Reflections: March 29-30, 2008

This week's "Reflection" by Gary Keith, Pastor of Teaching/Worship
 

As I reflected on the message of this weekend, my first thought was centered on the name and person of Jesus. Why do so many try and explain spirituality by leaving out the name and person of Jesus? I have never personally been offended by that name, but it seems that so many in our culture ignore or dismiss or altogether reject the name of Jesus. I must confess, I just don't understand how someone could have a problem with the message Jesus brought.

 

I know that I have found meaning and purpose in life through the message of Jesus. I have found the answer to why I'm here and who I am and it all revolves around my relationship with God through Jesus. What about you? Why do you think others reject the name of Jesus or try and ignore him? You can respond by using the blog link below.     

Reflections: March 22-23, 2008

This week's "Reflection" by Jeff Taylor, Pastor of Teaching/Youth
What an exciting truth that the God of the universe, the creator of Heaven and Earth, knows who we are, what we need, and that we can't earn His love and forgiveness so He did something about it. Jesus' death and resurrection offers us the opportunity for real life, with a very real and personal God.

This weekend people in each of the services (between 3 and 7 each service) committed their lives to Christ. What an exciting thing to see people allowing God to touch their souls and give their lives to Him! Along with those people, many others made the choice to allow God to come and bring freedom to their relationship with him by removing the performance aspect of their faith. God's love and forgiveness is something that He offers us freely, and what a joy it was to see people desire to embrace that freedom and look forward to a life of understanding the love God has for them.

Praise God for what He is doing in the lives of people here. Please join us in praying for those who made commitments to God this weekend – that He would reveal Himself daily and they would reach out to others with the good news of the salvation of Christ that has been offered to us all.

Reflections: March 15-16, 2008

This week's "Reflection" by Jeff Taylor, Pastor of Teaching/Youth
The more I think about it, the more it excites me to see how Jesus was willing to use people, like His disciples, who had issues and struggles in their faith, because it demonstrates God's willingness to use people just like any of us!!

How are you encouraged in your life and faith to know that Jesus knew you were coming and followed through with His purpose to die so that we can live? What are some ways this knowledge can play out in our everyday life? And as we look forward to celebrating the resurrection next weekend I hope we will all take time to go before the Lord and express our gratitude for His sacrifice, to give us the opportunity to have a new beginning in Him.

Reflections: March 8-9, 2008

This week's "Reflection" by Matt Sasso, Pastor of Jr. High Ministries


This week we looked at how “He [Jesus] knew what He was doing.” For us as believers we can find comfort, hope, and even peace that Jesus knew what He was doing because He knew why He came. It is my hope that we can see how Christ came to be like one of us so that he might experience what we experienced and ultimately conquer life and death. He knew that He came to reveal the Father to us so we might truly know what God looks like and that we might have a relationship with God.
As I shared this weekend, one of my favorite passages is John 17 because it is a prayer that I believe Jesus prays for us. I would encourage you this week to take 10-15 minutes and read John 17. Would you examine how you are letting Christ’s authority be lived out through you? Would you look at the way you view God and how you might grow your relationship with Him? Would you share your thoughts and experiences on the Reflections Blog?

Reflections: March 1-2, 2008

This week's "Reflection" by Gary Keith, Pastor of Teaching/Worship

The Beginning of the End...of the Beginning: Jesus knew who He was!

I realized that I mis-spoke during the message on Sunday. During the message I talked about our calendar being separated in time by the birth of Jesus; B.C meaning before Christ and A. D. meaning after the death of Christ. A.D is after the death of Christ, but A.D. is really a Latin word, "Anno Domini," referring to the year of our Lord. The time of the change is centered around the birth of Christ not His death. I'm sure some of you wondered about this. I hope this clears it up.

Beyond that it seems clear to me that Jesus knew who He was.  Jesus knew He was God in the flesh when He said, "Before Abraham was even born, I Am" (John 8:58 NLT-SE). This claim of Jesus demands a response of some type from each of us. We can accept this claim and allow it to change our life. We can reject it, calling Jesus a liar or something worse. Or we can be somewhere in the middle, seeking answers. What we cannot do is ignore Jesus. Every person at some point in their life must make a decision about what Jesus said about Himself. If you are still seeking, what questions do you still have about Jesus? What do you need to understand? Please feel free to send me an email or make a note on the blog below. Let's talk!  Please just don't ignore Jesus. His claims demand an answer!