Pilgrims

I read this a couple of weeks ago. It is about the Pilgrims so I thought it would be good to share it on Thanksgiving. It is from "The One Year Book of Christian History." You can download the excerpt here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope everyone has an awesome Thanksgiving!

Don't forget, we will be having a special time of celebration and thanksgiving this weekend. Hope to see you there!

2 Corinthians 4:15
All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

Pass The Bread, Please

In our reading for today (John 6:43-51), I was reminded that in a couple of days we will be sitting down with our family and friends and we will be saying over and over, "Would you pass the turkey, please." Or the potatoes (is potatoes spelled with an 's' or an 'es' - oh well) or the stuffing or the pumpkin pie or the whatever.

Let's not forget to thank God for the bread of life that will never spoil or run out or leave us wanting for more. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, came so that we could have everlasting life with our Maker and our Creator and He always satisfies to the full.

Looking Forward

Our reading for today (2 Corinthians 5:1-10) is so rich. Just some random thoughts as I read these versus this morning:

1. We groan. How true is this!? As we understand our eternity with God more, our groaning and burden for being with God will become greater and greater.
2. Guaranteed. Our destiny with Christ is guaranteed - so much so that God has given us a part of Himself (the Holy Spirit) as a deposit - and the best news is that He will redeem the deposit that He has made!
3. At home and away. The body that we are in right now is temporary and as long as we are in this body we are not as close to God as we will one day be. We can also have confidence in the inverse - when we are no longer in this boy we will be fully in God's presense, i.e. to be absent from the body is to be present in the Lord.
4. Yearning to be with God. Are we yearning for being with God and in His presence?
5. What we do now in this body matters. A part of being fully with God will be His judgment of how we used our time and resources while in our present bodies.

It is so encouraging to think about being with God and yet to be encouraged to make a difference where we are at today.

Are you looking forward to being with God and yet taking advantage of the opportunities that He gives you to do His work now?

Afterlife: Eternity With God

The Think It Through for this week can be found here.

Hide-Away Verse: Week of November 23rd

"I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life."

John 6:47

Final Separation

Our reading today was Revelation 20:11-15. God is clear in communicating that everything that is not of Him will be forever separated from Him in the "lake of fire." That reality is sobering and humbling. In the end, it is all about God and the final kingdom that He is in the process of building.

I don't know what else to say other than I am grateful for Christ. May our hearts break, as God's does, for those that do not know Jesus.

Financial Coffee Chat

In these uncertain economic times we all need some encouragement. Come to the Financial Coffee Chat this Saturday at 9:30am @ OneLife Center (122 W 29th Street, Loveland).

God's Heart and Plan

As I was reading today's scripture reading (2 Peter 3:8-13) from the Think It Through for this week, I was struck by God's Heart and His Plan.

God's Heart: The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

God's Plan: But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

I can be so impatient when it comes to wanting things to change, but not God. He is patient with us because He doesn't want to be separated from any person that He has ever created. NOBODY! God knows what's coming. There will be a new heaven and a new earth and His heart is that His people (those He has created - all of us) would join Him there in eternal relationship. And thankfully He has worked out all of the details - Jesus!

2 Thessalonians 1:8-9

This is one of those truths that for me is very hard to read and think about. But at the same time, this scripture like all other scripture is from God and is useful to teach us (2 Timothy 3:16). So the challenge for me becomes what can I learn from this scripture.

I was thinking this morning as I read this scripture that if this was the totality of scripture this would be pretty hard to take. I am so thankful that God has provided all of scripture so that we can get a complete picture of Him and His heart. While there are consequences for our rebellion, there is also forgiveness, and ultimately an eternal life with God, in and through Jesus.

I am thankful for the totality of God's Word.

Afterlife: Eternity Without God

The Think It Through for this week can be found here.

Hide-Away Verse: Week of November 16th

"The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

2 Peter 3:9

The Swallower of Death

In our reading for today (Isaiah 25:6-8), I was struck by the phrase "he will swallow up death forever" and how the reality of that phrase came to be through Jesus. Jesus is the "swallower of death" - He conquered death. He overcame physical death, He was resurrected and in that single act He rendered death impotent. It has no power.

John 16:33 (NIV)
"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Check Your Pulse

Don't forget to "check your pulse" as a reminder that God is in control. That even in the midst of seemingly chaos in our world, God is in control. Just "check your pulse" and feel the blood coursing through your arteries - it's God's sign to you that He is in control of even your life.

Life and Death and Resurrection

In our reading for today (1 Corinthians 15:12-34) the phrase that kept running through my head was "death matters" and what we believe about death matters. Certainly what we believe about Jesus and His death matters for all of eternity. While death ushers in the rest of our eternity, it is what we do and the choices that we make in this world that determines our eternal destiny and in that sense, life matters.

Not only does life and death matter but resurrection also matters:

1 Corinthians 15:16-17 (NIV)
For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.

Hope4Kids Mission Trip Blog

The Hope4Kids Uganda mission trip blog can be found by clicking here. Take a moment to read about what the team has been doing over there and take another minute to post a comment to Carolyn and the rest of the team. I'm sure it would be encouraging to them.

It Matters

The thing that struck me in our reading for today (2 Cor 5:10) was that what I do in this life, before my physical death, matters in a big way. It matters for all of eternity in the context of God's kingdom. And yet I can have the attitude that this is just another day - not much different from the day before - and what I choose to do with this day doesn't matter all that much in the big scheme of things. That is nothing but a lie - it all matters in God's economy.

Let's make our blows count today by aligning our hearts with God's and engaging with what He would have us do.

Hide-Away Verse: Week of November 9th

Hebrews 9:27 (NIV)
Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment

The Blood of Christ - Priceless

In our reading from Hebrews 9:11-28 for today there is a lot packed into just a short section of scripture. I am continually amazed at the "density" of God's wisdom. I guess for me, the thing that I was struck with the most was the reminder of how precious the blood of Christ is - the blood of Christ is, well, priceless - the value is beyond words.

How could a price ever be put on a life of eternity with God?

Afterlife: Life & Death

The Think It Through for this week can be found here.

On That Day

Zechariah 14:9 (NIV)
The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name.

There is a day that is coming that will be like no other day that has ever been. There has been a lot of talk over the past few days that on Tuesday of this week history was made. While that is certainly true, it absolutely pales in comparison to the history that will be made on that Day when the LORD returns to restore God's kingdom.

That's our hope; that's our joy. Let's not be deceived into hoping for anything less. The LORD reigns!

Uganda Prayers

Just a reminder on the Hope4Kids - Uganda mission trip that that many of you felt led to contribute towards. Carolyn leaves today on her way to Uganda. Be in prayer for her and for the rest of team that is going. Pray that God would use them to impact His kingdom. Pray for salvations and pray for life transformations. Also be in prayer for the safety of the mission team.

I wonder if one day when our time on earth is done if Jesus will say to us, 'Do you remember that time when you helped out in prayer and with material needs for that team to go Uganda, Africa?' And then maybe he'll continue on, 'You may have thought that wasn't much but understand that you did that for Me and it was a big deal. Well done good and faithful servant.' I wonder...

If you want to follow along on their journey, from what I understand, they will be blogging and posting photos. You can go to www.hope4kidsinternational.org/africa for more information. It will probably be around 11/10 before they will have the needed infrastructure available to start communicating.

Have a great day in the Lord.

New Series: Afterlife

We are going to be starting a new series this weekend called "Afterlife". Over the next 3 weeks, we are going to be talking about life and death and also what happens after we die. It would be a great series to invite someone to who doesn't have Christ in their life.

Standing Firm

In our reading for today (2 Thessalonians 2), I was encouraged by Paul's exhortation for us to stand firm and hold to the truth. I'm sure it was difficult for the Thessalonians and it can be difficult for us in the midst of a changing political environment, a down economy, fighting two wars, a loss of income and jobs, increasing costs, etc. There is just a lot of uncertainty right now in our nation and in our world. But as God exhorts us through Paul, we can stand firm on Jesus Christ and His truth.

Our hope, as always, comes from Christ - not politics or the economy or anything else. The ultimate answer to the woes of this world will come in the person of Jesus when He invades our space for the second time.

And in the meantime, we must stand firm and cling to the truth.

SALT Fall Retreat

Just wanted to share some photos from the SALT Fall Retreat from this past weekend. An encouraging time was had by all!

Jesus Is Coming!

The Think It Through for this week can be found here.

Hide-Away Verse: Week of November 2nd

"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come."

Matthew 24:42