Newton’s Third Law of Motion & Christmas

 

What is true in physics is also true in the human heart when it is confronted with what happened at Christmas. An individual who truly understands and believes the message that God became a human being in the person of Jesus Christ cannot walk away from it and ever be the same. The Christmas message is no soft and sentimental Hallmark movie which we turn on and off depending on our emotional state.

The birth of Jesus Christ forces us to ask the eternally important questions about our lives, God and what happens after we die. The answers to those questions which Jesus offers are spectacularly wonderful. So much so that they create a powerful reaction in people which demonstrates itself in changed priorities, attitudes and behavior. For those who are convinced the Christmas story is the historical account of God executing the greatest rescue mission of all time, a powerful and positive reaction which makes itself evident in their lives is not an option, it is a natural result of the Message.

Worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm, Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

The Longest Step

Taking the first step in reconciling with another person very often doesn’t even involve moving our feet, but it can be the most challenging of experiences we go through in life. The need for reconciliation means we are in conflict with someone. In other words, we’re fighting and there are plenty of hurt feelings and bruised egos to go around. Our heart has been pierced by some kind of betrayal by a person we’ve trusted and no matter how much similarly we have treated them, our hurts blur our perception of our portion of blame for the whole mess.

Reconciliation excuses are some of Satan’s most effective tactics in destroying Christian joy and undermining our relationship with Christ. He convinces us that the other person is much more responsible for the conflict and therefore the burden of initiating reconciliation is with them. We are the offended party. And the longer we brood over our hurts, the more certain we are of our rightness and the other person’s total and complete guilt. The most tragic result of unreconciled conflict is the bitterness and resentment it grows within us. Like an acid it eats away at our hearts, reducing even our relationship with God to a cynical, hands up attitude, “But can I trust you?”

The message of Christmas is that God sent his Son into the world to reconcile us to himself, to end the war between us which our self-centeredness has created. As a result, we have every reason and all the motivation to be reconciled with other people. If you have that aching feeling you should send a text or an e-mail to someone you would rather forget, join us for one of our weekend worship services. Christmas is a time of reconciliation.

 Worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm, Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

 Christmas Eve Service – Thursday at 7:00 pm

This Christmas Eve at 7:00 pm we will be holding a beautiful song and Scripture reading service to commemorate the birth of Christ. Join us for a time of worship and celebration on this most special evening!

 

Imagine the emotions of joy, relief and gratitude which rushed through the man bobbing to keep his head above water when he looked up and saw the rescue diver being lowered to save him. He was helpless and he knew it. Without the helicopter pilot and diver, he was a dead man. He might have felt lucky. He might have felt blessed. He might have had a sense of awe. But the one thing he did not say to himself was, “I am invincible. I saved myself.”

Christmas has lost its impact on many of us because we have lost appreciation that spiritually, we are as helpless to save ourselves as the man in the ocean was of making it home alive without the help of a highly trained rescue team. Christmas is a time of salvation. It is a time to recognize how small our place in this universe is. It is a time to admit we are nowhere near good enough to demand God’s acceptance. It is a time to confess we need someone to save us.

If you feel like you are having to force yourself to get excited about celebrating Christmas, maybe you’ve lost your focus. It could be you are letting the circumstances of your life determine whether or not you should celebrate Christmas this year. Join us for one of our weekend services. The message of God’s Christmas salvation not only naturally leads us to celebrate, it opens our eyes to the truth about ourselves – a truth which changes us forever.

Worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm, Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

This Ain’t No Pep Rally

 

Pep rallies are a part of high school. And even though most of us weren’t part of the athletic activities, we still felt it important to scream, jump and clap our hands to encourage those participating to do their best. If it wasn’t stated explicitly, we all thought we were being loyal to our school; we were part of something bigger than ourselves. Of course, there were always the skeptics, the ones who didn’t shout or clap or jump. They just stood there with their arms folded wondering out loud what anything that was going on had to do with them?

As the years passed, we might have looked back on those pep rallies and asked the same thing, “What did all that have to do with me? What did I get so excited about?” The irony of it all is that pep rallies don’t end with high school. Our society is built around a pep rally mentality, whether it is the latest movie, or concert, sporting event or political election, we are constantly being revved up into a frenzy over something which often has little to do with our lives.

The Christmas season is upon us once again. In the Christian Church it is definitely described as a season for celebration. Unfortunately, due possibly to over familiarity with the message or repeated non-celebratory presentations of the Christmas message, we often don’t experience the celebration of the season. We wonder, as we did with our high school pep rallies, “What does Christmas have to do with me?” The short answer to that question is, “Everything.” If you want a more detailed explanation, join us for one of our weekend worship services either in person or online. Until then, here’s something to think about: Christmas celebrations have been around for 2000 years. Doesn’t that kind of history itself warrant a closer look?

Learn what Christmas is all about and you’ll find the celebration ain’t no pep rally. Come celebrate with us!

 Worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm, Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

What Do You Look for In a Coffin?

 

What a creepy question! Who wants to leaf through a catalogue of caskets comparing interior and exterior designs? Many of us make general funeral arrangements, but coffin specifics, not many. From a purely logical point of view, however, there might be reason to give this matter another thought. While we spend hours choosing, repairing and maintaining our earthly homes, the truth is, we’re going to spend a whole lot more time in our coffins than we will in our houses. So, what is our problem?

The answer is pretty simple, we have a hard time dealing with the details of death. We can talk about death, philosophize with others concerning the subject, but when it comes down to the brutally relevant question, “What will happen to me when I die?” that’s when we hedge or change the subject.

This weekend we begin the church season of Advent. The word literally means “coming”. Traditionally, Christians spend the weeks before Christmas preparing for the first coming of Christ which happened in Bethlehem 2000 years ago, and also for his second coming which could take place before you finish reading this article. We call it Judgment Day.

Jesus did not hesitate to talk about death, both explicitly and frequently. In fact, he told those who followed him they should be much more concerned about what happens after they die than what happens during their earthly life. The answers to our questions are not vague or hard to understand. Jesus leaves no one wondering what he’s talking about or what he means. Our preparations for Judgment Day are simple and straightforward. Best of all, there is no reason to be afraid of that Day.

If you are a bit frustrated with all the talk about death these days with little or no input on what happens after we die, join us for one of our weekend worship services. Without a doubt, you’re going to hear some good news. Actually, it is the BEST news!

Worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm, Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

Caring in a Cold World

 

It’s an old but timeless story. A young boy runs along the seashore crowded with beached starfish. One by one he gently takes each star fish into his hands, runs as far into the ocean as he can and then with all his might, hurls the starfish back to safety.

Nearby a cynical old man watches, shakes his head and then walks up to the boy saying, “Son, you can’t save them all. There are too many. What you are doing just doesn’t make a difference.”

Holding up a starfish to his face, the boy replies, “It makes a difference for this one.” And then he threw the starfish back to its home.

A person doesn’t have to look far to see the world is drowning in suffering and problems. The sheer amount of collective pain is overwhelming. What can one person do? Everything! The Gospel message of Christianity is that there is a solution for our suffering world and it comes through the life, death and resurrection of one man – the God/Man – Jesus Christ.

As a follower of Jesus Christ you are connected to him in a mysterious yet supernatural way, enabling you to be his representative in this crisis ridden world. You do make a difference! Through Christ, you have every reason to care among people grown cold with suffering.

Worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm, Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

The Freedom Confusion

 

People may claim that freedom is being able to do what one wants, however, history demonstrates that the unrestrained pursuit of satisfying our desires leads to a slavery which often produces a completely destructive lifestyle. True freedom is the ability to say “no” to a strong desire when one recognizes that the satiation of the desire will result badly.

Jesus said once that if we hold to his teachings, we will know the truth and the truth will set us free. Popular culture scoffs at the idea of Christian freedom by portraying followers of Christ as uptight, repressed hypocrites who run around trying to make sure that no one else is having any fun because they themselves don’t want to miss out.

However, it is difficult to understand what could be repressed about having the ability to love, be joyful, live in peace, show patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and practice self-control on a daily basis. Looking at those qualities makes one want to ask, “Where do I sign up?”

Christian freedom is the exact opposite of self-centered freedom. The first gives us the ability to do what is right from God’s perspective. The second is condemned to choosing what we believe is good for us at the moment, regardless of the long term pain it may cause.

If you’re confused about all the people you know who claim to be free but live addicted to behavior which destroys them, join us for one of our weekend services. Discover the freedom only Jesus Christ can offer!

Worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm, Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

Walt Whitman, the great American poet of the 1800s said that “God is a mean-spirited, pugnacious bully bent on revenge against His children for failing to live up to his impossible standards.” That description is enough to scare away anyone from searching for the truth about God. What led to Whitman’s cruel perception of God might be found in his poetry, but it certainly is not what we see in the Bible.

In one of the greatest stories ever told Jesus Christ described God as a father who welcomed back a son who had mocked and ridiculed him, a son who had lost his fortune. Even with so much reason to forget this ungrateful boy, the father ran out to meet the prodigal when he returned home in total shame.

The reason we can call God “Father” is because of Jesus Christ. His life was about so much more than showing us how to love, it was about obtaining reconciliation. It was about bringing us back to God the Father.

The Bible is a big book which at times can be intimidating. But its bottom-line message is this, your Creator is waiting for you to fall into his open arms just like the wayward son in Jesus’ story fell into the arms of his forgiving father. What could be more beautifully powerful than that?

Worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm, Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

Stick to the Plan

 

How often it happens that carefully made plans fall apart because one particular person thinks he or she knows better and decides to change what has already been decided. It may seem like an insignificant detail at the moment, but the result is the unraveling of a well-thought-out strategy which then ends in disaster. It’s an old saying which hasn’t lost its relevance over the years: “Stick to the plan!”

The most fantastic and important plan of all time took thousands of years to develop, but when the time was just right, all the pieces fell into place. God became a human being in the person of Jesus Christ for one reason – to rescue the human race from evil. It is a plan so outrageously bold, so unbelievably radical. God taking our place on a cross to pay for our sin! God doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. And then offering it to us as a gift, a gift we receive by faith.

From the very beginning of the announcement of The Plan, people have tried to change it in one way or the other. The years have passed, but The Plan remains the same. It has to. For if it is changed, it no longer is The Plan.

Join us for one of our weekend services. Discover The Plan God has for you. Your life can never be the same.

Worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm, Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

The Gospel – All or Nothing

 

If you are going to learn how to swim, you have to jump into the pool. There is just no other way. Dangling one’s feet in the water or even going in waist high won’t do it. You’ve got to get wet all over. It’s all or nothing.

Not putting all one’s eggs in the same basket or using moderation in our approach towards something can be very wise. It’s just good common sense to use restraint or reserve…most of the time. But with some things in life, it is all or nothing – like learning to swim or skydive or get right with God. You must jump into the pool, jump out of the plane and put your trust completely in Christ’s forgiveness. To hold back in any of those situations means not learning to swim, skydive or spend eternity with God. The first two examples are pretty obvious, but why the “all or nothing” approach to God?

The question all people have asked through the ages is, “How do I get to heaven?” Most answers have centered on what the individual must do to make God happy. There have been variations on that theme, but by and large, the answer has remained consistent with the exception of Christianity. The core teaching Jesus Christ gave his followers is that when it comes to getting into God’s family, God does all the work and human beings do all the receiving. He didn’t leave any wiggle room, it’s all or nothing. Either Christ’s payment for sin on the cross was all sufficient to bridge the gap caused by evil between the human race and God, or it was the biggest waste in history. It’s kind of confrontational, but those are His terms, “receive it as a gift or do without”.

If you’ve had some reservations about God’s “all or nothing” approach to his relationship with you, join us for one of our worship services this weekend. In this case, the most risky approach is to hold back.

Worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm, Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

When Something “Too Good To Be True” Is True

 

Everything seemed to magically fall into place. It wasn’t expected, even considered, but there it was, the opportunity of a lifetime and all you had to do was take it. But something strange came into your mind. “How could this just happen to me? Why me?” Those nagging questions led to one more, “Is this too good to be true?”

 Most of us have had experiences such as the one described above, only to learn the hard way that what we thought was so good, in fact wasn’t. One person has said, “Most of the big problems in my life started with the words, ‘It’s too good to be true.’” It seems that only in fairy tales do people actually have things “too good to be true” turn out well. It may be for that very reason some have such a difficulty believing the offer Jesus Christ makes to them. It could be the “faith” part, that all you can do is just believe.

Just believe and it is yours: a life of meaning, value, purpose, forgiveness and eternity. Is there a catch? Is it an illusion? Is it a cruel hoax to trick gullible human beings? One side of us agrees with the cynical observation that there is no such thing as a “free lunch” in life. A person always has to pay their part.

About 2000 years ago a man by the name of Paul of Tarsus said, “You can live with cynicism, believing you have to do your part in everything, including your relationship with God. But know this, you are going to die with that cynicism.” There is a better way and Jesus Christ offers it to you. If it seems that receiving eternal life in heaven through faith in Jesus is too good to be true, think of it another way – it’s the only way he could let you have it.

There are some critical areas in our lives which are beyond our capacity to control. We can’t stop the aging process, nor can we do anything about the inevitability of death. When it comes to life after death, wouldn’t it be the same? Where do we get the idea we can tell God what the entrance requirements are for eternal life? Instead, let’s take a huge breath of humility and then open our hearts to the forgiveness Jesus offers us, because he is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm, Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

 

God’s Mercies in the Ash Heap

 

The smells of rotting corpses and burning buildings overwhelmed the senses of the few survivors who made their way out of the smoldering city of Jerusalem. There was a numbness which was paralyzing. That the silent procession would only end 600 miles later in a place called Babylon did not seem to register to the people. The only feeling they experienced was nothingness. There was nothing to stay for, nothing to go to Babylon for…really, there was nothing to live for. They had lost their families, homes, possessions, even their freedom. And God? If he even existed, they thought, what could he do in a situation like this? Their lives were much like their city, heaps of ashes.

Fast forward seven decades. It’s about the year 500 BC. Another small procession of Israelites is on a journey. This time, however, their travels will take them back to their homeland. They are different, very different from those who had been exiled to Babylon. This group knew God existed and believed he still had a destiny for their nation. They returned weak and vulnerable, but fully convinced there is only one Lord and one God – the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The rebuilding process was agonizing, long and very humble. But that generation of Jewish refugees who returned to their decimated land had made a beginning. And then there was silence – 400 years of silence until from the ash heaps of Jerusalem, the shout came from a lone preacher in the wilderness, “The Messiah has come! Open your hearts!”

Whatever you are going through in your life, God’s mercies are new, every day – even in the ash heap.

Worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm, Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

God Can Make a Silk Purse Out of a Sow’s Ear

 

No, I didn’t know what that proverb meant either the first time I heard it. I was working with an old handyman and we were repairing a wall which had been built with low quality materials. After an hour or so he looked at me and sighed, “That’s good enough. You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.” Not wanting to look stupid I knowingly nodded and waited until later when I could search the internet to find out the meaning of what he had said. I remember smiling when I read, “Be unable to turn something inferior into something of value…” That was exactly the case, because of the poor materials, we could have worked the rest of our lives and never been able to make the wall look like new. What we needed was a new wall made of quality materials.

We can feel that way about ourselves too. Can we really change? After so many mistakes, is it possible to alter our habits and lifestyle? Can we make a fresh start in life? Left to our own strategies, such a transformation is rare. But God is the Master at making silk purses from the sow’s ears of our lives. A fascinating example of this is a man named David. He lived over 3000 years ago but his life remains a powerful testimony of what God can do with a human life.

David is described as a man after God’s own heart and yet he was capable of horrific evil. How can that be? Only the hand of God working in his life can account for such radical change. David is one of the most inspiring, disappointing and challenging characters in the Bible. Regardless of where we are in life, what God did through him speaks to each one of us. 

If you find yourself shocked, at times, by the evil you are capable of doing, join us for one of our worship services this weekend. God can do in you what he did in David. You can be a man or woman after God’s own heart.

Worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm, Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

The Incredible Life

 

When you saw the title, “The Incredible Life”, did you stop for just a brief second and think, “I sure wish my life was a little more incredible?” If you did, you have a lot of company. Most of us long for more adventure, excitement and especially importance. Who doesn’t want to live a life that is valued, which makes a difference?

If anyone had an important life, it was Moses. From beginning to end, this man seemed to experience everything and more of what fills an action movie. But when you take the time to read the account of his life in the Bible and think about what was happening, Moses had little to do with it all. The incredible life he lived was because of the incredible God who was working in and through Moses.

Each day you wake up, you have as much of an opportunity to live an incredible life as Moses did. Does that mean you’ll be able to part the Pacific Ocean so you can take a trip to the mainland? Probably not, remember, God only did that once! But is the value of our life to God measured by miracles? If that were the case, John the Baptist wouldn’t measure up very well. God has a unique life plan for each and every one of us. He doesn’t ask us to be more like other people, rather he wants us to be the people he created us to be in the place he has put us in this world.

Stressed out that your life isn’t having as much impact as you had planned? Join us for one of our weekend services. Relax in the fact that God has you just where he wants you. Walk the walk he has given you at this time of your life and begin to experience a little more of the incredible!

Worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm, Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

The Master’s Touch

 

Walking through the rooms filled with the work of budding young artists, people dutifully praised the developing talents of the students. In the corner of one of the rooms, however, a crowd gathered around a painting. Even the usual hushed tones reserved for libraries and art galleries had given way to exclamations which result when coming upon a masterpiece. “This couldn’t have been done by one of the students,” gasped one man. Another person said, “There’s something about this painting. It has to be the work of a master. It just doesn’t fit with the other pieces.”

There was a man who lived 4000 years ago. His name was Abraham. Although he was reasonably prosperous, there wasn’t much else about him that would lead people to call him a “masterpiece”. But then God got a hold of him and everything changed. The result? Through Abraham, God altered human history. But that’s what happens when the Master works in human lives. 

If you are feeling as though your life resembles more of a second hand piece of art rather than a masterpiece, join us for one of our worship services this weekend. If God made a masterpiece out of Abraham’s life, why can’t he do the same for us?

^{Ephesians 2:10} For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. ^{New Living Translation}

Worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm, Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining

 

The imagery is beautiful, a ray of light or a colorful rainbow in contrast with dark, menacing clouds. The saying embedded in the photo above means that for every hard, difficult or bad experience we go through, there is always something good which comes out of it. Sometimes we have to look long and hard for that good, but it’s there.

When we read the account of the Flood in the first book of the Bible, however, it can be hard to find a silver lining among so many dark clouds. It’s a familiar story: the ark, the animals, the flood, the rainbow. But what possible good would come out of the destruction of so many people?

One of the greatest obstacles we have in appreciating what God does in human history is our point of view. We limit God by forcing him to act within our limitations. When he doesn’t, we often accuse him of being unfair or just plain mean. No doubt, the Flood was a harsh judgment. But who rejected who? A quick glance at the opening chapters of the Bible make it very clear the Flood was never God’s intention. Instead, it was a reaction to human rejection.

Taking into account everything we know about God, Noah, and the people of that era, the Flood is all about fresh starts. And who doesn’t need one of those on a regular basis.

Worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm, Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

The “Hands On” God

 

When people talk about God’s involvement in the history of the human race they often describe him as rather “hands off” in his approach. Their view is that probably the Almighty had something to do with the beginning of everything, but once he got things started, stepped back and is now a casual observer of the human drama. 

Even the most superficial reading of the early chapters of the Bible dispels any notion that God is disinterested in what is going on in this world. Instead we find he is passionately involved in the minutest details of human life. While that tells us much about God, it should lead us to want to understand even more what God’s active participation in our existence means to us!

This coming weekend we’ll be starting a six week sermon series during which we’ll be studying how God revealed himself during the Old Testament and what affect it had on people. It will be fascinating, at times bewildering but always encouraging. God was most definitely “hands on” thousands of years ago and he continues to be today. And that is ultimately our greatest hope. For if we were on our own…well…the implications of such a tragedy are too terrifying to contemplate.

Worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm, Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

Who Found Who?

 

The man wildly chased through the dark woods. He had been frantically looking for his young son since the sun had gone down. The boy went out to play in the late afternoon but had not returned. Temperatures had plunged to the low 20s while the snow fell throughout the night. Now it was an hour or so before dawn. Choking back the tears the man stood leaning against a tree, trying to catch his breath. In frustration he kicked a log freshly covered with snow. Suddenly, the log moved, the snow fell to the side and the man saw the outline of a little boy. Looking up at him with glazed eyes, the boy mumbled, “Daddy, I finally found you!”

The boy’s reaction to seeing his father often reflects our response to God’s rescue mission in our lives. We human beings often say things like, “I was searching for God and found him….” But the truth is, God is the One who does the searching and the finding. And one of the primary ways he does that is through baptism. Through the lens of human reason, the baptizing of babies appears to be little more than a sentimental ritual. But when it is combined with the powerful love of our God, it becomes a beautiful means by which he brings little ones into his family.

It may be that you were baptized as a very small baby and have wondered if what happened on that day really had any tangible significance in your life. Join us for one of our weekend services and start accessing the blessings of your baptism.

Worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm, Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

How Do I Define Myself?

 

We define ourselves in many different ways. Some make their appearance the defining aspect of their lives. Others base their identity on the amount of money they have or their accomplishments. And still others might say, “My life is defined by my family.”

It very much is an important question. How we answer determines our priorities, how we will spend our time, money and efforts. We will base our sense of happiness and value on whether or not we are the person we want to be.

If you have received Christian baptism, it’s probably been a long time since you’ve thought about that event. It’s probably been even longer, if ever, that you have considered your identity as a person as being defined by your baptism. But that is exactly the case when you stop to consider what baptism is and how God works through it.

Are you satisfied with your definition of yourself? Most of us never really get to that point. We always have a few regrets and lots of uncertainties. Join us for one of our weekend services. You are going to be surprised by how your baptism defines you. But you are going to be absolutely shocked by what a powerful and positive difference God’s definition of your life can be.

Worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm, Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

Being There Is the Best Thing

 

In the late 1970s Bell telephone launched an ad campaign with the slogan, “Long Distance is the next best thing to being there.” There is an unspoken truth in its message which we often don’t give much thought – the best thing is actually to be in the presence of the people we love.

Letters, e-mails, texts, phone calls, Facetime, none of these means of communication comes close to matching the power and effect of personally being in the presence of other people. We can talk of long distance relationships, but what we all want and need are “being there” relationships. And that shouldn’t be surprising, that is the way God made us.

So why is it surprising that God has given us a sacred act in our worship of him in which he is present? That ritual is called Holy Communion. In an absolutely miraculous way Jesus Christ comes through simple objects like bread and wine and says, “This is my body, this is my blood, given for you for the forgiveness of sins.”

To our miracle cynical 21^st century ears that sounds ridiculous. But to our ears which have come to be convinced of the truth of Jesus Christ’s death and physical resurrection, those words are music which bring comfort, strength and hope.

There are many convincing evidences and reasons to believe the truthfulness of Christianity. When it comes to Communion, though, then we must step out in faith as countless millions have in the past and say with a broken father of 2000 years ago, “I believe, Lord, help me overcome my unbelief.”

Jesus Christ doesn’t want a long distance relationship with you. Will you believe him?

Worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm, Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

 

 

Christians have struggled with the following questions for centuries.

      “How do I grow in my faith in Christ?”

      “It seems like so often I’m just going through the motions.”

      “Why don’t I feel more excited about being a Christian?”

Answers have usually drifted towards one of two extremes. On the one side, believers have looked to spiritual experiences to satisfy the hunger for a more meaningful relationship with Christ. Whether it has been dreams, visions, or supernatural events, the inevitable result is the need for increasingly powerful emotional events which have less and less to do with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The other extreme has been for Christians to develop a set of rules and regulations to follow in order to distinguish themselves from the “ordinary” believer. The result, however, is the same, a distancing from the cross and the empty tomb.

Whether you’ve lost the feeling or seem to be going through the motions in your life with Christ, the cure is the same as it has been for 2000 years, the message of God’s rescue through Jesus Christ. Yes, it’s simple, but it’s strong, reliable and unchanging. You can look for substitutes, but none will satisfy like the Good News. When it comes to experiencing God in your life, simple is always best!

 Worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm, Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

The old man sat in the worn recliner, finishing his lunch while talking to one of the nursing aides. His eyes, with a vacant, distant gaze made the young woman sad. She had spent the last half hour with him to keep him company. Little had she expected the man to pour out a lifetime of regrets. As she took the tray, she wondered if she would feel the same when she got to his age. Would she ache at the thought of spending the best years of her life on things which she would later realize, were superficial and unimportant. Tragic was the only word to describe what she felt.

Some have many regrets, others few, but everybody has some. For all too many older Christians, a major regret in life is not having accepted Christ’s invitation to pray on a daily basis. During their busy years prayer was a chore, a ritual motivated by guilt or superstition, but rarely, if ever, a privilege, a solace, a refuge. But then the busyness ended. The activities ceased. Worse, no one needed them to do anything. And so, there was time, time to pray. And the more they prayed, the more they were blessed. In fact, it was prayer that would get them through the day. Their reaction to this unexpected blessing was bittersweet. For on the one hand they praised God for their times together, while on the other hand, they mourned it had taken them so long to experience the celebration of prayer.

Will we have the same regrets?

Worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm, Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

The Blindside

A quarterback’s worst nightmare is to hear from behind the sound of a gargantuan defensive end an instant before making contact. The impact is sudden, unexpected and often leads to severe injury. The downside of playing quarterback is “the blindside”.

But football players aren’t the only ones who take unexpected hits. Every day ordinary people throughout the world are blindsided by pain, suffering and problems of every size and shape. It happens so frequently you’d think we would come to expect such things. And yet, every time it happens, we are taken by surprise. We express our shock with statements like, “I never thought anything like this would happen to me?”

Jesus warned about having unrealistic expectations about life. He openly said there are going to be a lot of problems to be faced in this life. And that is why he told his followers to pray, “And deliver us from evil.” That each of us will have to face seasons of suffering, should come as no surprise. The world in which we live is not as God created it. Evil abounds in the place of God’s love. That’s why the best preparation for life’s blindsides is the prayer “deliver us from evil.”

Just as you don’t want to be unprepared for Hurricane Douglas, join us for one of our weekend services so you aren’t blindsided by Hurricane Life.

Worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm, Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

Normally, our reaction to an invitation is positive. We think of invitations to a dinner or a party or a wedding. What’s great about an invitation is that it is a request for us to participate, but only by our choice. We are usually not forced to either accept or turn down an invitation. It’s up to us.

After reading the title of this article, you might have thought it to be a little strange because temptation is seen as a way to get us to do something evil or diabolical, rather than an invitation. And yet, it is in every sense of the word. When we are tempted, we are not forced into any kind of behavior. What we choose to do is entirely up to us. We can embrace the temptation, or we can walk away from it.

What is essential to remember about temptation is that it is an invitation to live without God. It is an appeal to our egos to take control of our lives without having to answer to anyone or anything. To most of us, that’s very attractive. “No one telling us what to do! Living large! Taking control of our destiny!´ But it is all a deception, separating us from the One for whom and by whom we were created. Apart from God, our lives lose their value, purpose and sense. We become, as the old song goes, “Dust in the wind.”

If you sense it’s time to rethink some of the invitations you’ve been accepting lately, join us for one of our weekend services. The invitation of Jesus Christ will help you see which other invitations you should accept or turn down.

Worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm, Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

Bittersweet Forgiveness

There is nothing easier than to write a paragraph about the benefits of learning to forgive other people. There is nothing more difficult than to put what one wrote into real life practice. Learning to truly forgive another person from the heart after experiencing a vicious hurt from that individual can be an agonizing process.

While we can often see and feel our bitterness and resentment toward the other person dragging us down into a dungeon of unhappiness, there is something in us which refuses to believe forgiveness will lead to freedom from that prison. We deceive ourselves into believing that justice depends on us. We fall into the trap of thinking that to forgive is to humiliate ourselves, to become a doormat for other people. We feel forgiveness is only for those who are too weak to fight back. Deep down, we know these emotions are all lies, but for some reason we cannot give them up.

Jesus Christ encouraged his followers to pray, “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.” It is a prescription for freedom, freedom to overcome the brutal hurts caused by others so that we can experience life in this broken world as God intends. If you’ve found yourself too often struggling to free yourself from the grasp of revenge, join us for one of our weekend worship services. It’s time to be free!

Worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm, Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

Daily Bread In A Costco World

In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus taught us to ask God the Father to “give us this day our daily bread.” The words sound quaint but woefully antiquated. “Daily bread?!” How does that concept fit with a trip to Costco to buy 200 rolls of toilet paper and an 85” TV? From little on we are programmed by our society to consume. So, the idea of asking God each day for just the needed amount of food and other material products we need to stay alive, just doesn’t seem to fit.

Yes, we live in an incredibly blessed country at an incredibly blessed time in history, even during a corona virus crisis. We have more than we need every day. And that is just the point of seriously studying Jesus’ words, “Give us this day our daily bread.” It gives us the chance to think hard about from where these blessings come. We have the opportunity to consider how we are to gratefully use our wealth in the light of Christ’s death, resurrection and eternity.

Did you know that of all the different topics Jesus talked about, the use of money was one of his favorites? While he did talk about generous giving, his biggest concern was the deceptive power wealth and material things have on our spiritual lives! If you’re finding your life being driven more and more by your stuff, or lack of such stuff, join us for one of our Sunday services.

New worship service times: Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

God's Will or My Will?

Sometimes God’s will seems so mysterious. We wonder what he is doing. We’re at a loss as to how he might be accomplishing anything in our lives which could be remotely called good. While there certainly are times when God’s ways don’t make sense, more often than not, the mystery of God’s will is rooted in our ongoing battle with him to impose our will on him. Our confusion is not so much about why God is doing things the way he is but rather why he isn’t doing them the way we think he should!

The great mystery of God’s will is often resolved by realizing that what God wants for our lives very often is completely different from what we desire. If you feel that God is leaving you in the dark in regard to the direction your life is taking, join us for one of our weekend services. You might find God’s GPS, the Bible, will lay out a path for your life you never imagined.

New worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm; Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

Who’s the Boss?

Usually that is a pretty easy question to answer? But what if someone asked you, “Who’s the Boss of your life?” That would probably leave most of us grasping for an answer. We are so busy living our lives we usually don’t think of things like that. And yet, it is a pretty important question. “Who or what drives you to live as you do?”

 Everyone has a Boss, whether or not we can identify who or what that is. There is someone or something which has the leading influence over all our decisions, plans, actions and conversation. Thinking about it that way, there is no more important question in life than, “Who’s the Boss.”

Jesus Christ was explicitly unequivocal in claiming to be the Boss of each one of our lives. In fact, when he taught his disciples how to pray, the second thing he said they should ask for on a daily basis was that he would be the Boss of their lives. Jesus said his followers were to pray, “Your kingdom come.” What he was saying was, “Let me be the King/Boss of your life, bringing you into my kingdom/family through the forgiveness of sins and then I will rule in your life as your loving Lord, molding you into the person I created you to be.”

Some people chaff at the thought of not being able to be their own boss. But when you know who Jesus is, what he did for us and what he wants for every living person, would you really want to be your own boss? Doesn’t the thought seem ridiculously childish when we think of our embarrassing limitations when it comes to how much control we actually have over what happens as we live and when we die?

If you are interested in some life leadership change, join us for one of our worship services this weekend. You might be surprised what you find!

New worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm; Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

You’ve got to admit, if you saw the rock pictured in the photo laying on the ground, you’d probably pick it up. There would be a “it’s too good to be true” hope you had found a valuable piece of gold. Later on, unfortunately, you would discover your gem was only pyrite, which is commonly called Fools’ Gold. Pyrite is deceptive. It certainly does look like the real thing. The problem is, it isn’t.

We chase after all sorts of things in life which we think are important. But they are pyrite priorities. We’re all familiar with them: money, power, pleasure and status. Every day we get blasted with their appeals as we stare at our screens. Yet, as with pyrite, our culture’s neon gods aren’t the real thing, they are fakes. They cannot satisfy even at the present and have no meaning whatsoever in eternity.

The most valuable thing you can have in life is to be called a child of God. And that is why the most important thing you can ask for in prayer is that you honor as most precious God’s name. And that is exactly what we ask for each time we say in the Lord’s Prayer “Hallowed be your Name.”

If you are looking for the real thing instead of just flashy counterfeits, join us for one of our worship services this weekend as we study the words “Hallowed be your Name” from the Lord’s Prayer.

New worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm; Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

News outlets have run several reports that people have begun to pray much more regularly since the Covid-19 virus broke out. There could be many reasons for this happening. When people are scared and uncertain about the future, prayer tends to calm their fears. For others, prayer brings a sense of peace, the feeling that everything is going to be okay in the end. And, for some, prayer is a way to vent, to get their frustrations out in a way they feel is helpful. Those are all good and valid reasons to pray, but they aren’t the most important. 

The power of prayer is found in the first words of the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father”. The God who created the heavens and earth, the One who holds the universe together, is the same Lord who tells us he knows and cares about us so personally that he even has the hairs of our head counted! He is the God who refused to hold back anything to win us back to his family. And it is our Father who invites us to pray with the confidence that he not only hears our prayers but uses his perfect wisdom, power and love to answer us in the way which benefits us most for all of eternity. If you are questioning whether it is worth it or not to pray, join us for one of our weekend services. The more you know about our Father, the more you’ll want to pray. 

New worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm; Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.

It is one of those humbling experiences of life. There is this funny shaped part sitting on one of our shelves. We pass it every day, pick it up, examine it closely and then ask ourselves the agonizingly frustrating question, “What is this thing for?” We race through the past, trying to locate the memory of taking apart a machine to which it belongs. But we always draw a blank. This scene repeats itself regularly for months until finally, in exasperation we either throw the piece away or put it somewhere we’ll never find it again, just so we won’t have to look at it anymore.

And then it happens. Six months, maybe years later we remember what the part was for and we need it. But, it is either in the dump or tucked away in a box we’ll never locate. When we don’t understand the value of something, the consequences can be significant.

Prayer is one of those areas of our life with Jesus we tend not to appreciate. Now, we will talk about the importance of prayer. We’ll sing “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” with tears in our eyes. We will even tell a hurting friend, “I’ll pray for you.” Yet, after all our words, we rarely find ourselves praying. We need to be honest, we spend our time doing those things we think are most important. Does the amount of time you spent in prayer today reflect you believe it is crucial to your life?

This weekend we’re starting a sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer. It’s going to be a fascinating study. We’re all going to learn a lot. But there is really one key take away from the entire series: Just pray. In fact, why don’t you pray right now. Don’t wait to find out what a benefit it is!

New worship service times: Saturday: 6:00 pm; Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.