“The Main Thing Is to Keep The Main Thing The Main Thing”

Sometimes clichés say it all. It is certainly the case regarding “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing” and Christmas. Even during a Christmas season that has slowed us down with a tenaciously stubborn pandemic and an irritating supply chain breakdown, still most Americans seem to be hyperventilating with Christmas season energy that has to do with everything but the main thing. 

And the main thing? No, not the eggnog, no matter which variety. Nor the presents, we all know most of them will be forgotten within a week. Not even the family get togethers, for as good as they sometimes are. The main thing has got to be the quietest thing about Christmas – the Nativity scene. Take away the Christ from Christmas and all that is left is a midwestern form of Mardi Gras! 

With Christ, however, everything we celebrate at this time of year changes. If the baby in the manger is God with us (God in human form) and God for us (he will rescue us from our evil), then suddenly all the other activities begin to fade into the background as we take seriously how these truths will affect how we live, our priorities and what happens when we die. These are questions whose answers serve as the foundation of all we are and do. 

If we don’t fix our attention on the main thing, it will be just another Christmas of many. If we do keep the main thing the main thing, we won’t forget this Christmas…ever! 

Christmas and New Year Worship Services

Friday, December 24 - Christmas Eve – 7:00 pm

Saturday, December 25 - Christmas Day – 11:00 am (Potluck dinner after)

Sunday, December 26 – Sunday worship

Saturday, January 1 - New Year’s Day – 6:00 pm with Communion

Sunday, January 2 – 10:00 am worship with Communion

Give Peace a Chance

 

Most people throughout the world would love to give peace a chance. The complicating question is: ”Peace at what cost?” Every war in history could have been avoided, but each situation would have required that one nation or the other, or both, would have had to give up something to maintain the peace. And that was unacceptable. It’s easy to talk about peace. It is very difficult not only to make peace, but also to maintain it. 

And yet, the solution for the peace famine we see in our world is not complicated. It is extremely hard because it always involves people having to let go of something they want very much or having to do something they very much don’t want to do. As individuals and groups, human beings love to tell others what to do and detest being given orders by someone else. And so, we are a planet at war. 

Many believe that Christmas should be a time which promotes peace. But that so often doesn’t happen because their understanding of peace is that other people just have to try a little bit harder to get along and then everybody will live in harmony, each person getting what they want. The problem inside each one of us, however, requires a solution which is much deeper and more serious than just a general encouragement to try a little harder. 

At its core, the message of Christmas is shocking – God comes to live among human beings. It is so mind boggling that if we comprehend only a fraction of what it means, our lives are compelled to change. God with us! You can’t believe that and stay the same. It also means that if our problem with peace requires God himself to fix it, that problem is God-sized and we’re not going to find peace apart from him. 

The angels said to the shepherds, “Peace on earth.” Peace is what Jesus came to bring, a peace which is deeper, stronger, and longer lasting than any kind of peace we could bring about. If you’re looking for peace in your life, join us for one of our weekend services. Jesus is the best way to give peace a chance. 

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

The Cloud of Sadness

 

     The following quote appeared in The New York Times this past week:

 

      “The United States surgeon general on Tuesday warned that young people are facing ‘devastating’ mental health effects as a result of the challenges experienced by their generation, including the coronavirus pandemic…

      The report cited significant increases in self-reports of depression and anxiety along with more emergency room visits for mental health issues. In the United States, emergency room visits for suicide attempts rose 51 percent for adolescent girls in early 2021 as compared to the same period in 2019. The figure rose 4 percent for boys.

      Globally, symptoms of anxiety and depression doubled during the pandemic, the report noted. But mental health issues were already on the rise in the United States, with emergency room visits related to depression, anxiety and similar conditions up 28 percent between 2011 and 2015.”  ^{Surgeon General Warns of Youth Mental Health Crisis,  The New York Times, Matt Richtel, December 7, 2021} 

      There seems to be a dark cloud hanging over our world. The ongoing threat of virus along with all the implications which come with it have left people with a dim view of the future, and even the present. The attitude “Who cares?” seems to be the dominant outlook on life. Not a great way to live, is it? Like the old song, “Oh yeah, life goes on, long after the joy of living is gone.”

      How does a person celebrate Christmas in the midst of such universal sadness? Go back to the basics of Christmas. When we tear away all the rituals and traditions which have become associated with this season over the centuries, we find a shocking proposition which shatters the darkness of depression and thrusts us into the light of joyful living. It’s quite simple. You’ve probably heard it before. But do you believe it? Are you ready to let it take over your life?

      The proposition is this: Jesus Christ is God. He came into this world as a human being for one purpose, to rescue human beings from the sadness we find ourselves in and offer us a new way of living right now and even after we die. If it sounds like a fairy tale, too good to be true, check it out for yourself. The biographers of Jesus don’t begin his story with “Once upon a time…”, but rather, “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus…” Christmas is history. If you doubt it, study the evidence for yourself. It really is worth your while. Think about it, if you don’t, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll spend the rest of your life under the dull, drab cloud of sadness in which we are currently engulfed. That doesn’t sound all that attractive. Why don’t you give the light of Christmas a chance? All of us can use a little more joy in life! 

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

Counterintuitive

 

Usually when we come across the word “counterintuitive” it has the sense of a person doing something that not only doesn’t make sense, but has very negative consequences on their life. We would very much rather be intuitive people, doing those things which make sense and bring us the benefits in life which we want. 

Reading the Bible, however, we find that when God acts in history, he is very counterintuitive by our way of thinking. Nowhere is that more noticeable than in the Christmas story. God becomes a human being and makes his entrance by being born in a stable. His first visitors are shepherds and soon after he has to run for his life to avoid being butchered by a viciously jealous King Herod. That sure isn’t the way most of us would have scripted it. 

But the most frustratingly counterintuitive part of Christmas is the way God designed for us to benefit from it. He says it in one word, “Repent!” Now we like to hear words like renew, rejuvenate, reward, but repent – that just isn’t something we like to deal with. At the heart of repentance is the understanding that God is exactly right about us. Not only are we unable to control our lives, find a solution for death, but worst of all, we’re traitors. No, traitor is not too strong a word. We’ve betrayed God, stole his #1 place in our lives and set ourselves up as Master and King. He alone has the right to those titles, but we’ve stolen them from him and declared, “It’s my life and I’m going to live it the way I want and nobody is going to tell me different.” Such an attitude is disastrous, but we’ve so deceived ourselves we think it’s the only way to live. 

The message of Christmas is about how God rescued us from that delusion. And regardless of how counterintuitive repentance is to us, that is the place to begin in our journey back to God. If you’re looking to maximize Christmas this year, there’s no better way than to understand what repentance is and how it affects our lives. Join us for one of our weekend services! 

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

The Best News Ever!

 

With the gut-wrenching news of the new Omicron variant, we need some good news! And good news it is. In fact, some would say it is the best news ever: Jesus is coming back! Don’t roll your eyes, it is the best news. Think about it, if Jesus doesn’t come back, what do we have as an alternative? An endless cycle of facing weird sounding Covid variant names with the prospect of continual lockdowns, social distancing, personal isolation, and more vaccinations. 

People yearn for things to go back to “normal” which in most cases means to the lifestyle we had in February of 2020. But being honest, if you can remember back to that moment in history, does it bring back images of people jumping up and down in perpetual joy? Probably not. People were just as irritable, defensive, and hard to get along with as they are today. It’s just that we didn’t know how good we had it back then. But that’s the story of humanity. We never realize how many blessings we do enjoy. At the same time there is never a shortage of things that can go terribly wrong. 

Regardless of what historians might claim, there has never been a “golden” era of human history. It may well be that happiness and contentment levels have remained flat since people tried to boot God out of his creation. Thankfully he did not let that happen. As we come to the end of the year, maybe the healthiest thing we can do is admit we’re making the best of life and then we die. Sounds depressing but it is liberating. That honesty frees us to be open to God’s rescue plan in Jesus Christ which culminates in his coming back to establish life as only he can. 

He's coming back, yes, he is! And that is the best news! 

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

Square Peg in a Round Hole

 

With a knife, hammer and some time, it would be possible to force the square peg into the round hole pictured above, but it certainly wouldn’t come close to being like the round pegs in the round holes surrounding it. But that’s the way life is sometimes. We’re confronted with situations in which people and things weren’t made for each other and we somehow, someway need to make them all work together. The results are rarely great and often disastrous. Nowhere is this principle truer than when human beings try to live their lives apart from the God who made us. 

From the first chapter of the Bible to the last, we consistently read of a God who made people for himself, to live with him in his creation, loving him and being loved by him. This is what it means to give glory to God – to live life on his terms. But we’re all glory robbers. We take the glory God deserves and keep it for ourselves. Our glory robbing shows itself every day in words like, “I deserve…. I want…. It has to be this way. Why don’t you appreciate me?” Instead of our lives revolving around God, we try to enforce on everyone around us the idea that the world revolves around us. It really is trying to pound a square peg into a round hole. 

This weekend we’re going to study the biblical truth: “To the glory of God alone.” The phrase sounds theological, but it simply means that we live life on God’s terms and not ours. Instead of trying to steal God’s glory by pretending we’re in charge, we submit to his rule because we’ve experienced his 100% faithful love through the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. Join us for one of our services. Life on this earth is too short and eternity is too long to try and force something that can never be. 

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

The Lynchpin

 

The dictionary defines the word lynchpin as “the person or thing that serves as the essential element in a complicated or delicate structure – the one thing that holds everything together”. You’ve probably had “lynchpin” experiences in your life. It might have been a project at work which was full of potential but because you lacked one key element, it fell apart. The same can happen with people. There are situations in which one person does make all the difference. Remove that individual from the scene, and the group effort grinds to a halt. 

When it comes to Christianity, without a doubt, the lynchpin is Jesus Christ. He literally holds everything together. Apart from him, even the Bible writers concede, there’s no reason to believe a good and loving God exists. But Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. Who he is and what he has done for human beings will never change or diminish in importance. He is the cornerstone of God revealing himself to humans and humans knowing God on a personal basis. Take away Jesus, and there is little real hope for humanity. 

What’s the lynchpin in your life? What’s holding everything together? Is it working? If you’re looking for an alternative, join us for one of our weekend services. Jesus is the lynchpin, the cornerstone of your life you can depend on today and forever! 

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

Of all the dangers a lifeguard must face in carrying out a rescue, the greatest is the very person they are trying to save. Drowning people fight to live. They even fight the person who is trying to rescue them. If you are in trouble while in the water and a lifeguard arrives on the scene, the best thing you can do is stop fighting and let them do what they came to do – save your life! 

We like to think we are fighters. We tell ourselves we can do anything as long as we never give up. In many areas of life, that is very true. In a few, like that of being rescued by a lifeguard, it is not. 

William Ernest Henley wrote the poem “Invictus” in which he celebrated the indomitable human spirit. Even in death, Henley penned, his head would remain unbowed. He would not give up. 

It is a bold, inspiring sentiment, but tragically it is not true. Regardless of how much grit and determination a person has, they will bow their head in death, never to raise it again. 

There are some things, no matter how hard we try, we are simply not going to change. The most notable being death. But there are also the inconvenient problems of injustice, conflict, unhappiness, disease and evil. It is neither weak nor cowardly to say that certain battles in life will be at some point, unwinnable. 

Christians talk a lot about grace. We call it “getting what you don’t deserve”. Many non-Christian people call grace a crutch for folks who don’t want to fight anymore. Christians, on the other hand, say, “Look, you can’t do anything to keep yourself from dying. You have no clue of what is going to happen when you die and no ability to affect the outcome. So why not stop fighting and let God do what he does best – give us what we don’t deserve. 

This weekend we’re going to talk about grace. It’s the ultimate answer when a person comes to the realization that there are situations in which the best thing we can do is stop fighting and let God do the saving.

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

Building a Stairway to Heaven

 

It would probably come as a shock to people, but the truth is, many are trying to build a stairway to heaven. That really isn’t an exaggeration. By far, the single most popular answer to the question, “Who goes to heaven?” is, “Good people who do good things.” It’s very much a pay-to-go proposition. Every time a person does something good, they receive another stair for their stairway to heaven. If they do something that is out of the ordinary good, they might get several additional stairs. If they are good enough, by the end of their life, people will die and then climb up the stairway they built and walk right into heaven! 

While stairway building is quite fashionable down here, it might be good to get an opinion from the One to whom both heaven and earth belong. Interestingly, the God response to the question, “Who goes to heaven?” is directly the opposite of the human answer. God squashes our bold creativity with a rather unflattering, “You won’t get here if you try to do it on your own.” We surely don’t like being told we are hopelessly helpless, but that is exactly what God says when it comes to our getting to him when we die. 

The story of the Bible is a story of God rescuing human beings from our self-destructive delusion that we can live life without him. That rescue mission is both so fantastically and totally supernatural – the only way we benefit from it is to receive it by faith. And that is why Christians say, “Forgiven people go to heaven.” 

If you’ve been feeling like your stairway to heaven is progressing at the rate of the rail, join us for one of our worship services this weekend. When it comes to getting to God, believing beats doing hands down. 

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

 

We ask the question in many different ways: 

Who can I trust?

I don’t know what to believe.

Everything seems to be changing. 

In each case, we’re expressing the fact that something has happened which has shaken our idea of what our lives are all about. We’re asking, “Where can I find truth?” As a foundation is to a building, truth is to human life. Get the foundation wrong and the building falls. If a person’s understanding of truth unravels, so does his life. 

Everyone believes there is some type of truth which governs our lives. When it comes to truth, we are all people of faith. But what is truth? Whose truth is the truth? These are questions people have been asking for millennia. 

Throughout history, the response of Christians has been, “The Bible is truth.” The Bible is comforting, controversial and challenging all at the same time. It is a book you cannot read without having some kind of strong reaction. It is a book which has changed lives and started wars. It’s often simply called “The Book”. 

For over 2000 years the message of the Bible has remained the same – it claims to be the truth about God, people and eternity. It’s been banned and burned and still it has been printed more times than any other book in the world. You’ll find it in homes and hospitals, subway stations and hotels. Actually, you’ll find it just about everywhere. But most important, in the Bible you will find the truth. 

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

The End

 

In some instances, we look forward to the end.

      The end of the test.

      The end of the workday.

      The end of the week.

In other cases, we dread the end.

      The end of a delicious dinner.

      The end of the weekend.

      The end of vacation

There is one “The End” that we don’t even want to think about. In fact, more and more people are saying they choose to ignore it, that they are just too engaged to give it any thought. “The End” they are avoiding is, of course, death. 

It is a strange relationship we have with death. It is inevitable. It is, along with birth, the one major event in which we all participate. One would think we would talk about it more since it should bond us all together. But we avoid this subject, more than the Covid. 

Still, questions occasionally float through our minds about “The End”. Is there a heaven? Is there a hell? Is there anything? Will I be aware of anything? How long will it last? 

The last question might be the most unnerving – “How long will it last?” One thing a person can say for sure is, “We’re going to be dead a whole lot longer than we live on this earth.” 

Another question one might ask is, “How can a human being live well without having any information about ‘The End’?” If we don’t know what happens after our earthly life, how can we be sure of what is important in the here and now? Is each one of us left to make our educated guess about what life now is all about? 

“The End” is worth thinking and talking about. This weekend we’re going to study one of the most powerful and inspiring chapters in the Bible – 1 Corinthians 15. It is appropriately called “The Resurrection Chapter”. The message is very simple, through Jesus Christ, “The End” becomes “The Beginning”! 

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

Hipster Love

 

They looked like two movie stars walking down the boardwalk in their fashion clothes and dark sunglasses. She said something cute and romantic like, “To hear your voice is the reason I get up in the morning.” To which he smirked and kept walking. Suddenly a homeless man came out of nowhere, approached them asking for money. Calmly the young man pulled out a $20, handed it to the beggar and said in a low voice, “You can make your life work.” 

The rest of the day continued for the couple in much the same way. In fact, that was the pattern of their lives – living chic. The homeless man took the $20 and the advice he had been given and used it to become a world-renowned artist. The young man and woman were passionately in love every day of their lives, never losing their air of sophistication through the years. It was a story of hipster love, a story that is pure fantasy. 

Hipster love is beautiful to the eye. Hipster love always works out the way everyone wants. Hipster love never is ugly or dirty. Hipster love is…well…it’s just cool. And hipster love never lasts very long. 

Love is one of the most overused words in the English language. Sometimes it’s hard to understand how differently one word can be used. Love is, however, seen by most people as the solution to our world’s problems. So, a more important word is hard to find. But exactly what does the word love mean? 

About 2000 years ago a man by the name of Paul explained love in a way that is shockingly opposite of hipster love. Paul’s love is not concerned with appearance, personal benefits or even, at times, results. This love is difficult, challenging. It can be downright gut wrenching for those who practice it. But it is the love that will change the world. Most importantly, it is a love rooted in the God of perfect love. 

If the superficial explanations of love have left you disappointed and disillusioned, join us for one of our weekend services. Love, rightly understood, really can change the world. 

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

Part of Something Bigger

 

Stamps were his life. He spent hours studying them, years working to buy special collections. His life was very planned, predictable, but when he talked about stamps his eyes lit up, the fire of passion was stoked. The years passed, his stamp collection grew in size and value. And then he died. His son, who inherited the man’s beloved stamps, could not spend less time in finding a buyer. The son, you see, detested his father’s stamp collection and never could understand why he spent so many hours doing something which seemed to him, so utterly pointless, and so few hours with his own child. The son then took the money and went to Vegas. Spent it all in a week and returned home to his own very planned and predictable life. 

It might be stamps. It might be football. It might be Facebook. It might be money. Most of us live planned and predictable lives like the two men in the story and we seek an escape from the crushing sameness of life. Something to distract us from the feeling that we are just meaningless cogs in the giant gear of human existence. It often works, but there are the moments when something inside us yearns to be part of something bigger, something more important, something more permanent. And it leaves us empty. 

Years ago someone said, “There is an emptiness inside each of us the size which only Jesus Christ can fill.” And that is exactly what he does. When you are part of what Jesus is doing in this world, you are part of something that is of eternal importance. One Bible writer called it being part of the body of Christ, the Christian Church. God tells us he is always at work in this world, always active. And he offers us the invitation to be a part of what he is doing. 

Looking to fill a void? Join us for one of our worship services this weekend. Be a part of something far bigger than anything we can begin to imagine. 

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

Wake-Up Call

 

It is not unusual for a sports team to experience a long string of victories and then suddenly get beat by a team everyone considered to be very much inferior. In the post-game commentaries, the analysts say, “This defeat was a wake-up call.” The idea being the coaches and players needed a painful loss to remind them to be prepared not just for the tough opponents, but for all opponents. 

It is difficult to maintain an intense, urgent vigilance in any area of our lives, but especially so in our relationship with God. When our lives are pain and trouble free, there develops unknowingly a complacent attitude towards the spiritual war going on within us. Evil doesn’t seem all that evil and God doesn’t seem all that important. We just take it for granted he is there and that he will keep sending the physical blessings we crave. 

Periodic wake-up calls from God are not only necessary, but they are also a blessing. Without them we can very easily slide into a deep freeze relationship with our God and lose the greatest blessing he has given us – eternal life. If all that sounds like scare tactics, think back to some of the wake-up calls you’ve experienced in other areas of your life. They were important, weren’t they? What could be more important than the God who made you, who saved you to be with him forever, giving you a wake-up call to bring you back to him? 

Whether you might need a God wake-up call or not, join us for one of our worship services this weekend. Not one of us can hear often enough the urgency of Jesus Christ’s call to follow him. 

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

Leakage

 

It seems like so little. A single drop every 15 seconds or so. Yet, over time a leaky faucet will waste thousands of gallons of water. 

The little things in life add up, especially in our relationship with God. With so much to do every day, it’s easy to start leaking. Spiritual leakage begins in small, unnoticeable ways: not reading the Bible for periods of time, stale prayers, small moral compromises here and there, and maybe most damaging – too much fun doing our own thing. 

God slowly becomes less and less relevant to our daily lives so that when we do think about him at all, he seems more like a cosmic force than our personal Creator and Savior. When tragedy hits, our first reaction is to blame him rather than run to him. 

Worship is about fixing the leaks, stopping them up and recommitting ourselves to not only acknowledge Christ as our Savior but to live each day with him as the Lord of our lives. Remember, leaks are ultimately a waste, they don’t do anyone any good. The time to fix them is now. Each weekend we offer three worship opportunities. This Sunday, however, we encourage you to join us at 10:30 am for a special worship service of powerful music and Bible readings. It will be just the kind of thing to fill up a soul empty from leakage. 

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

The Rights Revolution

 

Over the centuries, hundreds of millions of people have been taken advantage of, persecuted, and oppressed. In some cases, they have received worse treatment than animals. As individuals, these human beings had few or no rights in the eyes of those who ruled over them. 

In recent years, especially in the western part of the world, we have seen the movement of human rights grow with incredible speed. It has, in many ways, improved the lives of countless people. But in the midst of this progress, there is a growing sense of “right fixation”. We focus all our attention on our individual rights to such an extent that we forget that other people also have rights and that we have the responsibility to do our part in making sure their rights are respected. 

Much of the so-called polarization of the United States population can be attributed to this rights revolution. 

For anyone who takes seriously their relationship with Jesus Christ, there has to be a profound interest in what he teaches his followers about the matter of their rights in the world in which they live. And Jesus does indeed speak, but as usual, not the way we might want. For Jesus, the exercise of individual rights came down to one thing: “Did it fit in with God the Father’s plan for his life?” That question became immensely relevant when he prayed in a Garden late one Thursday night. Jesus had the right to avoid the cross, to continue his ministry but he didn’t use it. He simply prayed, “Your will be done.” 

For the follower of Jesus Christ, it really isn’t about “my rights”. It’s about, “What is going to fit into God’s plan for my life and the lives of the people around me?” That kind of thinking has a powerfully transforming affect on a person’s life. If you are interested in a different, challenging, yet refreshing look at the subject of individual human rights, join us for one of our worship services this weekend. At the very least, you’ll get some ideas you don’t often come across. 

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

The Right Reason

 

A lot of harsh words have been exchanged between Christians and those who follow a more secular view of life over the subject of sexuality. While followers of Jesus have pointed out the very negative consequences of an “anything goes” view of sex, non-religious people have questioned if Christians aren’t just mad about not being able to have the same kind of “fun”. 

While there is much evidence to affirm the destructive results which came to be from the sexual revolution of the 1960s, Christians do have reason to take seriously the suggestion to do some soul-searching about our own motives for morality. Some studies have shown that fits of anger are actually a result of uncertainty and insecurity. If we, as believers in the resurrected Jesus Christ, find ourselves verbally tearing apart people because of their sexual practices in ways which do not in any way serve to bring about a positive change in their behavior, we need to reexamine our reasons for such harsh criticisms. 

If any of us have ever secretly wished that we could “walk on the wild side” and get away with it, even if for a very brief time, then maybe we ought to demonstrate a little humility. If our reason for “being good” is so that we don’t get “fried” by God’s judgment, we can do better. 

The Christians in the city of Corinth 2000 years ago also had challenges with the subject of sexuality – maybe to even a larger degree than we do today. But the counsel of the Apostle Paul wasn’t to grit their teeth and gut it out. Instead, he told them to get a heart transplant. When it comes to living according to God’s plan for sexuality, there’s only one right reason: Because Jesus lives in my heart. 

Join us for one of our weekend worship services. Regardless of what area in your life you have a struggle with sin, the one right reason to keep fighting that sin is: Jesus lives in your heart. 

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

Numb

 

It’s a strange experience when a hand or foot goes numb. We’re so used to feelings that we have a hard time navigating ourselves without them. I had a friend whose leg went numb after a motorcycle accident. Years later he was pinned to the ground by a tractor which had tipped over while he was driving it on a hill. It took several minutes to get the tractor off him. When he was finally able to get up, he was shocked to see that the tractor exhaust pipe had burned his numb leg severely. Sometimes numbness can be disastrous. 

There is a spiritual numbness which is equally destructive. It starts to creep into a person’s relationship with God when the individual begins to dabble in things the Lord has clearly instructed us to leave alone. As time goes on, their sensitivity to right and wrong begins to blur. The serious consequences of sin diminish and a sort of cheap grace thinking sets in: “I’m forgiven, right? So, what’s the big deal if I walk on the wild side a little?” 

The core truth of Christianity is God makes us right with him through what Christ did for all humans on the cross and through his coming back to life. People receive the benefits of what Jesus did not by working to earn them, but by believing them to be true. Belief, however, is always followed by changed behavior. If one’s behavior doesn’t change, there is a good chance what one believes is not in Jesus. 

If you see a disconnect between what you believe about Jesus and what you see in your life, join us for one of our weekend services. It may be time to get rid of the numbness and let Jesus put feeling into your heart again. 

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

Why Do We Always Need to Be Right?

 

We’ve come to the end of another week. How many heated discussions did you have with friends or family members over who was right about some very minor, unimportant issue? Surely at least one and probably more. In fact, you might even still be on bad terms with that person over your battle about who was right and who was wrong. What makes the whole issue even more incredibly ridiculous is that in most of these disagreements, there is no right or wrong. Can anyone say definitively that there is only one distinct place on the kitchen shelf where the salt and pepper must be placed? 

Still, we pass our lives reliving petty debates, agonizing over what we could have said to have been more convincing, justifying our angry emotions at being contradicted. Why? Why do we live this way? It all has to do with the way we look at ourselves. We are looking out for #1. If you are a Christian, you know that shouldn’t be, but still there seems to be this irresistible urge to make everyone conform to the way you want them to be. That is why God has to change you and all the rest of us who claim to be followers of Jesus. 

We’re studying the New Testament book of First Corinthians. It’s a letter the apostle Paul wrote to a group of Christians in the Greek city of Corinth about 52 AD. Not surprisingly, those believers were just like Christians today. They didn’t get along all that well because each one always had to be right. Isn’t it about time to break the mold? If you’re ready for a change, a God change, in your dealings with other people, join us for one of our weekend services. The changes God works aren’t always pleasant at first, but they are always revolutionary. 

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

Foolish or Wise?

 

“Am I foolish or wise?”

An important question. A sensitive question. A highly controversial question.

Nobody wants to play the fool. Everybody wants to be known as wise. To err in this matter means a person has pretty much wasted their life. And that certainly is not anyone’s goal!

But what is wisdom and where does a person get it? Those are questions philosophers have wrestled with for centuries. But they aren’t the only ones who are concerned with wisdom and foolishness. Almost every human being struggles with these issues on a daily basis.

Dedicating one’s life to following a crucified Jewish preacher who lived 2000 years ago seems like near insane foolishness to many people. And some even express this opinion quite vociferously. It’s an attitude that has been around as long as people have followed that Jewish preacher named Jesus. What they do not accept or understand is that the crucified preacher didn’t stay dead and there is excellent historical evidence to support that statement.

If Jesus is alive, then he is exactly who he said he is – God. And if he is God, then the most foolish thing a human being could do is reject the wisdom he offers.

This week we begin a sermon series on the New Testament book of 1 Corinthians named: God’s Change in Our Lives. That change begins with our thinking – especially in respect to what is wise and foolish. If you feel like you are living in a world in which wisdom and foolishness are fluid, changing from day to day, join us for one of our weekend services. Your thinking about wise and foolish might experience a revolution. 

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

Angry With God

 

“God, I have a right to be ticked! I have a right to some answers! You took away everything. My kids, my health, everything I loved. Why? What’s the point? What did I do to deserve this? I’ve had enough. Yes God, I’m angry with you!” 

If you had been a personal friend of a man named Job who lived a few years ago and said these very things, you might have been tempted to agree with him. What happened to this man did seem to justify his angry attitude towards God. You can read the account of his rant in the Bible. It’s a long one, but the story has an interesting ending. God finally gives Job the interview he requested, but it is more of a God monologue. Yet, by the end, Job’s attitude has changed dramatically. No more demands. No more taunts. No more anger. What happened? Job got a close up, real life experience with God. Immediately, arrogance turned to humility, questions became irrelevant. It was enough just to know God. 

Some years later there was another man named Jonah. He had similar experiences with God, but for some reason, his reaction was very different from Job’s. He stayed angry with God. When you read his story it’s hard to understand why he continued with that kind of thinking. But when we look at our own lives, all too often we also find slices of anger with God. We might shrug it off and say, “I’m just disappointed God didn’t work things out for me differently. That’s all. I’m not really mad at him.” But it’s there, a certain resentment, a sense of bitterness, a feeling of being shortchanged by the One we say loves us so much. 

Usually, we study the lives of people in the Bible who got things right with God. In Jonah’s case, he didn’t. But we may well find we have more to learn from God’s working in this wayward man’s life than we care to admit. 

If you have some hidden anger toward God tucked away in the corner of your heart, join us for one of our worship services. Anger doesn’t have to be forever, especially when it meets grace. 

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

God's Grace on Display

 The “Angry God” image is quite popular today among some circles of people. These folks usually point to a few Old Testament passages describing God bringing judgment on an individual or even a nation and asking, “How can you say that God is loving?” What is strange about this discussion is why God would even concern himself with human beings in the first place. Now that sounds kind of degrading to our species, but really, what do we have to offer God which would offset all the trouble we cause? It very definitely is a question we need to take seriously for even we ourselves wonder out loud about the craziness of human behavior! 

If God is involved in human affairs, it must mean he is up to something, he has a plan. And if people take the time to read enough of the Bible, they will see it is the PLAN of all plans. Think back to the book of Jonah which we have been studying. God certainly has shown his tough side, but why? To get peoples’ attention so that they will recognize him, worship him and be blessed by him. That surely doesn’t seem to be a nefarious plot to punish the people he created. 

What may turn people off is the honesty of the Bible writers in regard to our situation. We need help, help that is not only outside of ourselves, but help which is supernatural and undeserved. All that makes for a huge serving of humble pie. That’s not a plate many of us enjoy. But if it is true…then there is no more important message to consider.  Grace is getting what one doesn’t deserve. That’s the message of Jonah, it’s the message of the Bible. And it’s the message which all of us can’t get enough of. Join us for one of our weekend worship services in which God’s grace will be on full display! 

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

Are You Where God Wants You to Be?

 

Do you ever ask yourself that question? I think we all spend a lot of time considering where we want to be in life and very often we find ourselves dissatisfied that we aren’t where we think we should be. There may be many different reasons why we haven’t met our life goals, but one very important cause may be God wants us to be somewhere very different. That truth is literally played out in the life of a believer named Jonah. God wanted him in Nineveh and Jonah wanted to be in Spain vacationing on the Mediterranean. Jonah forced God’s hand by getting on a ship headed for the Airbnb he had rented and so God sends a fish to swallow him for a few days in order to get this man where the Almighty wanted him to be. 

Some people ridicule the Bible for the shocking miracles we find in the story of Jonah. A man surviving three days in the intestines of a fish!!! But if you are into communication, can you think of a more powerful way to get across the point: “You can’t fight God and win”? And this is where each of us finds a personal application. God has a very definite plan and purpose for our lives. When we resist that plan it upsets him, yes, because to tell the Creator of all things he is wrong, well, that is just a bit arrogant, wouldn’t you say? But more than that, God is committed to us and in spite of our delusional thinking about what’s best for us, God uses whatever means necessary to get us back on track, to get us where we need to be. 

You may be feeling a bit let down by God. Why don’t you join us for one of our weekend services? It could be that what happened to Jonah is happening to you, a life course readjustment. It may not be pleasant (at least you probably won’t have to spend time in the stomach of a fish), but some day you will be eternally thankful that the Lord stepped in and put you back on the right path. 

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