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.