From Our Pastor | Will you let God bless you?  That may strike you as a strange question.  After all, who wouldn’t want God’s blessings on their lives?

From Our Family and Music Minister | Growing up, my dad did most of the cooking because he was always home earlier than my mom.  The same circumstance presented itself when my sister and I were off at college; I was home first, so I did most of the cooking.  There is no better way to learn to cook than to do it out of necessity.  However, I got a little bit of my mother in me, so I would love to try new things.  To make a long story short, I made a big pot of spaghetti when we had friends coming to stay for the weekend.  It tasted so bad that I refused to eat it or let anyone else eat it.  We cleaned up the dishes and did take-out.  Yes, it tasted that bad.  Fortunately, the next time I cooked, my friends were willing to taste my food and even continued to give me a second chance even when I had a flop now and then.  Aren’t we glad that we serve a God who continues to provide us with a second chance when we continually mess up and make mistakes?

From Our Pastor | “How can we reach the people of this generation?” That is frequently the question Christians ask one another these days. Believers look at an increasingly sinful and hardened culture and begin to grasp straws for a “formula” to reach people.

From Our Family and Music Minister | We all need encouragement from time to time. Encouragement can be helpful when we are feeling down, struggling with a difficult task, or trying to achieve a goal. Encouragement can come from many sources, such as friends, family, teachers, mentors, or even strangers. It can be as simple as a kind word, a hug, or a pat on the back. When we are encouraged, we can receive the strength to keep going when we feel like giving up. However, we can’t always be on the receiving end. As Christians, we need to make sure that we reach out to our family and friends who might need encouragement. As Christians, there are so many ways we can encourage each other:

From Our Pastor | As we remember our Lord’s crucifixion and resurrection, we cannot help but be in awe and amazement at our Father’s great love for His children. Everything we remember and celebrate this week testifies of God’s great love for us.  Romans 5:8 states, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

From Our Family and Music Minister | Over the years, I have attended many youth rallies and worship services.  These events can be great times of teaching and worship for young people; however, many of the youth just get caught up in the emotion of the event.  As a result, they will come down during the invitation, be attentive during Bible study, and even show up for Sunday School the following Sunday for the first time in a year.  Unfortunately, this change usually passes within a few days because they were caught up in the emotion of the whole event and honestly had not made a heart change.

From Our Pastor | What difference does salvation make in everyday life?  We usually think of salvation in terms of eternity.  We focus on its impact after death.  While salvation is the determining factor in our eternal destiny, it also completely changes our lives now.  The Christian life is a completely different life than the non-Christian life.

From Our Family and Music Minister | As we read through the familiar stories of the Old Testament, how often do we wonder how these individuals could be so stubborn? From patriarchs that waivered in their faith to a whole nation of people who would see God’s hand work and then, in a short time, completely turn their backs on Him, we see stubborn hearts.  Before we judge and do not seek to learn from their mistakes, we must remember how many times we have failed God. There were times when God was speaking, but we didn’t want to hear, or when we saw His hand moving and didn’t want to get involved. How often have we forgotten to let God guide us because we wanted to follow our stubborn ways?

From Our Pastor | Have you ever considered some part of the Christian life and thought, “I can’t do that”?  Perhaps the subject considered was Christlikeness.  You thought about your weakness and failures and decided that it was impossible for you.  Or, you thought about growing in your Christian walk and concluded that you did not have what it took to make that happen.  Perhaps you really wanted to serve God but did not even try because you were not equipped.  When life’s problems came, you felt defeated because of your lack of strength.