This life can be cruel sometimes. Cancer, divorce, chronic pain, abuse, bankruptcy, death, and so much more can plague us. We wonder why these things happen. Why me? Why my loved ones?

Forgiving others can be hard. When we get hurt by someone, we want them to hurt. We want them to suffer because they made us suffer. But holding on to unforgiveness will tear us apart. We must learn to forgive, and Jesus teaches us how in the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant.

Pastors and teachers will often say that you have to repent from your sins in order to be saved.

But is it true? Do you have to repent from your sins to become a true Christian?

The Parable of the Lost Sheep in Luke 15 shows us that, 1. Sinners are lost, 2. Sinners are lost, but not forgotten, 3. Sinners are lost, but valued, and 4. Sinners are lost, but searched for by God Himself. Lost people are valued in the Kingdom of God.

In the movie, City Slickers, one of the characters named Curly is always mysteriously holding up one finger. Curly does this to show that life is really only about one thing. He’s wrong in what he says that one thing is, but he’s right that life is really only about one thing. It’s about Jesus. Jesus is our Life. I’ve know people who know Christ as their Lord and Savior, but I don’t know very many who know Him as their life. Do you know Christ as your life?

I’ve always been told that the 2nd and 3rd soils in the Parable of the Sower are not true believers, but is that true? Find out the true meaning of the Parable of the Sower or what is sometimes called the Parable of Soils.

Is it true that we need to confess our sins to be forgiven and to retain our fellowship with God? Keeping a log of your sins, constantly confessing, and being fearful of fellowship with God doesn’t sound like abundant life (John 10:10) to me. It doesn’t sound like the freedom Paul said Jesus provides (Galatians 5:1). That’s the opposite of freedom. So, what is the truth about confession of sin?

When you pray what do you pray for? Protection? Blessings? Comfort? Better Situations or Circumstances? In Acts 4 the disciples pray for boldness and ask for Jesus to use them in His Kingdom work no matter what. He will lead us to do the same.

We can often feel like God has to be so disappointed in us for doing things we know are wrong, but when we keep doing them repeatedly, doesn’t He just have to be downright angry? Surely, there is a limit to His forgiveness. There is no way that He will keep forgiving me if I keep sinning over and over again, right?

Agape love is self-sacrificial love. It is a kind of love that expresses itself in actively seeking the benefit of another. But how does that kind of love get expressed in a relationship?

“How do I stop sinning?” “I keep doing things I know I shouldn’t do.” “I want to stop, but I don’t know how to do it?” “I’ve tried accountability groups, focusing on God’s commandments, going to church, and a number of other things, but I can’t seem to stop.”

Did you know that Jesus prayed for you during his earthly ministry? It’s true. Jesus actually prayed for YOU. In John 17, Jesus prays for himself, the disciples, and then for all who would believe in Him through the disciples message. That’s you and me. What did Jesus pray for? Union

Will too much grace lead us to sin? Is grace a license to sin? Do we need to focus on laws, rules, and commands to reduce sin in our lives?

In a world where people will do just about anything for love, the Bible declares that we are fully, completely, and unconditionally loved by God. Grasp that and it will change everything.

No one likes to be judged, and we all tend to think that we don’t judge others. The reality though is that we are almost always judging others in our own minds, and Planet Fitness shows us just that.

Powerful daily prayers involve praying from a new covenant perspective. The apostle Paul prayed this prayer over the church at Colossae in Colossians 1:9-14 based on Jesus' finished work on the cross for them. May it guide your prayer life too.

What if this is the year that you quit striving to become a new you and instead learned to rest in the fact that God has already made you into a new you?

At Christmas we celebrate Jesus as Immanuel, God with us. And that is good news, but do you know what is better than God being with us?

Joy can change from one moment to the next in our lives, but true joy is different. During advent we see that Jesus came to give us true joy that lasts.

A lot of us have gone to great lengths in the name of love, but there is nothing greater than the God of the universe leaving the glory and riches of heaven to be born into a sinful world to die for people who have turned their backs on him.