We may worry about different things...but we all worry. And every time we do, it threatens to steal our joy in Jesus. Thankfully, Paul shows us how to fight against anxiety by taking hold of God's promises that:

1. When we pray, we get the peace of God; &

2. When we obey, we get the God of peace.

Jesus came as our Redeemer & Representative, guaranteeing our eternal victory over all sin & suffering. But until He comes again, we must endure--and the only way to do that is together as we: (1) Walk by faith; (2) Hold onto hope; & (3) Commit to love.

We're all tempted to replace God's promise with God's law. The problem, though, is that the Law isn't powerful enough to change our hearts. So while the Law is good, the Gospel is even better because it reminds us that Jesus came to set us free through His perfect obedience, effective sacrifice & transforming grace.

When humanity rebelled against God, we were put out of His presence and heaven was locked from the inside. But in His love, our holy God has come to us to when we could not get to Him, and Jesus now invites us to follow Him into God's presence where we can find true & lasting joy.

We try our best to earn God's favor. When that inevitably fails, we try our best to earn His forgiveness. Thankfully, though, our Father loves us too much to leave our salvation up to our best efforts. Enter our Great High Priest! When Jesus came, He gave us an unbreakable covenant that is eternal, internal & powerful because it's based on God's grace, not on our best efforts.

In John 10, Jesus told the timeless story of The Shepherd & The Thief, which still divides the world to this day. For those who say "no" to His invitation, He wants them to know exactly what they're rejecting. But for those who say "yes," He wants us to live in the full joy He lived, died & rose again to give us.

God is both sovereign & good, which means we can always trust that He has a purpose in our pain. However, the only way for us to embrace that purpose (instead of wasting our suffering) is if we commit: (1) To obey before we understand; (2) Proclaim what we can't explain; (3) Cling to what we know; & (4) Worship the Son of Man.

True disciples finish well, but only if we embrace the truth of Jesus that sets us free from our slavery to the lies we believe & the lies we tell.

When we can't see beyond "right now," we're tempted to take control. In those moments, we've got to remember that the Light of the World came to give life to the world. This will only comfort us, though, when we lay down our fears and follow Jesus by faith into the presence of the Father.

The Light of the World exposes the darkness in all of us, but He never exposes us without covering us in His grace. Because both are true, His gospel leads us from fear to freedom as we're reminded over and over that our God knows us (all the way to the bottom) & He loves us still.