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It’s essential that our prayers be controlled by the word of God. When our prayer life is soaked in the word of God not only are our prayers renewed and fresh, our mind is renewed as well. And when our minds are renewed by the word of God our lives are renewed by the Spirit of God.
So much of what we do is empty without the love of Jesus fueling our actions. Throughout his life on earth, Jesus consistently showed compassion to others. That’s because Jesus is real and He invites us to follow his pattern of consistency in ways we live out our love for the people God puts in our paths. Jesus’ example invites us to make love and service part of our everyday life.
This week, we welcome the Crossroads Youth Group to share in their Mission22 experiences. The week focused on two aspects of mission work. The first part of the week was Getting Closer. They were prompted about their walk with God and how close were they to the Lord in order to love others authentically. During his time on earth, Jesus did some pretty amazing things. And we could recount all the miracles and the teachings and yet, Jesus did one thing that we could easily miss. Jesus got alone with God the Father through prayer. He got closer.
Belief in the power of positive thinking is not the same thing as an inner wisdom and unwavering confidence in Christ. It doesn’t come from believing in ourselves. True optimism, true belief is in getting our minds right on the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. It comes from biblical convictions about the nature of God and knowing that He loves us and has an exciting plan tailored for just us. Getting our mind right is part of being able to recognize that God is working in and through us to accomplish His purpose.
Unless you are a die-hard athlete do you even think of stretching. Physical stretching is one of the best things we can do to keep ourselves in the game. But what about spiritual stretching? God sometimes asks us to go out of our comfort zones. He stretches us. Our faith enlarges and we reap a host of spiritual benefits like restoration, influence, and the promise of things we can’t even imagine.
Scripture is clear, we are to love one another in the Body of Christ. And although the Spirit dwells in us, love still needs to be perfected. To be like love from brother to brother and sister to sister— love as family. Love from the Father through the Son that is activated in our lives overflows into our speech and deeds. Join us this week in worship as we discover the Only Jesus— Brother and His love in the family of God.
We can rejoice knowing that it is through the righteousness of Christ and our faith in Him that we are redeemed people of God. We find out this week it takes perseverance in faith to stay on track, to set our eyes on the goal of knowing Christ. There will be some who come along our pathway and try to lead us off the mark set before us. Let us remember we are people who are growing in their knowledge of Christ and growing in our understanding of just how powerful God is. It is in His strength we find the assurance to stand firm, to press on, to journey toward the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
As we enter the book of Philippians, we need to start with a solid foundation. Every book of the Bible is put there to help and assist us to know God more intimately through His Son Jesus Christ and to encourage us to stand firm in the faith. Philippians is no different. This letter written by Paul to the Church of Philippi is a friendship letter. He knows them intimately and therefore knows what they are going through as an early church, believers following Jesus. Take this journey with us as we walk through Philippians and learn what it means to partner with Christ.
Living the Christian life as a follower of Jesus is not any ordinary life. We are called to a higher standard. We are called out to be separate from the world to be peculiar people. Different in a good way to shine our lights so brightly to season the world with salt so that they can taste the difference of life being in union with Christ. Join us this week as we come together to discover what it means to live a higher standard.
Easter is over— or is it? The resurrection of Jesus brings us new life, eternal life for those who believe in Him and that’s the truth of what God's word says. In today’s culture it is difficult to determine the truth because of all the messages that we are receiving and yet as a believer, we know the truth and are called to declare the truth of Jesus Christ, His life, death, and resurrection. Easter is not over, it is only the beginning for us to move out and declare His truth!
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