“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you… 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.” — Philippians 1:3,5
As we have been studying Philippians together as a church, this one word at the beginning of the letter really captured my heart: partnership.
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Last night I believe I had one of the best meals of my entire life. It was one of those experiences where you’re kind of sad it happened because you know nothing will even come remotely close to it ever again. The food was great and the service was phenomenal (hello, we’re in Italy after all). However the real reason it was so special was because as we sat around the tables, story after story was retold of God blessing our little local church in Utah.
Funny stories, sad stories, informative stories were bouncing around the room for nearly four hours. I couldn’t help but stop and marvel at how God has so evidently protected and sustained The Rock Church over the past 25 years. And allowing us to be in Italy once again co-laboring with long-time ministry partners. What a privilege and an honor to now have been a small part of the rich history of what God is doing here in Europe. Furthermore, what God is doing in Utah through our little church.
(more…)Posted in Missions by The Rock Church
We woke up in a beautiful place to start our mission trip. Those of us who hadn’t been to Arco, Italy were surprised by the captivating mountain views and landscape around us. It was dark when we arrived, so we didn’t realize the beauty awaiting us.
Our first mission event was a concert at a local church. The local church band sang a few songs in Italian, then The Rock Music brought it home with favorites you hear week in and week out, plus original songs like Your Beauty and Over and Over. The event was beautiful, and the fellowship afterward was amazing. There was a beautiful moment when you could hear melodies being sung in both Italian and English. It inspired me to think that someday we will truly be standing before the throne of God worshiping Him in every language and tongue. I am sure we will be singing a new song (maybe even written by Steele himself). That moment will be more beautiful than my heart can possibly imagine.
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My wife recently gave birth to our fifth child, a wonderful baby boy. He is truly God’s gift to our family. Even after five children, the process of forming a human body still amazes me. That process, along with wrapping it around an eternal soul, is no doubt an incredibly complicated thing. And it happens with very little knowledge of the mother. God is “knitting together” a baby inside of her, and the child gives absolutely no input or permission as God knits him together.
A brother and I were talking in the lobby after church one night. We were in wonder of the fact that our wives didn’t have to take a class or watch YouTube videos to learn about how to put the baby together in the womb. Instead, their bodies knew exactly how to facilitate the miracle going on inside of them.
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I am so very thankful for the Gospel. Without a doubt, it has entirely changed the course of my life. And even more incredible is to know that in faith, I believe the Gospel has changed the course of my eternal life.
Before I came to know Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior, I was just like every person (who also inherited sin) since the fall of Adam and Eve. A life separated from God for all eternity. I can’t begin to express the enormity of that truth in this life. Or, let’s take it further into the almost incomprehensible eternal life. Forever! Early in my walk with God, the verse below absolutely wrecked me. And even now, when I read it, I almost gasp out loud. Like the sound you might make when you witness someone getting horribly injured.
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Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. — Philippians 4:4-7
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“But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first.” — Revelation 2:4-5a
I read this verse recently, and it brought some deep conviction to my heart. The Lord sets the context of these verses when He speaks to some Believers in the final days. In this particular example, He praised them for their “hard work”, “patient endurance,” and “protection of the Truth.” But He complained that the Church had lost its first love — Jesus Himself.
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“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word from the mouth of God.” – Matthew 4:4
You may have heard that in 2024, Bible sales rose by 22% over the previous year. That is certainly very encouraging! At our “Hope for America” livestream event, we gave away 40 Bibles. There definitely seems to be a growing hunger for God’s Word.
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“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” — John 3:16 (NIV84)
Hi, Rock Church Family! As we step into this new year, I wanted to take a moment to remind us of something. We talked about it a couple of weeks ago during our Christmas series. And honestly, for me, reminders are always a good thing (especially as I’m getting older :-)).
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Merry Christmas, Rock Church family!
I think this December has flown by faster than the rest of the year combined! Between all the parties, shopping, school events, movie nights, and church gatherings, the Christmas season sure has a way of eating up a lot of our time and energy. (And hear me when I say NONE of those things are bad!) They are absolutely wonderful gifts.
But if we’re not careful, we can get ourselves so busy doing Christmas ‘things’ that we don’t make room for the main thing: Christ Himself.
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