Mark Batterson

Our church home is a PLACE OF MIRACLES, place of prayer, place of worship, place of belonging, place of purpose and so much more. No matter where you’ve been or where you're headed, we’ve got a seat for you at the table, and you’re right on time. Welcome Home.

Worship is a weapon, our secret weapon. It’s the way we fight spiritual battles, shift the atmosphere, and prophesy our praise.

Our highest privilege and greatest responsibility is prayer. Prayer is the difference between the best WE CAN DO and the best GOD CAN DO, and that’s a big difference. Prayer is the way we WRITE HISTORY before it happens.

Shame is a story you tell yourself about yourself. Like a news ticker that runs in the background of our minds, we have shame scripts that say: “I am unworthy, I am unlovable, I am not enough, I am a mistake.” God says you are His workmanship, fearfully and wonderfully made, the apple of His eye, more than a conqueror. If you want to change your life, you have change your story! You are who God says you are. To believe anything else is false humility.

If you stay humble and stay hungry, there is nothing God cannot do in you or through you. Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less. How? By thinking of others more. By thinking of God more.

We are getting smarter and smarter, but I’m not sure we’re getting wiser and wiser. Our culture is polarized and politicized, fight or flight. If we ever needed wisdom, it’s now. The good news? Wisdom has a name. Jesus is wisdom with skin on it. Jesus is perfect theology! The Jesus Way is Third Way. It doesn’t compromise it’s convictions, but it always shows compassion.

We have RULES for everything. There are rules of the road, rules for the games we play, rule of law. Spiritually speaking, a RULE OF LIFE consists of core values, core beliefs, and core practices. It’s a CODE OF CONDUCT—rituals and routines, decisions and disciplines—by which we live our lives. This week we explore seven JOY RULES, and it starts with this—ENJOY THE JOURNEY.

Everybody is somebody’s disciple. Consciously or subconsciously, we pattern our lives after someone. As Christ followers, we have made a conscientious decision to live like Jesus, pray like Jesus, forgive like Jesus, love like Jesus. We are His hands, His feet. We are His workmanship. We are the manifold wisdom of God. Simply put, you are the genius of Jesus.

When you put what you have in your hand—five loaves and two fish—into the hands of God, 5 + 2 doesn’t equal 7 anymore. Add God to the equation, and 5 + 2 = 5000 R12.

When you trace the genealogy of genius, the genesis usually involves some PAIN and SUFFERING. Genius is not born of comfort. It’s born from, born for adversity. SUFFERING is the SEEDBED of genius. God redeems it and recycles it for His plans, His purposes.