The Joy of the Lord

“The stronghold of the Christian faith is the joy of God, not my joy in God. . . . God reigns and rules and rejoices, and His joy is our strength” (Oswald Chambers, Run Today’s Race).

i think too often we read that and take it to mean our joy in the Lord. Or at least I do. I somehow managed to go through most of my life reading the verse about the joy of the Lord being our strength and came away thinking that I had to conjure up or manufacture joy in the Lord to be strong. Anybody else? Just me? Cool.

I think we forget that the Lord has joy in His children, not for anything we are or anything we bring to the communal table, but simply because we are His. He has joy in what He has made. He has greater joy in what He has bought and paid for and redeemed.

To go through life in my own strength is like pushing my car from place to place instead of driving it. God’s strength is the fuel that helps me to become what He created me to be and to go where He’s called me to go. If I decide I don’t need that strength, I’m getting as far in life as I can push my car — not very far.

If you’re feeling spiritually weak, maybe the best thing for you and I do to is to rediscover God’s joy. I’m thankful that holiness isn’t something I work up in my own power. Sure, I strive for holiness, but not in my own strength. If only we could remember that God’s joy is endless and never runs out, we could always find our strength to live in the center of His will.

Lord, overwhelm us with Your joy today. Help us to lean on Your strength as we seek to please You and to do Your will in every area of our lives. Make us a people who are known for their contagious and overwhelming joy that can only come from You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Every Time

“In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents” (Luke 15:10, NLT).

The Message says that there’s a party in heaven every time even one sinner gets saved. I get that.

I know lately I find myself overjoyed when I read about any celebrity who comes to faith or someone who is coming out of a Muslim or LGBTQ or pagan background. I love that the gospel is for anyone and everyone, and there is no one who is beyond the reach of God’s grace.

I love hearing testimonies of being delivered by the power of Jesus. That never gets old for me (and I hope it never will). It always brings me ecstatic joy and reminds me of my own early days when I first experience the joy of my own salvation. It reminds me that God is still able to seek and to save the lost.

I do a lot more praying for people’s salvation than I used to. I think maybe it’s because I appreciate the gift of salvation way more than I did when I was younger. I also realize more and more that there are no political answers to what are ultimately spiritual problems.

At the root of every war and of every act of violence and every racial epithet is sin. We are all born into sin and we all need a Savior. We are not good people who need to be better or even bad people who need to be made good but dead people who need to be made alive.

That’s why I do what I do. If even one single person is in heave because of me posting these blogs every day for almost 16 years, then I can say it was worth it.

I hope you will join me in praying for lost people. If you want, you can comment on the people you are praying for or you can always text me at 615-556-5850. I’d love to pray for your loved ones as well. God is still good all the time, and all the time God is still good.

Reading through the Bible in 2026

I’ve loved reading through the Bible every year for a while. I love how the story of redemption is woven throughout the entire story of the Bible. Right now, I’ve finished 2 Kings and seen God’s people completely mess up their inheritance and get deported from their promised land. I’m seeing Jesus set His face like flint toward Jerusalem to pay for the sins of His people.

As much as I want to dismiss these children of God who keep sinning and rebelling against God, I have to admit that they remind me a lot of me a lot of the time. I confess that I am drawn away by lesser loves instead of pursuing God wholeheartedly. I have worshipped at the altars of the gods of culture instead of at the throne of the one true God.

I love how God has always preserved a remnant of faithfulness throughout history. God kept the family line alive that led to Jesus. God has preserved His true Church throughout the ages despite all the efforts to destroy or corrupt it. When any of us makes it to heaven, we can’t say that we made it because of our faithfulness to God but because of His faithfulness to us.

I’m using the Bible in a Year reading plan through the Bible app, but there are many other ways to read through the Bible. You can even start in Genesis 1 and read straight through, as I have done in years past.

The Bible is the only book I’ve ever read where I see different applications and implications from the text, not because the Bible has changed but because I have. The meaning is still the same, but it hits me different now than it did 20 or 30 years ago because I’m hopefully more mature in my faith.

I love how more and more people are discovering the Bible and finding saving faith within its pages. Any time I read about anyone who has decided to follow Jesus, I celebrate with all the angels in heaven because it’s still a miracle every single time it happens to anyone, whether that person is famous or not.

Thank You, Lord, for Your perfect Word. Help us to love it like You do. Help us not only to read it for information but to be renewed and transformed by it. Help us to not only be readers and hearers but doers and to live out and obey what we read. Amen.

Sunday Blessings

“O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”

I’m still processing a lot of what happened today.

My church met at the Fisher Center today while our sanctuary is being renovated. It was a bit like having church at Carnegie Hall or at The Met. It was a different kind of Sunday, but I believe God still knew where to find us. He still showed up as always.

I’m still so thankful to be a part of an amazing congregation that is growing not only numerically but spiritually as well. I love how so many of our members have such a willingness to serve and to be flexible to do whatever God asks, whenever God asks.

Ultimately, that’s the only fulfillment. Learning to discern the voice of Jesus and to follow where He leads is the only pathway to joy. Any other voice that promises joy only delivers disappointment.

Jesus spoke about how He knows His own sheep and calls them by name. Each one of them. He knows the very number of hairs on our heads and cares for each one of us. He said that we in turn are learning to recognize His voice and only heed His voice above all others. We know that where He leads is better than any other way that promises fame or wealth or power.

Lord, we are Your sheep. We don’t always know where to go. We recognize that without You, we are lost and helpless as any other sheep would be without a shepherd. Teach us more and more to know and love Your voice. Teach us to follow You as You lead and never doubt that they way You lead us is the only way that leads to life everlasting. Grant us to lead others to follow as You lead us in paths of righteousness for Your name’s sake. Amen.

God is Good No Matter What

“Often I have heard people say, ‘How good God is. We prayed that it would not rain for our church picnic, and look at this lovely weather!’

Yes, God is good when He sends weather. But God was also good when He allowed my sister Betsie to starve to death before my eyes in the German concentration camp.

I remember on one occasion when I was very discouraged there. Everything around us was dark, and there was darkness in my heart. I remember telling Betsie that I thought God had forgotten us.

‘No, Corrie,’ said Betsie, ‘He has not forgotten us. Remember His Word: ‘For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who Fear Him.’ [Psalm 103:11]

There is an ocean of God’s love available … There is plenty for everyone. May God grant you never to doubt that victorious love — whatever the circumstances” (Corrie ten Boom, Clippings from My Notebook).

God is good when the miraculous healing comes, and God is good when He choses to take the person to heaven.

God is good when the job comes, and God is good when there’s no job and no money.

God is good when you meet the love of your life and get married, and God is good when you spend your life single and dedicated to serving Him only.

God is good when everything goes your way, and God is good when you are facing more than you can handle and are forced to rely on God’s strength to carry you through.

God is good on the good days, and God is good on the bad days. We know no matter what God is with us and above anything God could give us, what we need most is God Himself. Even if we perish, God is still good.

A Little Matter of Discipline

“Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is as sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth” (Hosea 6:1-3).

Something you probably haven’t heard many sermons on lately is the discipline of God. It’s not seeker-friendly. It’s not warm and fuzzy theology that makes everyone feel good and loved. But it’s the truth.

God disciplines those He loves. Just like my parents used to discipline me when I got out of line or acted in a way that wasn’t smart or heathy, they let me know quickly that bad decisions have consequences. God wants us to know that our sin has consequences and affects other people other than just us.

It’s not something I would have put in the Bible, but God knows it’s something I needed. I’ve learned that not everything that seems good to me is good for me, and somethings that are unpleasant are often the very best for me in terms of getting me to look more like Jesus and more like the true authentic self that God created me to be.

I’m thankful for tough love that doesn’t let me dwell in my bad habits and addictions. I’m thankful that God loves me enough to tell me no sometimes and to let me suffer the fallout of my bad decisions. Often, we learn from seeing others who have made poor choices, suffered for it, and now what they thought they’d never tell a living soul is now the first line of their testimony.

I do believe that God loves us just the way we are, but I also believe God loves us too much to leave us that way. He’s bringing us out of the mess we’ve made for ourselves into the glorious light of His kingdom and making us a people that can declare His praises to the nations. Whatever we go through will be worth it when we see the end results and see what God did in us and through us for His glory.

A Liturgy for Community

I liked this one so much I decided to borrow it for my own blog post. It’s by Douglas McKelvey and it’s for those who are seeking biblical community. I’ve been learning recently that there’s a reason why there are no Lone Ranger Christians in the Bible. We were designed and created for community. We’re better together. So here’s the post (with a link to the actual liturgy at the end):

"Good Father Who Gives Good Gifts
to His Children,

Like Abraham, in a step of faith
I have journeyed from the comforting
sameness of all I once knew—my family
and home, my friends, my neighborhood,
my church, my old school, my settled
rhythms and routines.

I have moved far from all
that was familiar, foundational,
and steadying. The distance is
disorienting in ways I did not foresee.

For now I have little to anchor my life.
That organic and interconnected web of
community was so deep a part of my identity.

In this new place
I do not know
where I fit.

I feel myself adrift.
So let my life here take root,
O Christ, and flourish again,
nurtured by your Spirit
and your people, and
bearing good fruit in time.
I do not yet have here the same
resources of vital relationship
to sustain me.

I feel like a weary pioneer recently arrived
with one meager pack of supplies,
who must now find a good place
to begin to carve out a homestead,
a place to sink new roots in hopes
of finding good soil for flourishing.
A meaningful life must somehow be
constructed in this open prairie
of undefined possibilities.

O God, I am lonely here.
But you are present with me.
I am unmoored,
but you are my anchor.
I am unsteady.
But you are my rock.

Now lead me into good community.
Let me forge new friendships.
Give me a place in this place.
Graft me in to your Body, and into
this community, in ways that I might be
blessed, and also be a blessing. Plant me
in places where I might find delight—in
serving and in receiving, in fellowship
and celebration, in sharing the many joys
and griefs and labors, and small and
meaningful moments of which friendships
and fellowships and the community
of saints are finally built.
So let my life here take root,
O Christ, and flourish again,
nurtured by your Spirit
and your people, and
bearing good fruit in time.

Use now even this time of disorientation
to draw my heart closer to yours; to teach
me how better to trust and hope
in your promises, how better
to rest in your love.

Let whatever hardships I endure
for a time be turned—under the sway
of your Spirit—into a more mindful
and active compassion extended toward
others who might suffer similar dismay.

Give me grace enough that I might,
even in my own season of discomfort,
still offer friendship and fellowship to
others who also struggle to find their place.
Let us build good community
and strong friendship
by serving one another.
So let my life here take root,
O Christ, and flourish again,
nurtured by your Spirit
and your people, and
bearing good fruit in time.
Amen."

https://rabbitroom.substack.com/p/a-liturgy-for-seeking-to-find-your

Spiritual Pivot

Starting this Sunday, my church will be temporarily meeting in a new location. We’re doing some upgrades and improvements to our sanctuary, so we can’t meet in the building for a few weeks. That means that we’ll be in the Fisher Center at Belmont University for a bit, then over to Sevier Park for an outdoor worship service.

It will be different, and different isn’t necessarily bad. Sometimes, different can be a good thing. I imagine people that have no connection to The Church at Avenue South might be intrigued by Sunday services on the Belmont campus. Some people might be driving by the park one Sunday and see a bunch of people gathered in worship. People who might not step foot in our present location might still hear the gospel and see the tangible love of Jesus on display.

That’s definitely a good thing. I know ideally in a perfect world, all the improvements would have been completed before we moved into the present location. But as my pastor always says, this is a beautiful but broken world we’re living in, so perfect doesn’t exist. Still, God can take what’s less than perfect and work good from it.

I imagine when the people of God first arrived into their new homes in Babylon, it took some adjusting. They had lost everything they knew and loved back home and were completely unfamiliar with their new surroundings in Babylon. But what did God say? He said to plant gardens and get married and have lots of kids. You’re going to be here for a while.

In our case, the exile is only for four weeks, but God is reminding us that the Church is not brick and mortar or a location. It’s the people of God gathered to proclaim the praises of God and live out the purposes of God through the preaching of the Word and worship. We are the living stones that make up God’s dwelling place in this world.

Right now around the world, people are gathering together in homes and in sheds and under a canopy of trees to worship. Some aren’t allowed to have large gatherings. Some don’t have a building to meet in. But they are serving and singing to and loving the same God as the ones meeting in megachurches. It’s the same Holy Spirit power that lives inside of them that lives inside the ones sitting in comfortable chairs in air-conditioned buildings.

It’s like in the Christmas Vacation movie when the kid asks how Santa will know where to find them since they’re staying with the Griswolds. Church isn’t like that. The Holy Spirit knows exactly where to go on Sunday when the people of God are temporarily displaced. God is still showing up and we can still experience that presence if we’re prepared and prayed up.

Thank You, Lord, that wherever Your people are gathered in Your name, even if it’s only two or three, You’re there in the midst of them. Make Your name famous wherever we are, whether it’s at 901 Acklen Avenue or 2020 Belmont Boulevard or 3021 Lealand Lane. Do what only You can do and draw people to Yourself and thank You that we get to be a part of it. Amen.

The Difference Between Saul and David

Today’s sermon was all about David and Bathsheba. You don’t have to be a rocket surgeon to realize that David messed up. Badly. He wasn’t where he should have been, he let his eyes control his mind instead of the other way around, and he let his desires control his actions. Basically, he screwed up big time.

In order to cover up adultery, he added the murder of Bathsheba’s husband Uriah, as well as those who just happened to be nearby, to his rap sheet. At some point, he had become spiritually numb to sin and was heading down a path to swift destruction. But God had mercy.

Nathan confronted David about his sin. That was God’s mercy. God could have let David keep going down the road to where his desires were taking him to a tragic end, but God intervened. Were there natural consequences to David’s sin? Absolutely. But it was nowhere near as bad as it could have been had David continued on his original path.

The difference between David and his predecessor Saul was in the way they reacted to being confronted with sin. Saul’s heart was hardened and doubled down on his defense and self-justification. David’s heart was broken and he showed real remorse and repentance. He told God that ultimately his sin was only against Him because it was a kind of cosmic treason.

By no means does David’s sorrow negate the egregious nature of what he did. It was awful. Ultimately, it lead to a divided kingdom as the seeds were sown that would eventually lead to strife and conflict between Judah and the rest of the tribes. But if you continue to read your Bible, you’ll find that God called David “a man after my own heart.”

Every one of us will mess up at some point. Maybe our sin won’t be as obviously blatant as adultery and murder, but sin is sin and all sin is rebellion against a holy God. The key is what we do with our sin. What do we do when someone confronts us? Do we make excuses or do we make it right? Do we harden our hearts or do we let the Spirit break our hearts?

The beauty of it all is that the seed from David’s line, Jesus, took all of David’s sins upon Him on the cross. He took all of your sins and all of my sins. He paid the infinite and eternal punishment that those sins merited and gave forgiveness and freedom to all who would believe in His name.

I think David understood a little of this Messiah and put his faith in what he understood and that’s what saved him. We on the other side of the cross can believe in the fully revealed, fully finished work of Jesus on the cross. That is our salvation.

May we never become callous to sin or disregard the consequences to the choices we make. May we always seek accountability from others who will tell us the truth even when it’s uncomfortable or painful. May we seek above and pleasure or profit to be people who are after God’s own heart.

Sin Avoidance Mode

The sermon in church was on Genesis 3 about the whole deal with the serpent and the fruit and sin. Basically, Adam and Eve messed up. I don’t presume to know what they were thinking about but if they were anything like I am, then I imagine they went around all day chanting the mantra, “Don’t eat the fruit. Don’t eat the fruit. Don’t eat the fruit.”

Of course, that’s not the best way to avoid sin, but it’s the way most of us try to live. We have our sin avoidance mode where we’re constantly thinking about what we shouldn’t be doing. All the focus is on the fruit (or whatever it is that’s bad and sinful). The problem is that when that’s all you think about, then that’s all you want to do. It doesn’t work.

The Bible talks about setting our minds on things above. We’re to think about whatever is pure and lovely. We’re to fix our eyes on Jesus as the author and finisher of our faith. Nowhere does it say to avoid sin by constantly dwelling on the concept of not sinning and specifically that sin you should never do.

I had a friend once who told me that if you’re trying to break a bad habit or overcome an addiction. you don’t want only to stop doing the bad habit. You need to replace it with something godly. You need to replace it with a spiritual discipline. Otherwise, you wind up trading one addiction for another.

In one of His parables, Jesus spoke about the demon that was cast out and left the person, but found the place he left had been swept clean but left vacant, so he came back and brought seven friends with him who were even more evil than he was. If your aim is solely to stop sinning, then you risk ending up falling to a deeper temptation or a worse sin if you don’t add a good habit in its place.

Paul says to put off, be renewed, and also put on. In other words, stop doing that sinful activity. Confess your sin. Be cleansed and renewed. But don’t forget to practice daily habits of prayer and Bible study. Don’t forget to tap into the power of the Holy Spirit to enable you to live godly.

Lord, help us to focus on pleasing You more than avoiding sin. Help us to see no so much that sin is bad but that You are glorious and worthy of our holiness. May Your love for us fill us up and compel us to live in love toward You and toward everyone else so that they too can know of Your goodness and love. Amen.