Fall Creek Christian Church

“For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen." Romans  11:36 I enjoy a great question. Most of us do. A good question is one that can't be handled with trite answers. They inspire something deeper than intellectual curiosity. At one time the question, "Why do you think she is the one you are supposed to marry?" was just such a question for me. At another time, "What makes you so sure you should be in full-time ministry?" tumbled through my thoughts. Good questions deserve good answers.   In the verse for the day, Paul takes just a few words to answer three monumentally significant questions. It's truly remarkable. First question. Where did everything come from? Second question. How does everything maintain its existence? Third question. Why in the world is everything here anyway. The answers: God, God's power, and God's glory. Everything was made for him and by him. Everythi...

 " 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." I John  4:18 It's a great relief to have negative things expelled from our lives. After having my wisdom teeth removed, they went into dry sockets. Pain and misery were my only companions for nearly two weeks. There is no way to describe the elation when they finally healed up. I felt like jumping, dancing and doing flips for joy. The only reason I didn't is because I can't really jump, dance or do flips, but you get the point.  In our verse for the day, John tells us something truly remarkable. Fear has been expelled from the life of the one who truly embraces the love of God in Jesus. How does that happen? Fear involves punishment. If we still think we are going to be punished for our sin, we haven't fully understood what Jesus was doing on the cross. He took our punishment. Why? ...

“And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'  Matthew  22:39 "To acquire wisdom is to love yourself; people who cherish understanding will prosper." Proverbs 19:8 There are times when I'm looking at my wife or my children listening intently to every word they're saying. I understand the meaning of the words, but I have no idea what they're trying to communicate. I'll give them my all too familiar blank look and say, "I have no idea what you just said or what it is you're asking me." After another pass or two, we normally break through to clarity and move on from there. I've noticed there are times when I'm reading the Bible where I have that similar experience of lack of understanding. The second greatest command of Jesus is one of those examples. It's not so much the "love your neighbor" part. It's the "as yourself" part. What does that mean? One of the great truths about the Bible is ...

“The oldest son of Israel (Jacob) was Reuben. But since he dishonored his father by sleeping with one of his father's concubines, his birthright was given to the sons of his brother Joseph. For this reason, Reuben is not listed in the genealogy as the firstborn son. It was the descendants of Judah that became the most powerful tribe and provided a ruler for the nation, but the birthright belonged to Joseph."  I Chronicles 5:1-2  Family is a many-splendored organism. For good and, at times, not so good, our families both write and tell a story. We are both products of and reactions to the environments, within which, we grew up. The fact that we are aware of this reality in no way diminishes it's impact. In some cases, it actually heightens our responses. I treasure the family I grew up in and hope and pray my children treasure theirs.  In the verses for the day, the priest and historian Ezra, made a point to explain some of the dynamics in the family of Jacob, also known a...

“And now I am going to Jerusalem, drawn there irresistibly by the Holy Spirit, not knowing what awaits me, except that the Holy Spirit has told me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead. But my life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus - the work of telling others the Good News about God's wonderful kindness and love." Acts 20:22-24 The boss man's arrival on the job site was normally followed by several barked instructions which would typically be changed two or three times before taking his next breath. He was a no-nonsense, "we gotta job to do" kind of guy. I learned many wonderful lessons from him during those college summers shoveling asphalt. One of which, very simply, was "Do what you're told". It's amazing how many people simply drop the ball on their assignments. With the boss man, you either figured it out right away or you were invited to go home ... with your ears ringing ... ...

“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person's strength."  Proverbs  17:22 Most of us love to laugh. I do. It makes us feel better. During a recent trip with a great group of guys, we laughed ... a lot. I felt refreshed and energized, grateful for the adventure. As I understand it, there is a whole science behind the link of joy and health. Conversely, emotional darkness or the "broken spirit" leaves a person listless and mopey.  The writer of our proverb for today needed no explanation about endorphins to understand the impact of a broken heart. A thick crushing canopy of darkness takes down the heartiest among us. The cure? Cheer. Where does one go to find cheer? It's not found on the street corner or the changing of any circumstance in our lives. Nehemiah spilled the beans ... "The joy of the Lord is your strength." A joy rooted in something or someone other than God himself will ultimately lead us to a place of sapped streng...

“For David had done what was pleasing in the Lord's sight and had obeyed the Lord's command throughout his life, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite."  I Kings 15:5 I remember reading the roster for the sixth grade basketball team. I felt pretty confident going into the tryouts that I would get on the team. If memory serves me correctly, there was an "A" and a "B" team. Surely I was on one of the lists. Nope. It felt like everyone made a team except me. I learned very quickly the sharp stinging edge of the  except . The narrator/author of I Kings was compelled to publish David's  except  once again. Adultery. Conspiracy to commit murder. It was a very ugly story.   David followed God ... most of the time. In Psalm 51, he came to terms with his e xcept  ... "Have mercy on me, O God." God did.  You and I have some of those  excepts  too don't we? We can let them haunt us. We can pretend they never happened and hope they go away. We c...