Church Renewal
God works through the bride of Christ, His church to bring His Kingdom to the community around. As the church, we want to experience a fresh outpouring of the Spirit of God and be willing to be like a flexible new wineskin, open to new ways of doing ministry, as we are filled with the new wine of the Spirit.
Personal Renewal
I believe God wants to do something amazing in our community and in our church this year. But he can’t do any of that through us if we don’t first experience a personal renewal of our faith and our passion for him.
Remember to Look back
Day to day, moving through the busyness of our lives we sometimes fail to see the forest through the trees. Spiritually speaking, in the middle of the chaos of our lives, we can feel like God is nowhere to be found. But if we take a moment to look back, to gain some perspective, and to remember the big story of our lives, we will often see the fingerprints of God at work in our lives.
The Gift and the Giver
Christmas is all about the presents. But behind every gift is the giver of that gift. When we think about Christmas, and the gift of salvation through Jesus, we must recognize the incredible generosity of the gift we have been given and also the incredible love within the Giver of such an unbelievable gift.
Your Forever Family
The Importance of Family at Christmas This morning we are continuing our Christmas Series “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” where we are looking at our favorite parts of Christmas & tracing those themes to see how they point to Jesus. We already covered how our Christmas tree comes to us from the Tree of Life and points to the tree Jesus was hung on, thereby giving us eternal life. And last week we looked at how music is so integral…
Songs of the Season
Songs are Powerful Last week after taking a look at our beloved Christmas trees and how they intersect with the Tree of Life found in the second chapter and the last chapter of our Bibles, today we are going to look at the Songs of the Season. Unlike any other holiday in America, Christmas is tied to carols. We sang many of them this morning, as music is so tied to what it means to be human. There are studies…
The Christmas Tree
How We Love Our Christmas Trees Today we are launching our Christmas series because, let’s be honest – now that we have celebrated all that we are thankful for, many people have already turned their attention to Christmas. And what’s the first decoration we all put up to kick off the Christmas season? The TREE! Now, thinking about Christmas trees, there are quite a few different ways people do their Christmas tree. So, I’ve got a few questions that help…
Eyes to See Like Jesus
Jesus saw the world around him with compassion. Unless we see the world like Jesus, we will never share Jesus with the world.
Outside the Walls
Finding Our Mission I’ve had busy days during this first week as pastor of First Baptist Church in Chariton, Iowa. I’ve met many of you, held meetings, put my office together, learned who to ask about what – and I’ve loved it all! I’m excited about being here and about what I see God doing already. But the busyness and the activity are not what my job here actually is. We don’t exist as a church simply for me to…