Most people have a tendency to think too highly of themselves. I do it more than I wish. I hate discovering it’s happening because it generally happens in an embarrassing moment where humiliation is the result.
I’m left wondering if it’s easier to be humble than to be humiliated. One is living in submission to God, not thinking more highly of oneself than we should. The other is being puffed up (easily done), self-seeking (easily done), and self-serving (easily done) … leading to being tripped up at the most inopportune time (easily done). Hmm … now I think it’s easier to be humiliated, but more desirable to be humble.
The last few months I’ve had the opportunity to preach/teach our congregation. While I know I’m called to pastor a church, and I believe to start one, I’ve not really done much teaching except in small groups. People in our church must have a true gifting of grace and mercy because I’ve listened to the messages on CD afterwards. Maybe I’m my own worst critic, but they are awful. And yet somehow God has used them to touch lives. I’ve seen His hand move in spite of me.
The real root of it all is it’s not about us. Any time we start thinking we’re “all that and a bag of chips” we will quickly find out we’re not. Maybe we’re trying to fool our spouse, or co-workers and boss, or maybe just the person staring back at us in the mirror. Against the standard of God, we’ll never measure up. So why are we trying to be more important than we are? It would be better if we just take the approach of saying, “Lord, I can’t do anything of myself, so give me a heart that will follow You and listen to You today.” After all, isn’t that what Jesus did?
John 5:19-20 … So Jesus explained himself at length. “I’m telling you this straight. The Son can’t independently do a thing, only what he sees the Father doing. What the Father does, the Son does. The Father loves the Son and includes him in everything he is doing. (MSG)
Why should we consider ourselves anything more special than Him? Yeah, when I put it like that it makes it very clear. I don’t want to be a fool. And I don’t want to have to be humiliated. That being said, when we’re not trying to impress others, we can treat them with grace and mercy the way God does us.
Lord, teach me to be humble, not full of myself, and give me a heart that seeks You in all I do.
— Pastor Rick
Ever know someone who plays spiritual hopscotch? I do. I see him in the mirror every day. I try not to make eye contact because I know I’ll see his failures and weaknesses in those eyes. And it’s frustrating every time I catch myself falling into that trap of hopping from one issue to another. Often the jumps aren’t to anything bad.
The devil is always looking for ways to steal, kill and destroy. If killing you isn’t an option, he’ll figure a way to steal from you. Many times those ways are through great deception. People can get so tied up with good things, but aren’t necessarily God things. Let me explain.
You see a need and decide to help out. This charity is really helping people and they’re always in need for more hands and feet to help serve. You, being compassionate, decide to help out. Something else comes along and demonstrates a need with an opportunity to serve. You jump in to do that, too. A third one comes in the form of a neighbor. She’s elderly and needs some help around the house. You’ve got a few minutes to spare and it ends up taking a few hours. Little by little, you become involved in so many outreaches, ministries, services, helps. Suddenly things start shaking from the inside out. Maybe your health starts to slip. Usually those aren’t as quickly noticeable as someone in the family doing something out of character … and then you start remembering all the times you should have been being a parent, but were too busy with all these pet projects or work or hobbies or ministry. The time robbers can be endless.
You see, none of those things were bad, but the long-term repercussions can be. The devil couldn’t get you through direct attack, so he got you through the details. There will always be things you could be doing to help out somewhere. The wisdom comes from being wise enough to know you can’t do them all. Seeking God for which ones you should be working on is vital. After all, seeking God is our first priority as a Christian. All those things that come in and steal our time, joy, and best efforts generally first robbed us of our time with God. Watch for this and be ready to let some things go in order to get back to our first priority.
My pastor is very good at using this wisdom and has even shared this topic with us. He can’t do it all and will never pretend to. If he did try to do it all, he’d get wore down both physically and spiritually. I hope to maintain this mindset when our church plant begins. That will mean sometimes having to tell people, “No, I won’t be able to make it” or “That sounds like a good idea, you go do it.”
The risk/reward is skewed to blessings when we take this approach. True, there will be some that will think I just don’t care, but the reality is to know your limits and allow God to raise up people to fulfill their part of Christian ministry. It’s how we learn to grow and mature as the body of Christ. We simply can’t do it all. We have to be wiser than that and listen closely to the Holy Spirit.
We all have our own part to do and it can be very easy to just do it so it’s done right OR to never do anything and assume others should be doing it. Both of those traps can be as damaging as being over involved. And that discussion is something that definitely needs to be touched on at a later time.
— Pastor Rick
Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. As a child, those were the days I remember hearing the word ‘grace’. “It’s time to say grace,” someone would say before an adult would “beseecheth the Lord in thine bestest Old King Jamesian” tongue. Or maybe they would get a child to recite the traditional, “God is great, God is good and we thank Him for our food.” We were always left wondering why ‘good’ and ‘food’ didn’t rhyme and why we would talk about thanking Him rather than just thanking Him directly.
In my teens I was taught an easy way to remember the difference between grace and mercy.
- Mercy is not getting what we deserve. You broke the rules, you deserved punishment, but for whatever the reason, you weren’t punished and that is called mercy.
- Grace is getting what we didn’t deserve. An example could be not earning a big bonus on a paycheck and being surprised when you receive it anyway. That is called grace.
Same coin with both sides being shown. Grace on one side, mercy on the other. Grace and mercy are always found together in topic and life — and rightfully so … kinda like peanut butter and jelly, only more so. Because they go hand in hand, one cannot be found without the other being present.
God extends to us His grace. There is nothing (read: NOTHING) in or about us that merits even a single merciful thought from Him towards us. The very best we could possibly offer is like filthy rags. We are wholly corrupted and saturated in sin. As sinners, we are completely worthy of eternal punishment at the hands of a righteous and holy God. And yet His grace is more powerful than His wrath.
Through the work of Christ on the cross, God the Father extends to us His grace. Calvin would go on to describe that grace as irresistible: His grace being so overwhelming to us that we could not possibly say no to Him.
Imagine an elderly bum wreaking of alcohol. He’s toothless and his clothes are filthy and tattered. His health destroyed by decades of drugs, alcohol, and non-stop bad decisions. He’s disease ridden and covered in body lice. The stench of dung is nauseating. Got the picture?
Now picture a royal, holy King in pure white walking up to this wretched man. Pure, bright, elegant, powerful, and just. This majestic, beautiful, King in white reaches out and embraces this disgusting man. Wrapping His arms around him and embracing him tightly. Then the King pours out gift upon gift to this man. The King heals him of all his diseases, renews his mind, gives him new clothes, a mansion, a car, and a brand new start in life. The former vagabond now has everything he could ever need or want. This is an example, albeit flawed, of His grace. A shadowy glimpse into the enormity of His gift to us.
It’s by His grace that we have been drawn to repentance and brought to salvation. It’s by His grace that the shackles of sin have been broken off our life. It’s by His grace that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us. The Father used the fulfilling work of Jesus on the cross to complete His grace “bridge” to reach us. His grace bridged the gap between His holiness and our un-regenerated heart. While we were still enemies of the cross and enemies of God Himself He ‘graced’ the great divide that kept us hell bound.
Grace gives us the ability to live for Him out of loving obedience instead of mandated acquiescence. It almost sounds the same, but the reality is when we surrender to the cross He redeems us — purchases us — by the blood of Jesus. We’re no longer slaves to sin or the father of sin (Satan). We become slaves to righteousness and to the King of righteousness. And it’s because of that change of ownership that we obey. It’s human nature to think we have to obey to receive God’s favor. But being hidden in the blood of Christ (the purchased Price) we are already favored of the Lord apart from obedience. When He looks at us, He sees us as holy, blameless, beautiful, wonderful … His adopted children. How? Because the obedience required of us was fulfilled in and through Jesus Christ on the cross. None of this was possible without His grace. And because of His love and grace, our heart cries out, “YES, Lord,” in response with our lives. You see, he who is forgiven much loves much. It’s this love that gives us the desire to follow and serve our Savior.
Religion is trying to be obedient in order to gain God’s favor. True Christianity is realizing we have God’s favor through the work of Christ and our response to that understanding is obedience.
His grace is a beautiful thing. We see His grace at the start of our new life in Him, but we must cling to it every moment of every day until He brings us home. We shouldn’t be surprised when the enemy tries to lie and deceive us into serving him again … our old, dead nature will want to fall back into old, dead habits. But it’s through that very same grace that we continually have victory over sin. His grace is a reminder to us that Satan and our slavery to sin is already defeated. Trust me, the devil knows it, too, and God’s grace is a reminder to him as well.
Now go, walk in His grace.
— Pastor Rick
When Facebook was new and we only had a couple dozen friends it was cool to know we’d posted some piece of information that someone else liked. How did we know they liked it? Because they clicked on the LIKE button, of course! But in our daily walk, we have major difficulties with the LIKE button in our heart. It can be difficult going through each day looking at everyone we come into contact with the same way God looks at them.
Think about your typical day. You wake up and the kids are grumpy or your spouse can’t figure out how to say a simple ‘good morning’ to you. You walk out the door and head to work. Stopping to get gas you see two or three people while filling up. No one makes eye contact or a courtesy ‘hello’.
At the office you’re given some mundane work and you snarl at your boss (inwardly) that you can’t do something more productively entertaining. Then in comes that guy that just drives you up the wall. His voice grates on your nerves so badly that just seeing him coming your direction makes your skin crawl.
You finish your day and you head home. Four or five jerks cut you off on the road and you’re happy to make it into the driveway without an accident.
There was very little of that day you liked. There were very few people during that day that you liked. There were very few that KNEW you liked them. It was a day just like yesterday just like the day before that. And our LIKE button is more like a ‘MEH’ button. You just don’t care and it shows. It’s not just what we do, but how we do it and how we treat others as we go through our days.
Let’s take a quick look at our families. In most families there are those you wish you could see more often. It’s always great to see them, be around them, hang out with them. But the vast majority of the family … those cousins, that uncle, grandma so-and-so on your dad’s side … you love ’em, but you don’t want to have to see them. And you really don’t want to get stuck on a phone call with that one relative that just doesn’t know how to shut up and hang up.
All too often we get into this routine. Or maybe it’s just me. But we’re not supposed to live this way.
Luke 10:27-28 — The man answered, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!” (NLT)
In the example I gave above, how, in any of that were we showing His love? It wasn’t even LIKE. It was just a big wad of “meh”. You didn’t care about what you had to do or with those whom you had to interact. We are too full of ourselves and not full enough of His Holy Spirit. Or maybe more accurately put, we’re not submitted fully to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
How about the following two verses just to heap a bit of coal on the flames.
Colossians 3:23 — Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. (NLT)
Matthew 5:43-48 — “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
We’re to approach our entire day with our hearts yielded fully to Him. How could we say, “meh” to Him? And if we’re to approach Him with a love and respect, He also commands us to do the same towards ALL those around us? Not meh or like, but LOVE.
Yes, even our enemies and those that persecute us. Honestly, when was the last time you were persecuted? You see, it’s not just a concept or an idea, it’s a command. But that guy on the highway that nearly drove us off the road? God loved him and laid down His life for his sake. How can we possible view him any different from us. We were wretched and careless of others before Christ changed us. And unfortunately, all too often we’re that way even after our rebirth.
It’s impossible to like everyone, but we need to somehow learn to love them and see them as Jesus does. They all have their own weaknesses, failures, misgivings, and irritations. It’s funny how we can always see them in others and rarely in ourselves.
Maybe next time we start our day and realize our kids or spouses are grouches we should examine our own heart first and see if they are somehow responding to our attitude instead.
— Pastor Rick
How many times do we fail to seek God when things get tough? My family is enduring a hard season right now. My wife and I have both encouraged our daughter and son-in-law to seek God in the midst of their struggles. Instead, they both continue to try to solve things on their own … each in their own way. One is running hard in the opposite direction and the other grovels in misery with a Jesus-less hope that things will turn for the best. So far, resolution is far away. And I feel stuck in the middle.
I’ve done the first part that was necessary. I confronted both and, in the midst of their problems, spoke very directly to the issues. I listened, presented the gospel, listened some more, encouraged, listened again, then trusted God. Neither of them were receptive to the gospel as neither one see this issue as something with which He can help. One is completely unbelieving and the other is coldly distant.
My heart hurts for them. In great part, I feel I have a depth of understanding from my own sinful failures in my past. I can see the roads being taken on both parts and have, at one time or another, been on both. Speaking from experience, I tried to counsel both and have come up empty. But I’m praying. I’m praying and believing. My heart will not concede an enemy’s victory.
I did instruct them each that more important than saving their marriage is the salvation of their soul. But my heart still aches for them both. I wish that they could see what is the outcome of both their spiritual and marital lives apart from the Lord. They’ve both looked for contentment outside of His will and their journey will be fruitless until they are willing to bend their knee. We cannot make decisions for others. Apostle Paul said he wished that he could be accursed for his Jewish brothers salvation. But that’s not what God wants. God wants them to come for themselves. And the same is true for my daughter and son-in-law.
This story is not over. We’re in the middle of it. The paradise they were agreeing to only five years ago has hit some turbulent waters. But until it’s ended, it continues. And so will my prayers.
— Pastor Rick
Most people don’t think of themselves as either sinner or saint. But the reality of the situation is they are one or the other. There is no middle ground. There is no spiritual Switzerland. Bringing that point home can cause great pangs in the hearts of the lost and eternal joy in the souls of the redeemed.
We all were lost in our sins, apart from Christ. Our life was one of rebellion against a holy God. Even the very best we could give to God, if we were to try, would be filthy rags. But the Bible says there are none who seek God. No one. Every person on earth seeks his or her own way. And that’s why we stand condemned in our sin … bound for an eternal hell without hope.
Psalms 14:2-3 (NASB)
2 The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men
To see if there are any who understand,
Who seek after God.
3 They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt;
There is no one who does good, not even one.
As a sinner, we placed ourselves in the hands of an angry God who is just and requires justice. Either we earned salvation by our own works (impossible to do because of His holy standards) or we face His righteous and just judgment.
Romans 6:23 (NASB)
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God called to us with His love and extended to us grace and faith for salvation. He loved us first. He loved us when we completely unlovable. He loved us while we still lived in open defiance to Him. In spite of the ugliness of our sin, He chose us. He selected us to be one of His children. Through the sacrificial blood of the spotless Lamb, Jesus Christ, the Father extended to us mercy and redemption. His atonement, if you accept His love offering, completely redeems you from the bondage to sin.
Romans 5:8 (NASB)
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.Ephesians 1:5 (NASB)
He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
In Christ you are a new creation. Your heart has been softened by the Holy Spirit and made alive again in Him. For those who’ve been bought back you’ll see yourself referred to as His adopted, His beloved, His redeemed, and His saints. Yes, saint. Not of your own merit, but by His.
If you’ve surrendered your life to Him and asked Jesus to be your Lord, you’re His. Forever. If not, you’re not. It’s cut and dried. No Switzerland. Sinner or Saint. Which one are you?
— Pastor Rick
Which one are you? Curious, convinced, committed? What’s the difference and what am I talking about?
The curious are those that had heard about this Jesus. Everywhere He went while He was on earth there were hundreds, if not thousands, following Him. The multitudes would cram in just to hear or see this man. They were told he might be a prophet. They heard He had done great miracles like raising the dead or feeding thousands with one kid’s lunch. There were rumors He could heal with just a touch or a word. People even said He might be the king that would free them from Roman rule. They wanted to see what He was all about.
We see this all the time in churches. People come in and visit. They almost never stay. The truth of the matter is they’re curious about this Jesus. Whether they would ever admit it or not, they watch the lives of christians to see if there is anything different about us … to see if Jesus really did change us. All too often they look and see nothing different from themselves. They see people who struggle with the same things they do, no peace, no power, no love, and if that’s really Jesus, they figure they’re just as good without Him.
Then there are the convinced. They came out and saw the miracles. They saw the healings. They were there when he fed the multitudes. When He confounded the religious pharisees, well, that was just the icing on the cake. This Guy is more than just a teacher or prophet. He must be. But when He told them to forsake all and follow Him, well, that was more than they bargained for. Besides, they’re way too busy to be able to follow all the time.
How many times have you seen people come into church and get “on fire” only to be gone in just a few months. They were once drawn to Jesus like a moth to a flame and now at the mention of His name you can see their eyes sadden as they feel overwhelmed by guilt. Like the rich young ruler, they couldn’t let go. Money bought comfort and an easier life. But Jesus said there was no place for the Son of Man to lay His head. So when Jesus said go and sell all you have and follow me, he wouldn’t make that kind of sacrifice for his soul. Most people aren’t willing to give up their posturepedic mattresses to sleep on a sleeping bag in a third world country. Most won’t walk away from their 52″ flat screen televisions to feed the homeless at the local shelter. And sadly, most won’t even consider talking to their closest neighbor about this faith that has “changed them”. We’ve got too many things to do. Sundays are our only day to rest … surely God understands. Actually, no. He doesn’t.
The few, the proud, the committed. We saw them. They followed Jesus everywhere He went, only they didn’t just hang onto His words, they also allowed themselves to be changed. They believed and obeyed Him when He sent them out two by two. They returned rejoicing and praising Him declaring even the demons obeyed them. And even in their fall (Peter wasn’t the only one that forsook the Lord after Gethsemane), they all came back. The Lord restored them and encouraged them. Before He ascended, He also commanded them to preach the gospel everywhere and make disciples. They had been with Him for three and a half years being discipled themselves. And He didn’t leave them alone, but gave them the Holy Spirit. The world has never been the same.
The committed in our churches have given their lives to Jesus. It was made clear that Jesus meant it when He said to give Him everything. They may have had problems doing that at first, but in time the Lord gently showed them what to give up and gave them the strength to do it. Some of those habits had been controlling their lives forever and yet they were somehow able to lay it down. Folks not only changed how they talked, but how they walked. Suddenly their life has a different perspective … a God perspective — one that doesn’t follow after self, but after God. They are now concerned for their fellow man. The curious aren’t just curious non-christians. They are lost and hell bound without the grace work of Christ. And the committed care about that and want to do whatever it takes to reach them.
Sometimes that means going to a foreign country. Sometimes that means speaking up when someone else profanes the Lord’s name. More often than not, it means doing something to change someone else’s world for the better. Making a sacrifice for others to impact His kingdom.
St. Francis of Assisi said,
“Preach the gospel all the time, use words if necessary.”
Being committed doesn’t mean we won’t make mistakes, or sin, or fall. But our heart longs to serve our Father and when we do fall, we’ll be quick to repent and seek His forgiveness. May we all become committed in our relationship with the Lord.
Now, which one are you?
— Pastor Rick
I want to take a few minutes to recap some of last week’s blessings that were poured out on my wife and I in Missouri. God’s hand was mighty on both of us and we’ve come back refreshed and praising Him.
I have a couple of friends that live in Springfield, Missouri. I met them about 15 years ago on AOL. We met when they lived in Kansas City. It has been twelve years since I’ve seen them and my wife had never met them. But as I told her, “I introduced you to my eye doctor and you get along fine, I’ll introduce Mark and Claire to you and it’ll be good, too.” She was nervous and I did the best I could to mitigate those fears.
The reality was I mentioned to them what I felt God was doing and their immediate response was for us to come up there so they could pray for us. We scheduled a long weekend and headed up there on a Friday after Dorothy’s doctor appointment.
I have been feeling like I’m in this season of intense grace for several months. My heart breaks easy and often. I find myself overwhelmed with love for the Lord in worship and often with a heavy presence of the Holy Spirit. I’m thankful for it. I hope this season lasts forever and I never see a dry spell again. And maybe that’s part of why it seems so awesome … because I had been in such a dry place for something like 20 years.
At the doctor’s appointment Dorothy went in to give blood and have her thyroid levels checked. They’ve been off for months and she’s been on medicine to try to find a balance. In the process, her thyroid had continued to get worse and worse. The doctor had told her that if they couldn’t get it under control, they would have to give her radiation to kill her thyroid and then she’d be on medication the rest of her life. But I’ve been praying.
She comes out and calmly says, “they said all my levels are normal.” I went into as much of a praise dance as I could in the car. Thank you, Jesus!
I can tell this blog may be lengthy, so go get cup of coffee and get right back. Seriously, I’ll wait.
We make it safely to Springfield and Mark and Claire are so precious to let us stay with them. Mark has to work the next day, but we spend much of the evening catching up and letting them get to know Dorothy (and vice versa) until we’re all exhausted.
The next day I awake early and go out to their sunroom. Claire is already up. We start sharing about what the Lord has been doing in their lives over the twelve years and I start opening up a bit more about the vision the Lord has given me. I share the dreams that I’ve had. I also share Dorothy’s hesitations and reasoning. But I also confirm to her that I’m not concerned about Dorothy’s reaction because God is working in her mightily. And He is, too!
Dorothy wakes up and comes out. She and Claire spend some time together before we all head out to take the grand tour of Springfield and grab some lunch. The day is a real treat as the weather is perfect and we walk through their rejuvenated downtown area.
Mark finally gets home after a very full day and we go out to eat. Mark is more open to me than any of the other times I had visited them. Very fatherly. God knew what I needed and had changed Mark over the years … or maybe me. Either way, I was in a place where he could speak into me and I had a heart that could hear and receive. One of the visions the Lord had given me, He had given Mark. Mark opened up first about it and then I was nearly bouncing as I was seeing this laundry list being checked off in my heart as he went on. Each step of the vision Mark had matched mine. It was awesome.
Sunday morning arrives and we head off to church. Sunday school, what a concept. The only people we know and that know us are Mark and Claire. The only thing anyone else knows is that we’re waiting on God and we’re open to anything the Lord may have for us. We go through praise and worship which is fantastic. The Lord really presses His Spirit on me and I’m broken. After praise and worship ends, however, is when a lot of the ministry began.
They call us down to the front because there are several that have words from the Lord for us. I’ll try to list them below in order:
- A woman comes to me and says, “The foundation is sure. It’s perfect. No flaws. It’s not for the foundation that there is a crack in the corner of the room. The Lord has put it there. Take a closer look and you’ll see bees flying in and out. Pay no attention to the bees. Look closer behind the wall and you’ll see the largest honeycomb and the pure honey is dripping from it. Place your mouth under it and catch all of the drippings. You have heard from the Lord. The word He’s given you is sure. But this is a time of refreshing. This is a season where He is pouring His word into you.”
- One of the elders comes to me and says, “God gave you a word and you wondered if it will come to pass. It will. It is my word to you. My calling over you to go and do this thing. And I saw Jonathan and David hiding behind a large rock. Peering over they see the enemy. Realizing it’s just the two of them, in the natural they are greatly outnumbered. But with the Lord they realize they can defeat this enemy. They dip their swords in honey before they burst onto the scene and the Lord helps them win the battle.
- An elderly woman comes to Dorothy, “The Lord says you’re grieving the loss of your son, but he’s standing next to Jesus right now. He’s healthy, healed, whole. Grieving is for a season, but rest in the knowledge that your son is with Jesus.” (Dorothy was amazed because no one knew us. She knew it had to be God!)
- The Lord gave me a word over Dorothy. “You were amazed at the strength of your son’s faith in his brokenness. But you’ve struggled with your faith because of his brokenness. Reach out, for I am right here. I want you to be healed and whole.”
There were several others that just felt compelled to come and hug, cry, pray. We left there astounded by the grace, mercy, favor, and faithfulness of our Lord over us. He’s so incredibly good. So incredibly tender.
The call is real. The call is sure. He’s doing a deep work in both of us and we’re saying, “yes, and amen!”
— Pastor Rick
God is so good. This past weekend was wonderfully blessed. Wonderful wonder filled weekend. More details to come, but here’s a video from the Skit Guys.
Ephesians 4:11-12 — And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; (NASB)
For years I’ve longed to see the church take a stand together in the bonds of love so that the world would see His church … and more specifically, see HIM in us. How else could the fractured and splintered body (His church) come together apart from His Spirit?
When I was a teenager I was going to other baptist churches and trying to get them to be open to fellowship between youth departments. It never happened. We need to hold fast the confessions of our faith — saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God — but we let all our other differences divide us. We stay divided. My heart is still to see that change.
Grace Church will have a heart to reach the lost, preach Christ in all of His splendor, and to reach out to our brothers and sisters in Christ. As Paul said, I choose to know nothing in them except Christ, and Him crucified. Together I want to reach the community at large.
There are many my ministry may never be able to reach. Same could be said for other ministers in the area. The bottom line is going into the harvest fields together and working together. If we can’t learn to get along here, eternity is going to be a very long time. That is unless you hold fast to the joke that your church will be the only one in heaven.
We’ve got to cross these lines of divisiveness. We’ve got to lay down anything that divides us. Whether it’s racism, gender, denominationalism, religiosity, or anything else you can think of, we’ve got to drop it.
Galatians 3:28 — There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (NIV)
We’ve been commanded to love one another. And Grace Church will proclaim that from the day the doors open until the Lord returns. Does this mean we will turn a blind eye to sin? Certainly not! But we will learn to speak the truth in love, gentleness, and with a humble heart lest we find ourselves falling into sin. There’s a right way and a wrong way to deal with issues. Many churches crush hearts instead of speaking truth, encouraging, exhorting, praying, and holding up those weaker in the faith.
May we serve and love those around us as Christ does us.
— Pastor Rick
gracechurchfw.org 