Sanctification

Life for the believer is a process: Regeneration Sanctification Glorification  In regeneration, we are born again. In glorification, we meet God face to face. It’s that middle step we are in now.  Paul wrote, “This is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). J. C. Ryle takes us a little deeper. “The means…

Conor McGregor

There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance. MMA legend Conor McGregor said, “My success isn’t a result of arrogance. It’s the result of belief.”  Belief is good. Arrogance is not.  Pastor Sam Rainer said it like this: “Arrogance is not a good vehicle for the Gospel.” So what’s the problem with arrogance? From…

Presumptions

A new CEO demanded hard work from his employees. One day, he saw a guy standing by the food table, doing nothing. He yelled, “You’re fired! Get out of here!” Then he turned to one of the other men and said, “Smith, see what happens to slackers? Tell me, in your own words, what just…

Name This Place

It opened in 1992. It is large enough to hold 32 Boeing 747s. It has a roller coaster and a 74-foot Ferris wheel. Also home to a 1.2 million gallon aquarium, a wedding chapel, and 50 restaurants, it is visited by over 40 million guests each year, making it the most visited place in the…

Who Would Have Known?

Who would have known?  Cows don’t like the sound of cowbells. The sound increases the cow’s heart rate and creates anxiety. A Swiss study found that the constant sound of cowbells negatively affects the cow’s grazing and dietary habits.  Who would have known?  In the earliest days of baseball, umpires called balls and strikes from…

Humiliations

Writing The True Christian Life, John Calvin said, “Warned by such evidences of their spiritual illness, believers profit by their humiliations. Robbed of their foolish confidence in the flesh, they take refuge in the grace of God. And when they have done so, they experience the nearness of the divine protection which is to them…

Manna

Your past performance is no guarantee of future success. If Jesus was sitting there with you in place of your device, he would say what he has already said: “Take no thought about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take thought about the things of itself. Sufficient to the day is the trouble thereof” (Matthew 6:34). Translation:…

Mess Up, Clean Up

God loves the worst of us on our worst days just as much as he loved Billy Graham on his best day. Oswald Chambers wrote, “The miracle of the redemptive reality of God is that the worst of the vilest offenders can never exhaust the depths of his love.” The great apostle said it like…

How to Become a Billionaire

Let’s start today with some financial advice. I’m going to give you one tip for financial planning. If done successfully, it will guarantee your financial security and that of your children and grandchildren. Ready? Here it is.  Become Steven Spielberg’s beneficiary. Why? Because Spielberg has the most expensive life insurance policy in the world –…

Get Outta Dodge!

Ever hear the phrase, “Get out of Dodge?” From whence does that come? In the late 1800s, cowboys often moved their cattle north from Texas into Kansas territory. This took them through a town called Dodge, where legendary lawman Wyatt Earp helped keep the peace.  They made a TV show out of it, called Gunsmoke,…