I've found great virtue in two-thirds of the way into the message; right before I'm really want to nail home a point, pausing to tell a joke or to tell a light-hearted story, because I know my audience has been working with me now for 20 or 25 minutes. And if I can get them to laugh, get oxygen into their system, it wakes up those who might be sleeping, so there's something about using a story to draw people back in right before you drive home your final point. In that case I think it's real legitimate just to use a story for story's sake.

May you live in such a way that your death is just the beginning of your life.

If I'm a young mom or young dad, I can find a great source of strength. God has promised that He will help me to be the mom or dad that He wants me to be. He has promised to be with me every step of the way. He has promised that He will never leave me or forsake me. These are wonderful promises that I can learn to trust and build a life on.

I'd like to think I'm going upriver in talking about world-view topics rather than particular political or controversial topics.

When we see death, we see disaster. When Jesus sees death, he sees deliverance!

Bitterness is the trap that snares the hunter

Faith is not the belief that God will do what you want. It is the belief that God will do what is right.