Fall Creek Christian Church

"So take courage! For I believe God. It will be just as he said." Acts 27:25 I didn't believe him at first. After all, he's kind of joker. The story? He claimed a lady, while at the buffet table at our wedding reception, leaned over to scoop up some food. Unfortunately, in doing so, her hair, filled with hair spray, got too close to the candles and went up in flames! He then told me that he took his plate of jello and smashed it on her head to put out the fire. "Yea ... right," I thought to myself. However, later on I saw this same lady with an ice pack on her head visibly shaken by what most certainly had been a hair burning, jello smashing experience! Paul in our story for the day, made it very clear about what he thought when God spoke to him, "I believe it!" He never second guessed a word from God. When God spoke, it was go time. It was courage time. For as he had seen again and again, "It will be just as he said."  God ...

"Brothers, listen! In this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. Everyone who believes in him is freed from all guilt and declared right with God -- something the Jewish law could never do." Acts 13:38-39 As all the rest of the potential jurors were being interviewed by the defense and the prosecution, I tried to keep my mind occupied. I imagined the scene of the defendant's arrest and how his attorney was going to try to present a case for his innocence. I then thought about what this newly formed jury would decide. As it turns out ... guilty. In our verses for the day, Paul speaks of the courtroom of heaven. He was telling the people that their trip before the divine judge didn't have to end with a guilty verdict. He assumed they all knew they had done wrong -- "...your sins." He tells them the turning point of the trial is what they (what we) do with the person of Jesus. Belief in him results in forgiveness, freedom and the declaration, "Not ...

“Now, son of man, I am making you a watchman for the people of Israel. Therefore, listen to what I say and warn them for me." Ezekiel 33:7 I was warned several times as a young man to drive slower in snowy conditions. Embarrassingly, it took more than one trip into the ditch before I began to realize the warning was legitimate. Warnings are a big deal. Heeding or ignoring them can mean the difference between life and death. Ezekiel highlights in the verses for the day that God had even established the job of "watchman" for the sole purpose of delivering warnings. As God's prophet, Ezekiel was charged to issue spiritual warnings on God's behalf to God's people. Serious stuff. He was told later that if he didn't give the warnings, he would be held responsible and presumably dealt with accordingly. Who are the "watchmen" today? Who has the job of issuing warnings? Who is responsible to tell people, "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, bu...

“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...

“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...

“...God did promise, however, that eventually the whole land would belong to Abraham and his descendants -- though he had no children yet. ... As the time drew near when God would fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased."  Acts 7:5, 17 Promises are a big deal. We receive them. We give them. We are angered when others break them and grieved when we break them. I am so thankful that my wife has kept hers to me ... "till death do us part." It hasn't been easy for her. Trust me. Yet, through all these years, she has stood behind her promises. Stephen, in his speech to the religious leaders, made a point to emphasize promises ... specifically, the promises of God. He reminded them of their fulfillment as a precursor to identifying Jesus as the fulfillment of God's ultimate promise, the promise of a deliverer. Their rejection of God's fulfillment of his promise placed them outside of the blessing of the promise. Their res...

“Then he said to Thomas, 'Put your finger here and see my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don't be faithless any longer. Believe!' 'My Lord and my God!' Thomas exclaimed. Then Jesus told him, 'You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who haven't seen me and believe anyway.'"  John 20:27-29 "You won't believe your eyes!" shouts the carny. "Come see the three-headed chicken!" ... The emcee calls out, "Do you believe?" and then asks for quiet as the master illusionist attempts to perform the "impossible". With a bang and a flash of smoke, the elephant is gone. The crowd cheers. ... What we believe or not believe is the primary course setter for our lives.    Jesus continually called people to believe in him. In the verses for the day, he made an intentional decision to challenge Thomas to believe. He told Thomas to look and touch. He did. He believed. Seeing was believing for Th...

“But in all these things we have full victory through God who showed his love for us. Yes, I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor ruling spirits, nothing now, nothing in the future, no powers, nothing above us, nothing below us, nor anything else in the whole world will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:37-39 Oops, I did it again. No, I didn't rob a bank or run a red light. Just one more careless word, at a careless time, in a careless way. Sheepishly, I called my child to whom I spoke carelessly to ask for forgiveness. "Well dad, I forgot all about thought", she said. "I didn't. Would you forgive me?", I asked. "Yes dad. ... I love you." "I love you too sweetheart." She loves me anyway. I believe Paul, who wrote this proclamation of the insurmountable nature of God's love, on many occasions, sat in the stunned disbelief of God's love ...