November 26, 2014 The below was written by Mandy to the worship team in an email. She graciously allowed us to post it on the blog as an encouragement for everyone. ____ Hey everyone! Hope your week is coming along awesome! :) I have the whole week off from work, so I am enjoying some wonderful rest :) Here comes that busy time of year... Thanksgiving is only a couple ...
Keep ReadingThe most dangerous thing about tomorrow is the temptation to forget God, to live and talk and act as if God doesn't exist. It's the greatest danger any day: to live our daily lives our daily habits, daily work, daily relationships overestimating ourselves and overlooking God. We know God exists, but we just lose track of him sometimes for a day, or a month, or longer...
Keep ReadingDecember 09, 2014 Innumerable Christmas devotionals point out the humble circumstances of Jesus' birthamong shepherds, in a crude stable, with a feed trough for a bassinet. When Jesus himself tried to summarize why people should take up the yoke of following him, he said it was because he was meek and humble (Matt. 11:29). Seldom, however, do we explore the full implicati...
Keep ReadingDecember 12, 2014 Then Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the worldto bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." John 18:37 This is a great Christmas text even though it comes from the end of Jesus's life on earth, not the ...
Keep ReadingFeburary 26, 2015 This past week in our series on Philippians we looked at verses 1-16 in chapter 2 we talked about finding Joy through humility. I just had a follow-up thought about the relationship between having humility before God and having humility before other people. It can often appear like we have one while lacking the other, but really I believe they go hand ...
Keep ReadingFeb 13, 2015 One of our 7 Big Prayers for 2015 is as follows: "That God would give us love for those whose sins offend us.and also the boldness to have awkward conversations to help each other grow." I've been praying this one a lot lately - particularly the 2nd part of it -- because I've been hearing about the need for quite a bit of these awkward conversations to be in...
Keep ReadingFEB 5, 2015 Every morning I try to have what I call "time with God." Time alone in prayer, reading the bible, reading a portion of a book, listening to God. Some times I walk away from that time filled with awe over the grandeur of God's grace, God's bigness, God's sovereignty, God's power. Some times I don't walk away with that awe. And it makes all the difference for...
Keep ReadingJanuary 20, 2015 "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer." (Mark 9:29) "Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation." (Mark 14:38) I recently rearranged my study at home. But I did not remove the prayer corner or the prayer bench. I made it more private. All I have ever read and experienced teaches me that deep spiritual influence for the good o...
Keep ReadingJanuary 13, 2015 On January 4th we began a new sermon series called "A CALL TO PRAY." Our hope is that we would be a praying church, a church that is utterly dependent on God's grace and power in order to make things happen. And for the first two weeks of this series we focused on "Our Big 7 Prayers For 2015" -- specific things that we're praying for regarding our churc...
Keep ReadingDecember 24, 2014 It may not be a popular thought on Christmas Eve, but the very fact that Jesus came assumes something about us as individuals. It assumes we ares sinners in need of him coming. It assumes we are sinners in need of a Savior. And that need never ends. We don't pray a prayer one day in church and then have that need met once and for all. Yes, we are forgiv...
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