Wake-Up Call

 

Wake-up calls blindside us. We think we’ve got everything under control in our lives and then something happens making it very clear that we have some serious problems requiring very drastic and unpleasant changes. Wake-up calls are humiliating. They bring us to our knees. But after we’ve “woken up”, we’re grateful for them because without wake-up calls, we can be headed for destruction. 

It shouldn’t be surprising that God often uses wake-up calls to get our attention, but it is. We have been so programmed into seeing God as an old grandpa handing out free candy, that we have lost sight of the fact that sometimes He has to hurt us in order to heal us. It is for our good – it always is, but at the moment we usually resent those divine attention getters. 

There’s a dusty book in the Bible at the end of the Old Testament called Joel. If you have read it, you probably remember something about locusts! But the book of Joel is about a whole lot more than insects, it’s about God waking people up to what matters most. And that’s a subject we all need to take to heart. It’s easy to get so distracted from God in our day to day lives that we don’t even realize we’ve drifted far from him. Join us this Sunday for a wake-up call all of us need. 

Sunday Worship Time: 10:00 am

God’s Dangerous Love

 

There are those who express their disdain for the meek and mild Jesus. They believe he is like a stupefying drug which reduces humans to utter weakness, good for nothing more than being doormats for the strong who understand that life is all about survival of the fittest. 

On the other extreme are those critics of Christ who point to the Old Testament and paint God out as whimsically unpredictable, insecure, and violently angry. 

There is, however, a third alternative which Christians have been presenting for the last two thousand years. God is dangerous, but he is good. Goodness takes on many forms. We recognize that in our daily lives. Sometimes it is good to serve and put the needs of others first. Sometimes good is taking violent action to stop evil from overcoming good. For those who are serious about seeing life as it really is, goodness can be, at times, complicated. 

Does God need to be violent? If he never is, what will happen to the spread of evil? 

Does God need to be forgiving? If he never is, what will happen to you and me? 

Rather than pick and choose certain events in the Bible and create a God according to our own liking, it’s much wiser to see God as he has revealed himself throughout history. To try and make God into anything other than he is – well – that’s just plain dangerous. 

Join us this Sunday. Find out what a man named Hosea learned about these things. 

Sunday Worship Time: 10:00 am

Being a Man that Matters

Regardless of how laid back a man might appear; he cares about the importance of his life in relation to other people. Tell a man he doesn’t matter, and you are likely to have some kind of conflict on your hands. 

The troubling question, however, is: “What is it which makes a man’s life matter?” The great confusion of our time is the cluelessness of how to answer that question. Especially for younger men, meaning in life is found increasingly in video games and personal grooming. One investment article states that spending on men’s grooming worldwide was $56 billion and is expected to increase by 8.4% next year. For other men, it is financial or career achievements. For still others, their purpose in life is found in sports. 

No one challenges the observation that men like to achieve – but what type of achievement makes a man’s life truly matter? 

The man whose life mattered more than that of any man in history is Jesus Christ. What he did and what he teaches about a manly life which matters are admittedly at odds with current thinking. Which would lead many to simply dismiss what he has to say. However, of all the men who have discoursed on the topic of living a life that matters, he’s the only one who has come back from the dead. Men, it really might be worth your while to have a listen to what he says this Father’s Day.

We all get only one shot at life. Which of us doesn’t want our life to matter?

                                      Sunday Worship Time: 10:00 am 

ChurchBore

 

It’s not a word, but the term “ChurchBore” gets the idea across – for most people, their image of the Church is reflected by the photograph above. As church attendance and involvement continues to shrink at a rapid pace, pundits are pondering the possibility of the extinction of this institution which has so powerfully influenced the world for so many years. Regardless of the speculation, the Christian church will survive. No one less than Jesus Christ affirmed that. But still, there is that question, “Why do so many people have such a negative opinion of the Church?” 

Without a doubt, much of the blame has to go to Christians themselves. We have, either from good or bad intentions, so distorted the original purpose for the Church that rather than being God’s representative in the world, in many cases, it has turned into a type of club. In other words, the problem is probably not the Church, but what human beings have done to it. 

Reading the New Testament leaves a very different impression of what God intends his Church to be, but more importantly how much it means to the One who founded it – Jesus! People can mock and laugh at the Church, but we had better take into consideration that is like making fun of a man’s cherished wife. It’s worth considering the implications for ridiculing the people for whom the Son of God sacrificed himself. 

If you’re confused by what you see in the Church and wonder what it is supposed to be, join us for one of our weekend services. You might find that the Church is something much more than boring. 

Weekend worship service time: Saturday: 6:00 pm & Sunday: 10:00 am

Jesus: Kool-Aid or King?

 

Ever since the 1978 Jonestown Massacre in which hundreds of men, women and children willingly drank poison at the encouragement of cult leader Jim Jones, people who are serious about their relationship with God have been ridiculed as “drinking the Kool-Aid” of religion. It certainly is a fact that throughout history thousands of religious fakers have deceived millions with the haunting claim, “God spoke to me.” And this tragic reality is still common today, for God, in the minds of human beings can take on many forms. 

But, does the existence of spiritual deception prove that God either does not exist or at least is unknowable? Thomas Edison, after thousands of experiments trying to find a material for the filament of the light bulb said, “I haven’t failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” He was convinced that the material he needed existed and was determined not to give up his search until he found it. 

The evidences which God has left in us not only for his existence but his involvement in our lives are so great they compel us to seek him out among the sea of imposters. Far from drinking the Kool-Aid of religion, our search for God is the single most important endeavor a human being can pursue. 

On the day of Pentecost, the apostle Peter told a group of people that God is not only knowable, he has entered our history in the person of Jesus Christ for one purpose – to bring us into his family and give us blessings which are of a never ending duration. Peter then pointed to various evidences to support his appeal. 

We live in a day which encourages a cynical, apathetic view of any kind of intense Christian commitment. It’s time to ask ourselves, “Is that perspective true or is it just another form of “Kool-Aid” which charismatic people have persuaded us to drink?” 

If you are looking for more than a casual acknowledgement of God in your life, join us for one of our worship services. Jesus isn’t “Kool-Aid”, he is your King, he is your Savior! 

Weekend worship service time: Saturday: 6:00 pm & Sunday: 10:00 am