09/11/2026

Sometimes loving people is inconvenient. It interrupts the schedule. It takes longer than we expected. It asks something from us when we already feel like we have plenty of our own stuff to carry. And yet, some of the most meaningful moments God gives us happen when we decide that someone else’s burden matters enough for us to help carry it.

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
- Galatians 6:2 ESV

Paul isn’t telling us to fix everybody.

That’s an important distinction because some of us hear “bear one another’s burdens” and immediately start trying to solve people’s problems. We give advice. We develop a plan. We tell them what we would do. Sometimes before they’ve even finished telling us what happened.

But carrying a burden isn’t always fixing a problem.

Sometimes it’s simply refusing to let someone carry it alone.

Paul writes these words in a very practical section of Galatians. Just before this, he talks about restoring someone who has fallen into sin with gentleness. Just after it, he reminds us that each person has responsibilities of their own. So this isn’t a command to become responsible for everyone else’s life.

It’s a command to become involved in each other’s lives.

There’s a difference.

A burden is something that has become too heavy for one person to carry well. Grief can become a burden. Financial trouble can become a burden. A struggling marriage. A frightening diagnosis. A child who has wandered away. Addiction. Loneliness. Failure. Even shame.

And sometimes you can’t make any of those things disappear.

But you can sit beside somebody while they’re going through it.

You can make the phone call.

You can bring the meal.

You can pray and then check back three days later instead of assuming everything is better.

You can listen without needing to have the answer.

You can notice.

That last one may be where this begins.

We live around hurting people every day, but it’s possible to become so consumed with what we are carrying that we never notice what someone beside us is carrying.

Jesus lived differently.

He noticed people others walked past. He stopped when others were in a hurry. He touched people others avoided. He listened to people others dismissed.

And Paul says when we carry one another’s burdens, we “fulfill the law of Christ.”

What law?

Jesus gave us a pretty clear answer:

Love God. Love people.

And biblical love is more than feeling compassion for someone. Eventually love gets its hands dirty.

There’s another side to this verse that may be harder for some of us.

Sometimes you need to let somebody help carry yours.

That can be uncomfortable.

We like being the strong one. The dependable one. The person everybody calls. We’ll pray for everybody else, encourage everybody else, and show up for everybody else. Then when somebody asks, “How are you doing?” we say, “I’m good.”

Even when we aren’t.

God never intended His people to live isolated lives pretending everything is fine.

There are burdens you should take to Jesus privately. Absolutely.

But there are also burdens God may intend to help you carry through another person.

That requires humility.

Maybe today Galatians 6:2 is calling you to look around and ask, “Who needs me to help carry something?”

Or maybe it’s calling you to finally admit, “I can’t carry this by myself anymore.”

Either way, that’s what the body of Christ is supposed to look like.

Not perfect people with perfect lives.

People walking beside each other, helping carry what gets too heavy.

Action Steps

* Notice someone. Ask God to put one person on your heart today who may be carrying more than you realize.
* Do something tangible. Send the text, make the call, pray with them, take them lunch, sit with them, or simply listen.
* Be willing to receive help too. If you’re carrying something heavy, tell one trusted person the truth instead of automatically saying, “I’m fine.”

Challenge for the Day

Ask one person today, “How are you really doing?” Then slow down long enough to hear the answer, and if there’s a burden you can help carry, do something about it.

Prayer

Father, help me notice the people around me. Give me a heart that doesn’t just feel compassion but acts on it. Show me where I can help carry someone else’s burden, and give me the humility to let others help carry mine when I need them. Teach me to love people the way Jesus loves people. Amen.

Pastor Jeff

#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign

09/10/2026

Some things in our lives don’t need a little adjustment. They need to be broken up. We can get comfortable with patterns, attitudes, habits, even ways of thinking that have been sitting untouched for a long time. Hosea gives us the picture of a field that has become hard and unproductive, and God says it’s time to put the plow in the ground.

“Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.”
- Hosea 10:12 — ESV

Fallow ground isn’t necessarily bad ground. It’s ground that has been left alone.

And when ground sits untouched long enough, it gets hard.

That’s what makes Hosea’s words so challenging. God was speaking to people who had allowed things to settle into their hearts that didn’t belong there. Israel had wandered from Him, trusted in other things, and become comfortable with divided loyalties. They still had a history with God, but their present hearts weren’t fully His.

God’s response wasn’t, “Try a little harder.”

He told them to get the plow out.

I think there are places in our lives where we would prefer God to simply send the rain. We want Him to bless something without disturbing anything. We pray for growth, change, freedom, stronger relationships, greater faith, but sometimes the first answer to that prayer is God pointing toward the hard ground.

Before the rain can do much good, the ground has to be opened.

That can be uncomfortable.

Anybody who has ever dealt with hard Texas soil knows you don’t casually rake across the top and call it ready. Sometimes you have to dig into it. Turn it over. Break apart what has become packed down.

Our hearts can become the same way.

Maybe disappointment has hardened an area of your heart. You prayed and something didn’t happen the way you thought it would, so you quietly stopped expecting much from God.

Maybe it’s unforgiveness. You wouldn’t necessarily call yourself bitter, but there’s somebody whose name can still change your attitude in about three seconds.

Maybe it’s compromise. Something that once bothered your conscience doesn’t bother you nearly as much anymore.

Maybe it’s control. You trust God completely—as long as He agrees with your plan.

Or maybe you’ve simply gotten comfortable. You love God. You go to church. You believe His Word. But somewhere along the way, seeking Him became less of a pursuit and more of a routine.

Hosea says, “It is the time to seek the LORD.”

Not someday. Not when life settles down. Not after we get everything else figured out.

Now.

And notice something else: God isn’t asking us to manufacture the rain. That’s His part.

Our responsibility is to prepare the ground.

We seek Him. We repent where repentance is needed. We obey where we’ve been resisting. We forgive where we’ve been holding on. We surrender the places we’ve kept fenced off.

Then God does what only God can do.

I love that picture because sometimes we put enormous pressure on ourselves to produce spiritual growth. But you can’t force rain out of the sky.

You can prepare for it.

There may be something God has been putting His finger on in your life lately. Instead of asking Him to work around it, maybe today is the day to let Him work through it.

Put the plow there.

Even if it hurts a little.

Especially if that ground has been hard for a long time.

Because God isn’t breaking the ground to destroy you. He’s preparing it so something new can grow.

Action Steps

* Ask God where the ground has gotten hard. Don’t immediately answer the question yourself. Spend a few quiet minutes asking Him to show you.
* Do something with what He reveals. Make the call. Offer forgiveness. Confess the sin. Change the habit. Have the conversation. Obedience turns the soil.
* Seek God before seeking the outcome. Instead of beginning today with “God, fix this,” try beginning with, “God, I want You—even if fixing this starts with changing me.”

Challenge for the Day

Identify one area of your life you’ve been asking God to change, and ask Him a different question today: “Lord, what needs to change in me first?” Then act on what He shows you.

Prayer

Father, show me the places in my heart that have become hard. I don’t want to protect anything You’re trying to change. Give me the courage to surrender what needs to be surrendered and the humility to obey when You speak. Break up the ground in me and prepare my heart for what You want to grow there. I want to seek You, not just what You can do for me. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Pastor Jeff

#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign

09/09/2026

Some nights feel longer than others. You can know God is faithful, believe He is with you, and still hurt. Faith doesn’t mean we pretend the night isn’t dark. It means we refuse to believe the darkness gets the final word.

“For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”
Psalm 30:5 — ESV

I love that David doesn’t clean this up.

He doesn’t say weeping might come. He speaks as someone who knows what it is to hurt. David knew disappointment, betrayal, consequences, grief, fear, and nights when life didn’t make much sense.

And yet he had learned something about God that was bigger than whatever he was facing:

The night doesn’t last forever.

Sometimes we read “joy comes with the morning” and expect that to mean everything will be fixed tomorrow. The phone call will come. The relationship will be restored. The diagnosis will change. The financial pressure will disappear. The thing we’ve been praying about will finally turn around.

Sometimes God does that.

But sometimes morning comes and the circumstances haven’t changed at all.

The joy David is talking about is deeper than waking up to better circumstances. It comes from knowing that our circumstances are temporary, but God’s favor and faithfulness are not.

Notice the contrast David makes: anger is for a moment, but favor is for a lifetime.

He is reminding us of the character of God.

God may correct us, but He does not abandon us. He may allow us to walk through something painful, but He has not stopped loving us. There may be consequences for choices we’ve made, but His grace is still greater than our failures.

That matters because pain has a way of messing with our perspective.

When you’re in the middle of a hard night, it can feel like this is how life will always be.

A difficult week starts feeling like a difficult life.

One disappointment begins convincing us that nothing is going to work out.

One unanswered prayer starts whispering that God isn’t listening.

One loss makes us wonder whether we’ll ever laugh the same way again.

That’s what darkness does. It limits what we can see.

If you’ve ever walked through your house in the middle of the night, you know how different everything looks. Things that are perfectly familiar during the day suddenly become obstacles. You bump into furniture that hasn’t moved in ten years.

Nothing changed.

Your ability to see changed.

That happens spiritually too.

There are moments when we simply cannot see what God is doing. And that’s when we have to be careful not to make permanent conclusions about God based on a temporary darkness.

David had lived enough life with God to know that morning would come.

Maybe not the morning he expected.

Maybe not as quickly as he wanted.

But God had not left him in the night.

And He hasn’t left you either.

Some of you may be in a morning right now. You’ve come through something difficult, and you can finally look back and see God’s hand in places you couldn’t see it before.

Don’t forget those mornings.

Remember them the next time the night comes.

And some of you are still waiting.

You’re praying.

You’re hurting.

You’re wondering when something is going to change.

Psalm 30:5 doesn’t tell you to pretend you’re okay. If you need to weep, weep. If you need to grieve, grieve. God isn’t intimidated by your tears.

But don’t confuse weeping with hopelessness.

They aren’t the same thing.

You can cry and still trust God.

You can hurt and still worship.

You can have questions and still believe.

You can sit in the darkness and still know the sun is going to rise.

Because Christian hope isn’t pretending the night isn’t real.

It’s knowing the night doesn’t win.

Joy is coming.

Maybe through changed circumstances. Maybe through strength you didn’t know God was building in you. Maybe through an answer you never expected. Maybe simply through discovering that Jesus was closer in the darkness than you realized.

But morning belongs to God.

And until it comes, keep trusting Him in the dark.

Action Steps

* Be honest with God about your night. Tell Him what hurts instead of trying to sound spiritual when you pray.
* Remember a previous morning. Think about something God has already brought you through and thank Him specifically for His faithfulness.
* Encourage someone still in the dark. A text, phone call, or prayer may remind someone today that they aren’t walking alone.

Challenge for the Day

Think of one difficult thing God has already carried you through. Write it down, thank Him for it, and let yesterday’s faithfulness strengthen today’s trust.

Prayer

Father, thank You that the night never gets the final word. When I can’t see what You’re doing, help me trust who You are. When I’m hurting, remind me that I don’t have to hide my tears from You. And when morning comes, don’t let me forget the God who stayed with me through the night. Give me enough faith for today and enough hope to keep looking toward the morning. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Pastor Jeff

#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign

09/08/2026

Sometimes the hardest part of trusting God isn’t believing He can do something. It’s trusting Him to decide when to do it. We’re usually pretty comfortable asking God to lead, as long as His direction lines up with our schedule. But Peter gives us a picture of faith that requires something deeper: putting ourselves under God’s hand and trusting both His strength and His timing.

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,”
- 1 Peter 5:6 (ESV)

Humility sometimes gets misunderstood.

We think it means thinking less of ourselves, staying quiet, never wanting anything, or allowing people to walk over us. But that isn’t what Peter is talking about.

Biblical humility is recognizing who God is and who we are in relation to Him.

God is God.

I am not.

That sounds incredibly simple until God’s plan starts moving differently than mine.

I can pray, “God, I trust You,” and then spend the rest of the day trying to manipulate the outcome. I can ask Him to open a door and then start rattling every doorknob I can find. I can tell God I’ve surrendered something and then pick it back up before lunch.

Maybe you know that feeling.

Peter says, “Humble yourselves… under the mighty hand of God.”

That phrase would have meant something to people familiar with the Old Testament. God’s mighty hand was the hand that delivered Israel from Egypt. It was a picture of God’s power, authority, protection, and ability to accomplish what His people could never accomplish for themselves.

So putting yourself under God’s mighty hand isn’t weakness.

It’s actually a pretty safe place to be. The struggle comes with the next part:

“at the proper time.”

Whose proper time?

God’s.

And there’s the rub.

We like God’s mighty hand. We’re not always as excited about God’s calendar.

We want the prayer answered now. We want the opportunity now. We want the relationship repaired now. We want the financial pressure relieved now. We want clarity now. We want to know what God is doing and preferably have Him explain the next six months before breakfast.

But sometimes God says, “Trust My hand even when you don’t understand My timing.”

Peter was writing to believers who were suffering. This wasn’t advice for people whose biggest problem was impatience in the checkout line. These were people facing real hardship and uncertainty.

And Peter tells them to humble themselves under God’s hand.

Then notice what comes immediately afterward:

“casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
—1 Peter 5:7

Those thoughts belong together.

One way we humble ourselves before God is by admitting that we cannot carry everything ourselves.

Control says, I have to figure this out.

Humility says, God, I need You.

Control says, I need to know what happens next.

Humility says, I know the One who does.

Control says, This has to happen according to my timeline.

Humility says, God, I would like it to happen this way, but I trust You more than I trust my plan.

That doesn’t mean we become passive. You still work. You still prepare. You still make wise decisions. You still knock on doors. You still have difficult conversations. You still do the next thing God has put in front of you.

But you stop trying to play God with the outcome.

There may be something you’ve been asking God to do for a long time. Maybe you’re starting to wonder if He has forgotten about it.

He hasn’t.

The same hand you’re waiting on is described as mighty.

God isn’t struggling to figure out what to do with your situation. He isn’t overwhelmed by what overwhelms you. And He isn’t late simply because He hasn’t moved according to the schedule you had in mind.

There is freedom in finally saying:

“God, I’ll trust Your hand, and I’ll trust Your timing.”

You may not know when.

You may not know how.

You may not even know what the final answer will look like.

But you know whose hand you’re under.

And for today, that’s enough.

Action Steps

* Identify what you’re trying to control. Ask yourself where frustration or anxiety may be coming from because God isn’t working according to your timetable.
* Give God the outcome, not just the problem. Pray honestly about what you want, but surrender your preferred answer and timing to Him.
* Do today’s act of obedience. Instead of trying to solve the next six months, ask, “God, what are You asking me to do today?” Then do that.

Challenge for the Day

Name one situation where you’ve been trying to control the outcome. Pray specifically: “God, I trust Your hand, and I trust Your timing.” Then resist the urge today to take it back.

Prayer

Father, I admit that sometimes I trust You with my words while still trying to control everything with my hands. Help me surrender what I cannot control. Teach me to trust Your wisdom when I don’t understand Your timing. I know Your hand is mighty, and I know You care for me. Help me faithfully do what You’ve given me to do today and leave the outcome with You. Amen.

Pastor Jeff

#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign

09/07/2026

There are things we can carry for so long that they start to feel normal. A fear we’ve learned to live with. A lie about ourselves we’ve repeated so many times we assume it must be true. A habit we’ve excused because, “That’s just how I am.” Jesus offers something better than learning how to live with what holds us captive. He offers freedom.

“and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
- John 8:32 — ESV

This is one of those verses almost everybody has heard, even people who don’t know it came from Jesus. You’ll see some version of it on courthouse walls, college buildings, plaques, and inspirational posts.

But Jesus wasn’t giving us a catchy statement about education or gathering enough facts.

There’s a sentence right before it that matters.

Jesus said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31–32)

That changes things.

Freedom doesn’t come simply because we know more information. Jesus connects freedom to remaining in His Word. Staying close to Him. Allowing what He says to challenge what we’ve believed, expose what’s false, and reshape how we live.

Because we can believe some pretty convincing lies.

“I’ll never change.”

“God could never use somebody like me.”

“If people really knew me, they wouldn’t love me.”

“I have to keep everyone happy.”

“I’m only valuable when I’m successful.”

“I’ve messed up too badly.”

“This is just who I am.”

The dangerous thing about a lie isn’t always that it sounds ridiculous. Usually, the most powerful lies contain just enough truth to make them believable.

Maybe you really did fail. But that doesn’t mean you are a failure.

Maybe someone really did reject you. That doesn’t mean you are unlovable.

Maybe your past really is messy.
But with Christ, your past gets to decide your future.

Maybe you really have struggled with the same thing for years. That doesn’t mean Jesus has stopped working in you.

That’s where truth starts breaking chains.

And sometimes those chains aren’t obvious. We tend to think of bondage as addiction, destructive behavior, or some huge visible struggle. But you can sit in church every Sunday and still be imprisoned by fear. You can love Jesus and still be controlled by someone else’s approval. You can know Bible verses and still live under shame that Jesus already paid to remove.

You can even become comfortable in the prison.

Later in this conversation, the people listening to Jesus push back: “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone.”

They didn’t think they needed freedom.

Jesus tells them that everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. Then He makes an even stronger statement:

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36)

That’s the heart of this passage.

Truth isn’t merely a principle. Truth has a name.

Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”

So Christian freedom isn’t positive thinking. It isn’t convincing yourself that everything will work out. It isn’t pretending your problems aren’t real.

It is bringing what you believe into the presence of Jesus and asking, “Is this actually true?”

That’s a question worth asking today.

When your mind says, “God has forgotten me,” what does His Word say?

When shame says, “You’re still the person you used to be,” what does Jesus say?

When fear says, “You better control this because nobody else will,” what does Scripture say?

When your past whispers, “Nothing will ever be different,” what does the gospel say?

We spend a lot of energy arguing with lies when sometimes we simply need to replace them with truth.

And that takes abiding.

You can’t live on Sunday’s truth all week while feeding yourself lies Monday through Saturday.

Stay in His Word.

Stay close to Jesus.

Let Him correct you when you’re wrong. Let Him confront the things you’d rather excuse. Let Him remind you who you are when shame starts talking. Let Him show you where you’re still holding onto something that keeps you captive.

Because Jesus doesn’t expose a lie to humiliate you.

He exposes it because He wants you free.

And maybe today there’s one thing you’ve believed for so long that you’ve stopped questioning it.

Question it.

Put it beside the Word of God.

And if Jesus says something different, believe Jesus.

Every time.

Action Steps

* Identify one lie. Pay attention to the thoughts that repeatedly create fear, shame, insecurity, anger, or hopelessness. Write one of them down.
* Put truth beside it. Find what Scripture actually says about that thought. Don’t merely try to stop thinking the lie; replace it with truth.
* Abide before you react. Before making a decision today based on fear, emotion, or pressure, stop and ask, “What has Jesus said that should guide me here?”

Challenge for the Day

Write down one lie you’ve been believing, then write a truth from God’s Word beside it. Every time that lie shows up today, answer it with the truth.

Prayer

Jesus, there are things I have believed that You never said about me. Show me where lies have taken root in my thinking. Give me the courage to believe Your Word even when my feelings tell me something different. Keep me close to You, and teach me to live in the freedom You have already given me. Amen.

Pastor Jeff

#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign

09/06/2026

I don’t know about you, but asking for help is not always my first instinct. My first instinct is usually to figure it out. Make the phone call. Work the problem. Come up with a plan. Fix what I can fix and, if none of that works, then start looking around for somebody who might know what to do. And somewhere along the way, I finally pray. I wish I could tell you I always go to God first, but I don’t. Sometimes I exhaust myself trying to be my own help before remembering where my help actually comes from. Maybe you’ve done that too. Psalm 121 reminds us that before we start searching everywhere else for an answer, there is a better place to look.

“I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
My help comes from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.”
— Psalm 121:1–2 (ESV)

Psalm 121:2 gets even stronger when you read verse 1 with it.

The psalmist looks toward the hills and asks a question:

Where does my help come from?

I think most of us have asked our own version of that question.

What am I going to do about this? How am I going to get through this? Who can help me fix this? How am I going to pay for this? And my personal favor, what happens if this doesn’t work out?

We may not be standing at the bottom of a mountain looking up, but we know what it feels like to look at something in front of us and wonder how we’re going to make it through.

And here’s what I love about his answer.

He doesn’t say, “Hopefully something will work out.”

He doesn’t say, “I’m sure I’ll figure it out.”

He says: “My help comes from the LORD.”

That’s confidence.

But then he adds something that almost feels unnecessary:

“who made heaven and earth.”

Why add that? Because sometimes we need to remind ourselves who we are asking for help.

The God you’re praying to this morning isn’t trying to figure out what to do with your situation.

He isn’t overwhelmed by what overwhelms you.

He isn’t looking at the mountain in front of you thinking, That’s a big one.

He made the mountain.

He made heaven and earth.

And if He is powerful enough to create what you can see, He is certainly powerful enough to handle what you cannot see.

That doesn’t mean God will always help us the way we expect Him to.

Sometimes His help changes the circumstances.

Sometimes His help changes us while we’re walking through the circumstances.

Sometimes He opens a door.

Sometimes He closes one we were convinced needed to stay open.

Sometimes He removes the problem.

Sometimes He gives us enough strength to take another step while the problem is still sitting there.

That last one can be difficult.

Because when we ask God for help, we usually already have an idea of what His help should look like.

“Lord, help me.”

And somewhere underneath that prayer is often:

Here’s how.

But trusting God means I don’t just trust His ability to help me. I trust Him to decide what help I actually need.

There’s another beautiful part of Psalm 121. The psalmist doesn’t stop with God’s power. As the psalm continues, he talks about God watching over His people.

He says God will not slumber.

Think about that.

There has never been a moment when God stopped paying attention to you.

You have fallen asleep worrying about something while God remained completely awake.

You have wondered what tomorrow holds while God was already there.

You have been caught off guard by things that never surprised Him.

So maybe today you’re staring at your own mountain.

A decision. A relationship. A financial concern. Something happening with your family. Something at work.
Something you’ve prayed about for months and still don’t understand.

Maybe the mountain isn’t even something happening around you. Maybe it’s something happening inside you.

Whatever it is, Psalm 121 gives us a simple response:

Look higher.

Not because the problem isn’t real.

Not because you should pretend everything is fine.

But because your problem is not the highest thing in your life.

God is.

The mountain may be big.

Your Helper is bigger.

And sometimes faith is simply refusing to stare at the mountain so long that you forget the One who made it.

Action Steps

* Name the mountain. Be specific about what is weighing on you instead of carrying a vague sense of worry. Tell God exactly where you need His help.
* Stop prescribing the answer. Ask God for help today without telling Him exactly how He has to provide it.
* Look higher when worry returns. Every time your mind starts running through the worst-case scenario, answer it with Psalm 121:2: “My help comes from the LORD.”

Challenge for the Day

Identify the one thing you’re most tempted to handle in your own strength today. Pray about it before you do anything else and tell God, “My help comes from You. Show me my next step.”

Prayer

Father, I know where my help comes from. It comes from You. Forgive me for the times I look everywhere else first and come to You last. There are things in front of me today that I cannot control and things I simply do not understand. Help me trust not only that You can help, but that You know what kind of help I need. Keep my eyes above the mountain and fixed on You. Amen.

Pastor Jeff

#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign

09/05/2026

There’s a big difference between knowing things about God and actually allowing what we know about God to shape the way we live. We can read Scripture, listen to sermons, sit in Bible studies, and collect a lot of information. But Solomon starts Proverbs by pointing us somewhere deeper. Wisdom doesn’t begin with how much we know. It begins with how we see God.

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
- Proverbs 1:7 — ESV

The phrase “fear of the LORD” can throw people off.

Solomon isn’t telling us that wisdom begins when we become terrified of God. He’s talking about reverence. Awe. Recognizing who God is and understanding who we are in relationship to Him.

It’s the difference between saying, “God, give me some advice,” and saying, “God, You are God. Teach me.”

Those are two very different postures.

One approaches God like another voice in the room. We listen to Him, but we also listen to our feelings, our friends, our experience, social media, whatever seems logical, and whatever happens to be easiest at the moment. Then we decide which voice we like best.

The other posture recognizes that God gets the final word.

That’s where wisdom begins.

Notice Solomon says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Not the graduation ceremony. Not the advanced course. The beginning.

Before we ask God what we should do with our money, relationships, career, family, habits, or future, there’s a more fundamental question:

Do I actually believe God knows better than I do?

That sounds easy until God’s wisdom conflicts with what we want.

Most of us are pretty comfortable following God when His direction agrees with ours. It gets harder when Scripture challenges something we enjoy, confronts an attitude we’ve justified, tells us to forgive someone we’d rather stay angry with, or asks us to trust God when we can’t see how things are going to work out.

That’s when reverence becomes more than a theological idea.

It becomes obedience.

There’s another part of this verse we shouldn’t skip over: “fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Nobody wants to think of themselves as a fool. But biblically, foolishness isn’t primarily about intelligence. You can be incredibly educated and still live foolishly. You can know a lot and still refuse correction.

One of the clearest signs that wisdom is growing in us is that we become teachable.

Can somebody correct me?

Can Scripture confront me?

Can God show me that something I’ve believed for years is wrong?

Can I hear wisdom from someone else without immediately becoming defensive?

That can be uncomfortable.

Sometimes our first response to correction is to explain ourselves. We want the other person to understand why we did what we did. And sometimes an explanation is appropriate. But there are also moments when the wisest response is simply:

“You’re right. I need to work on that.”

That takes humility.

And humility grows when we have a proper view of God.

The more clearly I see His greatness, the less pressure I feel to pretend I have everything figured out.

Maybe that’s why Solomon starts here.

Before he gives us chapter after chapter of practical wisdom about relationships, money, work, speech, temptation, discipline, integrity, and decision-making, he establishes the foundation:

Start with God.

Not yourself.

Not culture.

Not whatever everybody else is doing.

God.

And when His wisdom collides with ours, wisdom says, “Lord, I trust You more than I trust me.”

That’s not weakness.

That’s where wisdom begins.

Action Steps

* Ask God where you’ve become unteachable. Is there an area where you already have your mind made up and aren’t really interested in what He says?
* Pay attention to your response to correction. Before defending yourself today, stop long enough to ask whether there might be something you need to hear.
* Put one truth into practice. Don’t just read Scripture today. Choose something God has already shown you and obey it.

Challenge for the Day

Identify one area where your way and God’s wisdom have been competing. Today, stop asking God to agree with you and choose to agree with Him.

Prayer

Father, I don’t want to simply know more about You. I want my life to reflect that I trust You. Give me a heart that reveres You, ears willing to hear correction, and the humility to admit when my way is wrong. Teach me Your wisdom, and give me the courage to live it. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Pastor Jeff

#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign

09/04/2026

Some things in life can be faked for a little while. We can fake patience through a meeting. We can act joyful when we’re irritated. We can smile at somebody while having an entirely different conversation with them in our head. But eventually, what’s really inside us starts showing up. Paul gives us a different picture of the Christian life. Following Jesus isn’t primarily about trying harder to look like Him. It’s about staying close enough to Him that His Spirit begins producing something different in us.

Today’s verse, Galatians 5:22–23 (ESV) says,

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

There’s a little word at the beginning of this passage that matters: “But.”

Paul has just described what life looks like when our flesh is running the show. Jealousy. Anger. Rivalries. Envy. Division. Sexual immorality. Drunkenness. It isn’t a pretty list.

But… There is another way to live.

And notice Paul doesn’t call these things the fruit of Jeff trying harder. He calls them the fruit of the Spirit.

That distinction matters because sometimes we approach spiritual growth like a self-improvement project.

“I need to be more patient.”

“I need to control my temper.”

“I need to be more loving.”

“I need to quit worrying.”

Those may all be true. But if our solution is simply to grit our teeth and try harder, eventually we’re going to wear ourselves out.

Think about an apple tree.

You’ll never walk past one and hear it groaning, “Come on… apple… APPLE!”

It produces apples because that’s what it is, and because it is receiving what it needs to live.

Jesus used similar language in John 15 when He talked about abiding in Him. The branch produces fruit because it stays connected to the vine.

That changes the question.

Instead of only asking, “How can I become more patient?”

Maybe we should also ask, “How closely am I walking with Jesus?”

Because the Holy Spirit changes us from the inside out.

And there’s something else worth noticing here.

Paul says fruit, singular.

Not fruits.

We talked about this recently when we described it as one fruit with nine flavors. We don’t get to walk through the list and order à la carte.

“I’ll take love, joy, and peace. Kindness sounds good. Self-control? I’m going to pass on that one.”

The Spirit is forming the character of Christ in us.

And sometimes the best evidence of His work isn’t what happens when everything is going well.

It’s what comes out of us when somebody irritates us. When the plan changes. When somebody says something unfair.

When traffic stops. When the answer from God hasn’t come.
When someone gets something we wanted. When we could say something cutting and choose not to.

Those moments reveal what’s growing inside us.

That doesn’t mean a Christian never gets angry, discouraged, impatient, or frustrated. Spiritual maturity isn’t pretending those emotions don’t exist. The question is whether those emotions control us or whether we surrender them to the Spirit.

And fruit grows gradually.

Nobody plants a tree Monday morning and gets frustrated Tuesday afternoon because there aren’t peaches hanging from it.

Growth takes time.

You may look at your life and think, I still have so far to go.

Probably. And so do I.

But don’t only look at how far you have left. Look at what God has already been growing.

Maybe something that would have sent you over the edge five years ago now sends you to prayer.

Maybe you forgive faster.

Maybe you listen longer.

Maybe your first reaction isn’t always your final response anymore.

Maybe you’re learning to say no to something that used to control you.

That’s fruit.

But there’s also a challenge in this passage we shouldn’t miss. If there is consistently no fruit, we shouldn’t simply shrug our shoulders and say, “Well, that’s just how I am.”

Jesus loves us too much to leave us hiding behind that excuse.

“I’ve always had a temper.”

“I’m just impatient.”

“I’ve never been very forgiving.”

“I just say what I think.”

Those statements may describe where we started. They shouldn’t determine where we stay.

The Holy Spirit is in the business of changing people.

So maybe today the question isn’t, “Do I have all nine of these perfected?”

None of us does.

A better question might be:

What is the Holy Spirit trying to grow in me right now—and am I cooperating with Him?

Maybe it’s patience. Maybe it’s self-control. Maybe it’s gentleness with someone you’ve been pretty hard on. And maybe it’s peace in an area you keep trying to control.

Whatever it is, don’t just try harder today.

Stay connected to Jesus.

Listen when the Spirit corrects you.

Obey when He prompts you.

Repent quickly when you miss it.

Because healthy fruit isn’t manufactured.

It grows from a life surrendered to God.

Action Steps

* Read the list slowly. Ask God which part of the fruit of the Spirit needs the most attention in your life right now.
* Watch your reactions today. Pay particular attention when you’re interrupted, frustrated, disappointed, or challenged. Those moments often reveal what God is working on.
* Practice surrender instead of willpower. When you feel your flesh taking over, stop and pray something simple: “Holy Spirit, lead me here.”

Challenge for the Day

Choose one of the nine qualities in Galatians 5:22–23 that you most need today. Write it somewhere you’ll see it, pray about it, and intentionally give the Holy Spirit room to produce it in the way you respond to people today.

Prayer

Holy Spirit, I don’t want to simply look more like Jesus on the outside. I want You to change what is happening inside of me. Show me where my flesh is still controlling my reactions, attitudes, and choices. Grow Your fruit in my life. Help me stay close to Jesus, listen when You speak, and obey when You lead. May the people around me experience more of Christ because of what You are doing in me. Amen.

Pastor Jeff

#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign

09/03/2026

There are days when life feels pretty manageable. Then there are days when you realize just how little you actually control. One phone call, one unexpected problem, one piece of news, and suddenly the ground beneath you doesn’t feel nearly as solid as it did yesterday. David knew that feeling. And what he discovered was that security was never found in having everything under control. It was found in knowing where to run when he didn’t.

“The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”
- Psalm 18:2 (ESV)

David didn’t write this sitting somewhere comfortable, trying to come up with something inspirational.

The opening of the Psalm tells us exactly what was happening. David sang these words after the Lord had delivered him “from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.”

That matters.

Because when David calls God his rock, fortress, deliverer, shield, and stronghold, these weren’t religious words to him. David had hidden in caves. He had run for his life. He knew what it was like to need protection. He knew what it felt like to wonder whether the enemy was going to catch him.

And after all of that, David looked back and realized something.

The cave wasn’t what kept me safe. God did.

That’s a lesson most of us have to learn more than once.

We build our own fortresses.

A healthy bank account can feel like a fortress. A good job can feel like one. Our health can become one. Relationships, plans, insurance policies, routines, even our own ability to figure things out can give us a sense of security.

None of those things are necessarily bad. Wisdom tells us to plan, prepare, save, work, and take care of what God has entrusted to us.

The problem comes when something God gave us becomes something we trust instead of God.

Because eventually every earthly fortress develops cracks.

Jobs change.
Money gets spent.
People disappoint us.
Plans fall apart.

Our bodies remind us that we aren’t twenty-five anymore.

And sometimes something happens that we simply cannot fix.

That’s when we discover what we’ve actually been standing on.

David says, “The LORD is my rock.”

A rock doesn’t promise that the storm won’t come. It gives you something solid to stand on while the storm is happening.

That distinction matters.

Sometimes we think trusting God means believing He will keep difficult things from happening to us. Scripture never makes that promise. David certainly couldn’t have believed that. His life had plenty of trouble.

What David knew was that trouble never got the final word.

God was still there, still faithful, still protecting, and still working.

And eventually, David could look backward and see the hand of God in places where, while he was living through them, he probably saw nothing but trouble.

I think that’s where some of us struggle. We want to understand what God is doing while He is doing it.

Sometimes we will, and sometimes we won’t.

There are moments when faith simply says, “God, I don’t understand this, but I know who You are.”

Notice how personal David makes this verse.

My rock.
My fortress.
My deliverer.
My God.
My shield.
My salvation.
My stronghold.

David wasn’t talking about somebody else’s relationship with God. He knew Him personally.

And there is a big difference between knowing that God is a refuge and actually running to Him as your refuge.

When life gets difficult, where do you run first?

Do you immediately start trying to solve everything yourself?

Do you replay the problem in your mind fifty different ways?

Do you call everybody you know?

Do you assume the worst?

Do you carry it around all day and then finally pray when nothing else works?

I’ve certainly had moments where prayer became the last thing I tried instead of the first place I went.

David gives us a better picture.

Run to the fortress.

Not because you’re weak. Because you know where your strength comes from.

Whatever is sitting in front of you today, God may not remove it immediately. But you do not have to face it standing on your own strength.

You already have a Rock, a Fortress, and a Deliverer.

And when everything around you feels uncertain, God has not moved.

Action Steps

* Identify your fortress. Ask yourself honestly what you’ve been depending on lately to make you feel secure. If it disappeared tomorrow, would your peace disappear with it?
* Run to God first today. Before trying to fix the biggest thing on your mind, bring it to Him. Tell Him plainly what you’re afraid of, worried about, or trying to control.
* Remember a previous rescue. Think about something God has already carried you through. Sometimes remembering yesterday’s faithfulness gives us courage to trust Him with today.

Challenge for the Day

When worry shows up today, don’t immediately start trying to solve the problem. Stop and say, “Lord, You are my rock and my fortress. I’m trusting You with this.” Then move forward from a place of trust instead of fear.

Prayer

Father, You are my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. Forgive me for the times I put my confidence in things that can change instead of You, who never does. When I’m afraid, remind me where to run. When I don’t understand what You’re doing, help me trust who You are. Thank You for being steady when everything around me isn’t. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Pastor Jeff

#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign

09/02/2026

There are days when our minds get ahead of us. We’re physically standing in Wednesday, but mentally we’re already living in Thursday, Friday, and three weeks from now. We start solving problems that haven’t happened, answering questions nobody has asked, and carrying weight God never asked us to pick up. Jesus speaks directly to that kind of heart.

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
- Matthew 6:34 — ESV

This verse is sometimes treated like Jesus is simply saying, “Quit worrying.”

But that misses what He has been saying throughout this entire section of the Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus has been talking about food. Clothing. Money. Basic needs. The things people actually lose sleep over.

And right before verse 34, He says:

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
— Matthew 6:33

Then comes the “therefore” of verse 34.

In other words, Jesus isn’t telling us to ignore tomorrow. He’s telling us we don’t have to live there yet.

There’s a difference between planning for tomorrow and worrying about tomorrow.

Planning says, “I’m going to prepare wisely for what I know is coming.”

Worry says, “I need to figure out every possible thing that could go wrong so I can somehow control it.”

One is stewardship. The other will wear you out.

I think most of us know what it’s like to have a conversation in our head with someone who isn’t even in the room. We decide what they’re going to say, how we’re going to respond, how badly it might go, and what we’ll do afterward.

By the time we’re finished, we’re upset over a conversation that never happened.

We do the same thing with money.

With our kids.

With our health.

With work.

With relationships.

What if this happens?

What if that doesn’t work out?

What if they say no?

What if something goes wrong?

And pretty soon we’re carrying today’s responsibilities plus tomorrow’s possibilities.

Jesus says you weren’t built to carry both.

Notice He doesn’t promise that tomorrow will be easy. In fact, He says exactly the opposite: tomorrow has enough trouble of its own.

That matters.

Following Jesus does not mean difficult things suddenly stop happening. Faith isn’t pretending there aren’t problems ahead. Faith is trusting that when tomorrow becomes today, God will still be there.

That’s where we get ourselves in trouble.

We want tomorrow’s answers while we’re still standing in today.

We want to know how God is going to provide.

How He’s going to fix it.

How the conversation will turn out.

How the situation will resolve.

Sometimes God gives us those answers ahead of time. Often He doesn’t.

Instead, He gives us what we need for today.

Think about Israel gathering manna in the wilderness. God provided what they needed one day at a time. When they tried to stockpile it because they were afraid tomorrow’s provision might not come, it spoiled.

God was teaching them something bigger than how to gather breakfast.

Trust Me again tomorrow.

That’s hard for people like us who like plans, calendars, backup plans, and backup plans for our backup plans.

But there are some things you cannot prepare your way out of.

Eventually you have to trust God.

And maybe that’s what somebody needs this morning.

You don’t have to figure out the whole week today.

You don’t need an answer this morning for every question you’re going to face this month.

You don’t have to carry something today simply because it might happen tomorrow.

Ask yourself a simple question:

What has God actually given me to do today?

Maybe today you need to make the phone call.

Maybe you need to apologize.

Maybe you need to finish the work sitting in front of you.

Maybe you need to pray instead of running another scenario through your head.

Maybe you simply need to be fully present with the people God has put around you.

Do that.

Then when tomorrow comes, deal with tomorrow.

God isn’t asking you to trust Him today for everything you’ll ever face.

He’s asking you to trust Him today.

And tomorrow morning?

We’ll do it again.

Action Steps

* Separate planning from worrying. If there is something practical you can do about a concern, do it. If there isn’t, stop rehearsing it and give it to God.
* Ask what belongs to today. Write down the two or three things God has actually put in front of you today and give those your attention.
* Pray specifically about tomorrow. Name the thing you’re worried about, then tell God plainly, “I don’t know what will happen, but I trust You to meet me there.”

Challenge for the Day

When you catch yourself worrying about something that hasn’t happened yet, stop and ask, “Is this today’s responsibility or tomorrow’s possibility?” If it’s tomorrow’s, give it back to God and return your attention to what He’s given you today.

Prayer

Father, I spend too much time trying to live days that haven’t arrived yet. Help me be faithful with today. Give me wisdom for what I can do, peace about what I cannot control, and enough trust to believe that when tomorrow comes, You will already be there. Teach me to seek You first and leave tomorrow in Your hands. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Pastor Jeff

#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign

09/01/2026

There are times when following Jesus feels like standing in front of a job that is bigger than the tools we have. We know the kind of person we want to be. We know there are attitudes that need to change, habits that need to go, relationships that need some work, and places where our faith needs to grow. And sometimes we quietly think, I just don’t know if I have what it takes. Peter gives us an answer that might surprise us: God has already supplied what we need.

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.”
- 2 Peter 1:3 — ESV

There are two very different ways to live the Christian life.

One is constantly asking God to give us something we think we’re missing.

God, give me more strength.
Give me more patience.
Give me what I need to forgive.
Give me the courage to do what You’re asking me to do.

There’s nothing wrong with asking God for help. We should. But Peter reminds us of something we can easily forget: God isn’t sending us into life spiritually empty-handed.

His divine power has already given us what we need for “life and godliness.”

That word all matters.

Not some things.

Not enough to get started and then we’re on our own.

All things.

That doesn’t mean God has given us everything we want. He hasn’t promised an easy life, a trouble-free family, financial comfort, perfect health, or circumstances that always make sense.

He has promised something better.

Whatever we face, He will provide what we need to live faithfully through it.

Think about the difference.

Sometimes we’re asking God to remove the difficult person when He’s giving us the patience to love them.

We’re asking Him to eliminate the problem when He’s developing perseverance in us.

We’re asking Him to make the decision obvious when He’s teaching us to trust Him.

We’re asking Him to change our circumstances while He’s working on changing us.

And that can be frustrating because we usually prefer God to fix what’s around us before He starts working on what’s inside us.

Peter doesn’t say this power comes from trying harder either. He says it comes “through the knowledge of Him.”

Christian growth isn’t primarily about becoming more disciplined at religious behavior. It grows out of knowing Jesus.

The closer I walk with Him, the more His character begins showing up in me.

That’s why the verses immediately following this one are so practical. Peter starts talking about faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love.

In other words, God supplies the power, but we still have to participate in the growth.

You can have a garage full of tools and still never repair anything.

You can own a Bible and never open it.

You can have access to prayer and never pray.

You can have Christian friends willing to speak truth into your life and never listen.

You can have the Holy Spirit convicting you about something and keep saying, Maybe tomorrow.

God providing what we need doesn’t remove our responsibility to use what He has provided.

Maybe that’s where some of us get stuck.

We’re waiting for God to give us something new while He’s waiting for us to use what He has already given us.

You may already know the conversation you need to have.

You may already know what you need to stop doing.

You may already know the apology you need to make.

You may already know that you need to forgive someone.

You may already know that your Bible needs to be opened more often and your phone needs to be opened a little less.

Sometimes we don’t need another sign.

We need obedience.

And there’s something incredibly freeing about Peter’s words because they remove one of our favorite excuses:

“I can’t.”

Maybe you can’t on your own.

Actually, there are plenty of things you absolutely cannot do on your own.

But you aren’t on your own.

The same God who called you has given you His Spirit. His Word. His promises. His wisdom. His presence. His people.

So when God calls you toward something that requires courage, patience, forgiveness, integrity, generosity, purity, perseverance, or love, you don’t have to wonder whether He has given you enough.

He has.

The question becomes:

Am I using what He has already given me?

Action Steps

* Identify where you’ve been saying, “I can’t.” Ask yourself whether it truly means I can’t or whether sometimes it means I don’t want to, I’m afraid to, or I haven’t trusted God enough to try.
* Use one thing God has already provided. Open Scripture. Pray about the decision. Call the mature Christian friend. Extend forgiveness. Have the conversation. Take the next obedient step instead of waiting for another sign.
* Spend time knowing Jesus, not merely asking things from Jesus. Before bringing Him your list today, spend a few minutes simply thanking Him for who He is and what He has already given you.

Challenge for the Day

Stop asking God for something new long enough to ask, “What have You already given me that I’m not using?” Then act on the answer today.

Prayer

Father, thank You that You have not called me to follow You and then left me to figure it out by myself. You have given me what I need to live faithfully and become more like Jesus. Forgive me for the times I keep asking for more while ignoring what You have already placed in my hands. Show me where I need to trust You, obey You, and take the next step. Help me live today in the strength You provide instead of depending on my own. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Pastor Jeff

#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign

08/31/2026

Some people make a difference loudly. Others do it so quietly that you may not recognize their impact until years later. A conversation. A prayer. An invitation. A word spoken at exactly the right time. Daniel reminds us that God sees something the world often misses: a life that helps point another person toward Him carries an eternal weight.

“And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”
Daniel 12:3 — ESV

Daniel 12 isn’t an easy chapter. Daniel is being shown things about the future, resurrection, judgment, trouble, and ultimately the victory of God. And right in the middle of all of that, we get this beautiful picture.

God’s people shining.

Not because they became famous. Not because everybody knew their name. Not because they built something impressive.

They shine because they lived wisely and helped turn people toward what is right.

I love that.

Because most of us will never know the full impact of our lives while we’re living them.

You may have encouraged somebody years ago and forgotten the conversation completely. They didn’t.

You may have prayed with someone when they were barely hanging on. You went home and continued with your day, but something changed in them.

You may have invited someone to church who eventually surrendered their life to Christ. Maybe they later helped someone else find Jesus, who helped somebody else, who raised children who love God. You probably won’t get to see the whole chain on this side of eternity.

But God does.

That changes the way we think about influence.

We tend to measure influence by numbers. Followers. Crowds. Recognition. How many people noticed what we did.

God seems far more interested in direction.

Where are you pointing people?

That’s a much better question.

You can have a huge platform and point people toward yourself. You can also have a small circle of people around you and consistently point them toward Jesus.

Daniel says those who “turn many to righteousness” will shine like the stars.

That doesn’t mean we save anybody. Jesus does that. We don’t argue people into the Kingdom or fix people through sheer determination.

But we can point.

We can live differently.

We can tell the truth when dishonesty would be easier.

We can forgive when bitterness would feel justified.

We can show compassion when everybody else walks past.

We can talk about Jesus without making it weird.

We can sit with someone who is hurting.

We can say, “Can I pray with you?”

We can tell somebody what God has done in our own life.

Sometimes we make sharing our faith much more complicated than it needs to be. You don’t need a theology degree to tell someone where you found hope.

Think about stars for a minute.

A star doesn’t have to make noise to be noticed. It simply shines.

And stars become especially noticeable when the sky gets dark.

That may be one of the most important parts of this passage for us right now.

When the world around us feels darker, our response shouldn’t simply be to complain about the darkness.

Shine.

When people are angry, bring peace.

When people are hopeless, bring hope.

When everybody is tearing someone apart, refuse to join in.

When someone feels forgotten, notice them.

When someone is far from God, don’t treat them like a project. Love them. Build a relationship. Listen to their story. And when God opens the door, point them toward Jesus.

There are people around you today who may never walk into a church because of a sign, an advertisement, or something they saw online.

But they might come because you invited them.

They might listen because they trust you.

They might ask questions because they’ve watched how you’ve handled hardship.

They might become curious about Jesus because they’ve seen something in your life they can’t quite explain.

And here’s what I find humbling about Daniel 12:3.

A hundred years from now, most of the things we spend our lives worrying about will mean absolutely nothing.

Nobody will care what kind of car we drove.

Nobody will care whether our house was nicer than somebody else’s.

Nobody will remember most of the things we bought, accumulated, stressed over, or tried to impress people with.

But a person who came to know Jesus?

That’s eternal.

A life changed by Christ doesn’t end at the grave.

Maybe that’s why Daniel describes these people as shining “like the stars forever and ever.”

There are investments you can make today that eternity will reveal were far more valuable than you ever realized.

So don’t underestimate the conversation.

Don’t underestimate the invitation.

Don’t underestimate your example.

Don’t underestimate praying with someone.

And don’t underestimate what God can do through an ordinary person who simply decides:

Wherever God puts me today, I want my life to point somebody toward Jesus.

Action Steps

* Look for one person today. Instead of wondering how you can influence “many,” ask God to show you one person you can encourage, help, pray for, or point toward Christ.
* Pay attention to what your life is pointing toward. Ask yourself whether the people closest to you see Jesus more clearly because of the way you live, speak, forgive, serve, and love.
* Don’t ignore an open door. If someone shares a struggle with you today, resist the temptation to give a quick answer and move on. Listen. Care. And when appropriate, offer to pray with them right there.

Challenge for the Day

Before today is over, intentionally encourage one person toward Jesus. It may be an invitation, a prayer, a conversation, or simply telling them what God has done in your life. Don’t worry about changing their life. Just faithfully point them toward the One who can.

Prayer

Father, thank You for allowing my life to matter beyond myself. Help me recognize the people You place in front of me today. Give me wisdom to know when to speak, when to listen, and when simply to love someone well. Keep me from living for things that won’t last. Use my life to point people toward Jesus, and let Your light be seen through me. Amen.

Pastor Jeff

#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign

08/30/2026

Sometimes we know exactly where we want life to go. We’ve thought it through, made the plan, prayed about it, and maybe even convinced ourselves we know what the next few months should look like. Then something changes. A door closes. An opportunity comes from somewhere we weren’t looking. The timing gets rearranged. And suddenly the route we had mapped out doesn’t look anything like the road we’re actually traveling.

“The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.”
— Proverbs 16:9 (ESV)

There’s nothing wrong with making plans.

I think sometimes we read this verse as if planning is somehow a lack of faith. It isn’t. Scripture gives us plenty of reasons to think ahead, count the cost, prepare wisely, and make good decisions.

Notice Solomon doesn’t say, “A foolish man plans his way.”

He simply says, “The heart of man plans his way.”

That’s what we do.

We plan careers. We plan retirement. We plan vacations. We plan what we’re going to do this afternoon. We make five-year plans and grocery lists. Some of us even plan conversations in our heads that haven’t happened yet—and somehow manage to win every argument.

Planning isn’t the problem.

The problem comes when our plan becomes something God is no longer allowed to interrupt.

There’s a difference between saying, “God, here’s what I’m planning,” and saying, “God, here’s what’s going to happen.”

One leaves room for surrender.

The other is simply asking God to sign off on something we’ve already decided.

Solomon reminds us that we can choose a direction, but God sees things we cannot see. We see the next turn. He sees the whole road.

That can be frustrating when His direction doesn’t make sense.

You may have prayed for one door to open, and it stayed closed.

You may have been certain a relationship, job, ministry opportunity, financial decision, or dream was going somewhere—and then everything changed.

Our first reaction is often, “God, what happened?”

Maybe nothing went wrong.

Maybe God is establishing your steps.

Think about Joseph. I doubt seventeen-year-old Joseph had “betrayed by my brothers, thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, falsely accused, and imprisoned” anywhere in his life plan.

Yet years later, he could look backward and see something he could never have seen while sitting in the pit.

God had been working through every step.

That doesn’t mean every painful thing that happens is something God caused. We live in a broken world. People make sinful choices. We make bad decisions ourselves. Things happen that hurt deeply.

But none of that means God has surrendered His ability to lead us.

And that may be where someone needs Proverbs 16:9 today.

You’ve been looking at where you thought you would be by now.

Maybe life doesn’t look anything like you pictured.

That doesn’t automatically mean you missed God.

Sometimes God’s direction only makes sense when you look backward.

There are things in my life where I can now see that if God had given me exactly what I wanted, when I wanted it, I would have missed something far better. At the time, though, it didn’t feel better. It felt like disappointment.

That’s where trust becomes more than a word we use in church.

Trust says:

“Lord, I’m going to make the wisest plan I know how to make. I’m going to pray. I’m going to seek counsel. I’m going to move forward. But I’m also giving You permission to change the route.”

That last part can be difficult.

Because we like knowing where we’re going.

God often gives us enough light for the next step without showing us the entire road.

Maybe that’s because if we could see everything ahead, we wouldn’t need much faith.

So make the plan.

Set the goal.

Put the date on the calendar.

Do the work.

But hold it with an open hand.

And when God redirects you, don’t immediately assume the detour means something has gone wrong.

The God who establishes your steps already knows where the road leads.

You don’t have to understand the entire route to trust the One leading you.

Action Steps

* Look at what you’re planning right now. Ask yourself whether you have genuinely surrendered that plan to God or simply asked Him to bless it.
* Pay attention to redirection. A closed door isn’t always rejection. Before trying to force it back open, ask God whether He might be leading you somewhere different.
* Obey the next clear step. You don’t need the entire map today. Do the next thing you know God is asking you to do.

Challenge for the Day

Take one plan you’ve been holding tightly and pray, “Lord, this is what I want, but I trust You enough to change the route.” Then leave room for Him to lead.

Prayer

Father, thank You that I don’t have to know everything ahead of me because You already do. Give me wisdom as I make plans, humility when You change them, and faith to follow when I cannot see where the road is going. Keep me from forcing my will when You are trying to redirect my steps. I trust You with where You are leading me. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Pastor Jeff

#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign

08/29/2026

There are days when life feels manageable. You know what needs to be done, you have a plan, and you feel like you can handle what is in front of you.

Then there are days when the phone rings, the news comes, the plan falls apart, and suddenly you realize how little control you actually have.

Psalm 46 was written for those days.

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
- Psalm 46:1 ESV

I love that this verse doesn’t say God keeps us from ever experiencing trouble.

It says He is present in it.

That distinction matters.

Psalm 46 goes on to describe some pretty frightening circumstances. The earth gives way. Mountains fall into the sea. Waters roar. Nations rage. Kingdoms fall. This isn’t a picture of somebody having a mildly frustrating Tuesday. Everything around them appears unstable.

And right in the middle of all of that, the psalmist says, God is our refuge.

A refuge is where you run when you know you need protection.

That requires admitting something we don’t always like admitting:

I can’t handle everything by myself.

We are pretty good at trying, though.

Something goes wrong and our first response is often to fix it. Make the call. Move some things around. Work harder. Think through every possible outcome. Stay awake half the night replaying conversations that haven’t even happened yet.

And none of those things are necessarily wrong. God gave us wisdom, responsibility, and the ability to act.

But there is a difference between doing what we can and believing everything depends on us.

One is responsibility.

The other is a weight God never asked us to carry.

And maybe that’s why these words are so comforting: “a very present help.”

Not distant help.

Not eventually help.

Not help once you’ve exhausted every other option.

Present help.

God is already there.

Sometimes we think faith means we shouldn’t feel overwhelmed. I don’t believe that’s what Scripture teaches. Faith isn’t pretending the mountain isn’t moving. Faith is knowing where to run when it does.

You can be afraid and still run to God.

You can be confused and still trust Him.

You can have questions and still pray.

You can have absolutely no idea how something is going to work out and still say, “God, I know You are here.”

And notice the psalmist says God is both our refuge and strength.

Sometimes we need refuge because we need somewhere safe to stand.

Other times we need strength because God is asking us to get back up and keep walking.

He provides both.

There are moments when God shelters us, and there are moments when He strengthens us to face the very thing we wish He would remove.

That may not always be the answer we wanted, but anyone who has walked with Christ for very long knows there are times when God changes the circumstances, and there are other times when He changes us in the middle of the circumstances.

Either way, He hasn’t left.

Maybe there is something in your life right now that feels bigger than you. Something you cannot fix with another phone call, another conversation, another plan, or another sleepless night.

You don’t have to pretend it isn’t difficult.

But you also don’t have to face it alone.

Before you run through every possible outcome again, run to your refuge.

Before you decide you don’t have enough strength for what is coming, remember where your strength comes from.

The promise of Psalm 46:1 isn’t that trouble won’t find you.

The promise is that when trouble finds you, God is already there.

And sometimes knowing Who is standing with you changes everything about what you’re standing in.

Action Steps

* Name what feels bigger than you. Be specific with God instead of simply saying, “I’m stressed.”
* Ask yourself where you’ve been running first. Your own ability? Another person? Money? Distraction? Then intentionally bring it to God.
* Carry Psalm 46:1 with you today. When anxiety or fear begins building, stop and remind yourself: God is my refuge. God is my strength. God is here.

Challenge for the Day

Before trying to fix the biggest thing weighing on you today, spend five uninterrupted minutes with God. Tell Him exactly what you’re carrying, and consciously place it in His hands before you pick up the phone, make the plan, or try to solve it yourself.

Prayer

Father, sometimes I try to carry things You never asked me to carry alone. Teach me to run to You first. Be my refuge when I am afraid and my strength when I feel like I don’t have enough left. Help me trust that even when life feels uncertain, You are present, You are faithful, and You have not left me. Amen.

Pastor Jeff

#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign

08/28/2026

Some days everything feels steady. Other days it feels like somebody picked up the table and shook it. Plans change. People change. Relationships change. Jobs change. Our bodies change. Even our own emotions can turn on us before lunch. That’s what makes this short verse in Hebrews such a powerful place to plant our feet.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
- Hebrews 13:8 — ESV

There are only nine words in this verse, but there’s enough truth in them to carry you through some pretty difficult days.

The writer of Hebrews is coming to the end of the letter. Just before this verse, he tells believers to remember the people who taught them the Word of God, to consider the outcome of their lives, and to imitate their faith. Then comes this reminder about Jesus.

Why?

Because people, leaders, friends, and circumstances come and go.

But Jesus doesn’t.

That doesn’t mean Jesus is predictable in the sense that we always know exactly what He is going to do. I’ve prayed prayers where I was pretty sure I had already figured out the answer God should give me. I had the plan, the timing, and probably a few helpful suggestions for Him.

Then God did something completely different.

Maybe you’ve been there.

God’s methods may surprise us, but His character never changes.

The Jesus who showed compassion to hurting people is still compassionate.

The Jesus who forgave sinners is still forgiving.

The Jesus who confronted hypocrisy is still concerned with truth.

The Jesus who welcomed the rejected still welcomes the rejected.

The Jesus who called people to leave everything and follow Him still calls us to surrender.

And the Jesus who defeated death is still alive.

Our confidence isn’t that tomorrow will look like today. Our confidence is that the Jesus we meet tomorrow will be the same Jesus we know today.

That’s an important distinction.

Sometimes we want faith in Jesus to mean stability in our circumstances. We think, If I’m following God, surely things will settle down.

Not necessarily.

Hebrews was written to believers who knew pressure, suffering, uncertainty, and hardship. They needed something stronger than the promise of an easier tomorrow.

They needed an unchanging Savior…… So do we.

Think about how much of our peace is tied to things that can change.

A doctor’s report, our bank account, someone’s opinion of us. A relationship, our job, our plans for the future.

None of those things are necessarily bad. But they’re terrible foundations because every one of them can be different tomorrow.

Jesus cannot.

That means when everything around you changes, you don’t have to start over with God.

His grace didn’t expire overnight.

His promises haven’t been rewritten.

His love didn’t weaken because you had a bad week.

And His faithfulness isn’t dependent upon how confident you happen to feel today.

But there’s another side to this verse we shouldn’t miss.

If Jesus hasn’t changed, then neither has His call to follow Him.

We can’t celebrate the unchanging grace of Jesus while ignoring the unchanging truth of Jesus.

He still calls us to forgive, to love our enemies, to care for people others overlook.

He calls us to holiness, to put Him first, and to trust Him with everything.

Sometimes we’d like Jesus to change just a little bit to accommodate the parts of our lives we’d rather not surrender. But He loves us too much for that.

The same Jesus who comforts us is the Jesus who corrects us.

The same Jesus who receives us just as we are refuses to leave us just as we are.

And that’s good news.

Because I don’t need a Jesus who changes depending on what’s popular, convenient, or comfortable. I need the Jesus who was faithful yesterday, is faithful right now, and will still be faithful when I wake up tomorrow.

Life will change.

You will change.

People around you will change.

But you can build your life on Someone who won’t.

Action Steps

* Remember yesterday. Think about one specific way Jesus has been faithful to you before. Don’t just remember the event; remember what it taught you about His character.
* Trust Him today. Identify the thing creating the most uncertainty in your life right now and deliberately place it back into His hands.
* Stop borrowing trouble from tomorrow. You don’t know everything tomorrow will bring, but you already know Who will be there when you arrive.

Challenge for the Day

When something changes today that you didn’t expect, before reacting, remind yourself: “This changed. Jesus didn’t.” Then respond from that truth.

Prayer

Jesus, so much around me can change quickly, and sometimes I allow those changes to determine my peace. Help me build my life on You instead. Thank You for being faithful yesterday, present with me today, and already waiting for me in tomorrow. And when there are things in me that need to change, give me the courage to let You change them. I trust You. Amen.

Pastor Jeff

#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign

08/27/2026

There are days when the biggest battle isn’t around us, it’s where our mind keeps going. We can belong to Jesus, trust Him, love Him, and still find ourselves consumed with things that won’t matter nearly as much as we think they do. Paul reminds us that following Jesus doesn’t just change where we’re going someday. It changes what we’re living for today.

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”
Colossians 3:1 ESV

That little word “if” can almost make this sound uncertain. But Paul isn’t questioning whether these believers belong to Jesus. He’s building on what he has already told them.

In the previous chapter, Paul talks about being buried with Christ and raised with Him through faith. So when he gets to chapter 3, his point is basically this:

Since you have been raised with Christ, live like someone who has been given a new life.

That’s where this gets personal.

Because it’s possible to have a new life and still spend a whole lot of time chasing old things.

Old approval.

Old grudges.

Old habits.

Old measurements of success.

Old fears.

Old ways of deciding what makes us valuable.

Jesus didn’t save us so we could simply become slightly improved versions of who we used to be. We’ve been raised with Christ. Something fundamentally changed.

Paul says, “seek the things that are above.”

He isn’t telling us to ignore life down here. You still have to go to work. You still have bills. You still have relationships that require attention. The grass still needs mowing, the car still needs gas, and somebody still has to figure out what everybody is eating for dinner.

Seeking what is above doesn’t mean becoming disconnected from everyday life.

It means living everyday life with a different priority.

You can go to work seeking what is above.

You can raise your children seeking what is above.

You can run a business seeking what is above.

You can handle conflict seeking what is above.

You can spend money, make plans, have conversations, deal with disappointment, and even walk through success while seeking what is above.

The question becomes:

What am I really chasing?

That can be uncomfortable to answer.

Sometimes we discover we’ve been chasing recognition more than faithfulness. We want people to notice what we’ve done.

Sometimes we’re chasing control. We want everything arranged the way we think it should happen before we’re willing to trust God.

Sometimes we’re chasing comfort. We’ll obey Jesus as long as obedience doesn’t cost too much.

And sometimes we’re simply chasing more.

More money.
More attention.
More influence.
More stuff.
More opportunities.

None of those things automatically make someone a bad person. But they make terrible gods.

Paul gives us something better to pursue.

Christ.

Notice where Paul directs our attention: “where Christ is.”

That’s the center of the whole verse.

Christianity isn’t primarily about becoming better at following religious rules. It’s about belonging to Jesus so completely that He begins rearranging what matters to us.

The closer we walk with Him, the more our priorities begin changing.

Things we once desperately needed suddenly don’t seem quite as important.

Things we once overlooked suddenly matter deeply.

People matter more.

Forgiveness matters more.

Integrity matters more.

Generosity matters more.

Obedience matters more.

Eternity matters more.

And sometimes you realize you’ve spent a lot of energy climbing a ladder only to discover it was leaning against something that never deserved that much of your life.

That’s why the next verse says, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”

Where we repeatedly direct our attention eventually shapes our desires.

If I constantly feed comparison, I’ll eventually live dissatisfied.

If I constantly feed fear, I’ll begin making decisions based on fear.

If I constantly feed resentment, bitterness will start feeling justified.

But if I keep bringing my attention back to Christ—His Word, His character, His purposes, His presence—something starts changing inside me.

Maybe today the question isn’t, “Do I believe in Jesus?”

Maybe the better question is:

Does the way I’m living show that Jesus has changed what I’m seeking?

Because if we have been raised with Christ, we shouldn’t spend our lives digging around in the graveyard for the things He already called us out of.

There is a new life to live.

Look higher.

Seek Christ.

And then carry what you find in Him into everything you do today.

Action Steps

* Identify what has been getting most of your attention lately. Ask yourself whether it is drawing you closer to Christ or simply consuming you.
* Redirect your mind intentionally. Before checking social media, email, news, or everything demanding your attention, spend a few minutes with God.
* Make one decision today from an eternal perspective. In a conversation, financial decision, conflict, or opportunity, ask: What would honoring Christ look like here?

Challenge for the Day

Before making one important decision today, stop and ask: “Am I seeking what I want, or am I seeking what honors Christ?” Then act accordingly.

Prayer

Jesus, You have given me a new life, but sometimes I still chase things that belong to the old one. Redirect my heart today. Help me want what You want, value what You value, and recognize the things I have allowed to become too important. Teach me to seek You first and carry Your priorities into everything I do. Amen.

Pastor Jeff

#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign

08/26/2026

There are a lot of things competing for our hearts. Some of them are obviously wrong, but most aren’t. Family. Work. Success. Security. Our plans for the future. Even ministry can quietly become something we love more than the One we’re supposed to be serving. Jesus brings us back to what matters most—and He doesn’t leave much room for halfway.

“And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’”
Matthew 22:37 (ESV)

A lawyer had asked Jesus a question: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”

There were plenty to choose from. But Jesus didn’t give him a complicated theological answer. He went straight to Deuteronomy 6 and brought everything back to our relationship with God.

Love God.

But notice Jesus didn’t simply say, “Love God.” He said with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.

There’s that little word again: all.

We’ve been talking at church lately about the difference between almost and all in, and this verse gets right to the heart of it. Jesus isn’t looking for a corner of our lives. He isn’t asking to be one priority among several competing priorities. He is worthy of the whole thing.

And that can get uncomfortable.

Because I can love God and still have parts of my life I don’t want Him messing with.

I can love God on Sunday and still want control on Monday.

I can trust Him with my eternity but struggle to trust Him with my finances, my family, my future, or the thing I’ve been praying about that still hasn’t worked out the way I wanted.

That’s where this commandment becomes more than something we memorize.

Loving God with all our heart means He gets access to our desires—not just our behavior. It means we’re willing to let Him change what we want.

Loving God with all our soul means our relationship with Him isn’t simply something we add to an already busy life. He becomes the center from which everything else flows.

And loving God with all our mind means our thoughts belong to Him too. What we dwell on. What we believe. What we allow to shape our thinking. What we do when fear starts writing stories about tomorrow.

This kind of love isn’t primarily about emotion. There will be mornings when you feel close to God and mornings when you don’t. There will be prayers that seem powerful and others where you wonder if they made it past the ceiling.

Love keeps choosing Him anyway.

Think about marriage. If I told my wife, “I love you with 80% of my heart. The other 20% is mine to do whatever I want with,” I’m pretty sure that conversation isn’t going to end well.

Why would we think Jesus is satisfied with that arrangement?

God doesn’t ask for all of us because He wants to take something good away from us. He asks for all of us because He knows what happens when our hearts get divided. Eventually something else begins sitting in the place only God can occupy.

And whatever occupies that place will eventually control us.

Money can.

Approval can.

Fear can.

Success can.

Comfort can.

Even people we deeply love can.

Jesus gives us the order that keeps everything else in its proper place: God first. God fully. God above everything.

And here’s where I think we need to be careful. None of us does this perfectly. Loving God with all that we are isn’t a box we check and announce, “Finished that one.”

It’s a daily surrender.

Today there may be another part of your heart God puts His finger on.

What about this?

And we get to decide whether we’re going to hold tighter or open our hands.

That might be the question worth carrying around today:

Is there anything in my life that I’m asking God not to touch?

Because sometimes the clearest evidence that we love God isn’t what we’re willing to do for Him.

It’s what we’re willing to surrender to Him.

Action Steps

* Do a heart check. Ask God to show you anything that has begun competing with Him for first place.
* Give Him something specific. Instead of a general “I surrender everything” prayer, name one area you’ve been holding tightly and place it before Him.
* Love God practically today. Let your love for Him change one decision, conversation, thought pattern, or priority.

Challenge for the Day

Identify one area of your life where you’ve been giving God almost everything, and make one concrete decision today that moves you toward all in.

Prayer

Father, I don’t want to give You only the parts of me that are easy to surrender. I want to love You with my whole heart, my whole soul, and my whole mind. Show me where something else has taken a place that belongs to You. Give me the courage to loosen my grip and trust You with it. I love You, Lord. Help my life show it. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Pastor Jeff

#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign

08/25/2026

There are things in life we count on without thinking much about them. We expect the sun to come up. We expect the ground to be beneath our feet when we get out of bed. But people? Circumstances? Our own emotions? Those can change pretty quickly. Today’s verse points us toward something far more dependable: the character of God.

“For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.”
- Psalm 100:5 (ESV)

Psalm 100 is only five verses long, and the whole thing is an invitation to worship. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come into His presence with singing. Know that He is God. Enter His gates with thanksgiving.

Then David gives us the reason.

Because God is good.

Not because everything happening around us is good. Not because we understand what God is doing. Not because our prayers were answered exactly the way we wanted them answered.

God is good because goodness is part of who He is.

That distinction matters.

There will be days when you can look around and easily see the goodness of God. The prayer gets answered. The door opens. The relationship is restored. Something you’ve been waiting on finally happens, and thanking God comes pretty naturally.

Then there are days when you have to trust His goodness before you can see it.

Those days test what we really believe about God.

If I only believe God is good when life is good, then my faith is really resting on my circumstances. And circumstances make a terrible foundation because they can change before lunch.

But what we read today, gives us something stronger.

His steadfast love endures forever.

God doesn’t wake up irritated with you.

He doesn’t love you deeply on Monday and gets tired of you by Thursday. His love isn’t based on your performance, your mood, or whether you had a great spiritual week.

That doesn’t mean God ignores our sin or never corrects us. A loving Father absolutely corrects His children. But even His correction comes from love. God isn’t looking for an excuse to walk away from you.

His steadfast love endures.

Then comes the part I really love:

“His faithfulness to all generations.”

Think about that.

Long before you were born, God was faithful.

He was faithful to Abraham when Abraham struggled to believe. He was faithful to Moses when Moses felt inadequate. He was faithful to David through victories, failures, repentance, and restoration. He was faithful to Peter after Peter swore he didn’t even know Jesus.

And God hasn’t changed.

Sometimes we measure God’s faithfulness by what happened this week. Scripture measures it across generations.

That gives us a much bigger picture.

You may be standing in the middle of something today that doesn’t make sense yet. Maybe you’ve prayed and haven’t seen an answer. Maybe you’re trying to obey God and wondering why the road seems harder instead of easier. Maybe you’re simply tired.

Don’t make a permanent conclusion about God’s character based on a temporary chapter of your life.

Look back.

There have probably been moments when you wondered how you were going to make it, and somehow God carried you through. There were doors you desperately wanted opened that you’re now thankful stayed closed. There were things that felt like setbacks that God eventually used to move you somewhere you never would have chosen on your own.

We don’t always recognize His faithfulness while we’re living through it.

Sometimes we see it better looking backward.

And that’s one reason remembering matters so much in our walk with Christ. When today makes us question, yesterday can remind us.

God was faithful then.
God is faithful now.
God will still be faithful tomorrow.

Remember, your circumstances may change. People will disappoint you. Plans may fall apart. You may even have days when your own faith feels weaker than you’d like to admit.

But God’s faithfulness isn’t dependent on yours.

That’s something worth thanking Him for today.

Action Steps

* Remember His faithfulness. Think of one difficult situation God has already carried you through. Thank Him specifically for what He did.
* Separate God’s character from your circumstances. If something isn’t going the way you hoped, resist the temptation to interpret that as evidence that God isn’t good.
* Tell someone. Share one example of God’s faithfulness with another person today. Someone may need your reminder because they’re having trouble seeing His faithfulness in their own life.

Challenge for the Day

Before you ask God for anything today, spend a few minutes thanking Him for three specific ways He has already been faithful to you.

Prayer

Father, You are good. Your love doesn’t run out, and Your faithfulness doesn’t change when my circumstances do. Help me remember what You’ve already brought me through, especially when I can’t understand what You’re doing right now. Teach me to trust Your character even when I can’t see Your plan. Thank You for being faithful yesterday, today, and for every day still ahead. Amen.

Pastor Jeff

#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign

08/24/2026

There are parts of following Jesus that are easy to keep private. We can pray quietly. We can read our Bible alone. We can worship with our headphones on. But eventually, what God is doing inside of us has to show up in how we treat the person standing in front of us. And sometimes that person is exactly where the test begins.

“For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
- Galatians 5:14 (ESV)

Paul makes a huge statement in one little verse.

If you want to know what a life surrendered to God looks like, pay attention to how you love people.

And before we make “neighbor” too comfortable, Jesus already took care of that in the story of the Good Samaritan. Your neighbor isn’t just the person you like. It isn’t just the person who agrees with you, votes like you, worships like you, or makes your life easier.

Sometimes your neighbor is difficult.

Sometimes your neighbor gets on your nerves.

Sometimes your neighbor has hurt you.

Sometimes your neighbor is the person you would rather avoid when you see them coming down the aisle at H-E-B.

That’s where this gets real.

Today’s verse is about freedom. Paul is teaching people who have been set free through Christ, but he warns them not to turn that freedom into selfishness. Just one verse earlier he says, “through love serve one another.”

That’s an interesting definition of freedom.

We usually think freedom means, I can do what I want.

Jesus says freedom looks more like, I am finally free enough that everything doesn’t have to be about me.

Free from having to win every argument.

Free from needing the last word.

Free from keeping score.

Free from treating kindness like something people have to earn from us.

Free to serve somebody who can’t do anything for us in return.

And that last part of the verse matters: “as yourself.”

Most of us are pretty good at giving ourselves the benefit of the doubt. When we’re short with somebody, we know we’re tired. When we forget something, we know we’ve had a lot going on. When we make a mistake, we know what we meant to do.

But when somebody else does those things, we can judge them entirely by what they did.

What if we gave other people some of the grace we routinely give ourselves?

That doesn’t mean ignoring sin, allowing someone to continually mistreat you, or pretending boundaries aren’t necessary. Biblical love isn’t weakness. Sometimes love has to tell the truth. Sometimes love says no. Sometimes love creates distance because continuing the same pattern isn’t healthy or helpful.

But even then, the heart of a follower of Jesus isn’t looking for revenge.

We can tell the truth without trying to destroy somebody.

We can disagree without becoming cruel.

We can establish a boundary without becoming bitter.

We can refuse someone’s behavior without refusing to see their value.

And maybe that’s one of the places where our faith becomes most visible.

People may never know how many chapters of the Bible you read this morning. They probably won’t know how long you prayed. They won’t know what worship song brought tears to your eyes.

But they will know how you treated them.

They’ll remember whether you listened.

They’ll remember whether you were patient.

They’ll remember whether you showed kindness when you didn’t have to.

They’ll remember whether the Jesus you talked about looked anything like the Jesus they experienced through you.

We can spend a lifetime learning Scripture and still miss something incredibly basic:

Love God. Love people.

Not perfectly. None of us will.

But increasingly.

Because when Christ is changing our hearts, sooner or later it changes the way we treat people.

Action Steps

* Look for the person you normally overlook. Speak to them, encourage them, or simply give them your full attention.
* Give someone the benefit of the doubt today. Before assuming the worst about their actions, leave room for a story you may not know.
* Love someone practically. Make the call. Send the text. Buy the lunch. Help with the task. Forgive the offense. Turn love from an idea into an action.

Challenge for the Day

Love one person today in a way that costs you something, your time, your convenience, your attention, or your pride.

Prayer

Jesus, thank You for loving me when I didn’t deserve it and for continuing to show me grace when I fall short. Help me carry that same grace into the lives of the people around me. Give me patience when people are difficult, humility when I want to be right, and courage when love requires something from me. Let people experience something of Your heart through the way I treat them today. Amen.

Pastor Jeff

#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign

08/23/2026

There are some things we can do halfway and still get by. We can half-listen to a conversation. We can half-clean the garage. We can even half-follow the directions and somehow get the furniture put together, although there will probably be three screws left over. But when it comes to our relationship with God, He has never invited us into a halfway kind of faith.

“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
— Deuteronomy 6:5 (ESV)

Moses is speaking to a generation of people who are getting ready to enter the Promised Land. They have watched God provide. They have heard the stories of His faithfulness. They know what He has done.

And before they step into what God has for them, Moses gives them something they cannot afford to forget.

Love God with all of you.

That word all is what gets me.

Not most of your heart.

Not the part of your life that is convenient.

Not Sunday morning plus a prayer before dinner.

All your heart. All your soul. All your might.

God isn’t looking for a corner of our lives. He isn’t asking to be added to everything else we’re already doing. He wants to be at the center of it.

And that’s where this gets uncomfortable.

Because most of us probably wouldn’t say, “I don’t love God.” We do love Him. The harder question is whether there are places in our lives where we’ve quietly put up a little sign that says, This part is mine.

God, You can have my eternity, but I’m going to control my tomorrow.

You can have my worship, but I’m holding onto this grudge.

You can have my Sunday, but don’t get too involved with my finances.

You can have my obedience as long as what You’re asking doesn’t interfere too much with what I already want.

That’s not necessarily rejection of God. Sometimes it’s simply a divided heart.

And divided hearts can look pretty good from the outside.

We can sing the songs, know the verses, serve people, give generously, and still have areas we’re protecting from God.

That’s why this command goes deeper than behavior. God doesn’t just say, “Obey Me.” He says, “Love Me.”

Because obedience that grows out of love is different.

When you love someone, their desires begin to matter to you. You don’t constantly ask, “What’s the least I have to do to keep this relationship going?” You want to know their heart.

Jesus would later point right back to this passage when He was asked about the greatest commandment. This wasn’t an Old Testament idea that eventually got replaced. Jesus put it right at the center of what following God looks like.

Love God completely.

And here’s something worth noticing: right after this, Moses tells the people to keep God’s words on their hearts and teach them to their children. Talk about them at home. Talk about them when you’re walking down the road. Talk about them when you lie down and when you get up.

In other words, loving God wasn’t supposed to be an event.

It was supposed to become the rhythm of their lives.

That’s still true.

Loving God with everything doesn’t mean you’ll do everything perfectly. It means there isn’t an area of your life where you’ve decided God doesn’t get a say.

Your relationships belong to Him.

Your plans belong to Him.

Your money belongs to Him.

Your future belongs to Him.

Your habits, your words, your decisions, your private thoughts, your ambitions—all of it.

And sometimes the greatest evidence that we love God isn’t what we give Him.

It’s what we’re finally willing to surrender.

Maybe the question for today isn’t simply, “Do I love God?”

Maybe it’s:

“Is there anything in my life I love, protect, control, or want more than I want Him?”

Don’t rush past that one.

Because God isn’t trying to take something good away from you. He’s calling you away from a divided life.

There is freedom in finally saying, “God, You don’t just get part of me. You get all of me.”

That’s where faith stops being something we practice and starts becoming the way we live.

Action Steps

* Ask God to show you the divided places. Pray honestly: “Lord, what am I still holding back from You?”
* Look at your everyday decisions. Your calendar, spending, relationships, habits, and priorities often reveal what has your heart.
* Surrender one specific area today. Don’t leave it as a general intention. Name something you’ve been controlling and intentionally place it in God’s hands.

Challenge for the Day

Identify one area of your life where you’ve been giving God some instead of all. Before today ends, surrender it specifically to Him and take one action that demonstrates you mean it.

Prayer

Father, I love You, but I know there are places in my life where I still want control. Show me what I’ve been holding back. I don’t want to give You pieces of my heart while protecting the rest. Teach me to love You with all my heart, all my soul, and all my strength. You have given Yourself completely for me. Help me live completely surrendered to You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Pastor Jeff

#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign

08/22/2026

Sometimes we picture God as distant, somewhere above all of this, watching from heaven while we try to make sense of life down here. John opens his Gospel by telling us something completely different. God didn’t shout instructions from a distance. He came close.

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:14 — ESV

There are a few words in this verse that we can read right past if we’re not careful: “dwelt among us.”

John begins his Gospel by telling us that Jesus is the eternal Word. He was there in the beginning. He was with God, and He was God. Everything that exists was made through Him.

And then John says that the One who made everything became flesh.

Think about that.

Jesus didn’t simply visit humanity. He became one of us. He experienced hunger. He got tired. He knew what it was like to be misunderstood. He experienced friendship and betrayal. He attended weddings and funerals. He touched sick people. He sat at tables with people everybody else avoided.

God came close.

The word John uses for “dwelt” carries the idea of pitching a tent or tabernacling among us. For John’s Jewish readers, that would have immediately brought to mind the tabernacle in the Old Testament—the place where God’s presence dwelled among His people.

But now something has changed. God’s presence isn’t behind a curtain. God’s presence has a name.

Jesus.

And John says, “we have seen his glory.”

What I love is the way John describes that glory: “full of grace and truth.”

We tend to be better at one than the other.

Some people love truth. They’ll tell you exactly what you’re doing wrong, exactly what Scripture says about it, and exactly what needs to change. They may be right—but sometimes there isn’t much grace in the delivery.

Others are wonderful at grace. They don’t want anyone to feel uncomfortable or judged, so they avoid difficult conversations altogether. There’s plenty of acceptance, but sometimes truth gets quietly pushed aside.

Jesus never had that problem.

He was completely full of both.

He could look at someone whose life was a mess and love them without pretending their sin didn’t matter.

He could confront someone who was wrong without treating them like they were worthless.

That matters because sometimes we misunderstand grace as God saying, “What you’re doing is fine.”

That’s not grace.

Grace says, “What you’re doing is destroying you, but I love you too much to leave you there.”

Truth shows us what needs to change.

Grace reminds us we’re still loved while God is changing us.

And Jesus didn’t just teach that balance. He embodied it.

That also gives us a pretty good picture of what following Jesus should look like.

If Jesus lives in us, people ought to experience some grace and truth when they encounter us too.

Not truth used like a hammer.

Not grace used as an excuse to avoid difficult things.

Both.

Maybe there is somebody in your life who needs truth from you. But before you speak, ask yourself whether they will also hear the love behind it.

Maybe there’s somebody you’re frustrated with because they keep getting it wrong. Remember how patient Jesus has been with you.

And maybe you’re the one who needs some truth today. There is an area you’ve been defending, excusing, or hiding, and you already know God has been putting His finger on it.

Don’t run from Him.

The God who knows the complete truth about you is also the God who came close enough to save you.

That’s the beauty of Jesus.

He didn’t wait for us to get ourselves together and somehow make our way to God. God came to us.

Full of grace.

Full of truth.

And still dwelling with His people today.

Action Steps

* Look for where you need truth. Ask God to show you one area where you’ve been making excuses instead of allowing Him to change you.
* Look for where you need grace. Think about someone you’ve been impatient or frustrated with and choose to treat them with the patience Christ has shown you.
* Bring Jesus close to someone. Encourage, serve, listen to, or simply spend time with someone today. Sometimes people experience the love of Christ before they’re ready to hear us talk about it.

Challenge for the Day

Show someone both grace and truth today—love them enough to be kind, and love them enough to be real.

Prayer

Jesus, thank You for coming close. Thank You that You know the truth about me and still meet me with grace. Show me where I need to change, and give me the courage to obey You. Help me treat people the way You have treated me—with compassion, patience, grace, and truth. Let people see something of You through the way I live today. Amen.

Pastor Jeff

#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign

08/21/2026

There are things we spend years accumulating that can disappear almost overnight. Money can be lost. Possessions wear out. Homes need repairs. Careers change. Even the things we carefully protect eventually show their age. Jesus isn’t telling us that having things is wrong. He’s asking us to think seriously about what we are building our lives around—and whether it will last.

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Matthew 6:19–21 (ESV)

Jesus is right in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount when He says this. He has been talking about giving, praying, fasting, and the difference between doing something for God and doing something so people will notice us.

Then He starts talking about treasure.

That isn’t a random change of subject.

Jesus is dealing with the heart.

We usually hear the word treasure and immediately think about money. Money certainly fits here, but Jesus is going deeper than our bank accounts. A treasure is anything we value enough to pursue, protect, worry about, or organize our lives around.

For some people, that’s money.

For others, it’s their house, career, reputation, comfort, possessions, influence, accomplishments, or even the approval of other people.

And notice that Jesus doesn’t say earthly treasure might disappear. He describes a world where everything we own is vulnerable to something.

Things deteriorate.

Things break.

Things get stolen.

Things become outdated.

Things we thought would make us happy eventually become things sitting in the garage that we need to get rid of.

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t own anything. Scripture doesn’t condemn saving, planning, working hard, or enjoying what God has provided. The issue is not whether something is in your hands.

The issue is whether it has gotten into your heart.

That’s why verse 21 is so powerful:

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

We often think the order works the other way. We think, Wherever my heart is, that’s where my treasure will go.

Jesus says our treasure can actually lead our heart.

Where you continually invest your money, attention, energy, time, and affection, your heart starts following.

That means generosity does more than help somebody else. Generosity does something inside us.

When I give to God’s work, my heart gets pulled toward His Kingdom.

When I invest time in people, my heart grows toward people.

When I serve someone who can do absolutely nothing for me in return, something changes in me.

When I spend time in Scripture, prayer, worship, and obedience, I am putting treasure somewhere this world cannot touch.

There is another part of this passage we shouldn’t miss. Jesus isn’t merely telling us not to store treasure.

He tells us to store the right treasure.

Christianity isn’t supposed to be a life where we spend our days trying not to enjoy anything. God has given us plenty to enjoy. But He wants us to understand the difference between enjoying something and trusting it.

One is a gift.

The other becomes a god.

And sometimes the easiest way to discover the difference is to ask yourself what happens when that thing is threatened.

If losing it would mean losing your identity, peace, security, or sense of worth, it may have become more than something you possess.

It may have started possessing you.

A few verses later Jesus says, “You cannot serve God and money.” Then He begins talking about worry. That connection matters. Treasure, masters, and worry are all tied together.

Whatever I treat as my ultimate treasure eventually starts demanding something from me.

But Jesus offers another way to live.

Hold temporary things with open hands.

Enjoy what God provides.

Take care of what He has entrusted to you.

Be generous.

Love people.

Invest in things with eternal consequences.

And remember that the most valuable things you will ever do may never show up on a financial statement.

A conversation that points somebody toward Jesus.

Forgiving someone when bitterness would have been easier.

Helping someone who is struggling.

Teaching your children or grandchildren about Christ.

Giving quietly when nobody knows.

Serving when there is nothing in it for you.

Choosing obedience when it costs you something.

Those are investments nobody can steal.

One day, everything we accumulated here will belong to somebody else.

But what we did for Christ, with Christ, and because of Christ will not be lost.

So maybe the question today isn’t, How much treasure do I have?

Maybe the better question is:

Where am I storing it?

Action Steps

* Look at where your resources are going. Review your time, money, and attention. They may reveal what you currently treasure more clearly than your words do.
* Put something into eternity today. Encourage someone, give generously, serve quietly, forgive, pray with someone, or share Christ.
* Hold something loosely. Identify one earthly thing you’ve been gripping too tightly and intentionally surrender it to God.

Challenge for the Day

Invest something today in something that will outlive you. Give, serve, encourage, forgive, or share Jesus with someone—and do it without needing recognition for it.

Prayer

Father, thank You for everything You have placed in my hands. Help me enjoy Your gifts without allowing them to take Your place in my heart. Show me where I have been storing treasure in things that cannot last. Teach me to live generously, love people deeply, and invest my life in what matters to You. I want my treasure—and my heart—to be with You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Pastor Jeff

#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign

08/20/2026

There are some days when praise comes easily. The phone call was good. The prayer was answered. The family is doing well. Things finally seem to be falling into place.

Then there are other days.

Today’s verse reminds us that worship was never supposed to depend on which kind of day we’re having.

“From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the LORD is to be praised!”
- Psalm 113:3 (ESV)

I love the picture this verse gives us. The sun comes up, the sun goes down, and everything in between belongs to God.

That means praise isn’t just something we do when we feel spiritual. It isn’t reserved for Sunday morning when the music is playing and everyone around us is singing. Praise is supposed to become part of the rhythm of our lives.

And that can be harder than it sounds.

Because between sunrise and sunset, a lot can happen.

You can wake up feeling great and have your whole attitude changed by 9:15. Somebody says something that gets under your skin. An unexpected bill shows up. Plans fall apart. You get disappointing news. You find yourself worrying about something you thought you had already given to God.

And before long, the circumstances have become louder than the God who is still with you in them.

Psalm 113 gives us another way to live.

The psalm begins by calling the servants of the Lord to praise Him, and then it says:

“Blessed be the name of the LORD
from this time forth and forevermore!”
Psalm 113:2 (ESV)

Notice what isn’t mentioned.

There are no conditions attached.

Praise Him if everything works out.

Praise Him when you understand what He is doing.

Praise Him after the prayer gets answered.

No.

His name is worthy of praise because He is worthy, not because today went the way we wanted it to go.

That distinction matters.

If my praise depends on my circumstances, then my circumstances are actually determining my worship. A good day produces gratitude. A bad day produces frustration. An answered prayer produces praise. A delayed answer produces silence.

But when I begin to understand who God is, something changes.

I can praise Him while I’m waiting.

I can praise Him when I don’t understand.

I can praise Him while carrying something heavy.

I can praise Him when the answer is yes, when the answer is no, and when the answer seems to be, “Not yet.”

Not because disappointment doesn’t hurt. Not because Christians are supposed to pretend everything is wonderful.

But because God has not changed.

The same God who was faithful yesterday is God today. The same God who met you in your last difficult place is already present in this one. And the God who saw the sunrise this morning already knows everything that will happen before it sets tonight.

There is something powerful about choosing praise in the middle of an ordinary, messy day.

Sometimes praise sounds like a worship song in the car.

Sometimes it sounds like, “Lord, I don’t understand this, but I trust You.”

Sometimes it is simply stopping long enough to say, “God, thank You. I can see Your hand here.”

And sometimes praise happens through gritted teeth because your heart hasn’t caught up with what you know to be true yet.

That still counts.

Praise has a way of putting things back in their proper place. It doesn’t necessarily change what is happening around us, but it reminds us who is above what is happening around us.

Psalm 113 goes on to say:

“The LORD is high above all nations,
and his glory above the heavens!”
Psalm 113:4 (ESV)

Whatever you face today, God is greater.

So when the sun rises, praise Him.

When the day gets complicated, praise Him.

When something unexpectedly good happens, praise Him.

When something unexpectedly difficult happens, praise Him.

And when you lay your head down tonight and the sun has disappeared beyond the horizon, praise Him again.

Because from sunrise to sunset, there will never be a moment when He stops being worthy.

Action Steps

* Begin with praise. Before allowing your phone, schedule, or worries to set the tone for your day, thank God for three specific things.
* Interrupt yourself today. When frustration or worry begins taking over, stop and deliberately turn your attention toward something you know to be true about God.
* End where you started. Before going to sleep tonight, look back over your day and identify one place where you saw God’s goodness, provision, protection, or presence.

Challenge for the Day

Set two reminders on your phone today—one around midday and one near sunset. When they go off, stop whatever you’re doing for thirty seconds and praise God for something specific. Make praise part of the rhythm of your day.

Prayer

Father, You are worthy of my praise regardless of what today brings. Help me not to allow circumstances to determine my worship. When I get distracted, worried, frustrated, or discouraged, turn my heart back toward You. From the beginning of this day until its end, help me recognize Your goodness and remember Your faithfulness. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Pastor Jeff

#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign

08/19/2026

There are a lot of things people can know about us. They can know where we work, what church we attend, what we believe politically, what team we cheer for, even what we post online. But Jesus said there is one thing that should stand out above all the rest in the life of someone who follows Him: the way we love people.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”
John 13:34 (ESV)

The words “just as I have loved you” change everything.

Jesus didn’t simply tell His disciples to love. Everybody has their own definition of love. Jesus gave them a standard: Me. Love people the way I have loved you.

And we need to remember when He said this.

Jesus had just washed His disciples’ feet. He got down on the floor and served men who should have been serving Him. And sitting at that table was Judas, the man who would betray Him. Jesus knew what Judas was about to do, and He still washed his feet.

Then Judas left, and Jesus began talking to the remaining disciples about what life would look like after He was gone.

That makes this command much harder than putting a heart emoji on it.

Jesus is talking about a love that serves when it would rather be served. A love that gives without keeping score. A love that doesn’t disappear the moment somebody disappoints us.

And notice Jesus says, “as I have loved you.”

Not, “as they deserve.”

Not, “as long as they treat you right.”

Not, “as long as they agree with you.”

Not even, “as long as they love you back.”

As I have loved you.

That is a completely different measuring stick.

We tend to measure our love by the behavior of the other person. If you’re kind to me, I’ll be kind to you. If you respect me, I’ll respect you. If you call me, I’ll call you. If you apologize, maybe I’ll forgive you.

Jesus takes the measuring stick out of their hands and puts Himself in its place.

That doesn’t mean love never confronts. Jesus confronted people. It doesn’t mean we never establish healthy boundaries. It doesn’t mean we pretend sin doesn’t matter or allow people to continually hurt us.

Biblical love isn’t weakness.

Sometimes love puts an arm around somebody. Sometimes love has a difficult conversation. Sometimes love forgives. Sometimes love says no. Sometimes love serves quietly when nobody notices.

But in every case, the question becomes:

What would it look like to love this person the way Jesus has loved me?

That’s a dangerous question if we actually intend to answer it.

Because Jesus has been patient with me when I haven’t deserved patience.

He has forgiven me more times than I could count.

He has stayed faithful when I’ve wandered.

He has served me when I had nothing to offer Him.

He went to a cross for me before I ever cleaned myself up.

So when I start making a list of all the reasons someone is difficult to love, eventually I have to remember that Jesus could have made a pretty long list about me too.

And He loved me anyway.

The very next verse takes this even further. Jesus says in John 13:35 (ESV)

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Think about that.

Jesus could have said people would recognize His followers by how much Scripture they knew. By how often they went to church. By how loudly they defended the truth.

Those things can matter.

But Jesus said there should be something visible about His people that the world cannot miss:

We love differently.

Anybody can love someone who loves them back. Jesus-shaped love shows up when loving costs us something.

Maybe the strongest testimony you give today won’t be something you say about Jesus.

Maybe it will be the way you treat somebody because of Jesus.

Action Steps

* Look for someone you can serve. Do something helpful today without needing recognition or repayment.
* Pay attention to the difficult person. Ask yourself, “What would loving them like Jesus look like today?” Then do that—not what your emotions want to do.
* Check your measuring stick. When you catch yourself deciding what someone “deserves,” remember how Jesus has loved you.

Challenge for the Day

Choose one person today and intentionally love them in a way that costs you something, your time, your pride, your convenience, or your forgiveness.

Prayer

Jesus, thank You for loving me with a love I could never earn. Forgive me for the times I have made my love conditional on how other people treat me. Teach me to love like You—patiently, sacrificially, truthfully, and with grace. Put someone in front of me today who needs to experience Your love, and give me the courage to show it. Amen.

Pastor Jeff

#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign

08/16/2026

Sometimes we think of following Jesus mostly in terms of what He can add to our lives, peace, purpose, forgiveness, hope. And He gives us all of that. But Paul takes us somewhere deeper in Romans 6. He says Christianity isn’t simply Jesus improving the life we already have. We have been joined to Him. His death changes what we are leaving behind, and His resurrection changes what we are becoming.

“For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

Romans 6:5 ESV

There is a word in this verse that we can read right past: united.

Paul isn’t describing someone who admires Jesus, agrees with Jesus, or even tries hard to live like Jesus. He is describing someone whose life has been joined to Jesus.

And the surrounding verses make that even clearer. Paul is talking about baptism and what it represents. In Romans 6:3–4, he says that we were buried with Christ through baptism into death so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead, “we too might walk in newness of life.”

That’s bigger than getting cleaned up.

Jesus didn’t die and rise again so we could become slightly nicer versions of ourselves. He came to give us new life.

I think sometimes we want resurrection without death. We want Jesus to give us something new without asking us to let go of anything old.

We want peace, but we still want control.

We want freedom, but we still want to hold onto the habits that keep putting chains around us.

We want a closer relationship with God, but we don’t necessarily want to surrender the things that keep creating distance.

We want Jesus as Savior, but we struggle when He starts putting His finger on the things He wants us to surrender.

Paul says being united with Christ means both are involved; death and resurrection.

Something dies.

Something new begins.

And that sounds heavy until you realize what is dying.

A few verses later Paul says, “We know that our old self was crucified with him” (Romans 6:6).

The old Jeff doesn’t need rehabilitation. He needs a funeral.

And so does the old you.

The part of us controlled by sin. The part that has to win every argument. The part that lives for approval. The bitterness we keep feeding. The secret habit we keep excusing. The pride that makes it difficult to admit we were wrong. The need to control everything because trusting God feels too risky.

Jesus didn’t come to help us manage those things better.

He came to set us free from them.

Now, does that mean the moment you follow Jesus you never struggle again? Of course not. Anyone who has walked with Jesus for more than about fifteen minutes knows better than that.

There are still battles.

There are still temptations.

There are still mornings when the old you tries to crawl out of the grave.

But here is what has changed: the old you doesn’t own you anymore.

That is where Romans 6 becomes incredibly practical.

Because when temptation comes, you’re not fighting for freedom as though you’re still a slave trying to escape. You’re learning to live in the freedom Jesus has already given you.

When your temper starts rising, you can say, That doesn’t have to control me anymore.

When bitterness starts creeping back in: I don’t have to live there anymore.

When the old habit starts calling: That’s not who owns me anymore.

When shame reminds you of everything you’ve done: That’s who I was. Jesus is changing who I am.

That is resurrection life.

And notice Paul’s confidence:

“We shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

Certainly.

There is hope for today in that statement, but there is also an incredible promise for eternity. Because we belong to Christ, death does not get the final word over us either.

The resurrection of Jesus isn’t simply something Christians celebrate once a year.

It’s the guarantee of where all of this is headed.

We have been joined to Christ.

His death means sin doesn’t have to rule us.

His resurrection means death will not ultimately hold us.

And between those two realities, we get to spend our lives learning what it means to walk in newness of life.

Not perfectly.

But differently.

And maybe today the question isn’t, “Do I believe Jesus rose from the dead?”

Maybe it’s:

Is there evidence of His resurrection showing up in the way I live?

Action Steps

* Identify something that belongs to the old life. Be specific. A habit, attitude, resentment, temptation, or need for control that you keep allowing back into your life.
* Stop treating what Jesus died to free you from like it still has authority over you. When it surfaces today, intentionally remind yourself: I belong to Christ. This does not own me.
* Practice one act of new life. Forgive somebody. Apologize. Tell the truth. Walk away from temptation. Serve somebody. Choose generosity. Do something today that looks like Jesus is alive in you.

Challenge for the Day

Identify one thing from the “old you” that keeps trying to come back, and refuse to give it authority today. Then replace it with one action that reflects the new life Jesus has given you.

Prayer

Jesus, thank You that You didn’t just forgive my old life; You gave me a new one. Help me recognize the things I keep trying to carry out of the grave with me. Give me the courage to leave them there. Teach me to live today like someone who has truly been joined to You—free from the power of sin and alive in the hope of Your resurrection. Amen.

Pastor Jeff

#LoveGod #LovePeople #FindFreedom #FindYourDesign