Fall Creek Christian Church

“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...

"Do not be misled: 'Bad company corrupts good character.' Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God -- I say this to your shame." I Corinthians 15:33-34 After a head to head collision in a pick up basketball game, the lights went out. Darkness. Ringing. Confusion. I don't know how long I was out, but I was quite relieved when I was able to see, think and move again. It was scary. Even though I had a headache, I sure appreciated the privilege of regaining my senses. I find Paul's definition of character here fresh and telling. A person of good character is one who has come to their senses. Specifically, they have walked away from those attitudes, actions and words that are contrary to God's will. They are living for God and they refuse to be led down the proverbial yellow brick road. The reality of the situation is that some of us reading this devotion today have lost our senses. D...

This is the time of year that is we often hear people start to talk in terms of this Spring Cleaning Attitude that they are getting into, and this means something different for everyone. The Garage is the place that we typically tackle with this Spring Cleaning attitude.  We remove all the items, sweep it out, empty the shelves and dust them off and next comes the fun.  We play with things we had forgotten were there and then discuss what is still in good shape that we don’t need that someone else could use and if we know someone specific or if we should donate it.  The next step is more difficult and that is we discuss what needs to be disposed of because for whatever reason it doesn’t have a place in our life any longer. In surveying the garage last night I started to take mental notes of items that might fall into that last category and then occurred to me that that this Spring Cleaning Attitude fits right in line with Matthew 12: 43-45. "When an impure spir...