July 24, 2014

“The Lord always keeps his promises; He is gracious in all He does. ¹⁴ The
Lord helps the fallen and lifts those bent beneath their loads.”  Psalm 145:13-14

 

The news reports are confirming what many of us feared would happen in Iraq.  The second largest city of Mosul is being purged of Christians by the Islamic terrorist group
ISIS. Christians are being given three choices: leave, pay them a tax that financially destroys them or die.  Some of these Christian communities have been in Mosul for the last two-thousand years.  These are our brothers and sisters in Christ. I am asking for us to pray for them. They are indeed “bent beneath their loads.”  What we know is that God has not abandoned them and is currently with them.  He will “never leave nor forsake them.” 

 

Our prayers:

- We can pray for their protection and guidance as they flee their homes. 

- We can pray for safe places to go and start over.

- We can pray that their families remain intact and not have to be divided.

- We can pray that the Spirit of God will comfort and lead them to strength they did not know they possessed.

- We can pray that the evil that is ISIS will come to ruin.

 

It seems hopeless for these Christians but I know it is not.  “The Lord always keeps his promises.”  These are the moments our faith engages and grows.

 

Now we turn to this coming Sunday and our series “We Believe.”  We are in Exodus 3:1-15. This story is going to help us as we seek to know about the Nature of God. Dig in before Sunday and see what you glean from the passage.

 

We can hardly wait to see you as we gather with friends to celebrate the goodness of God, catch up with one another and find ourselves challenged by God’s Word.  We love you.

 

Pastor Craig, Becky, Seth, Hannah and Riley the dog.

July 16, 2014

Psalm 100: 1-5 “Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!
² Worship the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing with joy.
³ Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
He made us, and we are his.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and praise his name.
⁵ For the Lord is good.
His unfailing love continues forever,
and his faithfulness continues to each generation.”

Sunday night saw hundreds coming together for our first night of worship. It was amazing!  Worship is such a critical part of our lives as Christians and we were excited to create an opportunity that met the need for young and older, where we experienced raw honesty and pure joy.  In these moments of worship God so often will speak to us. I think it’s because we are finally still and listening, and I can tell you God put His finger on a couple of things as I stood in His presence.  I felt the sting of sin, I experienced forgiveness, I saw future hope and I experienced His life-giving presence.  All of this and more only fueled my worship and called me to celebrate Him from my heart. Church, worship is what I give to God from a grateful heart.  This worship night was special because of what we experienced, but also because of what it says about us as His followers—namely that we are choosing to keep our eyes on Jesus the Glorious One! Church! When we gather and when we are alone…it’s an opportunity to celebrate the Glorious One. Don’t miss an opportunity to celebrate Jesus!  We will have another chance this coming weekend on Sunday morning…don’t miss it.

This coming weekend we will continue in our series “We Believe.”  Bring a friend this weekend as we celebrate the goodness of God, catch up with friends and find ourselves challenged by God’s Word.

We love you and will see you soon!

Pastor Craig, Becky, Seth, Hannah and Riley the dog

July 2, 2014

Hello!  I hope you are enjoying your summer.  My family and I are returning from vacation ourselves and can’t wait to be with you this coming Sunday.  We are returning for the third of our summer guest speaker series.  We are so looking forward to hearing from Jeff Manion, Lead Pastor of Ada Bible Church in Michigan.  Jeff is a published author and has seen his church grow from hundreds to over 8,000 people in the last 30 years of ministry.  You do not want to miss this!

We so look forward to seeing you this week as we gather to celebrate the goodness of God, catch up with friends and find ourselves challenged by the Bible.

We love you.

Pastor Craig, Becky, Seth, Hannah and Riley the dog