The Rock Church

God’s Love

During my final teaching of our David series, I talked about the amazing love of God. It made me think about, dwell on, how much God loves me. It says in 2 Thessalonians 3:5, “May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.” God gave me two thoughts regarding this verse.

First, my heart can be directed. And second, it should be aimed toward the fact that God loves me. Seems simple, doesn’t it? But, somehow, it was profound for me. I’ve tried to lead my heart into this amazing truth. One way I’ve found to do this is to take time to review Bible verses on God’s love. Even singing hymns and songs about His love during my morning quiet times has been so good.

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Sickness

 
“The Lord sustains them on their sickbed and restores them from their bed of illness.” — Psalm 41:3
 
Evidently “Tis the season… to be sick!” I’ve heard of a lot of people being hit with the crud these past few months – including some of our pastors. 
 
I thought I had dodged a bullet. But, I ended up going “down” hard and have been battling the bug for the past few weeks. It started with drainage and cold symptoms. Then on to feeling yucky and massive runny nose. Finally, a sinus and ear infection (with dizziness that made me throw up, just for kicks)! After two rounds of antibiotics, I’m starting to feel better.  
 
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Don’t Be Alone

“Then they took what Micah had made, and his priest, and went on to Laish, against a people at peace and secure. They attacked them with the sword and burned down their city. There was no one to rescue them because they lived a long way from Sidon and had no relationship with anyone else.” — Judges 18:27-28
 
It’s dangerous to be alone.

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Sheep Herding

“Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.” — Acts 16:6-10 (NIV84)

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God’s Purpose

“The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me…” — Psalm 138:8 (NIV84)

“For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep.” — Acts 13:36 (NIV84)

Sometimes life can get confusing. Even for me (as a Christian leader for over 35 years), I occasionally wonder, “God, what are you doing?” or “God, what do you want ME to do?” As a planner, I like to know the answers to both of these questions (especially as it relates to the direction our church is going). It can be somewhat unnerving to feel a bit “directionless” at times.

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No Counterfeits

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — which is no gospel at all.” Galatians 1:6 (NIV84)

My older sister has an innate ability to discern distress in my voice. Many years ago, our first-born son, Joseph, was admitted to the hospital for an unknown virus; he was only 10 weeks old! I called my sister to let her know. “What’s wrong?” came her instant and concerned response to my weak greeting. She had me. I burst into tears as the stress and torment of the last few hours overwhelmed me. My sister knew me too well — I couldn’t put up a front. Something was wrong and she discerned it immediately.

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Get Connected

“All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” — Acts 2:44-47

I’m amazed at the effect the Apostle Paul’s young protégé (Timothy) has had on the world. What’s even more interesting is that we know almost nothing about him. We do know that Timothy was saved as a direct result of Paul’s ministry during his first missionary journey. On Paul’s second journey, he decided to take Timothy with him. And the world has never been the same!

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Turning Back

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” Acts 3:19 (NIV)

I was recently reminded of one of my favorite fishing trips of all times. I went with a good friend of mine to a lake in Canada called Lake of the Woods. Scott and I had spent months planning and preparing. During our trip we caught so many Walleye and Northern Pike that we were literally laughing out loud. I also remember fishing at about 2:00 a.m. next to a huge rock that jutted straight up out of the water about forty feet. As we fished on that clear starlit night, we witnessed the overwhelming beauty of Aurora Borealis – the Northern Lights. I’m not sure how long we stared, silently spellbound. It was a majestic sight – and a fishing trip of a lifetime!

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Where Is Your Hope?

“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” Romans 15:4

This past week I had two dear friends die. It was a rough week for many of us who loved them. I felt a bit shaken and found myself waking up at night trying to get my head around the fact that these dear ones with whom I had enjoyed fellowship, laugher, and labor for Jesus with were now… gone. I prayed for their families and talked to God about how I was feeling.

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The Giver

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.” Isaiah 41:10 NIV

I trust you all had a Christ-filled Christmas! We have so much to be thankful for — God has been kind and faithful to us in 2015. Even though our church had its share of struggles and financial challenges, we made some amazing eternal investments this year that resulted in faith expanding, lives changing and eternity being different, since there are multiple similar systems like ChexSystems for instance TeleCheck can also be a reason why you was rejected for a new bank account.

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