I tend to be a bit of an infomercial hound. I like to see what new products are on the horizon and how they will change the way we live. Some are ingenious, some completely outlandish, and some downright absurd. I guess that’s why infomercials are so entertaining.

Several weeks ago I was watching a little television and ran across an infomercial for the latest and greatest life-changing gizmo. During the half-hour commercial, a paid spokesperson was shown going around town aiming to convince people they have not lived until they have experienced what this doo-dad can do. Toward the end of the infomercial, this spokesperson made the following pronouncement, “It will change your life!” Needless to say, I really began wondering if this thingamabob was truly what my heart lacked.

In my short years, I have heard many pitches for products that will change my life. I have even bought a few of these products myself—mostly exercise equipment in search of perfect abs—only to realize that another gadget did more for my credit rating than it did my waistline. I needed to realize that buying these things would not guarantee a change until I was first committed to my desired results. The magic, therefore, was not in some new space-age trinket, but within my own heart and dedication to the change. In other words, no piece of workout equipment would change my body unless I first committed myself to using it and then actually used it!

We were created with a very specific purpose in mind: fellowship with God. When we are not living for GOD, we very plain and simply are not living “on purpose.” To quote the famous theologian, Saint Augustine, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in [GOD].” In order for life to have meaning, we must realize we were intended to live with GOD all along.

As part of our human nature, we hope we’ll find fulfillment from the perfect body, new car, or a faster latest fad. We try to buy happiness but end up filling our garages while emptying our hearts. We might look for a true life-changing experience in a treadmill, abs gadget, juicer, or rotisserie cooker, but these searches invariably leave us (pardon the pun) hungry for more. So we must consume ourselves with searching for GOD and our heart set on a transformed life!

The problem is we still yearn for fulfillment from things we can wrap our arms around. You might find it impossible to believe GOD would want to be in a relationship with you, and for this reason, you probably yearn for things you can see and understand; for example, being able to see yourself enjoying the thrill of a new dream car, dream house, or dream job. But in the end, you are left wondering if some “As Seen on TV” gadget is what you’re lacking.

We are in the Easter season—and will be until Pentecost which is May 27th this year—a time when we are continually called to remember the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross for you and me. This might seem hard to wrap our arms around, but the promise of Easter is that GOD is wrapping His arms around us! And friends, there is nothing in the world that can effect as much change in any one person’s life as the cross of Jesus! So realize that the answer to life’s question will never come from an infomercial doohickey, but in a prayerful turn to GOD.

If you find yourself searching for a real life change in things that will only rust and decay, turn your eyes upon Jesus and look full in his wonderful face. Realize that all you need to see is your Lord, Jesus, and hear his soft voice of love and forgiveness welcoming you home. This, my friends—with all due respect to the latest thingy—will change your life!

Maundy Thursday

Today is Maundy Thursday, also known as Holy Thursday, and it is a significant day in the history of the Christian church.

The word, "Maundy," comes from the Latin, "mandatum," which is where we get our English word, "mandate." The idea for Maundy Thursday is we commemorate Jesus offering His commandment -- to love as we have been loved by GOD -- as recorded in John 13.34: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another"(NKJV). After saying this, Jesus then showed us the connection between love & personal service by kneeling to wash His disciples' feet. After that amazing act of loving service, Jesus gave us the format for our modern day Holy Communion services as He broke bread and passed the cup saying, "Do this in remembrance of me."

We hope you will come to experience this unique opportunity to bask in the power of Jesus' mandatums on this Maundy Thursday. We hope to see you for Holy Communion at noon and then again for our formal Maundy Thursday service at 7pm. Both services are to be held in the sanctuary.


Praise GOD from whom all blessings flow!
Pastor Mark

One More Day -- Leap Day 2012

This is a very unique day – a day that only comes once every four years – it’s Leap Day! Leap Day is added to the calendar in leap years (typically every four years) as a corrective measure, because the earth does not orbit around the sun in precisely 365 days. There are some exceptions to this rule since the duration of a solar year is slightly less than 365.25 days. Years that are evenly divisible by 100 are not leap years, unless they are also evenly divisible by 400, in which case they are leap years. Clear as mud, right?

Regardless, Leap Days are pretty unique since they only happen every so often. To help celebrate and mark these days, people do some fun and unique things. For example, Disney is keeping their Disneyland and Magic Kingdom theme parks open for 24 straight hours for the first time, opening at 6am today and running until 6am tomorrow. Their whole campaign was centered around, “What would you do with an extra day?” Tor them, they are offering special decorations, special food offering, and of course, special memorabilia, all in hopes of drawing people to spend their “extra day” this year in one of their parks.

Disney’s Leap Day campaign got me thinking. Their hope is that people would “celebrate” Leap Year by investing the day – and the money necessary – to spend twenty-four hours in one of their parks. It’s a unique campaign to be sure, and they are expecting record crowds coming out to spend an extra day in “Happiest Place on Earth.” Playing around with this motif, I think followers of Jesus should also take this opportunity to do something a little extra to shine the light and love of GOD in a world in such desperate need of it. Not just because we have an extra day this year, and certainly not just for happy places to visit on earth (though for full disclosure, I LOVE Disney World!), but because we were created for far more than happiness in the here-and-now!

So often, we think of time as a commodity that we never have enough of. In some ways, especially since we live in a temporal world, that is true. The fact of the matter, however, is that GOD transcends time, and this is primarily important as He seeks to bring all of us into a saving relationship with Him through Jesus. But you know what? Our souls are eternal, too. Sure, our bodies will wear out and we will one day cease to walk this earth, but our souls will live on, and when that happens, GOD wants that to be with Him in heaven.

One of the primary emphases of the Lenten season is to remind us of our mortality. Some people live as though they will live on the earth forever. Others live as though this existence is all there is. Jesus was adamant that neither of these propositions is true, so it is imperative that we live acknowledging the focus of Ash Wednesday and the entire season of Lent: that from dust we come and to dust we will return (Genesis 3.19). Contained within our dusty nature, however, is the soul that GOD created specifically for the purpose of worship and relationship; not just in the here-and-now, but also for eternity!

Disney asks a great question, “What would you do with one more day?” I’d like to see us redeem that and understand that we are about something far more significant than just one more day, because eternity is real! If you would live differently just because today is Leap Day, why not approach each and every day with the same vim and vigor? We were made to live forever with the Lord in heaven, and once we are united with Him there, the whole notion of “one more day” will mean something entirely different, for then, we will bask in the eternal glow of GOD’s light and love.

If you have yet to do so, take this opportunity to turn your “one more day” into the blessed assurance of life eternal with GOD through Jesus Christ! We were created for so much more than this, so may we start living it…not just because we get “one more day,” but because GOD has planned us for eternity! May this Good News cause you to leap for joy today and every day!

Happy Leap Day!

Bringing Balance To Your Life

Have you ever lost your balance? Odd sensation, isn’t it? To be standing or walking then all of a sudden you feel as though the carpet has been pulled out from under you. It is an odd sensation to think everything is under control and then to grasp for something hoping to not hit the ground.

Losing your physical balance can also come when you are trying to overdo it. Case in point: the other day my lovely wife came home with a trunk full of groceries. As I meandered to the garage, the testosterone kicked in. I did not want to make more than one trip, so I decided I was going to carry everything I could possibly carry, and then some! So I looped the plastic grocery sacks all up and down my arms and morphed into a pack mule as I carried who-knows-how-many pounds of groceries upstairs.

The trip went just fine, though my machismo would prevent me from saying anything to the contrary. It all went south though we when it came time to put the groceries down. I had exhausted myself carrying such a load and I wanted to just drop everything. So I did. And you can probably guess what happened next. I dropped a bottle of steak sauce; it shattered and created a colossal mess! I had tried to overdo it thinking I could take a short cut and get out of a harder job. Though I made it through the initial task unscathed, overextending myself created a worse mess.

Losing your physical balance gives us a physiological sensation or consequence. But what about when we lose spiritual balance in our lives? It is just as easy for us to bite off more than we can chew, thinking we need to be a superman or superwoman, and find ourselves out of balance spiritually. This happens when we set ourselves up as god of our lives or get more concerned with getting stuff done versus touching hearts for Jesus. It also happens when we allow others to demand more than we can give on a constant basis. This breeds resentment and burns us out.

The writers of the devotional book, TouchPoints For Leaders have this to say about balance. “Balance means living a life that honors God, others, and yourself in the way you use your gifts and spend your time and resources. One of the greatest mistakes [people] make is getting out of balance by over-emphasizing one aspect of their responsibilities at the cost of other areas. God assures you that there is a time for everything he calls you to do. Jesus, with all his potential and all the needs around Him, left much undone yet completed all God had given Him to do.”

So how can we get balance back in our lives? We need look no further than Jesus Christ. “Jesus modeled a life balanced by involvement and withdrawal, action and reflection, mission and meditation, effort and then time for spiritual energizing. This pace allowed him to remain open to God’s direction instead of human pressures. Balance helps you realize that the need and even the opportunity are not necessarily the call of God.”

So how is your balance? Are you standing tall or finding yourself struggling to find your footing? God did not intend for us to live awkward lives, but lives full of grace, glory, and growth. And when we constantly bite off more than we can chew, we leave ourselves unbalanced. So take some time to find that balance you so desperately need in your life. And in so doing, you’ll find you are honoring God, others, and yourself by not getting out of balance, dropping stuff, and leaving messes in your wake. May you find balance in your life today!

“Celebrate God’s Time, Come On: Part II”

Last week I wrote about the need to celebrate the miracles that GOD is doing in our midst, as well as the need to celebrate our hope and faith in GOD’s miracle working power when we are going through difficult times. This revolves around the fact that we all have a story to share…a story we need to share…to help people connect their stories to the miracle working power of GOD!

One of the common misconceptions that non-believers have toward Christianity is that they think they have to be perfect in order follow Jesus. If there is anything that the Gospel teaches us is that Jesus loves us in spite of ourselves; meaning, we do not have to be perfect to follow Jesus, but respond to his invitation for relationship and strive to be more like Christ. Consider Jesus’ calling of his disciple Matthew (Matthew chapter 9). Matthew was a tax collector, qualifying for a sinner-stigma that was separate from the other classifications of ne’er-do-wells – think about how those in opposition to Jesus’ example of grace would say that He eats with tax collectors and sinners. The beauty is that Jesus didn’t care. At all. In fact, I think He loved it! What He knew and cared about is the fact that we all are in need of redemption! As He invested time and grace in Matthew, Matthew became one of the greatest champions for Jesus…even writing the Gospel of Matthew. Talk about having a story to share!

This brings me to the crux of my point – one of the greatest miracles that GOD performs is redeeming our lives, and therefore, redeeming our stories! Let’s face it: we all have so-called skeletons in our closets. For some, to hear that Christians have such circumstances in their pasts is an excuse to justify their judgments about Christians. In reality, though, if we allow GOD’s love, grace, and mercy to be magnified by our stories, we become a powerful testimony to what it means to follow Jesus. That, my friends, a story to share!

This brings to mind a bumper sticker I used to see around town a lot: “I’m not perfect, just forgiven.” This is true for each and every one of us, so let’s celebrate the miracle of GOD’s forgiveness. Let’s celebrate the miracle of GOD’s redemption! Let’s celebrate GOD’s redeeming our stories so we can share with others who might erroneously think that GOD cannot be for them. That is a powerful and profound way to share the powerful miracle of GOD’s love for you!

"Celebrate God's Time, Come On!"

You probably know I was on the road a lot in January attending church leadership conferences. I'm not the best traveler and am again reminded how grateful I am that I do not have to travel for a living. All this travel talk aside, there was one common theme between the two weeks I spent in learning, and that is, we do not celebrate enough in the Church. I'm not just talking about our own local congregation, but in more general terms...I do not think we celebrate enough with people in their life joys and celebrations.

Often times we come in to worship, just sit back, and allow church to happen. As you might have guessed, this is not the way GOD intends us to live! GOD wants us to live lives of praise to Him for the miracles He is working in our midst. And you know what? We cannot do this very well on our own. Think of it like this: when you're planning a party, one of the first things you think about is the guest list; the type of party you throw is based upon who is invited. I think we would do well to think of church in the same way, but let me offer this caveat - we behave as though church is for us, but worship is for GOD!

That being said, GOD invites us into His presence and calls us to enter with an attitude of gratitude, both for what is going on in our lives and in the lives of others. Paul said this well in 1 Corinthians 12.26, while writing on how we are to be connected as believers in the Body of Christ, that when one of us celebrates, we all celebrate! Friends, we need to be doing more celebrating in the church...celebrating our victories, milestones, and the very fact that if GOD is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8.31)

Hopefully you are so inspired now that you are ready to come worship with a spirit of celebration, but let's be honest - I know there are times when we just don't feel like celebrating. Life's timing can be cruel, and we need to remember that we live in a fallen creation where sin has distorted the image of GOD within us. "What do we do then, pastor?" Well, I'm glad you asked. The answer is found in one word...CELEBRATE!

In Philippians 4.4-7 from The Message, Paul wrote, "Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in Him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you're on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute! Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of GOD's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life."

I love these words, and there are few passages that confront how we are to handle life's hardships so clearly.cPaul wrote these words while he was in prison, seemingly having nothing to celebrate, but his message is clear: celebrate when you feel like it and celebrate when you don't, because when you celebrate, it moves you out of feeling sorry for yourself and reminds you that GOD is in control.

Paul's message is pretty clear...we need to celebrate who GOD is and what He does for us, especially in the times we feel down and out. When we are feeling "spiritually empty," we might not be able to celebrate too well. In faith, however, we can - and should - celebrate the victory of hope over the defeat of despair. Paul tells us that hope does not disappoint, so may we celebrate hope, even when we fear we have nothing else to celebrate! (Romans. 5.5)

The title for this blog post is, "Celebrate GOD's Time, Come On!" It is a play on words from the old Cool and the Gang roller rink anthem, "Celebrate Good Times." I hope it will serve as a reminder for you to celebrate GOD and enter into His presence with celebration and praise. This blog miniseries will continue next week as I offer a great way to share your story once you decide to celebrate GOD's presence and the power of hope, despite life's difficulties. So until next week, "Celebrate GOD's Time...Come On!"

On Today's Internet "Blackout"

Today is an interesting time for this “information generation.” If you are not aware, major internet sites, such as Google and Wikipedia, are protesting a bill in Congress that would radically change the way information is shared on the World Wide Web. They are protesting this bill in something they are calling a “blackout,” though each site is going about it differently. For example, if you try to search a topic on the Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia, this is the message you will receive: “For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia.” If you were to go to Google, you will find that their daily “Google Doodle” is simply their logo covered with a black box. Other internet sites are getting in on this protest by essentially “occupying themselves,” in hopes of motivating users to contact their local Representatives and informing them of their opposition to this proposed legislation.

There is no doubt that people will be inconvenienced by today’s blackout. That is the intent. This blackout got me thinking, however (imagine that). It brought to mind an inspiring passage from the Apostle Paul as recorded in 2 Corinthians 4.6: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” This verse tells us that even when we are confronted with darkness – whether it is in trying to search on Wikipedia or facing a crisis in life – it is God who allows light to shine in spite of that darkness! That light, my friends, is the knowledge of God’s saving love in Jesus Christ!

The first thing that the Bible records God saying is, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1.3). One of the first things that John tells us in the New Testament is that Jesus is the light of life (John 1.4). Acknowledging that God’s light – Jesus – has the ability to shine out of any darkness is the first step to a brighter and more meaningful reality. You might think that the problems you are facing at home, at work, or wherever are creating an impenetrable darkness, but Scripture is clear, “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all” (John 1.5b).

If you are facing an area of darkness in your life, turn to God and allow Him to shine His eternal light onto and into the situation…there is no such thing as something that is too dark for God! Sure you might have a hard time learning about it today on Wikipedia, but the time will come when even that will go dark forever. You can rest assured, however, in the knowledge that God is eternal and His light shines perpetually. Allow Jesus, God’s eternal light, to shine in your life today. It will change you forever!


Have a great rest of the week!
Pastor Mark