We want to keep the Gospel at hand. It’s part of our “every day carry.” It’s on our belt, in our purse or pockets, in the center console, at our bedside, on the counter.

It’s near to us and we are never far from it.

We may be saved already—once-for-all!—but we now need Jesus, Savior and Shepherd, to bring His saving grace into every part of our lives.

Scripture calls us to stand and walk, wait and work, push forward and stay rooted. These are not in tension. They are the What and the How of the Christian life.

To “receive” the Gospel is to hear it and to believe it. It’s to put our faith in this message, to entrust our lives to it, to open our hearts to it, to apply it to ourselves.

The Gospel interrupts our sense that we’re all alone, left to our own plans and our own abilities, unregarded and unloved.

We are being saved by the Gospel as we stand in it and hold it fast, as we receive it when we are reminded of it when it is preached to us.

We know joy starts with our God, but it has to make contact with our hearts for it to become our joy.

Our joy is with Him. That’s where it is. It’s not anywhere else. To have it, to get it, we must first seek it where it can be found.

There’s no joy for us apart from God, or without God. We can’t expect our hearts to rejoice when we’re living without thought of God or regard for Him.

Here is a simple truth: Our hearts can be made glad by reflecting on who God is.

Don't be afraid: ask, ask for more, and keep asking. These are things Jesus says He came to give us.

Why do I take personal, spiritual, sabbatical retreats?

We can travel from falling to singing, from being pushed over to standing strong, from feeling alone and overwhelmed to celebrating anew our salvation with God.

Remember Christ’s victory when you feel defeated. Christ’s victory is yours. So long as He has won—and He has—and we remember this, there is no defeat.

This whole story of power and opposition is just a chapter in a larger story, the story of Jesus.

When we suffer, we still win, by holding fast to Christ.

In Revelation 8:6-13, we see [two] things being done. God is righteously judging the wicked, answering the prayers of His persecuted people. But God is doing it in such a way that the wicked are shown mercy, being encouraged to repent.

Jesus is worthy. This is why the rest of the chapter bursts into celebration. Jesus is worthy because “You were slain and by Your blood You ransomed people for God…”

The Gospel is not about our works or effort. It’s about our relationship with Jesus.

Who gets to be there? All whose names are in the Lamb’s book of life, all who have been washed clean.
The gates of the city are open wide to all who will trust in Jesus.