Fall Creek Christian Church

 "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth ... And the one sitting on the throne said,'Look, I am making everything new!' And then he said to me,'Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.'" Revelation 21:1-5 After giving our minivan a good cleaning, I noticed something just wasn't quite right. "What's missing?" I asked myself. Then it dawned on me that although it was clean, the smell was off - a few too many trips to the drive-thru. A quick inspection of the auto section of the store put me in front of any number of car air fresheners. The winner? "New Car Scent" There's nothing like new when the old has gotten really old. John was a blessed man. In Revelation, he was able to see the new before the new even was. It wasn't a new car, a new house, or a new pair of shoes. It was a new world! A new heaven. A new earth. A new everything! He reports to us that this new world is both like and completely unli

"O God, I beg two favors from you; let me have them before I die. First, help me to never tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say,'Who is the Lord?' And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God's holy name." Proverbs 30:7-9 My plate was really full the first time around. It seemed a little bit gluttonous to be holding the second plate equally as full, but it's the holidays! About halfway through, it dawned on me, there was truly no need to get that second plate. Yet, there I sat fork in hand mouth dutifully going through motions. Finally, I couldn't take anymore and gave up trying to finish the seconds. Why is "more than enough" so hard for us to resist?  Agur, in his proverb, worked his way passed this inclination with a simple request from God. "God, please give me just enough." What a novel idea for us living in our

"'My people have forgotten what it means to do what is right,' says the Lord. 'Their fortresses are filled with wealth taken by theft and violence. Therefore,' says the Sovereign Lord, 'an enemy is coming! He will surround them and shatter their defenses. Then he will plunder all their fortresses.'" Amos 3:10-11  As my wife walked passed me with the trash bag in tow, a little voice went off in my head, "Hey! Didn't you tell her you would take the trash out? So ... why are you still sitting there?" The little voice was absolutely right. I messed up. I had simply forgotten. I understood the task. I said I would do it. I just forgot. It occurred to me, upon reflection, I now knew where my children had picked up this same malady of forgetfulness. As Amos the prophet was penning these words of God, I can't help but think all of his forgetful moments raced through his mind too. I believe it was a serious moment for him as it was for the

"And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. Those who obey God's commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us."   I John 3:23-24 Recently, my son-in-law and I were taking on a home improvement project. A new vanity had been purchased and needed to be installed. On more than one occasion, we were tempted to complicate the task. Let's replace this and this and that. Wisely, we talked each other out of it each time. Keeping things simple, clear and concise enabled us to avoid a watery mess. John would have been right on board with our decisions that day. He wrote the same way. Simply. Clearly. Concisely. The last thing John wanted to do was to confuse his readers about what a relationship with God was all about. Believe in Jesus. Love each other. These two soul deep decisions put us into a g