Growing in Grace

It is rapidly approaching the fourth anniversary of the official launch of Acres of Hope Christian Fellowship!  Looking back, I can honestly say that it has been an exciting journey, not without its challenges, but the blessings have far outweighed the burdens.

I can still remember the raw emotions that drove me in those early days – sorrow and anger over the destruction the devil had inflicted upon the church I had served for eighteen years in such a short time, and unbridled joy and exhilaration over the “new thing” that the Lord was doing in our midst even as we sat among the ashes.  For those first few months, NOTHING could go wrong.

However, as is the norm in any other aspect of life, once the initial honeymoon phase wore off, we soon discovered that there was so much more to leading and serving a new church body.  People, after all, are imperfect and broken at best, and even the best of intentions can sometimes cause misunderstandings and offense.  Some came and left, wanting something different than the “same old, same old.”  Some were upset because we weren’t enough like our former church; others accused us of trying too hard to recreate our former church. 

In came those who had been previously damaged by churches; in also came those who had never been to church before.  In came families in crisis, crumbling marriages, people dealing with serious and chronic health conditions, people dealing with significant loss and loneliness, and so much more.

It wasn’t always pretty, and it certainly wasn’t always easy.  But it was exactly what the Lord had called us to.  Time and again, we had opportunities to live out our stated purpose – “loving God, loving others.”  It wouldn’t matter how dynamic the worship was, how powerful or relevant the sermon was, how delicious the fellowship meal was, if authentic love for our fellow man was not at the core of everything we set ourselves to do, it would be all for naught.

2 Peter 3:18 exhorts us to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” It is never a one-time destination to be reached, but an ongoing spiritual evolution.  We are bound to make mistakes from time to time, but we are not *bound* to them. 

You may have fallen.  You may have drifted.  You may have forsaken your first love for Jesus Christ.

Grace says, “Get back up.  Keep moving forward.  Follow Me.”

This Easter season, I would like to invite you to remember the first love you had for Jesus, and to realize that love that He has for you is just as strong as it ever was.   No matter where you and I are in your spiritual journey, He is always there calling us inward and onward, higher and deeper, ever intimately closer.

If you don’t already have a church family, please consider visiting us at Acres of Hope Christian Fellowship on Easter Sunday, April 5th, 2015, at 11 AM as we celebrate this most blessed of days!

Love in Christ,
Pastor Joe

Churches and Garages

A quote I’ve seen shared more than once on Facebook reads, “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile.”

I’m sure I’ve clicked “like” to that sentiment at some point.  Heck, I’m positive I’ve even shared it at least once.

In recent years, though, that saying has bothered me more and more, though I couldn’t quite explain why.  It sounded reasonable enough, but still, it ate at me every time I saw someone else share it or ‘like’ it.

It recently dawned on me that the saying uses a very poor analogy.  A person, no matter how many times they may walk into a garage, will *never* become a car.  A person who goes to church, on the other hand, may well become a Christian.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not nitpicking.  I understand that the general idea is that there may be those out there who assume (out of misinformed ignorance) that any involvement with a church, even just annual attendance on Christmas or Easter, will somehow get them into heaven.  The truth is, though, that I’ve never met even one such person.  Not one.

Instead, I think that this quote belies an underlying judgmentalism about those who actually DO attend church.  It has become all too easy for us as a society to loosely toss around the term ‘hypocrite,’ especially in regard to regular church-goers.  This quote seems to imply that some of these very people who show up to church are really just self-deceived at best, if not out and out false Christians.  Perhaps that’s not at all the context in which the original quote comes from, but that’s how it seems to be used these days.

I can’t tell you how many people I’ve encountered in the last 25 years of ministry who stay away from church “because of the hypocrites.”

What a shame.

Let me draw you back to the analogy of the car for a moment.  While standing in a garage will decidedly not make you a car, I want you to think about what you DO with a car to keep it running smoothly.  Yes, you may be able to drive a car for many miles without ever taking it to a garage, and you may be able to get some extra miles out of it by doing some of the work yourself, but you’ll never have the same mileage you’ll have if you take it to the garage. 

Just like we take our cars into the garage for maintenance and repair, so we need to take our selves to church.  No, the pastors and elders are not the mechanics.  But neither are you.  God is the master mechanic, and He uses His body, the church, to minister to His people.  The church, as a collective body of people with unique giftings and skills, is able to fulfill the “one another” commands of the Bible in a way that we simply cannot as individuals.

Finally, a word about that poor, ignorant, misguided, self-deluded person standing in the church….

“But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?” (Romans 10:14)

Where better for them to be, but to be where they can clearly hear the Good News that “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. … ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’’ (Romans 10:9-10,13)?

No, standing in a garage will NOT make you a car, but getting yourself to where Jesus Christ is preached very well may be part of the process of how God transforms you into a Christian.

And, as for you, Christian, you are part of that heavenly pit crew. 

“Freely you have received, freely give.”

Love in Christ,
Pastor Joe

[Video] This is the Gospel!

It begins with a rebel…

This video says it all!

Love in Christ,
Pastor Joe

Valuable to God

“Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell. What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it.  And the very hairs on your head are all numbered.  So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows (Matthew 10:28-31)."

Some people portray God as solely to be feared, as though He is constantly angry with us, ready to reject or destroy us at any given moment, for any given reason -- that His wrath is always at the ready, only to be appeased by constant good works and praise.  What they neglect to see in such passages is that Jesus Himself tells us that we are valuable to the Father, that we are loved deeply by the Father.

God is holy and just, and there will be a day when we must all must stand before His throne to give account of ourselves (2 Corinthians 5:10).  However, as it is written, "The Lord isn't really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent (2 Peter 3:9)."

This is the will of God concerning you --  “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.  God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him (John 3:16-17)."

Do you walk in fear of His wrath, or in the knowledge that you are loved and valued by the Father? 

Consider the words of 1 John 4:16-19:

“We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.  And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.

“Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.  We love each other because he loved us first.”

How have you responded to such love?

In Christ,
Pastor Joe

Are You A Friend of God?

‎"For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God (Romans 5:10-11).”

Are YOU a friend of God? 'Religion' says that it is impossible to be friends with God; yet, a relationship with Jesus gains us just that.

When Jesus was born, an angel announced "I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people (Luke 2:10)."

What is this 'Good News'?

It is that Jesus has reconciled us to God, no longer counting our sins against us (2 Corinthians 5:18-21). This is a gift from God, not gained by anything we could possibly do or say, but by faith in Christ alone.

Come back to God!  He is waiting with arms wide open!

Video: “New Day”

A friend of mine posted this video on my Facebook timeline, and I thought that I should share it here.  This may step on a few toes, but we all need to re-examine the message that we are conveying to other people.  Are we laying a heavy burden upon them, or are we leading them to Him whose ‘yoke is easy’ and whose ‘burden is light’?

In Christ,
Pastor Joe

The Simplicity of the Gospel

Jesus was fiercely hated by the religious leaders of the day because He publically and directly confronted them on their hypocrisy. They had distorted and added to the message of God so much that it had become a heavy burden upon those who would try to live it (Matthew 23).

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is SIMPLE, yet radical, in that it challenges us to the very core of our being. It is the antithesis of worldly wisdom and systems. Rather than being 'me-oriented,' it is 'others-oriented.' It is offensive to all those who believe that life and eternity should be merit-based. Rather, it informs us that the way is narrow -- we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven with our "stuff," be it our sin, be it our accomplishments (Matthew 7:13-14).

Most importantly, it constantly brings us to a place of recognizing our spiritual poverty -- we simply cannot do it on our own, but need God. He has freely given us His love, His grace, His mercy, His kindness, His forgiveness, and His compassion. We cannot earn it, work for it, strive for it -- it is a gift (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Yet, the ONLY condition to receiving these things is how we walk in relationship to others, and this is an area where the Christians you reference tend to lack. Jesus said (in relation to love, forgiveness, mercy, etc.), "Freely you have received, freely give (Matthew 10:8)." He illustrated time and again that those who refuse to forgive others as they have been forgiven will not be forgiven (Matthew 6:15; 18:21-35).

What is the Gospel? It simply means "Good News." What is this Good News? It is that, through Jesus Christ, God has made us right with Him (Romans 1:16-17).

It is written that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Acts 2:21).

“And that message is the very message about faith that we preach: If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, ‘Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced (Romans 10:8b-11).’”

Anything else complicates and compromises the beautiful simplicity of the Gospel.

Love in Christ,
Pastor Joe