Pastor & author Mark Batterson once wrote in a book on prayer, “Celebrate what you want to see more of. That’s one way to fan into flame the gift of God.” And it can be said another way: what you celebrate is what you replicate. So what are we celebrating?

A Jesus-centered life is a journey of faith, a process that begins, sustains, and ends with Jesus. And for all the other ways we talk about it, the gospel is that process. It's the foundation, for sure, but it also empowers us to live out our purpose & joy and points to the fulfillment of the entire adventure - forever with our loving and beloved Savior. And if this is true, what can we be more right to celebrate than this very, very good news.

#TheGoodInTheGrief #GoodNews #Gospel #CelebratingTheGoodNews

One of the most frequently asserted accusations against those who claim to follow Jesus is but a single word: hypocrisy. And while hearing this stings for Christians, a further wound remains … it is often true. Even though following Jesus doesn't mean that someone will be perfect, too often we fail to allow the Holy Spirit to transform us into what the gospel calls us to be. 

If we want to be those who embrace and declare the good news, we need to take a hard look at whether or not we're living in light of it, from what we do to what we say and (often even more importantly) how we do and say what we do and say. If the eternal destinies of those around us actually matter to us, we'll have to be willing to admit where we're falling short of the gospel - and the sometimes painful job of changing and repairing the damages we've done.

#TheGoodInTheGrief #GoodNews #Gospel #WhatGetsInTheWayOfTheGospel

Did you know that the fear of public speaking is the most common legitimate and diagnosable phobia - ahead of heights, spiders, or even death? The National Institute of Mental Health reports that public speaking anxiety (or glossophobia) affects about 40% of the US population. Underlying this phobia is a fear of judgment or negative evaluation by others. 

TL/DR, we're generally scared that people will judge, mock, or otherwise reject us based on what we say and how we say it. 

Unfortunately for Jesus-followers, we often lean into this trepidation in a major way when it comes to speaking about our faith. We come up with excuses (with some that even sound highly spiritual!) for why we don't, can't, or won't use our words to share the Gospel of Jesus. But the reality is that Jesus - in all His love, grace, mercy, and compassion - doesn't let those excuses stand. So what does it look like to both showandtell others about this Good News? 

#TheGoodInTheGrief #GoodNews #Gospel #SharingTheGoodNews

The word gospel, at its simplest and most basic, means “good news.” The gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news that sinful people can be made right with God by repenting of their sin and trusting in Jesus as Savior and Lord to pay for the debt their sins have incurred. It is the foundational doctrine of the Christian faith. 

But it doesn't end there - quite to the contrary, it truly only starts there. The gospel is not some secret knowledge, magic password, or spiritual key that unlocks heaven, only to be hung on a hook once you're “in” and then forgotten. Rather, the gospel is the primary lens through which Jesus-followers view reality and the motivating factor by which they live their lives. This good news must be lived and reproduced every day in the life of a Jesus-follower! 

#TheGoodInTheGrief #GoodNews #Gospel #GoodWorks #Reconciliation

It's an age-old question: “I've got good news and bad news. Which do you want first?” This is so often asked because, living in this broken world, even good news frequently neighbors with bad. It's evidence that our broken world is indeed broken. In religious circles, we call this reality sin. And sin itself is an umbrella term for a host of ideas, such as missing the mark, accidental harm, willful misdeeds, unconscious malfeasance, outright evil, and more.

But this seminal question is also evidence that, despite this sin & brokenness, there is still good. In fact, the good predates the bad, is greater than the bad, and will ultimately emerge fully, completely victorious over the bad. And the news of this good is not just good news, it's the greatest news ever. At the center of this news is that man Jesus, fully human yet fully Divine, who earned and crafted that victorious triumph over the bad and who beckons all to join in the grace, mercy, peace, hope, and love that it ensures.

#TheGoodInTheGrief #GoodNews #Gospel