When I was in college, visiting my home church, George Jensen was sharing the biography of David Livingstone. Livingstone famously said, “Lord, send me anywhere, only go with me.” As I sat through the sermon, the Spirit of Christ was pressing hard on me. I was overwhelmed with that presence and began to weep. I walked forward during the invitation to talk with a pastor. He asked me, “Why did you come forward, Tim? Do you have sin to confess?” I did, but that wasn’t the reason. I said, “No. I just feel the overwhelming presence of Christ, and I want to serve him.” You see, I was called to ministry when I was twelve, but during college I had left that call and joined the business school. In those precious moments, Christ was pressing upon me to return to His calling on my life. At the new semester, I switched majors back to theology and continued my training for vocational ministry.

When Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, seated on an elevated throne, his presence filled the temple. Upon seeing the Lord, not only did Isaiah receive the cleansing grace of the Lord, but he was moved to spontaneously serve the Lord. The Lord asks, “Whom will I send?” and Isaiah responds, “Here I am, send me” (Isaiah 6:1-8). What moves us to service? What moves us to invest in the mission of Christ’s church? It is Christ!

Join us Sunday as we consider the fullness of Christ and worship our sovereign master.

This week, I heard an eighty-three-year-old pastor tell the story of his trip to McDonald’s. He was taking a longer time to order his food, and the person behind him was getting frustrated. The person behind him began to honk and give some unique gestures combined with vulgar language. When the pastor got to the window to pay, he paid for the other person’s food. As the pastor then pulled up to the next window to get his food, the person behind him was trying to pay and learned what he had done. Immediately, the sour driver’s attitude changed, mouthing “thank you.” The pastor overcame evil with kindness (Romans 12:21). This is grace in action. But how can we be changed to live this way?

Sunday, we considered the essentials that define the church: worship, community, generosity, visibility, and grace. This week, we’ll consider how grace changes everything in our lives.

M. Night Shyamalan produced a great movie in 2004, The Village. If you haven’t watched it, spoiler alert: A group of wealthy people purchased a large tract of land surrounded by woods and went off grid because of the evil of the modern world. They raised their families, raised animals, grew crops, made clothes, and lived in a secluded commune. To keep their children from leaving, they invented stories of monsters in the woods. No one ever left, and the children grew up never knowing that they were surrounded by an advanced society. Until a crisis occurred, and the truth came out.

Believers steward God’s gifts for the glory of Christ and the benefit of others! One of those gifts is our neighbors. Join me as we consider our community responsibilities in relation to our calling.

I have a friend who got married out of high school. He and his wife were both working to make ends meet and were living paycheck to paycheck. One day, a man knocked on their door, asking them to invest in a new company that he was starting. He wanted them to invest $1,000 in his new venture. They didn’t have that money and kindly declined investing with Sam Walton of Walmart! They laugh about it and wish they had invested. If they had, they wouldn’t have to work ever again.

Sunday, we’ll ask the question, “What limits our stewardship of God’s gifts?” What keeps us from moving Beyond our Walls?

Sunday night we presented our Beyond our Walls plan to refresh our outdoor facilities. Our question is simple: “Do our facilities facilitate our ministry purpose?” After looking over the grounds, it’s difficult to argue with the need to refresh our playgrounds, stop the erosion, and cover our picnic area. Over the next few weeks, we are going to cast a vision for the Beyond our Walls campaign. We want a shared vision moving forward, no matter what part you can play in the effort.

This week, we’ll consider God’s invitation of stewarding Christ’s kingdom! Join us as we worship and consider our role as God’s children in His world.

Ponder these questions for Sunday: How does the gospel change our view of self? How does that change affect our relationships? Join us Sunday as we consider the next paragraph in Romans 12:3-8 and worship our Liberator!

I heard a joke of a new member of a tree crew who was given a chainsaw and told to cut up a fallen tree. After a few hours, the foreman came over to inspect his work, only to find he had made just a few cuts in the fallen tree. Livid, he asked the crew member what he had been doing most of the day. The worker offered, “I’ve been working hard cutting up this tree with this here saw.”  The foreman inspected the saw and started it up. Immediately the worker asked, “What’s that noise?”

In our text Sunday, the Apostle says, “that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect,” Romans 12:2. God wants us to experience something that is good, acceptable, and perfect. In context, that means the church was missing God’s goodness by misusing or misunderstanding His “will.” Join us as we consider this important text and worship our Savior.

Have you ever considered the “product” of our church? If I were to ask, “What does the church produce?” many people say, “the church exists to produce disciples for Jesus,” or some form of that statement. It makes sense, after all, since Jesus says to his disciples, “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). Case closed?

I don’t think so. Here are some things to consider. Let’s say that I invite someone to faith in Jesus. Who does the heavy lifting in that moment? The Holy Spirit. Let’s say that they come to faith! Now, I engage them to be trained. Our church uses the Journey group materials. Who does the heavy lifting in renewing their minds and conforming them to the image of Christ? Again, the Holy Spirit. When do they become a fully formed follower of Jesus? When they enter glory! That’s right. All of us are still in the disciple-making process until we enter the presence of Christ through death or His second coming.

Where does the church fit in? The church creates and maintains the disciple-making process within gospel community. So, what is our product? I would argue that we produce a disciple-making environment! Join us Sunday as we consider Romans 12:2 and worship our Lord!

The Apostle Paul exposes faulty thinking in the Corinthian church, 1 Corinthians 5 and 6. In their thinking, since the body is evil and base, what I do with my body doesn’t matter. The result was that believers engaged in immoral behavior, attempting to circumvent God’s call to a holy morality. The loophole they created followed this logic: the body and the soul are separate entities with little relation to each other, therefore, what I do with my body doesn’t matter so long as my heart is pure. We hear similarities today with the trans-movement, which argues that biological gender and psychological gender can be different. This assumes that the body and soul function separately and can be mismatched.

In our text, the Apostle could say, “present your whole person to God,” but he doesn’t. Instead, he says, “present your bodies.” Join us Sunday as we explore the meaning of this important statement and worship the risen embodied Christ.

Paul says the sacrifice God desires is a genuine commitment of self to divine service. He asks us to live our daily lives for Him and not ourselves. Whether in our marriages and families, our careers or citizenry, God wants disciples who present themselves in service to Him. We labor in our jobs primarily in worship and service to God, not our bosses; we submit and engage our civic responsibilities for the Lord; we train our children, so that they will serve God. Success is defined by God’s pleasure, not our performance.

The Jewish believers were committed to sacrifices but not of themselves. They operated out of fear leading to performance. Their service was not born out of genuine worship but an act of pay to play, Quid pro quo. As they pressured the Gentile believers to conform, they created fear and expectations of performance. With that pressure to perform came pressure to be holy and acceptable to God. After all, sacrifices are required to meet certain standards, to be without blemish. Instead of serving out of affection and freedom, fear and performance formed the impetus.

Paul presents a new paradigm of grace. Join us Sunday as we consider this paradigm.