What was staggering about the church in Thessalonica is that in a world with no social media, phones, or postal services, the word about their faith and love for Jesus moved faster than the apostle Paul could travel. It seemed that everywhere he went, the story of their bold and deep faith got th...

We will never know the things that could have been done in our world if people had refused to give up. What we *can* do is look around and see the amazing things that happen when people refuse to give up. Dreams come true. Marriages are restored. Friendships are healed. Churches grow. Ministries ...

When a person comes to faith in Jesus, they have a calling, a purpose, a reason for living. We don’t get to define what it will be. Our Creator God declares it. What we get to do is partner with God in discovering and following that purpose. There is nothing more exciting than learning what we we...

Our heavenly Father takes delight when his children grow and take forward steps in maturity. When God sees us walk, he wants to help us run. When we learn to pray, the Spirit of God wants to help us go even deeper. When we learn to humbly help others like our servant-Savior, he wants to see us gr...

In the days of Jesus, many people were so ready to get to their heavenly *then* that they treated their lives *now* as a distraction and a hurdle to jump over as soon as possible. God wants us to look forward to heaven but fully engage in the life he has given us on this earth. Follow the mission...

The Thessalonians were facing persecution. Fear was beginning to take hold. They were spiritually frozen and paralyzed. They stopped following Jesus with the joy and passion that had marked their earlier faith. The message from God for this young church is one we still need to hear today. Don’t b...