The Central Moment

Submission Over Sacrifice

A counterfeit religious spirit wants to placate God with good intentions and external shows of self-denial and sacrifice. But God wants obedience. It’s submission over sacrifice.

No Pain, No Gain

No risk, no reward; no pain, no gain; no steps of faith, no breakthroughs. Everything worthwhile in life will require taking risks. And although we may only have a ‘perhaps’ on the front side risk, on the other side is...

Feeling Validated

God validates our callings with confirmations and favor. Although trust is earned, not demanded, the Lord knows how to raise us up and create those trust-earning moments.

Full Tank

Life without God’s Spirit is like a car without gas. We can get out and push, but it is far better to be fueled up and drive. When the Holy Spirit comes upon us our lives change and we live...

Different

It’s honestly not easy to live differently than the world around us. Yet we are called out to be holy, to serve a Kingdom not of this world, and to make Jesus our King.

Out of the Depths

Silver Lining

When It Rains, It Pours

On a Mission

Miracle Baby

Famous Last Words

The ultimate purpose of one of the greatest love stories in the Bible is found in the very last words of the story. That purpose spans history and can change our lives forever.

The Greatest Redemption

The God who created us has acted to redeem us. The concept of a ‘redeemer’ is embedded deeply in the Bible. It points to humanity’s greatest need and our loving Creator’s greatest act.

Planting and Reaping

With time the things that we do every day begin to add up and have consequences. The same principle that brought Ruth favor works in our lives as well. We will reap a harvest if we don’t give up planting...

Lifelong Loyalty

The story of Ruth is a love story in every way. It gives us hope that there can, indeed, be love that is deeply rooted in life-long loyalty. The contrast to a world of fickle infatuation and emotional shallowness...

Restorative Sovereignty

It’s hard to know why bad things happen to good people. But do loss and disappointment with God need to be the end of the story? Or can the God who allows reversals also be the God who restores lives?

For His Glory

All that we do in living for Christ is ultimately for the glory of God. In the end, people should not be left more impressed with us than with God.

Laying a Fleece

Does ‘laying a fleece’ before the Lord still apply to New Testament believers as a way of discerning God’s will? Or is that seeking God’s guidance on our terms? What do we do with this moment in Gideon’s life?

To and From

True availability to God often involves both consecration and renunciation -- being set apart to God as well as being separated from the idols that so easily seduce us. It will take spiritual courage, but obedience can win the day...

Called and Cooperative

The kind of people that God can use are not restricted to the popular, the self-confident or the outgoing. Like Gideon, God can work with us and prepare us for his purposes if we will cooperate with his calling.

God Has No Grandchildren

It has been famously said that God has no grandchildren. Every new generation needs its own encounter with Jesus in order to overcome the pull of the gods of the world that surround us.

Fallen Walls

Just as the walls of Jericho collapsed under Joshua’s leadership, the walls between us and God have collapsed in Christ. At the heart of it is a very personal story of saving power that God is writing in each of...

Breaking Barriers

God makes a way where there is no way! The barriers in front of us are not signs that God does not love us. They are opportunities for the Lord to reveal who he is and call us to revere...

Facing Fear with Faith

In a culture obsessed with safety and security, courage has become an underrated virtue. Courage is not the absence of fear, but the willingness to face fear with faith.

No Risk, No Reward

Are you living too safely? No risk, no reward -- it’s true in life and it’s true in achieving our God-given potential. No steps of faith, no God-given breakthroughs.

Promise Without Presence

The proposition is unprecedented -- to have God’s promise but not his presence. Have we settled for that? Or are we hungry for God himself, not just his blessings?

Two Realities

Two mountains, two covenants, two realities--with the dividing line being Jesus himself! His Kingdom cannot be shaken and he invites us to live worshipfully and securely in him.

A Moral Code

The Ten Commandments center around loving God and loving others. They embody a timeless moral code that serves to protect our marriages, our property, our dignity, our reputations and our lives.

Honored

In a culture that has replaced honoring others with self-preoccupation, God’s principles for thriving and prospering have not changed. And in God’s sight, it all starts with our parents!

A Steady Pace

Exhaustion, sleep-deprivation and stress are all marks of contemporary life. No wonder the God who created us also paced us -- not only in our lifestyles but also in our whole understanding of how to relate to him.

One Thing

There is one thing in life that is more important than anything else. That priority is the reference point for all of living and the doorway to living it fully.

Truly Free

Good Friday was only ‘good’ because Jesus did something for us that we could not do for ourselves. He became the sacrifice for our sin and, in doing so, he defeated the very power of sin itself. We can be...

Grace So Marvelous

Grace is given to every person who trusts in Christ -- grace not just to forgive us but grace to empower us to serve in partnership with Christ. It all flows out of what happened at Easter!

The Intercessor

Every one of us needs prayer. We take responsibility for having prayer partners in our lives who intercede specifically and often for us. But there is another who intercedes for us at the right hand of God -- Jesus himself!

Living Water

The power of the Holy Spirit in our lives is often characterized as ‘living water.’ There is nothing like the moving of the Holy Spirit’s power in our lives. Because Jesus was struck at the Cross, ‘living water’ flows to...

Spiritual Hunger

What can truly satisfy our empty souls and address our spiritual hunger? Only our Creator who sent his Son, Jesus, to be the ‘bread of life’ -- broken on the Cross and multiplied to us in resurrection power.

And They Crucified Him

On this Good Friday we remember, we repent and we receive. We receive all that God has for us—his loving grace, his freeing power and hope from him for resurrection renewal. We invite you to join us in-person or online...

Walk the Last Week: The Last Supper and Gethsemane

Dr. Jim Bradford is joined by world-renowned scholar and professor of Early Judaism and Christian Origins, Dr. Wave Nunnally, to give historical and scriptural context to Jesus's final week on earth. Join us for a special edition of The Central...

Walk the Last Week: Jesus Anointed at Bethany

Dr. Jim Bradford is joined by world-renowned scholar and professor of Early Judaism and Christian Origins, Dr. Wave Nunnally, to give historical and scriptural context to Jesus's final week on earth. Join us for a special edition of The Central...

Walk the Last Week: Olivet Discourse

Dr. Jim Bradford is joined by world-renowned scholar and professor of Early Judaism and Christian Origins, Dr. Wave Nunnally, to give historical and scriptural context to Jesus's final week on earth. Join us for a special edition of The Central...

Walk the Last Week: Cleansing of the Temple

Dr. Jim Bradford is joined by world-renowned scholar and professor of Early Judaism and Christian Origins, Dr. Wave Nunnally, to give historical and scriptural context to Jesus's final week on earth. Join us for a special edition of The Central...

Victorious Praise

Spiritual victories are sealed through praise. We praise God in faith before the victories and we give God glory after the victories. In this way, faith grows and victories multiply.

Outstretched Arms

Spiritual warfare is very real. Demonic powers seek to defeat the followers of Christ. But just like Moses stretched out his hand and parted the sea, another stretched out his hands and defeated the Devil.

Got Your Back

Sometimes we need people to have our back. We feel vulnerable and unable to defend ourselves. But no one has our back like the Lord! He makes a way where there is no way.

The Big Picture

Sometimes all we can do is be still, right our attitudes and trust God to be our victory. In the short term we don’t always understand what God is doing, but he always has the big picture of his...

Hardened Hearts

Does God harden people’s hearts and then judge them for having hard hearts? It may appear like God did exactly that with Pharaoh, but there is always more to the story.

God Takes Over

From plagues to Passover -- when Pharaoh resisted, God took over! Never be discouraged or give up. Jesus is your saving deliverer!

I Will

The seven “I Will’s” of God in Exodus 6 are a powerful guide to praying God’s will over our lives. In Christ, each one of God’s “I Will’s” is fulfilled and available to us.

Our Weakness, His Strength

Who are we to tell God that he is not strong enough to compensate for our weaknesses? May our insecurities not get in God’s way. He loves people so much that he is even willing to use us!

Risky Faith

A life of faith is a life of obedience and risk-taking. But the Lord promises that wherever faith takes us, he will be to us all that we need. He is “I Am!”

Seasons

The seasons of our lives have purpose. They strategically shape us so that we can make a difference in our world. And it is God himself who is sovereign over those seasons!