When we pursue God's mission with our methods, we are destined to fail because because we simply don't have the power to open blind eyes and bring dead souls to life. No, this power belongs to God alone, who shines the light of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ and gives His people eyes to see.

When we're walking by sight, the gospel is nothing but a nice story for the weak and presence of God is nothing but terrifying. However, when we follow Jesus in faith, He leads us out of fear and into freedom, through hope-filled repentance based on the truth that "it is finished."

There are faithful gospel preachers...and there are peddlers. The main reason this is such a problem is that we all want to be peddled to. We want the gospel on our terms, but what we need is the gospel on God's terms, because only the Spirit can give us true and eternal life.

The idol of independence is a temptation for us all. The mission of Jesus, though, requires unity as He leads us to embrace (together) our new identity as joyful captives of the Risen King.

One of the hardest and most important things God calls us to is forgiveness, because where there's no forgiveness, there is no faith. If we want to give the same grace to others that we have received from Jesus, however, we must commit to: (1) Share joy; (2) Show love; & (3) Surrender the spotlight.

"Blind Faith" is based on nothing and good for nothing. But "Faith in the Dark" is what God calls us to embrace when we don't understand what He's doing. Since God is always faithful, we know that we can trust His word, His Son & His people as He works in mysterious ways to make us more like Jesus.

If God can raise the dead, then He can do anything! This single truth gives hope in our darkest moments because it invites us to focus on Jesus (instead of ourselves) when life gets most difficult. Only then will we be able to praise Him in all of our pain, knowing that our suffering will never get the last word in our lives.

When life gets hard, there's no temptation stronger than the temptation to take over control. When that happens, we all need the reminder that there's only one God, and we can trust Him: (1) In our grief; (2) In our guilt; & (3) In the "gaps."

When we look for blessing apart from Christ, we are always let down. This is because true blessing always & only comes through the gospel, which shows up in the pictures, patterns & promises of the Old Testament.