God is calling

What does it take to get to build a nation for God? Our image of the father of a nation is different than God's. This Sunday, Ken deBoer will look at the call of Abraham. This call was filled with the promise of blessings to Abraham and his descendants. But, what did Abraham do to deserve that call? How did he live so that God noticed and rewarded him? What do any of us have to do to become one of God's children? These are important questions as we wrestle with our role in our own salvation. Come out this Sunday morning as we take another look at unconditional election.

Election results

On election day the people choose the winner. The bible speaks of election too; Jesus says, "You did not choose me, but I chose you..." (John 15:16). We have to be careful what we do with this teaching. It can bring joy, but if used improperly, it could also lead to despair. Join us this Sunday, Jan 22, as we put election into its proper context, that of God's love for us.

Not just sick, but dead.

We call it a sickness, or an addiction,a mistake, maybe poor judgement or bowing to peer pressure. What we don't want to call it is "sin." But if we think of sin as an illness or a sickness, then we will conclude that there are degrees of sin/sickness and also that if we take care of ourselves, we can make ourselves healthy. The bible says that we are not just sick, but that we "were dead in our transgressions" (Eph 2:1). It doesn't getting any worse than that. Only when we understand how bad things are will we begin to understand the good news of God's grace. Everyone and anyone is welcome to join us this Sunday, Jan 15 10:00 a.m.

3:16

Most of us are familiar with John 3:16. But I Timothy 3:16 is pretty big too. That verse is a creed, a statement or summary of what we believe. Paul is writing to his protege Timothy to give him some advice on how to handle the church to which he'd been assigned. After some instructions about what it means to live good, or godly lives, Paul puts it into context. It's all about (are you ready??)Jesus. It's not about me or you, but who we are and how we live is all about Jesus. That's what church is all about. If you are not part of a church right now, go out and find one. Just be sure it's a Christian Church. See you Sunday, 10 a.m.