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.

Ignoring God

 

Sometimes we ignore God intentionally, but most of the time it happens because we’re so caught up in making our lives turn out according to our hopes and dreams that we just leave God out of the picture. We’re so sure our ideas of how our lives should go is spot on that we just assume God agrees with us. We lose sight of the fact that what is important to us might not be important to him and vice versa. 

In the Bible there’s a story about a guy named Jonah. You probably know it. In fact, when most people hear the name Jonah the first thing that comes to mind is this poor man huddled in a ball inside the belly of a huge fish. No doubt about it, Jonah is a fish story, but it is so much more than that. It’s a story about ignoring God and then running from him. It’s a story about God and how he reacts to people who run from him. And it is a story about what is truly most important in life. 

You and I probably will not spend any time inside a fish’s intestines, but we do live in the same kind of a world in which Jonah lived. It is a world of ups and downs, ecstasy and tragedy, good and evil, happiness and sadness – all served up in varying degrees and quantities. It’s a world that is hard to make sense of, especially if we ignore God. 

If God is just an occasional afterthought in your daily life, the lessons Jonah learned thousands of years ago might be a refreshing alternative to what you experience each day. Far from being just the account of a wayward believer, the story of Jonah presents truths that transform our lives. 

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

Are You a Worry Wart?

 

The vast majority of us are compelled to answer that question with a definite “yes”. And those of us who are honest suspect that those who don’t affirm they are worry warts are not being truthful. Worry seems to be a part of human life. If we aren’t worrying about something we did or said in the past, we’re worrying about what will happen 20 years in the future. We can be healthy and we still worry about contracting a fatal disease. Our finances can be sound and we fear ending up in poverty. Regardless of how hard we try to sleep at night, for some reason, we wake up at 2:00 am in order to worry about something, either real or imagined. 

The strange thing is that very often we realize we are wasting our time by worrying. We know we worry about things we can’t change. But, we still worry. Why? We’re not sure. But for some reason worrying makes us feel we are still somewhat in control of an out-of-control situation. We even convince ourselves that if we didn’t worry, it would be a sign that we didn’t care! 

Jesus talked about two types of worry: healthy and unhealthy worry. What he had to say literally can change the direction of our lives. If you find yourself with a case of chronic worry which is dragging you down, join us for one of our weekend worship services. Worry is a part of life in this broken world, but what we do with it makes all the difference! 

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

It's Not My Fault!

 

How many of the following statements do you relate to?

 

“I didn’t do it. It was my brother/sister’s fault!”

“My teachers are boring. Why should I pay attention?”

“My parents are ruining my life!”

“The coach is an idiot! That’s why I quit.”

“College is a waste of time. I’m dropping out.”

“No one could stand my boss. He’s making my life miserable!”

“If only my wife/husband would change. Then I would be happy.”

“The kids are driving me nuts! I can’t take it anymore.”

“Younger people just don’t care. The country is falling apart.” 

The above list could go on and on, but those few statements make very clear the truth that we have an inbred tendency to blame other people for our problems when in reality, most of the time we share much of the blame. And yet, rather than confront ourselves, and with God’s empowering work in us, make the changes necessary to address our problems, we live in the deception that we are victims of circumstance, condemned to live a life of unhappiness caused by others. 

If it is time for a change, if you’re tired of passing the buck on the problem areas of your life, join us for one of our weekend services. Jesus didn’t save us only to take us to heaven. He died and rose from the dead to demonstrate his transforming power in our lives right now! 

Worship service times: Sunday: 9:00 am & 10:30 am.