Remember to set your clocks back one hour tonight. Join us Sunday, November 1st & 8th for the special message series: “Yes, You Can Be Gay & Christian”.
It’s Gonna Be Worth It
Let’s suppose you woke up every morning, went to your front door and there on the step was your day’s supply of food. You put on the same clothes and shoes everyday but that’s okay because they never wore out. This went on for forty years. You had food, shelter, and clothing – all the basics. How come you don’t feel satisfied?
The Israelites experienced such a life after Moses led them out of Egypt. They wandering in the desert four decades and during that time God personally accompanied them and provided for their basic needs. Was this the “Promised Land”?
No, but he was getting them ready for it. Before they crossed the Jordan God told them something of why he did things that way. “Your clothing did not wear out on you, and you were not hungry these forty years. You are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.” (Deuteronomy 8:5)
Some of you have had a life that is sufficient but pretty plain. And this has gone on for a long time. Oh yes, you have enough for each day but you had such high hopes there was something more. Don’t give up! Perhaps God has been getting you ready all along just like his chosen people “to do good for you in the end.” (Deuteronomy 8:16)
Receive the Lord’s discipline which will prepare you for a greater abundance than you can imagine. When you enter into your promised land, it will be worth the wait!
Blessings,
Pastor Gina
He Lifts the Humble
The book of Numbers helps to chronicle the Israelites journey through the wilderness to the promised land of Canaan. The journey was difficult and the people frequently took their frustration out on their leader Moses. Fortunately Moses had his own brother and sister on the journey to support him. But sometimes, it’s those closest to us who can hurt us the most.
Numbers chapter 12 tells us that Moses’ sister, Miriam, didn’t like the woman that he had chosen to marry. So she begins to question is judgment and undermined his leadership behind his back. After all Moses wasn’t the only one who heard from the Lord. Hadn’t God spoken to her and Aaron as well? Perhaps Moses wasn’t the best person for the job anymore. So, God stepped in to have a “pull the car over” kind of conversation with the three siblings. You know what I’m talking about. Those times you were acting up in the back seat and your parents warned you, “don’t make me pull this car over”. And then the dreaded moment when they had had enough of your behavior that they actually jerked the car to the side of the road. Yep, it was one of those kind of conversations. God told the three of them, “meet me in front of my tent”. And God came down in a pillar of cloud to speak with them and said:
“Listen to my words: When there is a prophet among you,
I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions,
I speak to them in dreams.
But this is not true of my servant Moses;
he is faithful in all my house.
With him I speak face to face,
clearly and not in riddles;
he sees the form of the Lord.
Why then were you not afraid
to speak against my servant Moses?”
I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions,
I speak to them in dreams.
But this is not true of my servant Moses;
he is faithful in all my house.
With him I speak face to face,
clearly and not in riddles;
he sees the form of the Lord.
Why then were you not afraid
to speak against my servant Moses?”
The anger of the Lord burned against them, and he left them. (Numbers 12: 6-9)
Moses had been vindicated! Now was the chance for him to gloat over them. Or maybe some good old fashion self-pity was in order. After all, his most trusted partners, his own family, had talked about him behind his back, attempting to derail his ministry. Whatever Moses chose to do, he could at least find some comfort in knowing that those who had stabbed him in the back were now being punished by God. So, what does Moses do? He falls to his knees and pleads with God not to punish them. How does he bring himself to this response? Surely God is just in the punishment He chooses. Shouldn’t Moses find just a little satisfaction in knowing that they were getting their comeuppance?
I think this passage tells us how Moses was able to respond this way. In Numbers 12:3 the author deviates from the story to add this side note: “Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.” Apparently this bit of information was critical to the narrative. I believe it explains why Moses reacted as he did. The bible tells us that God lifts up the humble and shows them favor, but he opposes the proud. (Psalm 147:6; James 4:6). One way He “lifts the humble” is to help them rise above their fleshly responses, allowing them to react with spiritual maturity and compassion.
Humility comes from exalting God in your mind. Worshipfully meditating on God’s greatness helps to bring our self-image into the correct perspective. When we humble ourselves before the Lord we are filled with the wonder of His glory and there is no room for offense or self-pity. But when we are self-absorbed (thinking more about our own emotions, desires and disappointments than we are thinking of Him) our reactions are from the flesh. “Humility is the fear of the Lord; it’s wages are riches and honor and life” (Proverbs 22:4).
In Isaiah 66:2 God says: “…these are the ones I look on with favor, those who are humble and contrite in spirit and who trembles at my word”.
Does your perspective of God bring you such humility that it causes you to tremble when reading his word?
May God’s favor shine on you in your humility,
Pastor Jonathan
In This Together
Romans 12 (Just read the whole chapter. It’s good and speaks to every aspect of this writing.)
Do you ever feel down for no reason? Have you ever spent hours or maybe even days with a sense of heaviness? Have those times ever been accompanied by finding out that someone you know is going through a difficult time? Maybe you’ve even taken a feeling of heaviness to God in prayer and He brought someone to your mind to pray for. Maybe God even gave you an encouraging word to share with that person that totally lifted them during their trial.
These times may seem a bit overwhelming, but this is part of what it means to be the body of Christ. When one part suffers, all the rest are affected, and the same goes for when one part rejoices. The very nature of our relationship to each other demands that we share the burdens and blessings of each member of the body. And because I am often led to pray for others during their trial, I can be confident that when I experience difficult times, the Spirit is leading others to pray for and encourage me as well. What a treasure God has given us in each other! So here’s my challenge to us today:
1. Read Romans 12. The whole thing. It’s so good!
2. The next time you feel heaviness, ask God about it in prayer. Maybe God will give you insight about a situation, an encouraging word for someone, or maybe He will just fill you with compassion for someone and you will continue to lift them up in prayer.
3. The next time you go through a difficult time, remember that you are part of a body that is called to experience life together. Remember that God is leading people to pray for you and to reach out to you. Keep your eyes open for who those people might be. (I wonder sometimes if God sends people to help us but since they’re not who we were expecting or hoping for, we totally miss it.)
We are meant to bear one another’s burdens and blessings. We are meant to cry and laugh together. Like it or not- we are in this together!
Love,
Pastor Deb
Pride and Grace
“Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.'” John 4:10
As we prepare for pride weekend, I can’t help but remember some of the faces from past Pride events that we have worked in the church booth. There have been faces from all walks of life… Some who were raised in the church, some who once knew God, and some who have never known God at all. No matter who they are, they all had one thing in common… They were all looking for something. Whether it was a free pen or just wanting information about us as a church or just to have their picture taken with the “Yes you can be gay and Christian sign”. They were all looking for something. All those things are good, but what they were actually looking for is for someone to show them Jesus.
Jesus is absolutely what and who they need, but we can’t show them Jesus without showing them grace first. Grace should come before our judgment of anyone who we may meet at our pride booth. Grace often comes as a surprise when we are least expecting it. There was a woman who went to draw water at a well. It was around noon…the hottest part of the day. She wasn’t looking for anything, just going about her day, doing her duty as she always had. She had no idea someone was waiting for her. She could not have guessed the surprise she was about to encounter.
“Draw me water,” Jesus asked. He had been sitting there, tired and thirsty from his day of traveling. Shocked and a bit startled, she wondered how he could ask this of her? She was a woman, and a Samaritan woman whom the Jews despised. Asking for water would make him ceremonially unclean. Jesus told her that he could give her “living water” so that she would never thirst again. He baffled her once more. Jesus then revealed she had had five husbands and was living with one whom she was not married to. He caught her attention a third time.
Grace was waiting for her that day. Grace was sitting there, eager to give her a glimpse, a taste of something beyond her circumstances. Grace wanted to encounter her in a way only it could… to touch her beyond her physical needs and heal her eternally. Perhaps Jesus knew there was a longing in her heart that she hadn’t yet expressed. She needed redemption; someone to rescue her from the turmoil of her life. We know she was touched in a powerful way because the accounts show that because of her story, many Samaritans came to believe in Jesus as their Savior.
So… As we meet people this weekend. Whether it be the drunk girl who stops to sing along to a worship song. Or it may be a person who is so hurt and angry at the church who threw him out for being gay. Remember, it always starts with God’s grace. Then and only then can we bring them to a loving, caring father who will meet them exactly where they are.
Blessings,
Pastor Gina
Direction
We’ve all heard jokes about men who refuse to stop and ask for directions. Growing up I would constantly hear my mom say “Just stop and ask for directions”, but to no avail and we would waste lots of time taking the wrong turns or getting lost. In reality, there’s probably a good bit of truth to this stereotype, and it isn’t limited to males. In today’s world, both men and women in this world are constantly traveling along in life, taking wrong turns and getting lost over and over again without slowing down to ask God for direction.
You see, the truth is most of us have our own agenda. Many of us have in our own mind what our goals are without ever asking God what His goals for our lives are.
Whether we are trying to impress our parents, family, spouse, co-workers or just society in general which tells us we need to have certain “status symbols” to be considered successful. Or we have some thought in our head that we will be happy when we reach a certain goal. The truth is, unless God has given us that goal once we reach it we will not fine happiness and we will need another goal to take that accomplishment’s place.
God does not want us to travel aimlessly making wrong turns in our lives. He wants to give us clear directions and a map to go forward with. To put it in today’s terms, He wants to be our spiritual GPS.
Proverbs 3:5-6, is my favorite Scripture, it says, “Trust in The Lord with all your heart and do not depend on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” So today, if you are tired of going in circles, if you feel like you have been wasting time making wrong turns or if you just need clear direction, go to The Source, and ask him to direct your path.
Proverbs 3:5-6, is my favorite Scripture, it says, “Trust in The Lord with all your heart and do not depend on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” So today, if you are tired of going in circles, if you feel like you have been wasting time making wrong turns or if you just need clear direction, go to The Source, and ask him to direct your path.
Blessings,
Pastor Keith
What’s In A Name?
A name is the grouping of different letters of the alphabet which represent the identification of a person or object. But it is more than that; someone’s name can tell you a lot about them. Names are important, and you should remember them! Consider one of God’s names that you will want to remember – not because it will make Him feel better, but because it will change your life if you learn about this name.
Jehovah -Tsidkenu It means Jehovah is Righteous. He is perfect righteousness. He is the Rock. His work is perfect. He is the source of righteousness. He is The Lord Our Righteousness. Man, on the other hand, has no righteousness – Romans 3:10 “….There is none righteous, no, not one.” Isaiah 64:6 “…..All our acts of righteousness are as filthy rags….”
Thank goodness we have OUR God, who IS righteous! And all we need to is call upon our God, and the righteous one Himself will clothe us with righteousness! Isaiah 61:10 ” I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness….”
Jesus is Our Jehovah-Thidkenu – the Righteous One is made righteousness to us…. ICor. 1:30 and 2 Cor. 5:21
When Jeremiah spoke the prophecy that contains the statement “….And this is His name by which He will be called, ‘The LORD our righteousness.'”(read Jer. 23:5,6) the kingdom of Judah was about to fall; the land was full of idolatry, oppression, violence and political revolution. In other words – they were a mess. And that’s a lot like us before we meet the Lord (and many, many times afterward!) We cannot establish our own righteousness, but when we accept Jesus Christ into our hearts – our new man is created by Jehovah-Jesus in righteousness. Ephesians 4:24 “And that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” He is the one that picks us up when we fall (and fail). He is the one that holds on to you , and will not let you go.
Names ARE important. Learn one of God’s names today – Jehovah-Tsidkenu… pronounced “sid’…ke…noo.”
What a marvelous name that God used to describe Himself. He is the Righteous God who has provided for our acceptance before Himself through the cleansing of the blood of Jesus Christ. Even when we aren’t behaving so righteously, He remains our righteousness. And since He is IN us then we become righteous through Him. When you talk to God today, thank Him for being your Jehovah Tsidkenu, your righteousness.
Beloved – Have a blessed week,
Pastor Sherry
Now What?
What an incredible time together this past weekend with our Fall Renewal. It says a lot about a group of people ready and willing to give up their Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to learn and grow together. If you were present, I have no doubt at all that you got something from this time we had together. Today we are back to work and back to the grind of our day to day and it will be so easy to slip back in to what’s comfortable. I want to encourage you today to write down the things you heard from the Lord this weekend, and spend time in prayer over them the rest of this week and look for opportunities for Him to show you how to apply it in your everyday life. Just like we talked about, an awesome weekend with our church family and the Lord is wonderful, but an experience for our benefit alone is not what we seek. Let’s ask ourselves what the Lord wants to do with it “for the common good” of the body. Maybe you have not been serving and you need to, maybe you have some gifts you were not aware of that you have discovered and need to put to use, maybe you have a call on your life that you are fully aware of but it so easily gets lost in daily tasks and “getting by”. Maybe you have allowed offense to keep you bound and tied up in knots. What now? What are we going to do? Are you going to gain healing and freedom and keep it to ourselves, or are we going to step out and make a difference? Are we going to be bystanders in the Kingdom of God or are we going to be active participants? What is so amazing about God’s kingdom is that He wants us to be a part; He wants to work in us so that He can work through us. Not because He has to but because He wants to! We cannot just receive and get spiritually fed and then do nothing with it. Let us not get busy with the things that keep us worn out and distracted but let’s seek God and be led by the spirit in our daily lives, decisions, and relationships. Let’s look around us and open our eyes to what God is doing. Being led by Him and serving Him is not a burden but where we find fullness of Joy! Let’s put aside our plans and let’s seek His plans. Our plans will wear us out but His plans will bring forth fruit and life! Let us stop asking God to join us on our journey and let’s start joining Him on His. God’s Word will be fulfilled with or without us, that is for sure, but do we want to miss the joy of living life in relationship and participation with our Creator here and now? Let Him not return finding us full to the brim and asleep. What amazing gifts He has given his church! What will we do with them? Look around you today, is there someone that could use a smile? Is there someone that doesn’t know Him? Is there a need that you have the means to meet? Is there a call you know you should make but you keep putting it off? Is there strife where there should be forgiveness? What do we have to fear church? What is stopping us from living out what we experience on Sundays when we are together? Being led by the Holy Spirit and not ourselves changes everything. I don’t know about you, but I sure can exhaust myself! But following His lead accomplishes so much more and gives joy while doing it!
Ok, I am sure you caught on, this was more of a letter than a devotional but I feel pretty full from this weekend and I am sure you are too, so let’s go give it away!
Blessings,
Pastor Ginny
A Strange Description of Righteousness
“A righteous person may fall seven times, but he gets up again…” Proverbs 24:16
What is your definition of a righteous person? Stop for a moment and consider it. Now be honest…did your definition include the words “…someone who fails a lot”? Interestingly, Proverbs 24 says that a righteous person may fall…a lot! In Hebrew culture the phrase “seven times” was not always an exact number. It was frequently used to indicate a whole lot or an extreme amount.
Today we may say “I’ve asked you to do something 100 times”. We don’t literally mean 99 + 1, but rather we have asked an excessive number of times. The Hebrews used the phrase ‘seven times’ in the same manor. For example: in Daniel chapter 3 King Nebuchadnezzar ordered that the furnace be heated seven times hotter for Shadrach, Meshach and Adednego. In Psalms 119:164, David said to the Lord “seven times a day I will praise you…” He wasn’t telling God that he would only praise Him 7 times per day…not 6 or 8. Rather he was saying that he would praise God excessively. So, for Proverbs to say that a righteous person may blow it a lot seems strange to me. I think the key is in the second part of that sentence. “…but he gets up again.” You see, the righteous man is defined not by his failing, but by his rising.
God is not counting the number of times you fall, but rather the number of times you get back up to finish the race. Better still, He is the one pulling you to your feet and holding you steady when your legs are unsure. And when you do fall, He holds on tight to keep you from face planting.
“The steps of a (righteous) man are established by the Lord and he delights in his ways. And when he falls he will not be hurled head long because the Lord is the one who holds his hand”. Psalm 37:23
Let this truth not become your license to stop trying, but the grace to know that God rejoices each time you get back up and start again.
Blessings!
Pastor Jonathan
Holy Grounds
Recently during worship, Pastor Keith spoke about Genesis 1:2, which says that “the Spirit of God hovered over the waters” during creation. Pastor Keith explained that the word “hover” actually means to brood. Now to be honest, I thought he said “brewed.” You know, like coffee. Coffee is never too far from my thoughts and even though I learned later that he said “brood,” and not “brewed,” I had already begun to think about how life in the Spirit is like a great cup of coffee.
I’ve worked on and off in coffeeshops since I was 16, and one of my very favorite brewing methods is to use a french press. It’s very simple to use and produces a cup of coffee that is rich and flavorful. I think that the same features of brewing with a french press, when applied to our lives, will produce rich and flavorful expressions of God’s Spirit in the world. Here are some of those features:
- Immersion– Rather than have water spray over the surface of the grounds and drip down into a pitcher, water and coffee grounds are both added to the pitcher for an extended period of time. It is essential that the grounds be completely saturated. You know, water is a common metaphor for the Holy Spirit. I think this is just what Paul had in mind when he writes that we should be “baptized in the Holy Spirit.” A spray here and there isn’t enough. A drip every now and then isn’t what we’re looking for. We want to be baptized in the Spirit of God. Immersed completely. We want our lives to be absolutely saturated by Him.
- Filterlessness– When a filter is used, it traps many of the oils which would otherwise add flavor and texture to the coffee. Because the french press uses no filter, the oils from the grounds remain once the grounds have been removed. Remember that oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit and His anointing. What are the filters that we allow to trap or inhibit the Spirit in our lives? What are the barriers that keep His anointing from being enjoyed by us and others? Spiritual filters could be fear of what people think of us, toxic relationships, bitterness, unforgiveness, inauthenticity, etc. When we remove those spiritual filters, we allow the oil of the Holy Spirit to flow freely in our lives, adding flavor and adventure to every day!
- Pressure– This is the tough one. In order to separate the grounds from the water (which has now been brewed into coffee), a plunger is inserted into the pitcher and presses the grounds all the way to the bottom, leaving the rich, delicious coffee on top to be poured into your favorite mug. If coffee grounds could talk, I’m sure they’d agree that this is not a fun process. Pressure is not fun. But it’s necessary for french press coffee and it’s necessary in our spiritual lives. I think most of us would agree that it’s been in the pressing times- the trials, the uncertainty, the loss- that God has been most able to work in our lives. And it’s lessons learned under pressure that continue to shape our lives and experience. Under pressure, God grows in us patience, peace, grace, compassion, and a cornucopia of other fruits.
As we go through these cycles of immersion in the Spirit, removing spiritual filters, and growing under pressure, may God make us rich and flavorful to be poured out in love to the world around us!
Love,
Pastor Deb