I Am Alive!

Colossians 2:13 - We have been made alive in Christ! We have been forgiven of our sin - past, present and future. Death could not hold Jesus and we have been set free from the bondage of death. Celebrate your freedom in Christ. Revel in it. Proclaim it. Believe it - it's the real deal.

I Have Seen The Lord!

John 20:18
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.

I love Mary's excitement. She had seen the Lord and she was taking the good news to His followers.

We have the amazing privilege of engaging with and "seeing" the Lord day by day, moment by moment. Have you spent time with your Lord today - in His Word and in prayer?

Can you say as Mary said, "I have seen the Lord!"

Who Needs Your Prayers Today?

Who in your life needs your prayers today?

I was challenged with this question as I biked to work today. As I passed a specific house, I had this sense that I should stop and pray for the people that live in the house. But my first reaction was to keep riding. After all, I had things to do. But after I continued to ride for about another block, God convicted me that I should turn around, stop outside the house, and pray for them. And so I did.

I don't know what else will happen in my world today but I am convinced that may well be the most important thing that I do today.

Who needs your prayers today? Maybe it's someone you don't even know.

Day 3 - 65 Challenge

Day 3 of the 65 challenge. I hope the challenge is going well for you. Continue to persevere. I will continue to pray for your victory.

Hebrews 10:36 (NIV)
You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

65 Challenge - The Point

As so often happens on a Monday morning after sharing a message on Sunday, God graciously reminds me that He is still God. Many times that reminder comes in the form of Him revealing more to me that relates to the message from Sunday. It's as if God is saying, 'Chris, don't think you have this all figured out. I have so much more for you to learn.' And then He proceed to show me just that.

This morning I read the following verses as part of my alone time with God:

Philippians 3:8-11 (NIV)
⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
¹⁰ I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
¹¹ and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Yesterday, I challenged us, as a church, to pursue God by being in His Word for at least 5 minutes a day for the next 6 days straight. And many of us raised our hands and made a commitment to do it. That was great and it is a great thing to pursue.

But God this morning reminded me of the point behind it that I may not have made clear yesterday. The point IS NOT to read information about God. The point IS to pursue a relationship with God through Jesus Christ and the Word is the embodiment of Christ. And so as we read His Word the point is to deepen our relationship with God and to ultimately become more like Christ as we journey with Him - not to just read about Him.

I am praying (literally praying for victory in this small act of obedience to God) that all of that happens in our lives over the next 6 days as we live out the 65 Challenge and pursue our relationship with God through His Word.

Let's be praying for one another that we can keep our commitment.

Monday Morning Reminder

Just a couple of reminder thoughts from yesterday's message - Jesus Lives...Now What?

• We live out what we believe in.
• Truth is not a concept or information that is correct - truth is a person and His name is Jesus Christ.
• We cannot let our circumstances define truth - we must use Truth to define our circumstances.
• 65 Challenge - reading God's Word for at least 5 minutes for 6 days straight.

Jesus Lives...Now What?

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

Righteousness Through Faith

Romans 3:21-24 - A beautiful explanation of life found in Jesus Christ. Righteousness, not because of who we are, but because of who Jesus is. We all have the same disease - unrighteousness caused by sin - and the antidote is exactly the same - Jesus. We all need the same amount of grace - an infinite amount - from Christ. Redemption is so sweet!

And The Winner Is...

"Kung Fu Panda" is our movie winner! Thanks to everyone (130 total) who weighed in with their preference. Don't forget that the OneLife Time Movie Night is this Thursday at 7pm at OneLife Center. Hope to see you there. We will be providing popcorn and water. If you would like to bring other snacks, feel free.

Take A Moment

Easter is over but the power of the resurrection is just as real today as it was yesterday. Take a moment to remember what God does you for you every single day. He has provided resurrection power for your life through Jesus Christ.

Here are a few pictures for our day together yesterday. It was a good day.

A Sabbath Day Unlike Any Other

Imagine what the disciples of Jesus must have been thinking on the Sabbath Saturday after their Lord had been crucified and buried. Some must have thought - Was I a fool for believing? Others probably wondered - What do I do now? And others - Tomorrow will be here soon, what then?

Indeed, tomorrow always does seem to come. What does your tomorrow look like in the reality that Jesus Christ rose from the dead? Does it make any real difference in your life? If Jesus was coming back again tomorrow, what would you do different in your life today?

The Cross

Jesus went to the cross as God's plan of redemption. On the cross, He took on the sin of all humanity. He is our sin offering. At 9:00 am on a Friday morning, after hours and hours of trails and torture, the cross crucifixion was initiated. He hung on the cross for 6 hours until He was physically dead. At 3:00 pm, He gave up His Spirit and He simply stated, "It is finished." Jesus had obediently completed His duty in bodily form He had been sent to fulfill.

Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NIV) "The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

John 3:16-17 (NIV) "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

John 19:30 (NIV) ^... Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Praise God.

Remember Jesus

Jesus many times would remind His disciples to remember Him. But on the Thursday before He was crucified, He would remind them once again as they ate together for the last time. At that very moment, Jesus ushered in a new way of life, a new covenant, with His people. A "new covenant" because the "old covenant" written in the context of animal sacrifice was being replaced with a covenant that was written in the context of Jesus Christ.

Jesus the very next day would become the ultimate sacrificial lamb for all of humankind. God thank you for your new covenant that was written in the broken body and the spilled blood of Jesus Christ.

Take some time today to remember the "new covenant" of Jesus Christ. (Luke 22:1-38)

And in our reading for today (2 Timothy 2:3-12) God reminds us to remember Christ, what He has done for us and who we are in Him.

2 Timothy 2:11-13 (NIV)
Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.

Bearing Fruit Through Endurance

Colossians 1:10-12

I don't know if you have noticed or not but "bearing fruit" takes a lot of work and therefore a lot of endurance. Bearing fruit takes time and energy - it doesn't just happen over night. It can take days, months and even years to bear fruit that will last. One of the main ingredients in most fruit is simply endurance.

Thanks goodness, that we have a God that is patient with us and has a plan for our fruit bearing that will work to produce fruit that is good and that will last and it is God who gives us the endurance we need.

Enduring Well

James 1:12 (NIV)
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

I've been thinking about persevering and enduring - not only just getting by but doing it well. The following is just a partial list of what I think God would want me to endure well in:

• My relationship with God
• My marriage
• My family
• My health (physical, emotional, spiritual)
• My work
• My ministry
• My finances

What is it that God would desire for you to endure well in?

Problems and Solutions

For me, it is encouraging to be reminded that the problems we face are all the same - IMPOSSIBLE - starting with the most fundamental problem of sin and salvation (Matthew 19:26) - but from that fundamental problem flows every other problem that we face in life. The answers are found in God and His wisdom (James 1:5).

April Fool's Day Thought

Just a simple thought on April Fool's Day.

Deuteronomy 4:6 (NIV)
Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people."

After reading this verse this morning, I thought how ironic it is that as a nation we have an entire day set aside for foolishness. Not to be a "kill joy" or anything, but I wonder what would happen if, as a nation of people who follow Christ, what would be the effect if today we choose God's wisdom over our own foolishness? Not in a self-righteous way but rather in a Godly way out of obedience to Him - in a way that honors Him as the true source of all wisdom.

I sat with my 11 year old son this morning and I hadn't really thought about the fact that it was April Fool's Day, but we talked about choosing God's wisdom over our own and applying it to our lives instead of foolishly living our lives according to our flesh and our desires.

God is good all the time and His wisdom is right all the time.