Something to think about while the snow is still pretty and white:

…though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow… Isaiah 1:18

Today’s beautiful snow won’t last. The sun will have it’s way with it. But nothing will EVER separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. It has no end. Thank you, Jesus!
Christ is all!

This past weekend my wife and I along with 8 others from our Grace Bible Family had the privilege of attending Jeremy and Annie Salazar’s wedding.  We had a great time on the trip. Pictured below, from left to right, Pastor Wesley and his wife Paulette of Pine Hill Church (our partner church on the Navajo Reservation) Casey and I, Benny and Tinna Hood, Jeff and Amy Crelia, and Troy, Connie, Alex and Ashley Applegate.

Jeremy is one of our closest friends from Pine Hill Church. I’ve known Jeremy and his family for a long time now. I was honored to baptize him back in 2009, pictured below.

In addition to getting to know Jeremy on short term trips to the Navajo Reservation, Jeremy, his brother Coby, and their cousins Kevin and Delvert stayed in our home over Christmas break in 2010. In the Spring of 2011, Troy Applegate and I had an unforgettable experience attending a Native American horse race near Shiprock AZ with Jeremy, his family and friends. They raced, we took lots of pictures and provided moral support:)

Jeremy and I have split wood together, fished together, studied the Word together. I know his testimony. He knows mine. I’ve learned a lot from him. Jeremy is my brother in Christ. I don’t know a more devoted Christian man than Jeremy Salazar. I’m so happy for he and Annie.

A couple years ago Jeremy left the reservation for ministry training at The Master’s Seminary in California. Since then, the doors for ministry have opened wide for him. Soon, Jeremy will be working as a full-time church planter in the Spokane Washington area along with his beautiful new bride Annie. God is so faithful!

Please pray for Jeremy and Annie as they begin their life together. Pictured below is their FIRST KISS, EVER. Yes, they waited, it happens! 🙂

‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” Matthew 19:5

I’m an adopted son of the King through Jesus Christ. Nothing that will happen this day, this week, this year, this decade, NOTHING will change that. There is no greater confidence or joy in this life than to know, that because of what Christ has done, and because I BELIEVE in Christ, I am adopted by God. I call Him Father. He calls me son.
Are you adopted?

What is The Lord’s Supper?

(Video taken from a post on The Gospel Coalition website. You can find the entire post here.)

I LOVE our time of congregational worship at Grace Bible. I sit on the front row so I can sing LOUD and not hurt anyone’s ears 🙂 AND, I can hear the beautiful voices of our church family, singing together behind me. It’s GLORIOUS. Our worship leader, Byron Baird, does a great job of leading us in songs that are gospel-centered and congregational. Byron, as well as the rest of our praise team are talented people, but they’re not the focus, Christ is. The result, is a reflection of what we see in Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Congregational worship is a way of expressing the worth of Christ together. That’s why each Sunday, we come together, and sing like we can’t live without Him! As you know, at Grace Bible, God has assembled a group of flawed people, who are desperate for Jesus. We are keenly aware of our NEED Jesus Christ. No man made religion will do. We’re over, and passed going through the motions and jumping through hoops to give the appearance of being “good church people”. We’re learning more and more that all of our efforts are just that, our efforts. We’ve seen the mess we make of life when we mistakenly think we’re in charge. So we’re not interested in what we can do, but we are increasingly consumed with seeing what Christ can do. I know these things about our church, not just because I am the pastor, but because I am a part of our church. I’m desperate too. Redeemed and being redeemed. Saved by grace alone. Walking in His mercy. Learning His truth.

I wanted to give you all a chance to familiarize yourself with a song that is a HUGE dose of encouragement for a people who are desperate for Jesus Christ. Listen to the lyrics of the song as it reminds us of all that’s afforded to us in Christ Jesus…and check out the last few words “Come just as you are, to His table.” That’s us Grace Bible, “come as you are!”  Grace Bible, I look forward to us singing this song together, soon!

Battling sin is part of being a Christian. Romans 8:13 says: if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you dput to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

This hilarious video reminded me of a WRONG WAY to battle sin. Contrary to popular belief we can’t simply, STOP IT! Check it out…

Pretty funny stuff, hu!?!? Talk about bad counseling!! And btw, if you do counsel people like that, “STOP IT”. The vid is funny because it’s so unreal! But battling sin is no laughing matter. John Owen rightly said, “be killing sin or it will be killing you.” But the importance of HOW we battle sin can not be overstated. Here’s a great post with FOUR RESOURCES FOR OVERCOMING SIN the RIGHT way, from GOTQUESTIONS.ORG

BTW- Aren’t you glad Jesus doesn’t deal with us, the way Bob Newhart dealt with this lady when we struggle??? We can approach Jesus with CONFIDENCE. Here’s why:

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:15-16

A week ago today I had the privilege of visiting an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. My purpose for going was to learn. I have been told on several occasions that the church could learn some things from AA, especially in small group settings.  I attended the meetings with my uncle Chris who has been clean and sober for 20 years now. Chris was the “old friend” I referred to in this post. When I was a kid, I thought Chris was the coolest guy in the world, because he could play just about every Tom Petty song ever written on his guitar. Hey, I’m old now, and I still think that’s pretty cool! 🙂

Here we go, 4 things we, the local church, can learn from AA meetings. I’m sure there are a lot more than this. But these came to mind.

1. A culture of humility and gratitude in a group setting. You may know that in AA, attendees begin sharing by saying “My name’s ________ and I’m an alcoholic” and then everyone says “Hi ________.” Quite a humbling statement,right? But did you know that when a person is finished sharing they say “thanks for letting me share” and then the group responds “thanks for sharing”??? When someone finishes reading aloud they say “thanks for letting me read” and the group responds “thanks for reading.” What if our church small groups included an opening (true) statement “I’m Roy and I’m a sinner saved by grace alone”? And when we share a thought or experience in small group Bible study, wouldn’t it be encouraging to hear someone say “thanks for sharing” rather than having to wonder if we are being criticized in the minds of your group? Humility and gratitude are powerful things. The opposite of these would pride and entitlement. Ugly words.
2. Authenticity. People in AA meetings are REAL. It’s sad that such bold transparency caught me off guard! But I very quickly appreciated it. Oddly enough, even as an outsider, I felt pretty relaxed in the meetings I attended! It’s not only that people are REAL, it’s that it’s OK to be REAL. Like a breath of fresh air.
3. Unity amid diversity. Addiction knows no boundaries. It affects people from all different backgrounds, races, and walks of life. People seeking to walk in recovery need other people to walk the journey with them. They don’t care what color they are, or their annual income. Their common bond is their need. I pray that our churches would see our common need as our point of unity. We are all sinners in need of Christ. Part of the beauty of the church ought to be different people coming together with a common goal, fleeing sin, and pursuing Christ.
4. Commitment, not only to personal sobriety, but the sobriety of others. People in recovery don’t just go to meetings for themselves, they go to support others. They know how much the shared experiences of others have helped them, and they don’t want to withhold their knowledge, encouragement, and experience from others. Church has become a bit consumer driven. Many times we have a, “what’s in it for me?” attitude. We would do well to see the value in going to a small group or church worship service, simply to encourage others in their walk. After all, even the Son of man came not to be served but to serve. (Mark 10:45)

I hope I get to the opportunity to attend more AA meetings. I still have a lot to learn.

We had a great time of worship and a great start to our series in the gospel of John yesterday! If you missed the sermon, you can listen to the audio here. I truly believe God is going to bring LIFE to this series as we are faithful to His Word. As I said yesterday, our church seems to find a stride when we are working through a particular book of the Bible week after week. Below are some followup questions from yesterday’s message.

Questions for John 1:1-5

• Who is the Word that John refers to in 1:1-2? (hint Jn 1:14)
• Why did John refer to him as the Word? Why not just say “Jesus is God”?
• I once saw a t-shirt that read “Jesus is my homeboy.” How does a statement like that look when compared to the description of Jesus in John 1:1-5?
• How has a close look at John 1:1-5 make you think differently about Jesus?

For further reading, spend some time in Colossians 1:15-20.

“I have a great need for Christ: I have a great Christ for my need.” ― Charles Spurgeon

Getting ready for a new sermon series from The Gospel of John, ‘That You May Believe’
…that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:31

Sunday, Feb 8, at Grace Bible, we discussed the blessing, benefit and responsibility of prayer. Our Bible passage was Matthew 6:5-13, where Jesus teaches how to pray. If you can, take some time to read over Matthew 6:5-13 and answer the following questions during your personal time with the Lord. Also, enjoy the quotes that follow, as well as the link to the song,’Whom Shall I Fear’ , by Chris Tomlin. For me, the lyrics of this song serve as a great reminder of what we are reminded of in prayer. God is in control. He is powerful. He is good. Regardless of how dark things may look, He has a great plan and sees the big picture. Prayer doesn’t always change our circumstances, but it can always changes our perspective.

• As you read through Matthew 6:9-13, how would you summarize the different parts of this prayer in your own words?
• How might your day look different if you spent a heartfelt time praying a prayer like this each day?
• What’s preventing you from experiencing the blessing of an active prayer life?
• Our prayer times, especially in Bible study settings, seems to be limited to prayers for “daily bread”. Why do you think this is so?
• What would you say is a biblical definition of prayer?
• For further study on the subject of prayer, spend some time reading, meditating on, and praying through Philippians 4:4-7

Quotes:

“…True prayer is measured by weight, not by length. A single groan before God may have more fullness of prayer in it than a fine oration of great length.” –Charles Spurgeon

“If you want that splendid power in prayer, you must remain in loving, living, lasting, conscious, practical, abiding union with the Lord Jesus Christ.” -Charles Spurgeon

“In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart. ” -John Bunyan