From the Pulpit of Gospel Light

If you think you know the story of Jonah, think again. Pastor Justin Cooper sums up the entire book in one word, and it may be the word you need most right now. In the opening verses of Jonah, we see God reaching for a runaway prophet and a city that never asked for help. That is mercy, and it is the only reason any of us are still standing.

Two words in the Bible ought to scare us: "He left." In John 4:3, Jesus walks out of Judea, and everything else stays the same. Same houses. Same people. Same streams. The one thing missing is Jesus.In Part 11 of our study in the Gospel of John, Pastor Justin Cooper asks what happens when a church, a family or a believer takes the presence of God for granted, and how to keep Him.

Why did God let Goliath be born? Why did He let him grow, win battle after battle, and mock His name for 40 days? The same question sits behind every diagnosis, every funeral and every broken home: God, why?In Part 9 of the 1 Samuel 17 series, Pastor Justin Cooper shows that David answered it on the battlefield: "that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel."

What's the difference between heaven and hell? One word: grace. In "A Glimpse of Grace," Brother Joe goes back to the first time that word ever appears in Scripture, Genesis 6:8, "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." In a world as dark as ours, Noah's ark was God's plan of escape, and it is one of the clearest pictures of Jesus in the entire Old Testament.

You've probably heard that David refused King Saul's armor because it was too big. The Bible never says that.In 1 Samuel 17:39, David says, "I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them." He had never tested it, never worn it, never trusted God in it — so with two armies watching, the boldest young man in Israel stopped and took it off. Pastor Justin Cooper calls it the principle of proving things, and it may be the most practical message in this whole series.Here's why it matters now: there is a decision in front of you. A job, a relationship, a move, a church. How are you going to make it — on a feeling, on pressure, or on the will of God?