Diamonds in the River
Diamonds in the River By Pastor Justin Cooper I sat down with my son Lincoln a couple of weeks ago to watch the NBA Finals. He was talking the whole time — questions, commentary, excitement — and I’ll be honest with you, I told him to be quiet. I just wanted to watch the game. […]
A Thirst That Won’t Stop
The Thirst That Won’t Quit By Pastor Justin Cooper There is something inside every person that keeps reaching for more. You get the new phone, and within six months you’re already looking at what’s coming next. You get to the destination you’ve been planning for, and the moment you arrive, your mind is already drifting […]
Don’t Fill in the Well
Don’t Fill In the Well By Pastor Justin Cooper Somewhere between the woman leaving her water pot and the entire city coming out to meet Jesus, something remarkable happened. She didn’t just get transformed — she became the reason a whole community found the well. She came alone, in shame, at noon. She left as […]
Praise Him Before
Praise Before the Breakthrough By Pastor Justin Cooper There’s a question I want to put in front of you today that I’ve had to sit with myself. Are you waiting for God to do something before you praise him? Are you holding out your worship like a reward — something God gets after the breakthrough […]
When Nobody Sees You in the Dark
When Nobody Sees You in the Dark By Pastor Justin Cooper I got three texts before I ever pulled into the church parking lot Sunday morning. Emergency room. Emergency room. And somebody gone home to be with the Lord. That was 7:45 in the morning. And I walked into that service knowing that some of […]
Shotgun Prayers
Don’t Pray Shotgun Prayers By Pastor Justin Cooper I have a confession to make. There have been seasons in my life where I prayed the most generic prayers imaginable. “God bless everyone. Meet every need. Be with the sick.” Pointed at everything and hit nothing. That’s what I call a shotgun prayer. Aimed loosely at […]
Cut Off from Headquarters
Cut Off from Headquarters By Pastor Justin Cooper I want to tell you about 554 men who made a terrible mistake — and a wounded pigeon who saved 194 of them. It was World War I. The 77th Division — what history calls the Lost Battalion — pressed through a gap in the German front […]
What Are You Trusting?
What Are You Trusting? By Pastor Justin Cooper I’ve been in a hospital room more than once, sitting beside someone who couldn’t tell me with any certainty where they were going when they left this world. And I’ll tell you — there’s nothing quite like that moment. The family standing around the bed, the hum […]
Don’t Walk Away
Don’t Walk Away By Pastor Justin Cooper There is a line in that story I cannot get past. After Jesus tells the rich young ruler what he needs to do — after the invitation is extended, the door is open, eternal life is right there in front of him — the Bible says he “went […]
Stand on the Word
Stand on the Wordand Reach the Window By Pastor Justin Cooper There’s a story — whether it happened exactly this way or not, the truth in it is real — about a woman trapped in a house fire. The room was filling with smoke. She made it to the window, but she couldn’t reach the […]