Jim Graff

Easter is many believers’ favorite holiday to observe. It feels almost instinctive to worship with gratitude as we recognize Jesus’ obvious victory over death, hell, and the grave.But while it is easy to celebrate victory over a forgiven past and a secure future, it can be tough to celebrate victory over our present—just like it […]

Our society has become increasingly pragmatic. If something looks good to us, we’ll generally do it — especially if we think it won’t hurt anyone else. In this culture, it’s important to remember it’s not just what we do that matters; Why we do it is important, too. Motives matter. Proverbs 16:2 confirms this when it says: “All a person’s […]

When you hear the word peace, what comes to mind? A beach? A cabin in the mountains? Here’s one that probably wouldn’t make the list—a life-threatening storm. But this scene sets the stage for one of Jesus’ most well-known life lectures on peace. The setting is powerful, because while the beach might be a nice vacation, most […]

In the English language, love is an interesting word. While there’s only one word used to describe it, that word can offer countless implied meanings. For example, I’ve said I love my wife, I love baseball, and I love Pringles chips, but the weight each definition carries varies immensely. The Greek language is different. It gives several words to describe various types of […]

My first Easter Sunday in Victoria, Texas, was April 15, 1990. I preached a message from Ephesians 1 titled What God’s Resurrection Power Should Mean to Us. If I had a recording of that service, a lot would look different—my hair, my clothes, and the way I preached. Thankfully, the beauty of Easter is that though we […]

Albert Einstein made this observation about marriage: “Men marry women with the hope they will never change. Women marry men with the hope they will change. Invariably, they are both disappointed.” If you’ve been married for any length of time, this probably made you chuckle! But joking aside, Einstein’s statement offers truth we can’t look past. […]

God wants to bless you. This phrase may make you cringe due to how it has often been narrowly interpreted and selfishly misused in our culture. However, we shouldn’t allow a mishandling of the concept to motivate us to throw it out altogether. Scripture is clear on the matter. God does want to bless us because He loves us, […]

One of my greatest blessings was being raised in a healthy family. Of course, every family has some dysfunction, but my parents’ prioritization of our home truly made a lasting impact on me. The older I got, though, the more I realized that the strong family structure I’d grown accustomed to was becoming rather rare. Once I became […]

You might’ve heard the saying, “As the family goes, so goes the nation.” Looking at the state of our nation today, that’s hard to deny. The enemy has done his best to diminish our family structure, and it has wreaked havoc upon our country. As alarming as this can feel, God doesn’t want us to […]

We all know what the word coach means, but do you know where it originated? It came from a small town in Hungary. A long time ago, the people in this town built carriages to make carrying mail easier. The carriages they built were so well-made that they ended up selling them all over Europe. The name […]