Forgiveness is essential to following Jesus. We are never more like our Lord than when we forgive. But among Christians, forgiveness is more often mentioned than practiced.

The kingdom of God cannot be understood without the cross, nor the cross without the kingdom. Jesus’ main message was the kingdom, and his main mission was to go to the cross. Kingdom and cross always go together: kingdom through the cross.

In our busy and hurried lives, deep, intimate relationships are often the first casualty. But in the ancient world, friendship was considered the greatest of the types of love we could experience. The Bible talks about friendship all through the Old and New Testaments. You could construct an entire theology of God’s love around the theme of friendship. Jesus dares to call us his friends.

We have an enemy who wants to steal, kill and destroy life. We need to know this enemy, his schemes and how to stand firm in the LORD.

Emotional health is an integral part of spiritual health. You can’t be spiritually mature unless you are emotionally healthy and a vital part of emotional health is learning to name and engage your emotions in God’s presence. God invites us to PRAY our emotions.

Sin is a power, greatly misunderstood and underestimated, with far-reaching consequences that affect our daily relationships with God, with others and with ourselves.

Spiritual formation is wholly dependent upon God’s power in us to change us and yet it requires our active, deliberate participation. We are not trying to be like Jesus; we are training to be like Jesus. That may sound small, a distinction without a difference, but understanding the difference between training and trying makes all the difference in the world. If we want to become mature disciples, that requires a whole new lifestyle, learning from Jesus, how to walk in his way, what Jesus cal...

When it comes to how people change, if you could only choose one way to help people at all levels of spiritual maturity grow in their relationship with God, the choice is clear: encourage and equip people in how to read the Bible, how to meditate on God’s word. There is no way to grow in the knowledge of God, deepen your faith, grow in your love for God and increase your hope without engaging daily with the Bible. How can reading the Bible move from “need to” to “get to,” from a duty to a del...

What are we going for in these 242 groups and HOW can I be a more effective leader? This lecture was given to our leaders on Sunday, January 15, but is available for anyone to listen