Michael Jordan once said that the most peaceful moments of his life were on a basketball court, because that's the only place he knew exactly what to do. And to me the most peaceful moments in my ministry are in the pulpit because that's when I really know what I'm going to do.

Reading the Bible can be like meeting someone you don't know who, oddly, somehow seems to know you deeply. It's uncanny.

I want a real take-home quality to the sermon, so I built the whole sermon series around the word grace, those five letters.

The presence of fear does not mean you have no faith. Fear visits everyone. But make your fear a visitor and not a resident.

You have a God who hears you, the power of love behind you, the Holy Spirit within you, and all of heaven ahead of you. If you have the Shepherd, you have grace for every sin, direction for every turn, a candle for every corner and an anchor for every storm. You have everything you need.

God will use whatever he wants to display his glory. Heavens and stars. History and nations. People and problems.

There's something about compassion that causes society to say, 'We're going to take this person seriously.' Take Mother Teresa. She was confrontational on abortion, but she wasn't rejected by society.