From the Blog
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Relationships Matter
Are you overwhelmed by the hatred and violence in our country these days? Don’t you wish we could all just get along? For some of you, the disunity is more than a news report or a social media post. It’s starting to affect your relationship with your neighbors, your co-workers, maybe even your relationship with your family and friends. Some of you have taken sides and made your positions known. Others of you are afraid to say anything, but even your silence is judged. Everyone has a different perspective on the root problems and the solutions. Everyone thinks they’re right and the others are wrong. How can we find reconciliation and peace again?
Where is God in all of this? Do our broken relationships with one another matter to Him? And if they do, how can we understand how much relationships matter to God?
In the apostle Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, he sought to make them understand how being reconciled to God through Christ Jesus affected all of their relationships. We can understand how being reconciled to God through Christ Jesus affects our relationships. -
Purpose Matters
What matters most begins with deciding whether Christ will be your Master, your Lord. Then second, learning what mission, what purpose, Christ has for your life. Then, who you choose as your mate or who you choose to fellowship with should line up with the first two.
In the apostle Paul’s second letter to Timothy, he charged Timothy to fulfill God’s purpose for him in Christ Jesus. We can fulfill God's purpose for us in Christ Jesus. -
Faith Matters
As we begin to return to life outside our homes, what have you learned about what really matters to you? Having so many things closed and isolated from school mates, neighbors, church attendance, even family… what have you missed the most? And have you considered whether everything in your formerly busy life should be just added back willy-nilly? Or should we carefully consider how we order up our lives going forward, asking what really matters?
In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he challenged them to follow his conviction that faith in Jesus Christ is what really matters above all other things in life. We can choose to see our faith in Jesus Christ as what really matters most in our lives. -
Overwhelmed by Addiction
So many of us struggle with forms of addiction that we begin to believe the lies we’ve heard or formulated ourselves. Lies like “I don’t really have a problem, its just not that big of a deal, I can’t stop, or I can quit anytime I want, its not hurt anybody else, look … its just the way I am, or God made me this way, or I deserve this (I’m entitled to this).” We make excuses or believe lies, but don’t we truly know that we are in bondage to something, that we have become slaves to this substance or behavior.
If we can see it for what it is then we can begin to address the issue God’s way. You see, we are helpless to overcome our addictions but in Christ we are not hopeless. Where we are weak, God is strong.
In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he reminded believers that as members of the body of Christ they no longer had to be overwhelmed by addictions. In Christ, we no longer have to be overwhelmed by addictions. -
Overwhelmed by Doubt
Doubt is something we wrestle with often. We have doubts about all kinds of things, we doubt other people and whether they will do as they say. We say things like, “I doubt that” or “I’ll believe it when I see it” all the time. We suffer from self-doubt, second guessing everything we do, and failing to trust any future action. When circumstances and suffering come, our doubts come in greater number.
We have doubts about God’s character, but we don’t have to remain there. God desires to not only grant us His wisdom but also the faith that overcomes doubt. In James chapter 1, the apostle James wrote to the scattered Jewish Christians that they could face their trials with a tested faith in God, a faith that overcomes doubt. We can overcome doubt by this tested faith in God. -
Overwhelmed by Fear
The feeling of being unable to handle life’s obstacles results in many emotions that are certainly all connected. One that many of us are feeling today is a state of fear. Fear is defined as an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. We often feel fear but perhaps increasingly so in this season in our world.
But our God has not left us in our fear, but has given us His Holy Spirit to overcome fear. In the book of 2 Timothy, the apostle Paul reminded his disciple Timothy that God had given him His Spirit and not a spirit of fear. God has given us His Holy Spirit which overcomes fear in us. -
Hosanna! God Save Us!
Now, when Jesus made his entrance, it was the first day of Passover Week and great numbers of Jews had traveled from all over the Roman Empire to celebrate this annual Jewish festival. A great crowd greeted Jesus as he entered Jerusalem with shouts of “Hosanna, God save us” and the waving of palm branches. The crowds are no different today. At this incredibly difficult time in our country, people are shouting save us from sickness, save us from unemployment, save us from loneliness, please save us from our children who are now stuck at home with us. We still look to “kings” to governments to save us, but so few are shouting, “Save us, O God, from ourselves!”
In Matthew’s Gospel, the crowds shouted “Hosanna,” God save us, as Jesus entered into Jerusalem on the first day of Passion week. We too can call upon Jesus as the only One who can truly save us. -
Search for the Heart’s Desire
God is our Creator and He has made us for Himself. The throne in our hearts was built for Him. No other will satisfy our heart’s desire. So we keep on searching. That’s what’s going on in our Scripture text today. We will see a son searching for his father’s donkeys, a prophet looking for a prophesied prince and a people searching for a king like the other nations.
In 1 Samuel 9-11, the LORD answered Israel’s desire for a king, anointing a Benjamite named Saul to rule over them and save them from their surrounding enemies. We can understand that the LORD answers our heart’s desire for its true King today. -
Worshiping the True King
Sometimes we try to put ourselves in the throne that belongs to God, but often we put someone or something else there.
Samuel is old and it’s election year. But they want a new kind of government. They want one like the other nations. They want a human king instead of God. In 1 Samuel 7-8, even though the LORD had established Samuel as His prophet and judge over Israel, they still continued to fail at worshiping God as their true King. In the same way, we often fail to worship God as our true King. -
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Since the beginning, humanity has continually struggled against God in a kind of game of thrones. Yet, when we reject the Lord as King and put ourselves on the throne, we experience much sorrow and defeat in life. But this sorrow can be God’s grace to lead us to follow Him and to give Him the glory that is due Him. That’s what happens to Israel in our sermon today. Both the priests and the people don’t give God the glory due Him, so that they are defeated by Philistine raiders, and the Ark, which represents the throne of God, is lost!
In the book of 1 Samuel 4:1-7:2, the LORD deposed the house of Eli and disciplined Israel so that they might learn to give God the glory that was due Him. We can learn to give God the glory that is due Him.