The War We Tend to Ignore

 

What’s threatening you right now? 

      A deadline

      A conflict with another person

      A money problem

      A health concern

      Just about everything that’s going on 

It might not be much of a consolation, but if you identify with any of the above problems, you are in good company. Probably 95% of the human race feels the same way. 

The bad news is, the problems which are overwhelming you at the moment may not be anywhere near as important as you think. Suppose there is an invisible, cosmic war going on over good and evil and we are part of it! Sounds like science fiction, but is it? We live in a world governed by right and wrong. In fact, all the problems mentioned above probably have to do with right and wrong. If our day-to-day lives are governed by right and wrong, why is it so incredible to believe that there is something much bigger happening in this regard? 

Jesus Christ was very straightforward on the subject of right and wrong, good and evil. He taught clearly there is a supernaturally powerful force of evil which God has allowed to operate in our world for a limited amount of time. This force of evil, which is called Satan or the Devil, is in no way a threat to God’s sovereign rule, but he is a massive threat to us. 

The war Satan wages in our world is normally invisible, taking place in our minds, but it has eternal consequences. For him, the goal of the war is very simple, distract people from Christ and what he has done for us. Satan is not only powerful, he is deceitful. His tactics often fly under our radar, leaving us unaware of the influence he is having on our lives. 

Fortunately, God does not leave us unprotected. We have a defense, it’s called the Armor of God and you can find it in Ephesians 6:10-17. If you don’t have an antivirus program on your computer, most IT folks would encourage you to get one. While you can always pick up a new computer, you can’t pick up a new soul once you’ve left this life. Join us for our Sunday worship. Together, let’s put on the Armor of God. 

Sunday Morning Worship – 10:00 am

The Very Practical

 

A common criticism of Christianity is that it doesn’t seem to deal with real life, with the things we human beings experience on a day-to-day basis. Sure, it’s great to love God and other people, but, many ask, “What exactly does that look like in real time?” The problem of seeing the practical side of following Jesus Christ is probably not due to a lack of information, but rather what that information calls for us to do! 

God’s love for us couldn’t be more tangible or practical. Every human being has died and will die. No one gets out of it. We can accept death as an inevitability, but that doesn’t in any way diminish the annihilating affect it has on not only life itself, but our reason and purpose for being alive. What does God do about it? He personally gets involved, becomes one of us for the sole purpose of overturning death! His love is sacrificial and completely effective at the same time. The death of Jesus Christ and his resurrection from the dead are irresistible evidence of God’s tangible love for human beings. Jesus himself once said, “Because I live, you also will live.” How much more practical can love be than to offer a human being escape from the consequences of death? 

It would seem to make sense that if God’s love for us is practical, he would intend for us to be practical in our love for him and other people. And that is exactly what we find. Last week we saw the specific and profoundly relevant Christian teachings on marriage. This week, we’re going to see what God says about parent-child relationships. The teachings are brief but leave little to the imagination. We have a supernatural script to follow as we live out these crucial areas of our lives. 

The statement, “Get real and get to the point,” is often used when a person speaks a lot of words to say very little. If that’s what you are looking for in your relationship with God and other people, join us for our Sunday morning service. What God says is not only very practical, it is much more than that. It is very, very good! 

Sunday Worship Time: 10:00 am

Is It True?

 

So many of our decisions throughout the day are based on one question: “How will my choice make me feel?” That is definitely a legitimate concern. Who wants to make choices that will make a person feel horrible? And yet, we’ve all had the experience that there are times in life when we have to do something that causes us pain and suffering because there is a greater good that takes precedence over our feelings. For a person who is serious about going beyond the superficiality of feelings, the question “Is it true?” is much more important than “How does it make me feel?”. 

The subject of marriage is a relevant case in point regarding the matter of feelings and truth. For the last 60 years feelings have been the driving force in many marriages. All too often, when desired feelings diminished or disappeared, the marriage ended. Over that same period of time, biblical teaching on marriage came under intense scrutiny and attack. Some, even in the church, decried the biblical model of marriage as at best, hopelessly outdated, and at worst, primitive. 

The psychological and emotional carnage which millions have experienced in recent years due to failed marriages is a strong indication we owe it to ourselves to reevaluate the question of whether feelings or truth are most important when it comes to how we as human beings live out our marriages. For Christians, there is the powerful connection between the resurrection of Jesus Christ and everything that he taught. If Christ physically rose from the dead at a historical moment in human history, then he is God. And as God, what he tells us about any subject, even marriage, must be the truth. 

But anyone knows, who is familiar with even a few events in the life of Jesus, that he did not come to coldly present the facts of life regardless of the consequences. Christ embodied compassion, sacrificial love, authentic concern – all the characteristics which make for a rewarding marriage that goes the distance. What he tells us about marriage may seem impractical to our modern ears. Yet, it very well could be just that, an impression. A closer study shows that not only what Jesus says about marriage is true, it also works. And who doesn’t want a marriage that works? 

Sunday Worship Time: 10:00 am

Change

 

A sure conflict starter is to tell someone, “You’ve got to change!” And yet, each one of us knows there are areas of our lives which need to be changed. Think about some of the major players in the Bible. After the Bathsheba debacle, don’t you think David realized some major changes needed to happen in his life. When Peter’s eyes locked in with those of Jesus after he had just shouted, “I swear by God I don’t know the man,” he realized that if he was going to continue to be a follower of Christ, there would have to be serious modifications in his thinking, speech, and behavior. And then there is that man Paul. He spent the entire second half of his life talking about the miraculous, marvelous changes God worked in his life. 

For the Christian, change is an ongoing experience. It may be a cliché, but it is also true, “God loves us too much to let us stay the way we are.” The same Paul who God changed so drastically (see Acts 9 for his story) wrote to a group of Christians in the city of Ephesus about the kind of change God works in the lives of all who trust in him as their Savior and Lord. The list is long and intimidating. It causes one to wonder, “What will my life be like if God works these attitudes and characteristics in my life?” But there is also the sense that these changes will bring goodness and wholeness. We are compelled to admit that what we deep down are longing for is very much what God wants us to become. 

God’s changes are neither easy nor comfortable. But they are exactly what we need not only to be transformed into the person he saved us to be, but also to experience the good life he intends for us. 

Sunday Worship Time: 10:00 am