Articles & Stories
Resources to inspire, challenge, and inform
What if I told you there is ONE THING that would… Transform you? Draw you closer to God? Lead you to experience His active presence in your life more? Improve your relationships? Proclaim the good news and love of Jesus in the world louder than anything else? Would you want to know what that one thing is? Would you do it?
Winning can be an exhilarating experience. Often, winning produces a physical action like shouting or jumping. No matter how big or small, whether it’s winning a game, a prize, or the lottery, we internally rejoice. But what happens when we lose? Losing also results in a physical reaction. Slumped shoulders, pouting, or a fake smile that covers up the angry emotions inside are just a few gestures we witness. While winning brings a sense of pride and joy, losing can make us feel jealous and ashamed.
"I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." – Mahatma Gandhi. How many times have you heard of people leaving the church or speaking against Christianity, not because of God but because of us, because we love so contrary to the Jesus we say we follow? We have made it hard for people to see Jesus because of how we love…or how we don't love. We must change this!
We all envision our lives going a certain way. We have so much hope that our lives will be great. But rarely does it go that way. In John 16:33, Jesus says: “In this world you WILL have trouble.” But He doesn’t stop there. He goes on to say “But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Troubles in this life – even the worst imaginable type – are inevitable. Jesus promised that we would have troubles. When in the midst of our troubles, we have a choice how we will respond to them.
For us, change is inevitable. Time, people, past experiences, current circumstances, our environment, our education, even God Himself causes us to change. Sometimes we change in the blink of an eye, and sometimes we change gradually over years. Regardless, we are all changing—in good ways and not so good ways.
God appeared to Moses – an old murderer, liar, and coward who was doing the lowly job of a shepherd – in a burning bush. He told Moses about His big plan: freeing the Hebrew people from slavery and leading them to land He had promised them they would possess long before. AND then…God said something Moses never saw coming…
Raise your hand if you hate being generous. Raise your hand if you hate being on the receiving end of generosity. Anyone? Generosity is a two way street paved in chocolate. If they’re being honest, pretty much everybody feels warm and fuzzy on the inside when they are the object of generosity, or when they get to bless someone else.
Do your words fill others with joy or kill their joy? The words we speak to others are a really big deal to Jesus and an issue of obedience. Our obedience to what Scripture teaches is make it or break it in our experience of Jesus…Joy Himself. Choosing to be joy-filling people to others probably affects our joy much more than how they treat or speak to us.
This post is a summary from our Your Marriage Can Thrive sermon series. You can listen to the series on our Sermons page. Regardless of the past or what stage your marriage is currently in…your marriage can THRIVE! But a thriving marriage will require… 1. Two good forgivers, 2. Accepting one another’s faults, and 3. Spiritual oneness.
Have you ever noticed yourself behaving like those you’re around? We’re all part of a family in some way, shape, or form. From a young age, we see how children resemble their parents. Kids take on the mannerisms, vocabulary, attitudes, and even beliefs of their parents. How often do you hear, “You remind me so much of your mom/dad”? We become and behave like those we identify with.
God doesn’t save, accept, help, love, bless those who help themselves, but those who recognize they are HELPLESS. Faith in Jesus is how we declare we are helpless, accept God’s gift of grace, please God, are united in Jesus, and experience the blessings of that. Salvation is offered through grace. Grace is free gift for ALL. Grace says, “Come as you are.”
During our “Filled” series in 2015 (accessible on our Sermons page), Pastor Andy Williams preached on how walking in the Holy Spirit requires taking action. He shared a little bit about a crossroads in his career, and felt led to follow up on that with this blog post about “faith in action”. Andy wrote this post following his sermon.
On Easter Sunday 2015, Pastor Ronnie preached a sermon called “Is Jesus Really the ONLY Way?” You can find this on our Sermons page. The big idea of the message was “Jesus really is the ONLY way IF Jesus really rose from the grave.” Ronnie recaps some of the truths we looked at on that Easter Sunday in this post.
Three days have passed since Jesus was placed in the grave. It’s Sunday morning. Mary Magdalene and some other women converge on the tomb. As they approach, they discover the giant stone that blocked the entrance, has been dislodged and set aside. Mary, in panic, runs to tell Peter and John: “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
Saturday must have been a very sad day for those close to Jesus. It was also the Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest. Scripture doesn’t mention what Jesus’ followers did on this day, except to mention that the women, who had earlier been busy making preparation for Jesus’ burial, are today taking the traditional Sabbath rest.
Today is traditionally known as Good Friday. It’s the most difficult day of Passion Week. Jesus’ journey turns ugly in these final hours leading to his death. Judas Iscariot, the disciple who has already betrayed Jesus, becomes overcome with guilt early on this day and commits suicide, by hanging himself.
Our journey through Passion Week takes a somber turn on Thursday. From Bethany Jesus sends Peter and John ahead to a special upper room in Jerusalem to prepare for the Passover meal. After sunset, Jesus takes the place of a house servant and washes the feet of his disciples as they prepared to share the Passover meal together. By performing this humble act of service, Jesus demonstrates, by example, what it truly means for us to love one another.
The writers of Scripture are silent on what Jesus did on Wednesday of Passion Week. Many scholars speculate he and his disciples spent this day resting in Bethany in anticipation of Passover. It makes sense they would need a break because the last few days appear to be very busy, and no doubt, exhausting. Also, from what we have seen so far, Jesus and his followers do appear to be staying in Bethany. Bethany was close, only about two miles east of Jerusalem. It’s where Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha lived. These three siblings were very close friends of Jesus. It’s extremely likely they hosted him and his disciples during these final days in Jerusalem.
