true benefit and power supplied in and through it. We must learn to see the Three-Day Test as a gold mine and our rejoicing in it as the chief means of excavating the heavenly gold.