Fall Creek Christian Church

"He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless spotless Lamb of God. God chose him for this purpose long before the world began, but now in these final days, he was sent to the earth for all to see. And he did this for you." I Peter 1:19-20 As we opened the front door, we were met by our daughter who was wearing a gigantic grin on her face. A wonderful smell filled the air. We walked into the kitchen which was immaculately clean where the table was set with a nice tablecloth, linen napkins, flowers, and candles with instrumental jazz completing the atmosphere. The meal was delicious and the fellowship sweet. "I just wanted to do something special for you." she said.    As Peter was writing to Jesus followers who were in the fires of persecution, he wanted to remind them of how much God loved them. He was very detailed about it so they wouldn't miss a thing. He's loved you from before the beginning. He spared no expense in covering your d...

"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   I read a story some time ago about Alexander the Great. One restless night he walked out of his tent to stroll through the camp of his massive army. He came upon one of the soldiers on guard duty who was sound asleep. After being woken up, the man was mortified as the punishment was immediate execution. Alexander looked him in the eyes and demanded his name. "Alexander," the man sheepishly replied. After a brutally painful pause, Alexander the Great said, "It's time for you to live up to your name."   Ezekiel the Prophet had a seriously tough job. Time and again the Lord gave him some of the most difficult and unusual assignments that a prophet had been given in the Bible. In today's chapter, we find Ezekiel given another responsibility -- Watchman. He now carried the extra burden of non-stop guard duty. He was ...

"...so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him." Hebrews 9   Movie makers have long ago recognized the profitability of sequels. When a movie hits it big, the wheels start spinning. Possible story lines begin to develop that bring back these now loved characters and their adventures. In high school, I was taken in hook, line and sinker with the "Back to the Future" series and "The Raiders of the Lost Ark" series. Secretly, I keep hoping to see Marty McFly and Indiana Jones on the big screen one more time. The Book of Hebrews presents repeatedly the greatest sequel of all times -- the return of Jesus. In chapter nine, the author lays out clearly what Jesus' mission was the first time he came. Defeat sin. He did that on the cross and proved it by raising from the dead. Now, we wait in eager an...

"As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith."    II Timothy 4   I love reading stories to my grandkids. They keep bringing me books and I'll keep reading them. At their young ages, it's very common to go through the books in snippets. They'll sit still for only so long. You may get a few pages or right to the last page and "boom" the book gets closed and off they run. "Wait," I say. "I want to see how it ends." Occasionally, my daughter will walk by giggling as she sees me sitting there by myself finishing the little children's book. Endings matter. It's what the whole book was leading towards. We all like a good ending.    In this letter to Timothy, Paul was thinking about endings, too. Specifically, his own. Imprisoned in Rome, his circumstances were leading him to conclude that his time ...

"But if I say, 'I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,' his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot." Jeremiah 20:9  "Each time Jehudi finished reading three or four columns, the king took a 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." Jeremiah 36:23 Years ago, I went with a church member to his house. It was an odd mixture of sadness, regret, gratefulness and hope. He had put the ash from a fire they had over 24 hours earlier into a metal can and put in the garage. Sadly, the coals were still hot enough to flame up and catch nearby combustibles on fire. Amazingly, the cars didn't explode, the family escaped without harm and the talented firefighters were able to keep the house from becoming a complete loss. As we looked at the charred sections of the house, we both stood ther...

"For you know quite well that the day of the Lord's return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night." I Thessalonians 4:13-5:11   Our three-year-old granddaughter is now "all in" when it comes to playing Hide-N-Seek. It's quite entertaining. She'll hide in the same place as we did the time before or keep hiding in the same spot over and over again like it's the first time. It gets even better when the dogs want to play too. They apparently don't understand the rules to wait till you count to ten to start looking. My granddaughter tries very passionately to explain that to them. Her counting is another variable. It's 1, 2 and then she starts moving towards you all the way to 10. "Ready or not, here I come!"    The church in Thessalonica, not unlike all of us, was being troubled by their questions. They were watching friends and family die and were wondering what happened to them. They were concerned that they were going to m...

  "Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation...For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ." Colossians 1:15-20 Our family loves watching movies. Each of us has our own personal preferences as to what kind, but pop a bag of popcorn and we're all in. One of the genres that I enjoy is the "Who did it?" movies. I love trying to figure out the mystery before the characters do. However, more often than not, I'm clueless until the climactic reveal at the end of the movie. On occasion, I want to know who it is so bad I just can't wait and look it up online.   In Paul's letter to the church in Colossae, Paul wanted to make absolutely sure that they were not left completely in the dark about who Jesus is. There were many traveling teachers throwing out all kinds of interesting ideas about Jesus and the church needed to be prepared and/or corrected. Correction equals ...