Fall Creek Christian Church

“But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he will stand upon the earth at last. And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God! I will see him for myself. Yes, I will see him with my own eyes. How my heart yearns within me! I am overwhelmed at the thought."    Job 19:25-27 As I stood there looking intently into the deep space images captured on film by the Hubble telescope, my sense of smallness was at an all-time high. To be a speck of humanity on a speck of dust called the earth in a speck of a solar system in a speck of a galaxy among galaxies was too overwhelming to process. I withdrew from those photos stunned, but also in awesome wonder of the one who made and sustains it all. Suffering Job found himself lost in wonder too. He was completely overwhelmed at the thought of being in the presence of his Redeemer. Not even his dying and decaying body could dissuade him of the anticipatory joy of seeing God face to face. As a man of great faith, he ...

“When Esther was taken to King Xerxes at the royal palace in early winter of the seventh year of his reign, the king loved her more than any of the other young women. He was so delighted with her that he set the royal crown on her head and declared her queen instead of Vashti. To celebrate the occasion, he gave a banquet in Esther's honor for all his princes and servants, giving generous gifts to everyone and declaring a public festival for the provinces."  Esther  2:16-18 Every once in awhile my retirement planner friend and I get together for lunch. Primarily, we catch up with all that is going on in our lives. We give updates on our families. We share the latest about the ministries, in which, we're involved, and basically just enjoy one another's company. We do, however, make sure somewhere during our time together that we review the retirement plan. We look at what's going on, make changes when we need to and be sure we're both on the same page. Our verses...

“When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven. Then I said, 'O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands, listen to my prayer! Look down and see me praying night and day for your people Israel."  Nehemiah 1:4-6a Once, while on a spelunking adventure with a group of teenage guys, one of the larger young men got stuck, seriously stuck. All the pushing and pulling we were doing was in vain. He was seriously scared and as his youth pastor, I was a wreak. Finally, after a moment's rest to catch our breath, the Lord nudged me to pray. As my eyes opened at the, "Amen", I saw a ledge above him I hadn't seen before which enabled me to get the leverage I needed to pull him out ... to cheers and tears of praise. Nehemiah was broken. The thought that God's people and God's city, Jerusalem, were in disarray was...

“After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly."  Acts 4:31 I was sitting in my kitchen as a kid when I felt something I had never felt before. The water in the glass on the counter began to ripple and a muffled rattle was coming from the cabinets. Bewildered, I strained my young mind trying to figure out just exactly what was happening. And then ... "Earthquake!!" Well, okay a mild tremor, but still, it was certainly an anomaly and a bit disconcerting. Things, me, being shaken by a powerful force forged an indelible memory in my brain. The group in Acts 4:31 were shaken as well. No, it wasn't an earthquake, a passing jet, or a crashing thunderbolt. None of those come close to the force that shook their meeting place that day. It was nothing less than God himself, the Holy Spirit,who filled them up from the top of their heads to the soles of thei...