Idolatry is still a problem in the Church today, and one of our biggest idols is the family. A focus on God must come before a focus on the family.

We talk about big sins all of the time, but other sins get very little attention in the church. Irritability is one of these. Irritability is a sin that chooses selfishness over love.

The final way we prepare our hearts for Jesus to come and rule in us is through worship. Worship is stopping in the midst of our common lives to notice a God who is anything but common.

Every Christian needs to have a sense of expectation about where we want to go with Christ. John the Baptist teaches us to expect the Holy Spirit and God's consuming fire.

Repentance is the first way we can prepare our hearts for Jesus' rule. Repentance begins with changing our hearts and minds through small acts of obedience.

Spiritual road work may be inconvenient and unpleasant, but we will never get where we want to go without it.

When we neglect the word of God, we lose the ability and the privilege to hear the words of God.

Our worship has no value before God if we aren't first people of justice and righteousness. To be people of justice, we must be people who listen to the vulnerable around us.

God's forever wants us to return to him. Jesus took the punishment for our sins on the cross, but sometimes God still uses the natural consequences of our sin to draw us back to him.

Justice is God's concern because we are God's concern. He judges sin because he cares about us.