In Spirit and Truth

We speak often about making disciples by sharing God’s love, one person at a time. This is our mission, and one of the two main purposes of our existence. But why is this sentence so much easier to say than to implement? It all has to do with your eyes. Pastor Cindy recently ditched the glasses in favor of a new way of seeing. She now has contacts that are training her eyes to see one eye at a time. One for distance, and one for close up. She told me it was going to take from two to four weeks for her eyes to adjust. Right now everything is blurry, but in time she should be able to see more clearly without the hassle of glasses. In order to accomplish our mission, we too have to ditch our current way of seeing in favor of a new worldview. We need to train our eyes to see that we are ministers of reconciliation for God, and that we, and no one else, are responsible for sharing God's love. We need to train our eyes to see the hurt, confusion, and disillusionment of those around us, a

Psalm 147:11 “the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.” Psalm 149:4 “For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation.” You have probably heard the words, “God loves you,” a few hundred times. But did you know that God likes you?! Not only does He like you, but He delights in you! I know, I know…It took me a while to believe too! But God really enjoys being around you! If we could wrap our minds around this amazing truth, being a disciple of Jesus would be so much easier! It is hard to find the time to pray, or spend time in the scriptures, or fast, or…well you get the picture. It becomes even harder when we think that we are approaching a God with His arms crossed, foot tapping, and eyes glaring, because He knows how long it’s been since we were last with Him. But this is not the picture that Scripture gives us of God! Romans 8:15 tells us that we were freed from fear, and released into being chosen by God. “For yo

It is one of the oldest and longest running issues in the church. How shall we worship? For those earliest Jewish followers of Jesus, it must have come as some surprise that Gentile believers didn’t worship the way they did. The Apostles decided at the council at Jerusalem (Acts 15) what things were and were not essential. Much later, we see the battle shift focus from cultural laws to spoken language. In what language shall we worship? Again history repeats itself and it was decided that each people group could worship in their own language. Even the churches that historically resisted have now come to the same conclusion. Today the battle has shifted from language vernacular back to cultural vernacular and we are faced with the question, "How shall we worship?" We could easily fall into the mindset that pervades history, and declare that worship should look for everyone like it looks for us. But that mindset is not a biblical one. Scripture dictates the content of our worsh

Yes, it's that time of the year again! It's time for a brand new calendar; a clean slate of endless possibilities, with all those empty boxes begging to be filled. We are a resolved people! We are resolved to do better this year than last, to love stronger, to forgive easier, to exercise more, and eat less. Every year it’s the same. We resolve to produce more positive fruit! And every year, it only takes a few weeks to get disillusioned and downhearted. So how will we make this year different? How can we enter the New Year in such a way that we meet our resolution expectations? Believe it or not, scripture offers us an answer. In John 15:5 Jesus says, "Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing." We abide in Christ as He abides in us. It is honestly a little freeing to hear Jesus say, "Apart from me you can do nothing." I cannot tell you how encouraging it is