Is God Really Wih Us?

“Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” Matthew 1:23

Sometimes I wonder if we really believe that this is true. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that Jesus was and is, Immanuel, God with us. I do believe God when He says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” I have experienced God as “being with me” and “very present” in my life. But sometimes I think we walk around and live and work and play as if this was not true. It’s like we have some kind of spiritual amnesia or something.

What would happen if we read this verse and lived out this verse with the understanding that not only is “God with us,” us meaning some impersonal group out there, which maybe I think I might be a part of; to “God is with me,” making it personal. I dare say that we would live in a radically different way.

God is with me when I get up in the morning, as I spend time and live with my family, as I go to work, as I am playing. “God is with me” gives me strength to know that I’m not alone in my present struggles. It gives me hope in the midst of sometimes dark and doubtful days. “God is with me” also compels me to live a life worthy of the calling of being a follower of Christ. No, I’m not talking about perfection, I’m talking about living a surrendered life to the ongoing presence of God. Asking Him, by His Spirit, to forgive me and empower me to live in holiness, set apart for His glory.

At the heart of the Incarnation, that God was flesh among us, is the mission of God. God sent Jesus to be our Savior. And He is sending us, each day to be His mission in our world. “God is with me” means that wherever I go, God is with me, and is already where I’m going. Do we believe that God can make a difference in the life of the guy that pumps my gas at Fred Meyer’s? Or that lady that cuts my hair at HairMasters? Or how about my kid that’s struggling with peer pressure and grades and growing up in a world that is obviously hostile toward his or her faith?

I don’t want to walk in this state of spiritual amnesia anymore. I want to live each day with this truth ingrained into my life. “God is with me!” Wow! What a blessing! Thank you Father for sending Your Son, Jesus to be with us. I pray today that we will live out our lives with a more keen awareness of what this means. Strengthen us all and help us to show others that You are with us and that You are for us. May we go into our world and let our families and our neighbors know that You are Immanuel! God with us!

In church this past Sunday, guest speaker Ted Cotten challenged all of us to share our faith. His method of doing this is with a simple card with the following prayer:

Dear Lord Jesus, I know I have sinned and done wrong. Please forgive me of my sin and give me eternal life. I now trust You Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior. Help me to have a growing relationship with you, and to become the Christian person You want me to be. In Jesus' name, Amen.

We have put this prayer onto some invite cards. For those of you who were at the service this past Sunday, I hope that you will take the opportunity to share the card this week with someone who possibly does not know Christ. I would be curious to hear how that goes. If you give one of those cards away, feel free to post your experience to this blog.

For those who did not get a chance to recieve one of these cards, I will have more available at church in the upcoming Sundays at the Information Table. Feel free to pick some up. Let's share our witness with people in our lives that don't know Christ.

Have a great week!

Make Way ...

Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, “Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God! Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places. Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The Lord has spoken! Isaiah 40:3-5

This year on the day after Thanksgiving I did something that I have never done before. I went shopping with my wife on “Black Friday.” You see I usually stay home and watch the kids, eat some leftover turkey and maybe brave the chilling November air and get out on my roof to start hanging our Christmas lights. I normally leave the thrill of after Thanksgiving shopping and sales to my lovely bride, Mary. She readily jumps off into this adventure with great glee, and it was no different this year. I did notice that most of the women shopping did so with a smile on their faces and with laughter in their voices. While the men, like myself, seemed to be dutifully following along so as not to get lost, or worse yet, get run over by someone’s shopping cart, because of a sale in the electronics department.

I heard a news report that said that “Black Friday” would set the retail or financial pace for the rest of the Christmas season. I assume that many store owners, CEO’s and stock holders are eagerly awaiting the final tally as to whether this is going to be a lucrative shopping season or not.

Just in the same way that “Black Friday” begins and sets the pace for the Christmas shopping season, so how we approach the beginning of Advent can affect our spiritual celebration of Christ during this season of joy. In Isaiah chapter 40 the prophet speaks about the future ministry of one who would clear the way for the coming of the Lord. He was to make the way ready for Christ to come. Then we see from this making way that God’s glory would be revealed, through Christ, and that all people would be able to see that glory. His ministry was an important part of setting the pace for God to come and bring His glory to the earth in the form of a little baby.

This Christmas we are going to do just that. We are focusing on Jesus: The Way in the Manger. We want to prepare our own hearts to celebrate Christ’s coming to earth, and we want to make sure that we are making a way in our world so that all people can see and experience His glory in this beautiful time of year.

This Christmas join me in making way for Christ to come … to your heart … to your family’s heart … and to the heart of our community.

So, did you go shopping on Black Friday? Was it an enjoyable experience? What are some things, holiday traditions, that you and your family do to get ready for the celebration of the birth of Christ?

Why are we so busy?

Last Sunday in our morning message I posed a question as to why we are so busy. Why do we fill our schedules with so much? I had some ideas about this and I threw them out as some possibilities.

Sometimes I think that we are so busy because we are hiding or running from our pain. There is a struggle in our lives that hurts to deal with and so we fill up our schedules to avoid the pain. When I counsel with folks that are dealing with serious hurt in their lives, I will often tell them to keep themselves busy so as to not be overwhelmed and consumed with their hurt. But I do think that we can take this too far. We do need some times when we bring our pain before the Lord and ask Him to help us with it. We cry out to Him and tell Him our hurt and our need. This is tough to do sometimes, because staying and facing my pain is not my first choice. I would rather run from it, find a diversion so that I don't have to deal with it. But I am finding that as I bring my situation and lay it before the Lord in prayer and as I share my hurt with a trusted friend, that I begin to find hope. The situation does not change, but I know that I am not alone in my struggle.

I also said that sometimes we are so busy because we are hungry. What I mean by that is that we are hungry for fulfillment and meaning for our lives. Our thought is that if I could just add one more thing to my already overloaded life; maybe that will be the key -- the answer -- the "thing" that is missing, that I am looking for and find peace, or joy or a sense of fulfillment. In my own spiritual journey I find there is only one thing that satisfies, and that is a relationship with Christ. It is only through Christ that our deepest and most heartfelt needs can be met. We learn to be like David when he said that God is my source. Sometimes I forget this truth and I live my life as if I am looking for life in other places. God gently and lovingly brings me back faceto face with this truth that only through Him will I find life, that which I hunger for.

So anyway, just some thoughts about this whole thing. What do you think? Why do we get so busy?

We are going to be talking about that this Sunday as we continue to "Make Room for Life."

Log on and join the conversation!!!

Let It Snow vlog

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How has the snow affected things in your life? Got any good stories? What does snow make you think about?

Log on and join the conversation!

See ya,

Pastor Mike

What's Up With That?

I was visiting the other day with one of the families from our church. They are reading the Bible with us in the 2007 RTB in a year plan. As we were talking about getting into the daily readings, the subject came up of some of the weird stories that are in the Bible, particularly in the book of Genesis. The question was asked, "Why does God want me to know about that story?"

At the time of the conversation I wasn't sure about why God had placed the particular story that we were talking about in the Bible. I have thought it about since that time though. But I appreciated the context of faith in this question. "Why does God want me to know that story?" Or, "What's up with that?"

The perspective of this person was one of trust in God. It wasn't a I'm not sure if I can trust God because of this weird story. It was a doubt, but one that was expressed within the context of faith. The thought is, and the person I was visiting with continued in the conversation, "I guess God has a reason for this story being there. Maybe I don't get it today, but someday will. Regardles of whether I get it or not though, my faith and trust in God is still strong."

I appreciate that kind of faith. I need that kind of faith. Even when I don't have all the answers, I can trust that God knows what's going on. I can trust that one day He will reveal all the things that I have questions and doubts about. I can trust that He will reveal to me today, that which I need to know for life and vision and direction and purpose.

So how about you? Have you come across any stories in your Bible reading that caused you to have doubts or questions about why God put that story in the Bible? Do you have any questions that maybe we could weigh in on as a community and talk about together? The floor is open, "What's Up With That?"

Reading yet?

We have started our Read Through the Bible in a Year emphasis. I am already enjoying sitting down each morning and spending some time with the Lord and reading His Word. If you have not had a chance to get started yet, I would encourage you to do so. Just log onto our website, address link to the side of this blog and go to the "Spiritual Growth" page. There you will find a link to the RTB 2007 resources. As we are reading together I would like for us to dialogue about what we are learning.

This morning I was encouraged to be obedient. The obedience of Noah in Genesis chapter 6, and Jesus' teaching about obeying not just the letter of the law, but also finding the heart of the matter. Then in reading about Jospeh and how he was obedient to do all that God commanded him in regard to taking care of his family.

I prayed and asked God to help me see how I can be more obedient to Him in this new year. I am excited about our journey together. What are you learning so far?