Proverbs 17:17

¹⁷ A friend loves at all times,
   and a brother is born for a time of adversity.

If you have ever planted a garden, then you understand that with gardening comes a lot of adversity.  Poor soil, drought, pests, diseases and even too much rain all pose threats to a healthy and productive garden.  And if simply preventing all the catastrophes wasn’t enough, you also have to put in the backbreaking work of tilling, planting, fertilizing, weeding, and watering.  And yet, as any gardener will tell you,  all of that work is worth it during the harvest!  Dear Friends! friendships are very similar to gardenening in many respects.  They take a lot of work, and there are many calamities that seek to destroy friendships along the way.  But if we put in the work, then the reward of true friendship lasts a lifetime.  The Word of God is full of so many profound truths and such marvelous mysteries that I think at times, we overlook some of the more “simple” and practical things.  There may be no more practical and usable advice concerning relationships in the bible than the biblical teaching concerning friendships.  Why?  Because even if you don’t have a spouse, children, or close relatives, we all have friends, and everyone of us is also a friend to someone else.  God honoring friendships are foundational to a healthy, thriving local Church, as well as vital to a healthy and thriving life.  This week, as I have been studying the scriptures, I once again came across Proverbs 17:17, and I said to myself, “Am I the friend the Lord has called me to be?”  How about you?  Let’s look together.  First, a friend will love at all times, both in good and bad.  But how does that play out in everyday life?  Well, it’s simple, the Lord literally tells us that deep friendship are for times of adversity.  God gives us friends primarily for when things go bad.  Meaning, anyone can be a friend when things go exactly how they want them to go, but a true brother or sister in Christ will prove themselves true during times of the deepest struggle and adversity.  They will stick it out through thick and thin.  Stand with their friend, not abandon.  Solomon has a lot to say about friendship.  As the king of Israel, he saw all sorts of people come and go from his life.  Many people were friendly to him to gain an advantage, many people just wanted to be close to the king.  There were probably dozens of motives people had to be friends with Solomon, and yet he observed throughout the years of his life that during times of great adversity, struggle and failure is when friends proved to be true or not.   

Proverbs 18:24

One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin,
    but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

When times of difficulty arise in our lives, having friends that will stick with us through thick and thin is literally a matter of ruin or flourishing in our lives.  Friends that are willing to stick by at all times can literally make the difference between prosperity or failure.  Elijah had Elisha, Jeremiah had Baruch, David had Jonathan, Paul had Luke, Timothy, Silas and Barnabas and Moses had Joshua.  The list could go on.  The bible speaks much of true friendship and the power of true friendships to overcome even the greatest adversity.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

⁹ Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. ¹⁰ For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.

I do not know if you either have a friend like this or if you are a friend like this to anyone in your life.  If not, then I pray that God will bring you someone whom you can trust in this way, and that they can trust you in this way too.  And that God will prick your heart to lead you to learn how to love in this way if you currently do not know how.  We live in a culture that is so superficial and that has affected how we befriend others.  I think often times we would rather keep people at arm’s length and let our friendship only develop skin deep.  A type of friendship that is nothing more than a “smile and nod” while never getting close enough to offend or to be offended.  But the word of God says this…     

Proverbs 27:5-6

⁵ Better is open rebuke
Than love that is concealed.
⁶ Faithful are the wounds of a friend,
But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.

God says that a true friend will openly rebuke at times, even offend at times, and the good in this is that at least you know the truth of what they are thinking.  And that is better than the superficial friend that only gives kisses and outwardly acts pleasant at all times but behind your back they are deceitful and slanderous.  I know that I would rather have honesty at all times, even if that honesty hurt, than a superficial dishonest “friend.”  Finally, God tells us this…   

Colossians 3:12-14

¹² So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;¹³ bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. ¹⁴ Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

While we will not be “best” friends with everyone, are we at least willing to hold ourselves to this standard of kindness, compassion, humility, gentleness, and patience as we serve one another in Christian love?  God has called us to unity in Christ!  Let us then stand firm in our unwavering love and support for one another.  Making and keeping friends is hard work, it takes time, effort, forgiveness, encouragement, and most of all, love.  And even with all of this work, like a garden, they take time to grow!  This week is as good a time as any to deliberately continue the work to create lasting friendships!  Blessed is the man who has true friends and is a true friend to others.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John

“Revelation 11:15

“The kingdom of the world has become
    the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah,
    and he will reign for ever and ever.”

The Lord describes the nature of man as temporary.  Here today, and gone tomorrow.  He is like a breath, chaff in the wind, a flower that withers.  The breath he breathes, the job he works, the money he makes…all temporary.  The times he laughs, cries, eats, drinks, learns, and grows…all temporary.  Even for the greatest of men, no matter how hard he works, what kingdoms he builds, what inventions he creates, both his name and his work will eventually be forgotten by time.  Even for the most important and powerful of men, the most he can hope for is to simply be remembered as a footnote in history.  At the end of his life, King Solomon understood this heart-wrenching fate of man.  He had reached the heights of power, wealth, fame, wisdom, and excess in everything.  What was his conclusion?  Everything is futile!  What purpose is there in accomplishing such great feats if there is no hope for them to last?  If the only thing that a man could hope for was his own legacy then life truly is futile!  If our only hope is for what we build in this life for the here and now, then the comings and goings of life, the waking and sleeping, eating, and drinking, building, and tilling are all pointless.  Life would become a mundane exercise in survival simply for the sake of survival.  Do you ever feel like you’re spinning your wheels?  That each day seems to be a pointless exercise in all of the same tasks you did the day before?  Have you ever asked the question, “What is all of this for?”  Take heart fellow Believer!  The Lord has promised a day to come in which we will live in the eternal glory, power, strength, light and truth of the Lord.  Unlike ours, His kingdom is not temporary, His work is not futile, His power will never wane, His promise will never fade!  And even though each day may seem like an exercise in futility, every moment we spend in service to the Lord will one day be rewarded with an eternal reward!  Jesus Christ will reign forever!  And we, as His children, will reign with Him in the Kingdom to come!  We will not be divine like Him, all powerful like Him, but we will receive the same favor, love, and honor from the Father that Jesus receives!  Though we walk in the valley of despair and climb the mountain of struggle now, we can all rest in the assurance that one day very soon, we will be with the One who will reign forever!  This day, let us all be renewed in our strength and service to Jesus Christ.  The daily “mundane” life and obedience of a faithful saint is never a waste, never futile and never forgotten.  Because the Kingdom to which we belong is the Kingdom of the eternal God.   “To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John

Matthew 14:22

²² Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side…

Matthew chapter 14 contains one of the most memorable and well-known stories in all of the New Testament.  Peter would do what no mere man had ever done before; walk on water!  Can you imagine the level of faith it would take to follow Jesus out of the boat and step onto the raging, tumultuous sea?  However, this story of faith began with another equally important lesson in faith.  Before Jesus joined the disciples on the stormy sea, He first sent them out into it!  Now, it is possible that the weather was calm and the seas were flat at the beginning of their voyage, but it is also more likely that there were signs of rough seas as they began.  Many of these disciples were fishermen, they spent a lot of time on the water and they knew the telltale signs of ill weather to come.  However, in spite of the threat of a storm, they obeyed their Lord and sailed into the blackness of the night.  Jesus said to them, “go” and they obeyed.  Matthew 14:22 says that Jesus “made” them get into the boat.  There were most likely protests among the disciples, urging Jesus to come with or, urging Jesus to reconsider due to the threat of ill weather.  But nonetheless, Jesus insisted that they go on ahead of Him while He prayed, and to the disciples credit, they obeyed.  Oh, what sobering and yet wonderful lessons there are for us in this simple story of faith!  While it is true that many storms in life arise from our own sin and foolishness, have you considered that there are also storms in life that the Lord knowingly sends us and leads us into?  Like Daniel was sent into the lion’s den, so, often times we are sent into troubled waters and it is exactly where the Lord wants us to be.  Does that truth shake your faith today?  That the Lord would not just allow a storm in your life, but He would actually send you into one?  Do you often protest when the Lord places you in the midst of a storm?  Think of Psalm 23 for a moment, the great Psalm about our heavenly Shepherd.  What does it tell us?  “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death”!  It was the Shepherd who led His flock to that place!  But there is also a very comforting truth contained in the same Psalm; it is also the Shepherd that guides us through those dark places!  I know that many of us have been through some storms this past year in particular.  And it is very important to remember this; that even when we are truly following the Lord, we often find ourselves in the most troubling of storms.  Think of this; the disciples were exactly where Christ had sent them, and yet they were met with an unnerving situation.  They weren’t running from the Lord as Jonah was and then the Lord had to send a storm because of his disobedience.  No, they were going exactly where they were told to go.  It is no new thing for Christ’s disciples to meet with storms in the way of their faithful duty, and to be sent to sea even when their Master foresees a storm!  My prayer is that we do not become discouraged during those storms in our lives that seem to arise even when we are faithfully and dutifully obeying the Lord.  Difficulty in life is never a time to lose heart and fall back, but rather to exercise faith and press on!  Notice that this is exactly what the disciples did!  The scriptures do not say that they were discouraged because of the storm and so they turned back, no, they were tossed here and there by the waves and yet they continued to go on.  Were they fearful? Yes.  Where they  a little confused?  Absolutely!  But they never abandoned ship.  By faithful obedience to Christ and through faith in Him, they followed His commands and continued on.  Ever pressing forward in the midst of trying circumstances.  The disciples knew they were exactly where the Lord wanted them and so they were confident in that path.  As hard as it was, as discouraging as it was in the moment, they knew their faith was well placed.  They made their way forward the best they could.  Brothers and sisters, though troubles and difficulties may disturb us in our duty, they must not drive us from them!  As waves crash and winds swirl in our lives, as Christians we must learn to press into Christ, not flee His care.  If you think following Christ through the storm is hard, just wait until you follow your own path through the storm!  That is folly.  This Christian life is not easy, but then again, it was never promised to be.  In this world we will have troubles, but Jesus has overcome them all!  How are you fairing during the storms in life?  Do you keep your faith in the Lord and remain faithful?  Or do you turn your focus to the storm and begin to sink?  The disciples kept the course.  They had a task and they were going to see it through.  It was in this condition of faith in the midst of the storm that Jesus approached them and at their moment of greatest need brought the rescue and help to their seemingly dire situation.  Let us always press forward until our Help arrives.  He is never late, and we are never far from His care and watchful eye.

 Yours in Christ,

Pastor John

John 13:34

³⁴ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

This command by Jesus to “love one another” came at perhaps the most perfect time in human history to leave a profound and lasting impression upon the disciples.  It was the evening of the Last Supper and Jesus was preparing Himself to be handed over to be crucified.  Men would literally torture, abuse and kill Jesus, beginning in just a few hours.  In addition, Jesus tells the disciples that one of them will betray Him that very night and reveals to Peter that even he will deny that he ever even knew Him.  Despised, rejected, hated, betrayed, and abandoned.  This was the moment when Jesus would experience every relationship pain a man could know, all in one evening.  And what does Jesus say to His followers in the midst of all of this?  To “love one another as I have loved you.”  If there was ever a time to hate one another, this would be it.  If there was ever a time to become bitter, resentful, and suspicious of others Jesus was living it at this moment.  But Jesus does not give us permission to give in to the fleshly desire for resentment and revenge.  He renews the command to love one another.  No matter what.  But what makes this a new commandment?  The command to love one another had been around since the giving of the Old Covenant Law.  What makes this commandment new is that we are not to simply love one another, but to love one another as Christ has loved us!  This is a command to strive for perfect love among the brethren.  Let us, for a moment, consider how Jesus loved His disciples.  He spoke and dealt kindly and gently towards them, he concerned Himself with their well-being.  He gently instructed, counseled, and comforted them in time of struggle and need.  Jesus often prayed with them and for them.   He stood by their side when they were ridiculed, took pity on them when they were tired and weary.  He forgave them when they misunderstood and even mistreated Him.  And what’s more than all of this, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, publicly declared them to be even dearer to Him than mother, or sister, or brother.  He understood their failures and their foolishness, and even corrected them when they stumbled.  He dealt with them compassionately, and bore with their failures and even their betrayals. This is how Jesus had loved them.  And even on the night when all of them would betray Him, deny Him, and flee in terror of being associated with Him, He washed their feet.  But Jesus was not done, His love would culminate into the greatest expression of love ever known.  He gave the ultimate sacrifice of His love for them; His own life.  This is how Jesus loved!  Oh, how far we have to go in our love for each other!   While we will most likely never be called upon to give up our very life for another, we still must follow in Jesus’ example of love.  How?  Our love to one another must be freely given and ready at a moment’s notice.  It must be costly; to give more love than we receive.  It must be constant and unending.   And what is our motive and driving force behind loving each other this way?  “As I have loved you.”  As Jesus has loved us!  If Jesus can suffer so much hatred and betrayal at the hands of man and still love unconditionally, then it is our duty to follow in the footsteps of our Lord.  Loving unconditionally is never easy, that is why only a true Believer is capable of doing it.  It doesn’t come from the strength of our flesh; the ability to love comes directly through the work of the Holy Spirit.  If you are struggling to love the way that Jesus has commanded you to, my prayer this week is that you humble yourself before the Lord and before the brethren and seek to restore those relationships that the enemy has so effectively brought into question and suspicion.  Love for the Brethren is one of the greatest expressions of Godly love in all the world.  Let us all remember this week that to love this way has never been a suggestion, it is a command.  A command that, if obeyed, will fill our lives with joy, humility, peace, grace, and hope.  This Christian life is filled with many great things, but never forget, that the greatest of those things is love.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John   

Job 14:5

⁵ Since his days are determined…

From a young age we are conditioned to count our lives in terms of years lived.   There are certain milestones that seem very significant to us.  1 year of age, 10 years of age, 21 years, 40 years, 100 years.  These are all milestones we look forward to or hold in high esteem.  And because we tend to count our lives by years, it is very easy for us to get caught up in considering and planning our lives by years as well.  Many of us have a 5-year plan, a 20-year plan, and a retirement plan.  We are always looking forward to when school is over, winter is over, fall is here, vacation is here or a host of other future events.  If we are in a particularly difficult season of life, we may say something like, “I can’t wait until this year is over.”  Our minds, it seems, are often so focused on what might be coming in the future that we tend to live and plan our lives in terms of the weeks to come, the months to come, and even years to come, while often neglecting the many moments of opportunity to serve the Lord that just the one single day offers.  In Job 14:5 we are given a simple reminder of the importance of a single day.  God Himself numbers our lives, not in years, but in days.  God knows that each and every day is full of opportunity for us to build His Kingdom, strengthen His church, encourage one another, love one another and an endless list other things of great and lasting importance.  Dear Christian, as hard as it is to see in the moment, there are lessons to learn in the daily grind, there are opportunities to grow in your faith in the mundane of daily work, chores, family life, and simple devotion to God.  A God honoring life is never defined by what might come in the future, it is built brick by brick through obedience in the trenches of day-to-day living.  While I understand the necessity of some planning, my hope is that each day we will give far more consideration to the things of the moment that will be of lasting and eternal consequence, rather than the things of the future.  I have already lived 15,530 of my days, how many do I have left?  How about you?  We don’t know!  Therefore, since all our days are already numbered before we have lived one of them, and each day is so very precious, let us then learn to number our lives the way God does, and live by these words of the Psalmist; “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John

Psalm 138:8

⁸ Do not forsake the works of Your hands.

Even for the most diligent and steadfast workman, there is an inherent need for rest.  It is a natural and vital part of what makes us human.  In the beginning God created man to need, not only nightly rest from daily toil, but it was woven into our very nature to rest our minds and bodies for one full day in seven.  Rest is often the most welcomed word in our daily routine.  Rest from work, rest from fear, rest from anxiety, rest from trouble.  We all need rest.  It is natural for the sewers hands to grow weary, the bankers mind to bog down with fatigue, and the farmers body to cry out for respite.  But there are also times when we become so overwhelmed, so discouraged or so indifferent that we not only rest from our work, we outright forsake it.  Sometimes all we can see when we look into the future is the endless toil of life.  Work, responsibility, obedience.  The never-ending demand for our time and attention can be overwhelming and outright exhausting, and it is in these moments that the frailty and shortcomings of our human nature are magnified.  The Psalmist was all too familiar with the shortcomings and weakness of his own flesh.  The trouble and toil of life was heavy on David’s heart and mind daily.  And yet, in the midst of these times of discouragement, he was strengthened by a very powerful and foundational promise from the Lord; God never grows weary with His work.  What is His work?  “We are the works of His hands” and there is not a moment that the Lord rests or forsakes this work.  We may grow weak, we may grow faint, but the Lord’s steadfastness and power never wain from one moment to the next!  You may be experiencing a time of struggle, doubt, difficulty; a time when giving up for a short time seems like the only option.  Dear Christian, the Lord is near, and He is not finished with His work in your life. You may be weak now, but He will revive you!  He will strengthen you!  Therefore, let us take our eyes off of the work, the struggle, and the toil, and place them back upon our Beautiful Savior.  Let us run to Him to seek the care, encouragement, and the rest that we need to be renewed in our body, mind and spirit.  May we join David in praying;   

⁷ Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me;
You will stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
And Your right hand will save me.
⁸ The Lord will accomplish what concerns me;
Your lovingkindness, O Lord, is everlasting;
Do not forsake the works of Your hands.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John

Daniel 9:8

⁸ Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against You.”

Daniel, in his humility before the Lord, knew exactly why Israel had fallen into exile.  It had nothing to do with a lack of military might, national pride, a faltering economy, or a lack of resources.  It was because Israel had embraced and practiced open sinfulness in the place of God honoring righteousness.  From the highest levels of leadership in society to the common man, sin had become the commodity of Israel.  And the consequences were dire indeed.  A fallen, humiliated nation.  Israel lost its homeland, its religious identity and its favor in the sight of God.  Israel lost everything because “open shame” had become their most abundant national export.  Fellow Believer, is the United States any different than Israel before us?  On a national level we own “open shame” as much as any wicked nation ever has.  Perhaps an even more fitting description for America would not be “open shame” but rather, “celebrated shame”.  There is no question that the most abundant commodity in this country is sin.  We trade it, sell it, barter with it.  The unbridled desire for sinful pleasures is what drives the decision making of the vast majority in our society.  It drives our corporations, health care, education, politics, institutions and nearly all facets of our economy.  Drugs, sex, idolatry drives our entertainment industries.  Selfishness and murder drives our abortion industry.  Bitterness, unforgiveness and rabid vengeance drives the race baiting industry.  Pride and perversion drives the LGBTQ industry.  Overall, a hatred of God’s righteous truths are the fuel this country is driven by, and all of this is wrapped up with the main sinful driving force around our entire political and social system; Greed.  We can’t even be sold insurance, food, vehicles or any other thing without also being sold homosexuality, pedophilia, sensuality, drugs, divisiveness, idolatry and endless other sins.  And this open shame has had major consequences.  We are a country in decline, because a country is only as strong and righteous as its individual parts.  The state of the country simply exposes the spiritual state of the individual.  In his sorrow, as Daniel sat alone contemplating all that was lost because of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God, he came to the conclusion that just as national shame starts at the individual level, so does national repentance.  One man, bowing before God, confessing the sins of his nation and his own sins.  This is a great reminder to all of us.  Repentance and humility begins on the individual level before it can ever be experienced in our society.  One humble, repentant man will lead to one humble and repentant family.  A collection of these families will lead to a healthy, humble and obedient local Church.  A collection of God-fearing Churches will lead to a national voice that is firm in the truth and unwavering in the face of depravity and persecution.  While it is right for us to speak out and stand up against the sinful open shame that surrounds us, it is just as important to take an inventory right in the “home” of our own hearts.  What sinful commodity are you and I still trading with on a daily basis?  Which sins have crept into our homes and have caused us to harden our hearts towards the Lord and His Church?  Is there any open shame in your life that you haven’t dealt with?  Animosity, anger, sexual sin, hatred, bitterness or the like?  Dear Brethren in Christ, let’s make today the day that we humbly come before the Lord in repentance so that our hearts, homes and Church can thrive in our obedience and calling as we rest in the Lord’s incredible mercy and grace! 

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John         

1 Chronicles 15:1

¹ After David had constructed buildings for himself in the City of David, he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it.

The Ark of the Covenant was the very centerpiece of earthly worship of the Lord.  It contained the most important message that man had ever received from God up to this point in history…the 10 Commandments.  And the importance of the ark was not lost on David.  It had spent 3 months in the home of Obed-edom for safe keeping, but David knew its rightful home was at the center of Jewish worship and life in Jerusalem.  Notice, that the ark of God was not intended to be brought to Jerusalem with ill-conceived haste, or with a careless, indifferent attitude, but rather, with careful preparation.  David “prepared a place for” it, in a tent, in the style that Moses was commanded in the wilderness.  He also planned a great celebration to receive the ark into Jerusalem.  He appointed a full band with trumpets, harps, cymbals and psalms.  In addition, he appointed approved Levites to carry the ark, and he held feasts.  David took great care and preparation to worship God in a way that was pleasing to Him and showed his humble and exuberant attitude of worship.  But there is something else of great importance to consider; David also prepared buildings for himself and his family near the ark.  It was David’s intent that his family be cared for and live near enough to the ark that they would always be reminded of God’s presence, favor and love for Israel.  Near enough so that they would always have a ready reminder and an established place to worship the Lord.  There can be no doubt that David took proper worship of the Lord very seriously.  He “prepared”.  Not only a place of worship, but an attitude of worship.  Today, dear Christian, we do not have to visit the ark of God to experience the very real presence of the Lord, we do not have to position ourselves within close proximity to a building to be near to God.  As God’s people, we are now living temples of God!  The Law is now written on our hearts, not on stone, the Spirit of God now dwells in all who are in Christ, not in an earthly building.  Therefore, wherever we are, God is there among us.  However, that brings us to a very sobering question; how do we preparing these temples for worship?  First, worship begins in the home.  A home that is in ununified, unpeaceful, discontent, in dysfunction and disconnected from each other is not a home that is prepared for worship.  A home that is preparing for worship is a home that is filled with love, encouragement, joy, peace, gratitude, prayer, kindness, grace and compassion.  Unity is a very important part of true worship.  If you have ever been at odds with your spouse or the brethren, you know that your ability to worship suffers greatly.  Being disconnected from God’s people makes us disconnected with God.  And the correlation is obvious, how can we worship God when we are angry, bitter or harsh with another in whom the Lord is dwelling?  Next, worship continues wherever we go.  Isn’t it true that we often view Sunday mornings as the pinnacle of weekly worship, and yet, many of you, perhaps, do not even prepare well for that time of worship!  Rushing around, showing up late or just in the nick of time, not even considering corporate worship until the moment is upon you.  If this is true, then I wonder how seriously we take the other 166 hours of the week if we cannot even be bothered to prepare for the two hours we spend together!?  Preparing for worship is not an event, because true worship is not an event, it is a lifestyle.  Beloved of Christ, living lives with the idea of keeping our hearts tender towards the Lord and ready for worship will cost us much.  David’s preparation cost him immensely.  He built buildings, spent lavishly on feasts, bands, parades and attendants for all of Israel.  It will cost us much too; our pride and selfishness.  How can we prepare our homes for worship then?  Husbands, love, cherish, encourage and uplift your wives with your words; this is true worship of God.  Wives, honor, respect and submit to your husband in reverence; this is true worship of God.  Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right; this is true worship of God.  Brethren, love, forgive, defer to and encourage each other; this is true worship of God.  God honoring worship is not a moment, it is a lifestyle of surrender and sacrifice to the leading of the Spirit of God within us.  “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”

Yours in Christ,

Pastor John