The MOST important thing that will ever happen to you–EVER–is your conversion. Accepting Christ. Not everyone can point to a single day and time; sometimes you just realize that you decided to believe, and you did. Others of us can point to a time or season, place or age. Because when you accept Christ, you’re a whole new creature, a new being. The Bible isn’t being fanciful or metaphoric, that’s exactly what it means. The doctrine of conversion is called “justification”, because we asked the Lord to forgive our sins and come into our lives. “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that…

When I write sermons, I talk them first. I say things out loud as it I were speaking to you. As themes and wisdom and truths come to me, the sermon beings to take shape. The I dictate the first draft so I have a record of it. I adjust, put in illustrations and stories, get rid of the tangents no matter how fun they are; and all the time I’m talking listening to the Lord’s direction while I’m talking right out loud. Good thing the dog is used to my wondering around the house passionately proclaiming the word of God! Until Friday morning. I was practicing this sermon in…

You have already experienced the greatest transformation of all. You are saved, you are a new creature in Christ! Once you’re saved, the Lord tells His children to become more like Christ, to “pick up your cross and follow Me.” This means developing qualities like the fruits of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Please note that none of these include hating people for their professions or politics. Just saying.) Transformation in Christ happens when you take the Word of God seriously by reading it, studying it, and/or listening to it every day; and when you live it out the way you deal with other…