Words of Encouragement

Today's word of encouragement: It is okay to be weak. Your frustration with the sin that clings so closely to you is not an indictment of your faith, but proof of it. Bump music: Dreams by Bensound

Today's word of encouragement: “In my place condemned He stood and sealed my pardon with His blood, hallelujah, what a Savior.” Bump music: Dreams by Bensound

Today's word of encouragement: Jesus longs for all people to live in peace with Him. So much so, that He left His throne to be like us, suffer and die for us and resurrect to create a way for us. Bump music: Dreams by Bensound

Today's word of encouragement: We do not come to God with our good works and strength, but with our frailties and weakness. Weeping may endure through the night, but joy comes in the morning. Bump music: Dreams by Bensound

Today's word of encouragement: “Buddha's final words: Strive unceasingly. Jesus' final words: it is finished.” Bump music: Dreams by Bensound

Today's word of encouragement: no matter our motives or life circumstances, God is always ready to engage graciously with us. Bump music: Dreams by Bensound

Today's word of encouragement: While we may stubbornly ask God for a sign, some relief to our problems, He has given it to us: the death and resurrection of Christ. It may not be what we want. But it is exactly the gracious gift we need. Bump music: Dreams by Bensound

Today's word of encouragement: Jesus has the authority to define how we interact with God. And He says, over and over, we are in good standing because of His grace. Bump music: Dreams by Bensound

Today's word of encouragement: “When Jesus died for a drunk world, He gave us to drink the cup of salvation. That cup, that wine, will never run out.” Paul Walker's sermon: Jesus Died For A Drunk World Bump music: Dreams by Bensound

Today's word of encouragement: On account of Christ and what He has done, hear these words come from the open doors of heaven – your sins are forgiven. Go in peace. Bump music: Dreams by Bensound

Today's word of encouragement: In Jesus, the old you has passed away, behold, the new is here. Bump music: Dreams by Bensound

Today's word of encouragement: Come and see Jesus. I promise He is who He claims to be. Bump music: Dreams by Bensound

Today's word of encouragement comes from a sermon I preached at Hope Evangelical Free Church on February 24th, 2022. Bump music: Dreams by Bensound

Today's word of encouragement: The Chosen One of God did not wield power the way our world does. He defeated death by dying, sin by becoming sin, and shame by becoming shameful. He did all this so we no longer have to deal with these things but instead are freed from them. Bump music: Dreams by Bensound

Today's word of encouragement: Fix your eyes on Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Bump music: Dreams by Bensound

Today's word of encouragement: we are far more like the Jewish leaders than we are John the Baptist…and yet, time and again we see that Jesus came to save & forgive sinners, the sick, those who know their great need requires a great Savior. In Jesus, we have this. Bump music: Dreams by Bensound

Today's word of encouragement comes from Luther's sermon on this section: “What if all this is but a fallacious hope?...No says, the evangelist, this is not a fictitious and false grace; it is a grace free from hypocrisy, deceit, and duplicity; it makes all the words and actions of the Son not only pleasing to the Father, dear to Him, and cherished, but also genuine, and sincere, and the absolute truth. It is a real grace. Christ did not have to earn this grace; it was His by nature…All His words are true and reliable, without deceit and falsehood. His words are not only gracious or full of grace but also true.” Bump music: Dreams by Bensound

Today's word of encouragement comes from a sermon I preached at Hope Evangelical Free Church on January 16th, 2022. Bump music: Dreams by Bensound

Today's word of encouragement comes from Luther himself: “Thus our faith is still very feeble and cold. If it were as firm and stable as indeed it should be, we would almost die for sheer joy. But God be praised, we know that even those of little faith are children of God.” Bump music: Dreams by Bensound

Today's word of encouragement: the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, knows you and forgives you. Point to Him. Bump music: Dreams by Bensound

Today's word of encouragement: God's promised plan to rescue and redeem us from the darkness was present in the beginning. Not just as an idea, but as a person who would come to save us. Bump music: Dreams by Bensound

Today's word of encouragement: When you find heart trusting in your good works, your work ethic, or your faultlessness in your ideological beliefs for your standing before God, return to the cross and lay down your fake righteousness, for you already possess a better righteousness gifted to you by Jesus Himself.

Today's word of encouragement: The world and its passions have been crucified in you. This was done by Christ on the cross. For in him we live and move and have our being.

Today's word of encouragement: Jesus sowed what He did not reap so we could reap what we did not sow.

Today's word of encouragement: As you walk by the Spirit, honoring Christ with the way you live, pride will be an enemy far too near. But nearer still is Christ on the cross who bids you come and lay down that pride at the cross, where He has already paid the price for it, allowing you to, in freedom, pursue the Christ-honoring life again.

Today's word of encouragement: Because Christ has carried all your burdens for you, you are free to carry the burdens of your neighbors, and in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Today's word of encouragement comes from a sermon I preached for the college ministry of Buena Vista University on November 14th, 2021.

Today's word of encouragement: That which Paul is calling us towards is the very thing God has first done for us in Christ: compassion at our state and gentleness in returning us to the Father.

Today's word of encouragement: True saints are not those who rigorously follow the rules, but those who believe that they are justified by the death of Christ.

Today's word of encouragement: Demystify the fight between flesh and Spirit, for when you feel most connected to the love found in Jesus, you will find yourself more consistently walking by the Spirit.

Today's word of encouragement comes from a sermon I preached at Hope Evangelical Free Church on October 24th, 2021.

Today's word of encouragement: In your freedom, purchased for you by Christ on the cross, love and serve your neighbor, for that is a tangible picture of the gospel.

Today's word of encouragement comes from a sermon I preached at Hope Evangelical Free Church on October 3rd, 2021.

Today's word of encouragement comes from a sermon I preached at Hope Evangelical Free Church on September 26th, 2021.

Today's word of encouragement: You must obey the truth in your Christian life. You must continue to see yourself as a great sinner and Jesus as your great Savior.

Today's word of encouragement: You cannot out sin the love of God, you cannot fall from grace because of your wrong actions. Run towards God always that we might more deeply and profoundly believe the gospel.

Today's word of encouragement: Christ has set you free for freedom. What is it you want to do now?

Today's word of encouragement: No matter where you feel barren in your life today, God can bring freedom and life to that place. Look to the cross, where He most clearly demonstrated this.

Today's word of encouragement: You are a citizen of the Jerusalem that is above, a city that is not subject to the sting of the law.

Today's word of encouragement: find those who want nothing more than Christ to be formed in you, for that is a relationship worth investing in.

Today's word of encouragement: You will indeed find your worth & identity apart from Christ. But it is the grace of God that draws you near again, reminding you of your infinite worth on account of Christ's work.

Today's word of encouragement: “…you are no longer a slave, but God's child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.”

Today's word of encouragement: You are a child of God through faith because you were baptized into Christ Jesus. That objective event is what you can root your assurance in.

Today's word of encouragement comes from a sermon I preached on 6/20/21 at Hope Evangelical Free Church.

Today's word of encouragement comes from a sermon I preached on 5/23/21 at Hope Evangelical Free Church during Pentecost Sunday. I will be taking a little break during baseball season. I don't know when/if I will return. But I've enjoyed getting to do this thus far.

Today's word of encouragement: It is not through our strength, but through our weaknesses, our struggles and sins, we find God; or rather, He finds us.

Today's word of encouragement: The promise of the gospel predates the sting of the law. We can walk forward not in order to keep God's love, but because there is nothing we can do to forfeit it.

Today's word of encouragement: Jesus redeemed us that the blessing of one tribe, the Jews, would now be the blessing for all tribes into one new family, the family of God. This is what you are now part of, by grace, through faith in His Son. Rest in that today.

Today's word of encouragement: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”

Today's word of encouragement: we have broken our end of the covenant with God, but “ ‘He himself bore our sins' in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed.' ”

Today's word of encouragement: it is hard to come to terms with our fickle faith, our lack of devotion to Christ. It can, and should, cause a sense of dread in us. But remember, where we are faithless, God remains faithful.