The influence of a changed life

'And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.' (John 12:32)

One of my favorite stories is Jesus witnessing to the Samaritan woman at the well. So many lessons in this story for winning lost people. But what really grips my thought is how a woman of such bad reputation can gain the ear of so many in her town. I really believe they saw in her the change that Jesus made in her life. I believe this change had a far greater impact than the words she spoke. Her changed life lifted up the Lord.

I'm convinced that people will believe more from what they see in my life than what I say about my God.

I want God to actively change my life, so that others can see that God is alive.

We lift up the Lord when He changes our lives.

Sunday Reflections

Exciting, eventful Sunday...we had five people join the church, one baptized, observed the Lord's Supper, wrapped up our 'iChanged!' series, and heard from three people how God is changing lives. The final message of the series focused on the importance of sharing our story. So important to give glory to God by telling all He does for us.

'Has the LORD redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies.' (Psalms 107:2)

Never Give Up!

Jacob's life really resonated with me this past week.

If any one ever had good reason to quit, it was Jacob. At this point in Jacob's life he had plenty of reason to be discouraged, out of fight and without hope. It seemed as if everything he touched ended in a mess. Imagine taking from your twin brother his most precious possession: The family birthright and their father's blessing. Jacob had deceived his own father to steal his twin brother's blessing. As a result he fled his childhood home fearing for his life.

He meets Rachel and falls in love with her. To marry her he agrees with Laban, Rachel's father, to work 7 years. After the seven years, Laban tricked him, and Jacob unknowingly ends up marrying Rachel’s sister Leah. Laban insists Jacob work another 7 years before he could marry Rachel. Jacob agrees. He works another seven years, but the marriage is in trouble from the very beginning. Rachel, his true love, is unable to bear children. She becomes jealous of Leah. Now Jacob's home and life is worse than ever.

In time Jacob’s family outgrows his father-in-law’s family. This further adds to the list of 'messes' in Jacob's life. Jacob once again must leave town. To make things worse, Rachel steals and desecrates her father’s god’s, so now Jacob has an angry father-in-law. What else could go wrong?

So Jacob gathers his family and all his belongings and begins his journey back to his homeland; Canaan. But, before he would reach Canaan, Esau is in pursuit of him.

So, it's the night before Jacob's face-off with Esau. Jacob is all alone. It's the middle of the night. And, a stranger comes out of nowhere and starts a fight with him.

Jacob must have been thinking, 'Why doesn't anything work out for me? Why go on? Is it worth all the trouble? Why continue to fight? Why not just give up?' But, Jacob did not give up. In fact, he fought with this stranger all night. What resolve! Jacob obviously had not lost all hope.

He made the right choice. The stranger turned out to be the Lord. And, God gave Jacob a new name: Israel - 'God's Fights for His people.' With God fighting for us, why should we give up. God had a purpose and a plan for Jacob and his dysfunctional family. God promised Jacob that through him would come a great nation. A nation that would bless the entire world. Wow! What a turnaround!

I want that same resolve to never give up. I never want to make the mistake of giving up when my greatest victory may be just on the other side of one last fight!

Sermon Test-Driven

Never Give Up!

That's my message tomorrow. I love preaching, teaching, and working with people as a pastor. A part I don't like is God taking me through experiences to make the message personal. Preparation for preaching involves more that just study. It often involves proving that what you say actually works. I'll definitely passionately preach tomorrow. We must never give up! As long as we stay in the race that God has for us, He guarantees victory. Big mistake to quit!

Is anything too hard for God?

The Lord told Abraham that Sarah was going to have a baby. Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90 years old. Sarah laughed. But God's all-mighty power was revealed as he created life from a lifeless womb. After Sarah laughed, the Lord asked Abraham, 'Is anything too hard for the Lord?'

Jeremiah said in 32:17, 'O Sovereign LORD! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!' And in 32:27 'I am the LORD, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me?' God wants us to know that he who created the heavens, the earth and all the people in the earth is able to do anything.

There is no problem in our life that He cannot triumph. He is bigger than our greatest need. Let's view our situation as the Psalmist did:

"When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers the moon and the stars you set in place--what are people that you should think about them, mere mortals that you should care for them?' Psalms 8:3 - 4

iChanged!

‘I want to change and live a better life.’ Haven't we all said that at one time or another? So, how do you go from just saying, "I want to change" to actually changing? In this new series, we will explore ways for making positive life change a reality and then we can truly say, "iChanged!"

Make Change a Reality!

What is the one thing you would change about your life if you knew you could?