God wants every local church to be the first place people think to go when they've really messed up...not the last.

You can be sure that your deepest desires reveal important truths about your spiritual condition.

Unfulfilled dreams, ongoing relational tension, the loss of friendships, a hard marriage, rebellious teenagers, the death of loved ones, remaining sinful patterns - whatever it is for you - live long enough, lose enough, suffer enough, and the idealism of youth fades, leaving behind the reality of life in a broken world as a broken person.

I never had an intellectual struggle with the Bible, with the gospel, with the claims of Christ.

Unfortunately, some Christians are guilty of throwing out an equivalent sentiment when they play the "God is sovereign" card as a way to trump every evil that comes your way.

From the time God saved me at 21 years old, I've always been fascinated by the parables of Jesus.

Jesus is not the man at the top of the stairs; He is the man at the bottom, the friend of sinners, the savior of those in need of one. Which is all of us, all of the time.