The difference between mercy and grace? Mercy gave the prodigal son a second chance. Grace gave him a feast.

One phrase summarizes the horror of hell. "God isn't there."

Staying engaged with God is absolutely essential for getting through a tough time.

I didn't want to just write stories that were entertaining. Nor did I want to be so scholarly that people couldn't digest it.

All of my sermons become books. I've been accused of having no unpublished thought. I encourage pastors to do that. I think there are so many great sermons that never really get circulation.

What I try to do is narrow the sermon series down to one big question. In this case the question is: What happens when grace happens? I knew I wanted to preach about grace. I just felt as if it was time for our church to be refreshed and see the beauty of God's grace - the uniqueness of the Christian grace as compared to the teachings of other world religions on forgiveness.

Christ lived the life we could not live and took the punishment we could not take to offer the hope we cannot resist.