Fall Creek Christian Church

"God surely knows where it (wisdom) can be found, for he looks throughout the whole earth, under all the heavens. He made the winds blow and determined how much rain should fall. He made the laws of the rain and prepared a path for the lightning. Then, when he had done all this, he saw wisdom and measured it. He established it and examined it thoroughly. And this is what he says to all humanity: 'The fear of the Lord is true wisdom; to forsake evil is real understanding'"  Job 27:23-28 I had an "incident" with the one cup at a time coffee maker the other day. Apparently, the lid that screws on to the mini coffee filter holder is an important part of the process. Who knew? I thought I could make a stronger cup of coffee without it. All I ended up doing was making a real mess that I cleaned up with giggling coworkers nearby. I believe, however, I am now armed with a little more knowledge and wisdom.  Job was a righteous dude. He was wise and well-res...

"So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw close to God and he will draw close to you... "  James 4:7-8a Our family loves to take walks in the woods. When they were too little to walk, they rode on our shoulders. As they grew, they moved up to holding our hands. Eventually, they just took off. Exploring. Searching. Climbing. Running. Pausing only for the occasional photo. We're very excited for the opportunity to repeat this journey with the next generation. In our verses for the day, James lays out a path towards spiritual maturity. It begins the moment we set our prideful selves aside. God is God. We're not. Immediately we are confronted with a relentless enemy that must be resisted and, with God's help, overcome. Then, we grab a hold of God for all we're worth and in so doing we find his grip on us tightening as well.  Humble yourself. Resist the devil. Draw close to God. When this happens...

"So now the Lord says, 'I will bring disaster on you (King Ahab) and consume you ... for you have made me very angry and have led Israel into sin.' ... But when Ahab heard this message, he tore his clothing, dressed in burlap, and fasted. He even slept in burlap and went about in deep mourning."  I Kings 21:21,27 There are regrets and then there are deep regrets. Deep regrets haunt us. We don't want to think about them, talk about them or even remember they ever existed. Normal regrets are bad enough, but the deep regrets leave us wondering if forgiveness is truly possible. Something inside of us crumbles at the sight of the devastation caused by choices we've made. Is there any hope?  King Ahab was a mess. His rebellion against God was thorough and unending. He worshiped idols. He stole. He murdered. He encouraged his people to turn away from God. His wife Jezebel was right there to fuel his rebellion against God. Along came God's prophet to ...

"Simon Peter asked, 'Lord, where are you going?' And Jesus replied, 'You can't go with me now, but you will follow me later.' 'But why can't I come now, Lord?' he asked. 'I'm ready to die for you.' Jesus answered, 'Die for me? I tell you the truth, Peter -- before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me." John 13:36-38 So, when was the last time your mouth ran ahead of your reality? I won't go into specific details here, but my last one is a very fresh memory. My over confidence set me up for a humbling conversation with Jesus that I would very much prefer to not have to experience again. The minefields in this world set to derail us from being a faithful follower of Jesus are plentiful and painfully effective. The devil is very good at what he does ... deceive and devour. Mr. Simon Peter really took one on the chin here in our verses for today. "I'll die for you ...

"Though the Lord is great, he cares for the humble, but he keeps his distance from the proud." Psalm 138:6 Like all other couples, my wife and I have experienced times and seasons of closeness as well as distance. Interestingly, very few if any of them had anything to do with our physical proximity at the time. We've been in the same room and even in the same bed, yet remained light years apart. On the flip side, we've been separated by half the globe, yet remained indivisibly connected. The difference? The heart.   David observes in his Psalm that the Lord is near and distant from people as well. The difference? Again, the heart. The humble are near to God. They're close enough to come under his care. The proud are far from him. This distance we read in other places in the Bible is not innocuous. No, those who are separated from God by their pride are actively opposed by God. Yikes!  We're all in need of a heart...

“...'You will not recover from this illness.' When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord...Then this message came to Isaiah from the Lord: 'Go back to Hezekiah and tell him, 'This is what the God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will add fifteen years to your life...'"  Isaiah 38:1-6 Nearly thirty years ago, I was bound and determined to ask someone a very important question. Hours were spent formulating and preparing for the moment. In spite of my nerves and in spite of the numerous ways the "ask" could have been derailed, I went for it. From the moment the ring went on her finger to this present moment, I am beyond thankful that I asked my wife for her hand in marriage. Hezekiah, the king of Judah, found the wonder of asking as well. He was told to get his house in order. Game over. His earth journey was finished. Then, he asked. It was a bold ask for sure. God, in his ...

" Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.)   But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, 'Why does he eat with such scum?  When Jesus heard this, he told them,  ' Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call sinners not those who think they are already good enough'" Mark 2:15-17 Looking in from the outside is not a fun place to be. Hearing of an activity that everyone else went to, but you weren't invited ... Walking up to a group talking and they immediately stop and disperse ... Entering a church only to receive the, "What are they doing here?" looks ... It doesn't feel good at all. The verses for today reveal that the "holier than thou" attitude has b...

"No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."  Micah 6:8   I've never been accused of being the sharpest tool in the shed. I can identify pretty quickly all the people in the room who are a few IQ points above me. I'm okay with that. Everyone has their points of excellence. It may be the lack of letters after my name or just my personality, but either way, I prefer simple. Complicated leads to confusion and miscommunication. Simple leads to action, movement and progress. God, through his prophet Micah, chose to go with simple. The people of Israel had lost their way. They were under covenant to worship God alone, but instead they added countless idols and threw in a good measure of self seeking just to seriously muddy up the water. Simple was needed ... Do the right thing, care for others, and stay close and submitted to God.  I think this simplicity theme ...

"Whenever Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, the king took his knife and cut off that section of the scroll. He then threw it into the fire, section by section, until the whole scroll was burned up. Neither the king nor his officials showed any signs of fear or repentance at what they heard."  Jeremiah 36:23-24  We've all witnessed our own children or somebody else's child locked into a position of defiance. It may be a temper tantrum. It may be an ear piercing, "No!" aimed at the beleagured parent. It may be a poorly disguised, "I didn't hear you." However it comes, the message is clear ... "I have no desire to respond to what you're saying and you aren't going to make me." In a word ... defiance. The king in this story chose to go toe-to-toe with God. The prophet had issued the warnings. He then had them written down and the king arrogantly cut them up and threw them in the fire. The rest of the chapter revea...

"When people boast about themselves, it doesn't count for much. But when the Lord commends someone, that's different!" II Cor.  10:18 A few weeks ago, during a men's softball game, I fell victim to the visions of granduer that sometimes plagues us middle aged men. A deep line drive provided me the opportunity to do my best Willie Mays over-the-shoulder catch impersonation. Well, let's just say there is a very good reason why he played major league baseball and I didn't. While looking over my shoulder to catch the ball, I failed to notice the chain link fence that was closing in on me at a high rate of speed. When I regained my senses, I was bleeding and bruised from head to toe. Worst of all, however, was the fact that I had dropped the ball when I hit the fence! My moment to boast of my "greatest catch ever" was lost. Not only could I not commend myself as a great softball outfielder, I actually succeeded in imprinting my below average athletici...

"Then King David went in and sat down before the Lord and prayed. Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And now, O God, in addition to everything else, you speak of giving me a lasting dynasty! You speak as though I were someone very great, O Lord God!"  I Chronicles 17:16-17 There are no shortages of examples in my life of times when I have embarrassed myself and those around me. My propensity to say and do things that miss the mark is one I cannot deny. Humiliation and self-depreciation follow closely behind these episodes. Finally, there is a struggle to regain my footing and move forward. Does this pattern sound familiar? In our verses for the day, we see David humbled before God. His humility, however, was not rooted in his failures even though he had his fair share of those. It was rooted in his clear recognition of his comparative smallness in the presence of God. One commentator expressed it this way, "Humility is not...

"Son of man, you live among rebels, who could see the truth if they wanted to, but they don't want to.  They could hear me if they would listen, but they won't listen because they are rebellious."  Ezekiel 12:2  Every once in awhile, I'll hear this sound coming from somewhere way in the distance accompanied by a fuzzy image of someone's face.  After a few moments of intense investigation, I'll realize that the sound is the voice of the person sitting or standing nearby who is also the owner of the fuzzy face that I can now see clearly.  It's not that my senses are fading in and out, it's more a function of my will choosing to disengage.  It's amazing how often this phenomena occurs during a football game... God spoke to Ezekiel about the people's attention problem.  Their problem wasn't a simple distraction.  It was rebellion.  Truth was right in front of them, but they wouldn't look at it.  The words of life were ringing in their e...