Right From The Heart, 1507 Johnson Ferry Road, #100, Marietta, GA (2026)

09/06/2026

LIVING IN FEAR NO MORE
Bryant Wright, Founder

"For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am a flesh sold into bo***ge to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand for I am not practicing what I would like to do but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the thing I don’t want to do, I agree with the Law confessing that the law is good."
Romans 7:14

During my sophomore year of college, I went through a season where I was completely overwhelmed with fear.

I struggled with a fear of the future and just a general uneasiness of not knowing what I was supposed to do with my life. I felt as though I had gone from being a much too confident young man to experiencing total self-doubt and uncertainty about which direction to take. During that time, my fear even impacted my faith. I became so afraid that I might commit an unforgivable sin, even though I didn't know what that would be. It was not a happy time.

Then, one day, I came to this passage, Romans 7:14. It was as if the Words of God jumped off the page. In this scripture, the Apostle Paul confesses his struggle with sin, even late in life. After all those years of walking with Jesus Christ, Paul shared his own struggles: I know what I'm supposed to do. I know what I'd like to do, but I keep failing.

I reread the passage over and over. I can't tell you what strength and encouragement it gave me to learn that the more we grow in Christ, the more we are aware of our sinfulness. It also helped me realize that the further we are from Christ, the less we're aware of our sinfulness. It finally made sense to me! I realized that recognizing my own weaknesses and sinfulness wasn't regressing in my relationship with Christ, but growing closer to Him!

It was during that year of college and struggling with all kinds of fears, that God ministered to me very personally. He said, Bryant, whatever you DO, whatever you've DONE, and whatever you WILL DO, you are not condemned. I love you. You are my child.

That's the power of God's grace - His no strings attached offer of forgiveness and mercy through Christ's death on the cross for our sins.

And when we begin to walk with God in faith, He changes our hearts. We begin to have a desire to want to live in a way that is pleasing to God. It frees us from living in fear of messing up or doing something unforgivable, to living in true joy and gratitude for what He has done for us. And that has the power to set us free from fear - which after all, is not fully trusting God.

It's time to let go of your fear and relish in God's love!

09/05/2026

IS YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS BETTER THAN GOD'S?
Michael Kelley, Guest Contributor

“Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes."
Romans 10:1-4

I didn’t use to read the instructions.

I would get a piece of furniture or some electronic equipment or decide to take on some kind of home repair and start in on it. In my younger days, I didn’t have the time for the whole “measure twice, cut once” principle; it was more of a “just get started and figure it out along the way” kind of vibe.

So why did it take me so long to start reading the directions?

Lots of reasons probably – impatience, the need for activity, the desire for something tangible to show my work – these are some of them. But perhaps in some way, if you look deeper, there was also pride lurking there. Pride that said, I could figure it out. Pride that thought more of my own intelligence and ingenuity. Pride that my way would be fine if I got close to the end result.

I was thinking about these projects when I read these words from today’s scripture, where Paul talks about his countrymen, the Israelites, in Romans 10.

Paul loved these people. And no doubt, they were zealous. But there was an ironic quality to their zeal – they were missing the very God for which they were so zealous. In his words, their zeal was not based on knowledge. The Israelites of his day were operating under the assumption that they knew all there was to know about God, and to be fair, they had a tremendous amount of knowledge through the law, the prophets, and the like. But despite all this knowledge, they missed the crucial piece that tied it together – Jesus Christ.

Jesus was (and is) the source of true righteousness because it’s only through Christ that our hearts can be made new. Without Him, all the righteous acts we might perform are just window dressing – they are like hanging pieces of fruit on the branches of a dead tree.

But to get this missing piece, the Israelites had to submit their knowledge to what God revealed in Christ. To put it in terms of the illustration, they had to stop working on their own version of the project and start embracing its prescribed nature. The one given by the Designer Himself, not their interpretation of what that end product should be. And in some ways, not much has changed.

There is still within all of us a deep desire to prove ourselves. To justify ourselves by our actions. To make a go at righteousness on our own without submitting to the design for true righteousness. And when we do that, we make a startlingly bold claim: My version of righteousness is better than God’s.

And here we run up against the ironic nature of that claim – true righteousness is available to us. It’s available not through achievement but through faith, not through our works but through the finished work of Christ.

So, we come again today to the question of what project we are working on—are we going at it on our own, convinced that through our own effort and ingenuity, we can come up with something closely resembling the design?

Or are we submitting ourselves to the Designer’s intent?

The gospel demands the latter.

09/04/2026

YOU MAY BE LOST AND DON'T KNOW IT
Bryant Wright, Founder

“Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all he had and traveled to a distant country, where he squandered his estate in foolish living.”
Luke 15:13

Lost things—and lost people—don’t always know they’re lost.

Sheep don’t know they’re lost, but the shepherd does.

A lost coin doesn’t know it’s lost, but its owner does.

The prodigal son didn’t think he was lost. He thought he was living and enjoying the adventure of a lifetime, but if you had asked his father, he would have said, “My son is lost.” Where was the father when his son was lost? Some would argue that he never left home or went after his boy. But I believe that not a day went by that the father's heart and mind were not with his younger son. Day after day, hour after hour, the father suffered the anguish and emptiness of being separated from his son.

Can you relate to the pain of being physically separated from a loved one? The spouse of a loved one deployed in a foreign country goes to that country in their thoughts a thousand times a day.

The parent of a sick child fights the disease just as surely as their child does - feeling every pain and setback.

The father's heart for his lost son is a picture of God's supernatural love for us. And here is what is amazing about our loving God: He sent His Son to rescue us—to pay the penalty for our sin on the cross and to restore us to a right relationship with the Father. Talk about incredible, relentless love!

Are you lost? Maybe you haven't realized it before, but God does. He's offering you redemptive love and reconciliation through the life, death, and resurrection of His only Son. Please don’t let another day go by without embracing God's supernatural love. Jesus came to save us from our self-destruction and lostness.

Isn’t it time you let Him bring you home?

09/03/2026

I DO BELIEVE - HELP MY UNBELIEF!
Bryant Wright, Founder

“Call to me, and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3

Mark chapter 9 details a story of Jesus healing a little boy who was being tormented by a demon.

The disciples had tried and failed to heal him, so you can probably imagine the desperation of the boy’s father. What follows is a powerful exchange between the Father and Jesus: “All things are possible to him who believes,” Jesus says to this Father. “I DO believe. Help my unbelief,” the father responds (Mark 9: 23-24, emphasis added).

I love this passage. I love the raw, vulnerable expression of faith in the father. So what’s happening here? Jesus is telling us that to be a follower of God is to recognize that ALL THINGS are possible for those who believe and abide.

Does that mean that God answers every single prayer in the exact way we imagined?
No. Because He’s a loving Father, He’s not always going to give us exactly what we want.

Does that mean that a person will be healed if we have enough faith?
No, because that’s not how God works in His ultimate sovereign plan.

And yet, Jesus says that ALL THINGS are possible for those who believe.

The father in this story showed up because he believed in Jesus's power, yet he wasn’t completely sure that anything would happen. The problem was so big, so overwhelming, and his honesty at that moment with Jesus was so real. As Jesus said, God is always powerful, yet it’s prayer and faith that activate God’s mighty power.

So does God still heal and perform miracles? Does He answer prayers? Absolutely! And while our faith might waver between confidence and uncertainty, we can confidently go before God and pour out our hopes, fears, and disappointments.

And when we face seasons of doubt, continue to show up and ask God to help our unbelief.

09/02/2026

FINDING CONTENTMENT
Bryant Wright, Founder

"Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am." Philippians 4:11

Advertisers would have us believe that their product is the key to finding fulfillment and happiness.

Television, magazines, and social media... are all shouting the message that we simply need more stuff. They want us to believe that these "things" are truly essential to our happiness.

Well, I've got news for you. Seeking satisfaction in things will never bring contentment; it just leads to further dissatisfaction. We will always want the next new thing and never be satisfied.

So, how do we find contentment? Like so many other things, contentment is a choice - it's a by-product.

The apostle Paul, a man who experienced more than his share of difficulty in life, said, "I have learned to be content regardless of my circumstances." What was his secret? Jesus. It was in his relationship with Jesus Christ that Paul finally found contentment no matter his circumstances. It was a by-product of his relationship with Jesus Christ, his Savior and Lord.

And the same is true for the rest of us. So, stop wrestling with the fear of missing out (FOMO) on more stuff. Through Christ, we all have the opportunity to find true contentment, no matter life's circumstances.

Now that you know, why not embrace a life of contentment today?

09/01/2026

AN UPSIDE-DOWN WORLD
Jonathan Munson, Executive Director

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness…”
Isaiah 5:20

“The world has changed.
I see it in the water.
I feel it in the Earth.
I smell it in the air.”
-J.R.R Tolkien

The 2001 movie The Fellowship of the Ring starts with these ominous words, signaling the rise of evil in the fictional world of Middle-Earth.

But it’s not just Middle-Earth that’s changed, is it?

The real world has changed, too. Along with Mr. Tolkien, we can “smell it in the air.”

It’s like the world has turned upside-down. What’s wrong is called right. What’s moral is thought of as immoral. And truth, logic, and common sense? Well, they seem to be long, lost relics of the past.

This crazy, ever-darkening world can make us long for the ‘good old days.’

Yet, if there’s one thing our verse from Isaiah teaches us, it’s that the ‘good old days’ never existed. There’s nothing new under the sun. Even in Isaiah’s day, people called evil good and preferred darkness over light.

Since the Garden of Eden, where we rebelled against God’s rightful authority, we’ve tried to set our own standards of right and wrong, good and evil. On the whole, society has pushed God and His Word out of the picture. As a result, we live in a moral free-for-all where anything goes (as long as you don’t impose your morality on someone else).

But just because culture labels evil as good doesn’t make it so.

Pastor Charles Stanley reminds us,

“When God calls something evil in His Word, it is evil. Period. He is our absolute authority.”

While we see it this way as Christians, the outside world doesn’t share our perspective.

We must be careful not to point fingers at the world. If anything, we should point them inward, not outward.

You see, Isaiah’s words were not aimed at pagan culture but at the people of God, his fellow Israelites. His proclamation is one of six “woes” to God’s people, repeatedly denouncing how far they had drifted off course (Isaiah 5:8, 11,18, 20, 21, & 22).

This is a sobering wake-up call.

When it comes to twisting God’s standards, inventing our guidelines of right and wrong, and turning God’s truth upside-down, every one of us is guilty. There are no exceptions. We’re all in the same boat.

Personally, I find this verse profoundly convicting.

Be honest: Isn’t there an area (or two) of your life where you’re tempted to call “evil good” and put “darkness for light?”

The problem isn’t just 'out there' in the big, bad world. The problem resides in our hearts, too.

Furthermore, shouldn’t we expect a lost world to act…well, lost?

But as the people of God, we know better. This is what makes Isaiah’s words so tragic.

Fortunately, there is wonderful news for a broken world and God’s wayward children. Jesus says, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17).

Here’s some advice for the day ahead:
1. Run humbly to the Great Physician and confess how the sickness of sin has invaded your heart.
2. Run humbly to a broken world with a renewed passion to be “salt and light” (Matthew 5:13-16).

After all, this isn’t fiction.

There is a real world out there that desperately needs a Savior.

08/31/2026

DAY ELEVEN: THE TEST NOBODY PASSES
Bryant Wright, Founder

“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” James 2:10

As we come to the end of the Ten Commandments, one question naturally rises to the surface: How are we doing?

And the honest answer is not encouraging.

Most of us tend to grade ourselves on a curve. We compare ourselves to people around us and conclude that we are doing fairly well. We may not have committed adultery, murdered anyone, or robbed a bank. We may even think our good deeds outweigh our failures. But that is not how God grades.

According to Scripture, there is only one passing grade: perfection.

Today’s Scripture makes that unmistakably clear: God’s standard is not “better than most.” It is absolute holiness. If we break one commandment, we stand guilty before a holy God.

That is why the Ten Commandments are so humbling. They expose our sin. They show us that none of us can earn God’s approval by trying harder or doing better. The law is like a mirror—it reveals what is wrong, but it cannot fix what it shows us.

And that is exactly why we need Jesus. Jesus is Good News in the face of this reality.

Jesus is the only One who ever made a perfect score. He fulfilled the law completely, never sinning once in thought, word, or deed. Then He went to the cross and took the punishment our failures deserved. Through faith in Him, we are forgiven, declared righteous, and given a relationship with God that we could never earn on our own.

The Ten Commandments were never meant to convince us that we can pass the test. They were meant to show us we never will…on our own. We need a Savior. And the good news of the gospel is that in Christ, the One who earned the perfect grade offers His righteousness to all who trust in Him.

08/30/2026

DAY TEN: THE COMPARISON TRAP
Bryant Wright, Founder

“‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’” Exodus 20:17

The final commandment deals with a sin that is often invisible to everyone except God.

"Do not covet."

Coveting begins when we become dissatisfied with what God has given us and start longing for what He has given someone else. It is the belief that life would be better if we had their house, their job, their spouse, their success, or their opportunities.

In many ways, this is the myth of greener grass. We convince ourselves that joy is somewhere else. If only our circumstances were different, then we would finally be content.

But contentment is never found by constantly looking over the fence.

The problem with coveting is that it steals our gratitude. Instead of thanking God for His blessings, we become preoccupied with what we do not have. Instead of trusting His plan, we question His goodness.

The Apostle Paul learned a different way. He wrote that he had learned to be content in whatever circumstances he faced. Contentment was not the result of perfect conditions. It was the result of trusting Christ (Philippians 4:12).

There will always be someone with more money, more influence, more possessions, or more opportunities. If our joy depends on keeping up with others, we will never have enough. Comparison always leads to inferiority.

True contentment begins when we stop comparing our lives to others and start thanking God for His faithfulness to us.

08/29/2026

DAY NINE: WHY TRUTH MATTERS
Bryant Wright, Founder

“‘You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.’” Exodus 20:16

Most of us would never describe ourselves as liars.

Yet honesty involves much more than simply avoiding major falsehoods. It includes the half-truths we tell, the details we exaggerate, and the facts we conveniently leave out when they make us look better– or make someone else look worse. It includes gossip. In the New Testament, the Greek word ‘diabolos’ is translated as gossip. To lie and gossip is to be like the devil.

The ninth commandment reminds us that truth matters because God is a God of truth.

When dishonesty enters our lives, trust begins to disappear. Relationships suffer. Reputations are damaged. Credibility is lost. Even small lies have a way of growing larger over time.

That is why Scripture repeatedly calls us to speak the truth. Honesty creates trust, while deception creates distance.

One reason lying is so dangerous is that it often becomes a habit. The more we lie, the more we feel we have to lie—to protect ourselves. Eventually, we begin to deceive ourselves as well as others.

Of course, being truthful does not mean being harsh. God's Word calls us to speak the truth in love. Our goal is not simply to be right. Our goal is to reflect the character of Christ.

Followers of Christ are called to something better. We serve a Savior who is "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). As His people, our words should be marked by honesty, integrity, and trustworthiness.

Truth matters because it reflects the character of the God we worship.

08/28/2026

DAY EIGHT: THE MAKING OF A THIEF
Bryant Wright, Founder

“‘You shall not steal.’” Exodus 20:15

Most theft begins long before anything is ever taken.

A person does not usually wake up one day and suddenly decide to steal. The act itself is often the final step in a much deeper process. It begins with discontent. It grows through entitlement. It is fed by greed and selfishness. And eventually the heart convinces itself that taking what does not belong to us is acceptable.

That is why the eighth commandment is about more than shoplifting, fraud, or burglary. It reaches into the heart and exposes a deeper problem: the desire to get what we want apart from God’s provision and God’s ways.

Stealing says, “I deserve this.” Or, “I need this more than they do.” Or, “No one will miss it.” It can show up in obvious ways, but it can also appear more subtly—in cheating, cutting corners, dishonesty at work, withholding what is owed, or taking credit that belongs to someone else. In every case, the root issue is the same: a refusal to trust God with what we have and wanting more than we deserve.

The eighth commandment reminds us that God cares deeply about honesty, contentment, and stewardship. He is the One who provides for us. And when we truly trust Him, we do not have to manipulate, take, or deceive to get what we want.

Followers of Christ are called to live differently. Instead of taking, we are to work honestly. Instead of grasping for more, we are to be content. Instead of asking, “What can I get?” we are to ask, “How can I honor God with what He has entrusted to me?”

The making of a thief begins in the heart. So does integrity.

Right From The Heart

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