Healing Faith

If you had to choose one or the other - would you rather have excellent physical health or extremely healthy faith in God? Many people see God as a means to the end of good physical or emotional health. For them, good health is the goal, and God is the way to get there. There is some truth in their position. God, in fact, guarantees everyone who is in life-saving spiritual union with Jesus Christ perfect wholeness in paradise forever. However, temporal good health is not the end. Reconciliation with God is the end, and God uses health, good and bad, to win people to it.

John 4:46-54

In the second miracle John records in his Gospel, we see Jesus winning a household to saving faith in Himself as God’s Messiah by mercifully restoring a man’s critically ill son to full health. This is not so much an account of ‘faith healing’ as it is an account of healing faith. Healthy faith is unconditional, active trust in God expressed through faithful actions. Our actions reveal what we actually believe. For example, if you tell me that you are going to pretend to hit me, and I tell you I have absolute faith that you will not actually hit me. Then I flinch, duck and cover when you swing. My actions indicate that my faith is not so absolute after all. I may doubt your motives or your eye-hand coordination, but I doubt something. Likewise, we can say that we have faith in God, but our actions sometimes demonstrate that we do not. In those moments, we may doubt that God is good all the time or that He is almighty, but we doubt something. Healthy faith acts according to the reality that God is always willing and always able to do the ultimate best for His glory and our good.

So, how did God use physical health to bring spiritual health to the household in our text? Well, what motivated the official to run to Jesus in the first place? It was not his desperation for reconciliation with God. He was driven to Jesus by the painful reality that his son was in the middle of a medical emergency. God can and does use such emergencies to turn us to Him, and I am glad He does! Many of you know my dad’s story. I would not wish the physical suffering he endured during his final years on anyone. It was a brutal combination of amputations and complications that eventually brought my dad to his breaking point. My dad was an extremely independent, self-reliant man, who was hardened to the gospel. That is until God met him at his lowest point and providentially used 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 to win my dad to Himself. I do not wish illness on anyone, but if that is what it takes to get a person to turn to God, I prefer them to find eternal wholeness through difficult means than to temporarily enjoy good health on their way to eternal destruction.

Jesus’ first sign was a miracle of transformation, water into wine. This was a miracle of restoration, illness to health. God promises everyone who turns to Him to save them from sin’s penalty, power, and presence both transformation and restoration. He transforms everyone who turns to Him into new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17), and He promises to restore everything we lost in the Fall, including paradise and the eternally healthy bodies perfectly fitted for it (Revelation 21). You and I have a certain date with death unless Jesus returns first. No matter how we try to preserve it, our health is going to fail. A right relationship with God, not health, is the end. Jesus is the Way. Healthy faith in Him will never fail you.

Satisfaction II: Work for Food

Last week we looked at quenching our spiritual thirst for God through worshipping Him in spirit and truth. This week, let’s look at satisfying our hungry hearts with the spiritual nourishment that comes through accomplishing God’s work: JOHN 4:27-42

Have ever noticed that for us to enjoy something completely we need to share the enjoyment with someone else? We see a magnificent sunset by ourselves and think, “I wish_____ was here - they would really enjoy this.” We go to a great game or event but a friend or loved one can’t be there, and while it’s great, it’s just not complete without them. If the Miami Dolphins are ever great again, I’ll enjoy it, but not as much as I would if my dad, who got to play a season with them, was here to enjoy it with me. I think we are made that way. We are meant to be joy spreaders and even if we are enjoying something or someone immensely our joy is incomplete until it is shared with others. This is especially, even ultimately, true about our delight in God.

Genuinely delighting in God - feasting on His infinite excellencies - is the key to losing our appetite for sin’s dumpster scraps, but our enjoyment of God is incomplete when we see empty seats at His table and recall our starving friends still foraging for leftover bits of Big Mac in the dumpster of sin. For the worship feast to be complete we need to share the delight we have found with those who are still starving for love and settling for scraps.

That is exactly what the woman from the well immediately went to work doing. She left her waterpot behind - perhaps symbolically - and went to invite everyone she knew to meet the Way to the banquet. Notice how she used a question and an invitation to get people to investigate Jesus for themselves. She did not go to them arguing a case. She told them about her personal experience with Christ and invited them in an intriguing way to investigate Him for themselves. We would do well to follow the example of God’s ambassador to the Samaritans.

By the way, isn’t it wonderful how God heals and turns lives around?! God chose to save the believing Samaritans through the woman whose search for love once left her so alone that she went to the well at noon instead of in the cool morning or evening when women went together. In an instant, He took her from town tramp to town treasure! God knows just who needs what and He knows just how to work everything together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes. He also delights in putting the seemingly foolish and discarded things of this world to great, God-glorifying use. Wherever you have been - whatever you have done - whatever kind of reputation you have - turn to God, the master of turning trashed lives into treasure.

Much as Jesus used the well’s water to help the Samaritan woman discover the eternal spring of living water, He used the disciples’ food to help them and us find our spiritual food. He helped them see beyond the physical realm to the spiritual situation in their midst. He told them that it was harvest time and that He had already nourished His soul when He sowed new life into the woman, who was now working for Him reaping a harvest of new worshippers for God. It may seem ironic that we get nourished by expending energy in God’s work, but we can’t out-give God, who feeds our souls as we work to bring worshippers to Him. Finally, notice Jesus said His food came not just from knowing God’s will or from starting God’s work but from completing God’s work. So as Paul, one of God’s greatest harvest workers, once wrote “let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”- (Galatians 6:9) So, never give up. Give yourself to God! Give yourself to treasuring Him and to finishing His work, and He will make you a spiritually satisfied treasure to those He brings to His feast through you!

Satisfaction I: Worship for Water

If life came with a label it might say "Satisfaction NOT Guaranteed." We often feel empty, unfulfilled and dissatisfied. For most of our hungers and thirsts there is some earthly solution. If I am physically hungry, there is food to satisfy me. But, to varying degrees of awareness, there is an often undefined, underlying dissatisfaction deep within every human heart that nothing on earth can fill. We sing about it. Write novels, plays and movies about it. We look here, there and everywhere for the solution to it, but no amount of substances, sex, success, or stuff can satisfy our hungry hearts. In our text, we meet a spiritually parched woman who has been desperately seeking satisfaction in the wrong wells just as she meets the physically thirsty Savior seeking sincere worship for His Father. Let's look at JOHN 4:1-26 and focus on the relationship between God's desire for worship and our need for satisfaction. The two definitely go together.

In our text, we see Jesus intentionally making His way across social barriers to a divine appointment with an important person. Of course, no one would have guessed the Samaritan woman who was making her way to Jacob's well in the noon sun was a VIP. It is very likely that she was a social outcast. It is a tragic irony that this woman's efforts to find love, acceptance, and relationship were the very actions that resulted in her social isolation. The wells we turn to in our efforts to satisfy our thirsty souls seem to work that way. We go somewhere to cope and try to fill the void, and the places we go often take matters from bad to worse. The first key to finding satisfaction for your thirsty soul is to look in the right place and that place is in a right relationship with God. You and I were created to enjoy a living relationship with God and without that relationship, we are spiritually dead inside. Romances, reruns, and religions about God all eventually run dry, but a real living relationship with the real living God never does. No wonder God pleads with us in places like Isaiah 55:1-2 to seek and find our satisfaction in Him.

We not only need to look in the right place - a real relationship with God - we also need to look in the right way. Sadly, many people who have experienced genuine reconciliation with God, by turning from sin to Him and trusting their lives to the care and control of Christ, still fail to enjoy the abundant satisfaction that is available to them. Why? I think much of the answer is found in Jesus' and the woman's discussion about worship. God's glorification and our satisfaction are mutually complimentary. John Piper has done a great job broadcasting his phrase, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." That is true. When we are so abundantly satisfied in God that the world's wells no longer hold any appeal to us, people can see that we have found something superior in God. Filthy food scraps by a dumpster don't look appetizing unless you are starving to death, and in the same way, sin's pleasures don't look nearly as appealing when you are spiritually feasting on the richest fare in the universe by delighting yourself in God. God tells us over and over again in Scripture...Rejoice! Delight! Celebrate! These are not burdensome commands. God works to wean us off of the world's dumpster scrap pleasures not to starve us of pleasure. He knows we need to enjoy beauty. He knows we need to express appreciation for excellence. He weans us off the world's pleasures so that we can enjoy the vastly superior pleasures of delighting in all that God is and in all that God does. God is infinitely splendid and His excellencies (Psalm 103) are an inexhaustible source of celebration!

To genuinely honor God and enjoy soul satisfaction, we must worship Him in spirit and truth. Both must stay together for genuine worship. Truth without spirit is just dead orthodoxy. We have the information correct, but we are unmoved by it. How honored would you feel if I knew a great deal about you but could not care less? On the other hand, spirit without truth is just ecstatic inaccuracy. In that case, we dishonor God by celebrating something He is not. Imagine meeting a famous singer-songwriter and going on and on about how much you love one of their songs only to discover another artist actually wrote and performed that song. The artist you were meeting might be amused, but they would not be honored. We must really delight in God as He really is. When we do, He will be worshipped, and we will be satisfied.

Less is More

Have you ever been disappointed with ministry results? Have you ever believed that the Lord called you to participate in a good work that you had high hopes for and that you zealously invested your time and energy into only to have the results fall well short of your expectations? I know I have. I also know that many of you recently worked hard to prepare and distribute more than a thousand very cool Easter Egg Invitations only to see very nasty weather and very few guests show up for Sunday’s Easter service. First, thank you for your hard work and faithful service. Second, let’s look to God’s word to learn from an exceptionally faithful man of God whose ministry was actually shrinking for the advance of the gospel.

John 3:22-36

In our text, John was tempted to discouragement and self-pity. His ministry had been huge, but now it was declining. Why? Would he take the bait and buy the lie that God was upset with him? Would he think he was no longer blessed or even loved? No! He stayed secure in his relationship with God, and rejoiced to see Jesus’ ministry grow. John was not in a baptism competition or a popularity contest. He was on a mission. John’s ministry was not about John. It was always all about Jesus as all of our ministries should always be. That’s the first thing meant by the “Less is More” message title.

In terms of motivation, our ministry must be less about us and more about Christ. We need to honestly examine our ministry motivations. We need to ask God to search our hearts and reveal our underlying motives. Do we need numerical success to feel important, impressive or loved? If so, that’s got to go. God has already said He loves us as loud as it can be said when He offered up His only begotten Son to save us from sin’s penalty, power, and presence. If you know, love, trust and treasure Christ, nothing in all of creation is able to separate you from God’s love. As it says in our text, those who have the Son have the life. Of course, it also says those who don’t trust and obey Christ remain under God’s wrath. Jesus is God’s Way out of death and into Life. And we must be less and less motivated by our needs and more and more motivated other’s need for our Savior.

Churches can easily fall into a business mindset. They think of starting and growing a church much like building a business. The bigger it grows the better it is, but it might help us to think of starting and growing a ministry more like providing health care. Health care comes to us through everything from huge regional medical centers to small local offices. I think what matters most to most people is not the quantity of people served but the quality of care provided. Similarly, I think the quality of the spiritual care we provide for people may be a better measure of ministry effectiveness than exclusive focus on the quantity of people in attendance. So, let's focus a bit less on quantity and more on quality.

Finally, in terms of the means we use to minister, we need to be less self-reliant and more God-reliant. As John said a person can receive nothing except what is given from above. Consider the effectiveness of Jesus' ministry and the following comments Jesus made about His ministry:

"The Son of Man can do nothing of Himself" - John 5:19.

"My teaching is not My own" - John 7:16.

"The word that you hear is not Mine but the Father's" - John 14:24.

If Jesus said He could do nothing without His Father, how much can we do without Him? The answer of course is nothing...at least nothing of any actual spiritual value. We need to be less and less reliant on our programs and processes and more and more reliant on prayer. Prayer is God's ordained means of effective ministry. I wonder how much ministry empowerment and wisdom we miss simply because we do not ask. As James once said, "We have not because we ask not." John and Jesus humbly relied on God and expressed their reliance through frequent fervent prayer. We need to be less impressed with our programs and more impressed with God, and we need to express that by relying less on ourselves and more - much more - on prayer.

Life in His Name

On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. 2So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him." 3 So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb...(Peter) entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there….9they did not yet understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. 10So the disciples went away again to their own homes. 11But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; 12and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. 13And they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him."14When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus said, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, "Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away." 16Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (Teacher)….18Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," 19So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you."20And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord…24But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came….He said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." 26After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." 27Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing." 28Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" 29Jesus said, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed." 30Many other signs Jesus performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31but these have been written so you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name. - John 20

Faith matters. Faith is not just believing something, though it involves it. Faith is entrusting yourself, or at least some aspect of yourself, to the care of something or someone else. Life regularly requires such faith of each us. For example, anyone who invests with a financial institution must entrust at least some of their financial health to that institution's care. Hopefully, none of us banked on Bear Stearns, whose value recently went from $170 to $2 a share. If we had, our misplaced faith would have cost us. Faith is certainly required whenever we go in for an operation. Once we are under the anesthesia, our lives are literally in our surgical team's hands. That is faith - believing in and banking on, and I truly believe your eternal destiny depends on whether or not you trust your life to the care and control of Jesus Christ. I know believing in and banking on the historical reality of Jesus’ bodily resurrection can be challenging, and I pray God will use this message to help overcome obstacles between you and saving faith in the resurrection.

I see three categories of obstacles to saving faith in our text. First, I see Mary struggling with naturalistic faith assumptions. She saw the evidence, immediately jumped to a plausible conclusion, and in her mind that’s the way it was - grave robbers stole the body. The problem was her reality was not really reality and that is the case with all who preemptively rule out the resurrection, simply because they are closed to even considering the possibility of a supernatural event. So many people fall for a false dichotomy between faith (supernatural/resurrection) and reason (natural/robbers). One of the most relentless purveyors of this myth is the biologist Richard Dawkins, who wrote the bestseller The God Delusion, but like all of us, Dr. Dawkins is a man of faith. Consider his quote from a recent NY Times interview: “I cannot know for certain, but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life according to that assumption.” That is faith. So, how do we overcome our naturalistic assumptions? First, we must realize that they are faith-based. Beneath every doubt is a belief. Disbelief in ‘this’ is actually belief in ‘that’, and it helps to realize we are comparing two faiths rather than faith vs. reason. Next, we must be open to the reasonable possibility that if God can create all life from nothing at all, this God can also create life from death. Then we must consider the evidence for Jesus' resurrection honestly in light of that possibility.

The next obstacle to saving faith that I see in our text comes from Peter and the beloved disciple, who had a lack of Scriptural awareness. They did not realize they were witnessing exactly what the Bible promised. The Bible is like no other sacred book, which are usually the product of a single ‘enlightened’ author. The Bible is 66 books written by at least 40 human authors from various cultures and walks of life over a period of 1500 years. It was written about the most profound and often divisive issues of life and yet there is thematic harmony and factual consistency throughout. In fact, it is literally the unfolding of a single, non-contradictory story, and I do not believe that just happens. Still, even during Biblical times, Jesus fulfilled numerous, highly detailed Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah right in front of people, and they missed it. How? He once said to those who did not believe in the resurrection, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God” (Matthew 22:29). I think that still applies. Knowing God and the Scriptures goes together. The more you know the Scriptures - the more you will be awed by God’s power and the more you will be able to trust in and rely on His resurrected Christ.

The final obstacle to faith in our text is evidenced by the most famous skeptic of all, Thomas, who lacked tangible personal experience. His close personal friends’ experience was not enough for Thomas, and I get that. One of the things I love about Jesus is His willingness to do whatever it takes to overcome our sincere obstacles to saving faith. The One who let Thomas reach his hand into His side will do what it takes to reach you, if you truly want Him enough to sincerely seek Him. Everyone who sincerely seeks Him, like Mary (the first person to see Jesus after His resurrection), finds Him. Mary was seeking Jesus before dawn, and she stayed after everyone else went home. She sought Him with tears, and when He finally called her by name, her tears turned to joy. Yours will too. More than 500 people saw Jesus alive after His death. His first followers went from cowering in fear to boldly giving their lives to proclaim His resurrection. These things and so many more are written that you may believe in Jesus, the living Son of God, and through believing in and banking on Him, may have life in His name.

Hosanna!

On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD, even the King of Israel." 14Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, 15"Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”16These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him. 17So the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify about Him. 18For this reason also the people went and met Him, because they heard that He had performed this sign. 19So the Pharisees said to one another, "You see that you are not doing any good; look, the world has gone after Him." - John 12:12-19

Imagine the scene: Thousands and thousands of people are making their way into Jerusalem for the annual Passover celebration. Most of them are bringing lambs to be sacrificed. A famous historian from that era, Josephus, reports a census that recorded 256,500 lambs slain during a single Passover! It is tough to imagine such a scene, but it was an annual trek for faithful Israelites, who were following God’s directions from centuries earlier. God instituted the Passover when He used Moses and miraculous plagues to free His people from slavery in Egypt. At that time, He told each family to sacrifice their best lamb, eat it, place some of it’s blood over their doors and be ready to leave Egypt. That night deadly judgment fell on every house that was not covered by the lamb’s blood, and in an instant, God’s people were set free to follow and worship God.

So, back to our scene in roughly A.D. 30, Jesus is making His way into Jerusalem to offer Himself up as the Passover Lamb of God (John 1:29). On the way, a crowd of people who have heard that Jesus miraculously brought a dead man named Lazarus back to life is waving palm branches and shouting, “Hosanna!” - meaning “Save!” or “Save now!” That sounds promising until we realize that many of the same people were shouting “Crucify Him!” by the end of the week. What happened? In part, I think many of them were looking for a different kind of salvation. They wanted salvation from Roman occupation. They wanted an earthly “King of the Jews,” and once it became clear that was not Jesus’ agenda, they rejected Him. The same thing happens today. So many people come to Christ looking for salvation from something different, and actually less, than what Jesus has come to save us from. Jesus has come to save us from God’s condemnation. He has come to set us free from sin’s penalty (death), and it’s enslaving power over us. Just as the Israelites were hopelessly trapped in Egypt and utterly powerless to free themselves, all people - including each and everyone of us - are hopelessly trapped in sin until God miraculously saves those covered by the blood of His spotless Lamb, Jesus.

It is tragic when people come to Christ for financial salvation or marital salvation or some other salvation and use that as their basis for accepting or rejecting Him. A right relationship with God can and often does help with all of those matters. People following God’s lead become better stewards of their resources and experience improved financial health, for example. But - God invites us to receive peace with Him on His terms - not ours! He sets the agenda. In Luke’s account of this event, he records that Jesus wept over Jerusalem and lamented that they were not receiving God’s terms of peace. Here He was - the Prince of Peace - the King of kings - riding in on a colt (a custom for kings coming in peace vs. coming on war horses), and they were missing their God-given opportunity to escape spiritual bondage and ultimate condemnation. It was then, and it is now, a heart-breaking tragedy.

So, how does a person accept God’s terms of peace? Well, first we must understand them. God has graciously revealed in the Bible that He is the Creator, Sustainer, and rightful Ruler of everything that exist. He has also revealed that He created us to love us forever and to enjoy life under His benevolent rule and care. He calls all people to respond to His perfect love by loving Him and all other people all the time. What a world this would be if we did! Of course, we have all fallen extremely short of that mark. Most people have utterly ignored God and His right to rule their lives. Some angrily protest His rule. A few try to deny His existence, but all fail to always love Him and to love our neighbors the way we love ourselves. This is sin, and it destroys our peace with God, each other and creation. Thankfully, God is destroying sin and restoring His creation, and He is doing so in a way that frees even the guiltiest sinners who accept His terms of reconciliation.

Here they are: Each of us must recognize our guilt and need for a Savior. God repeatedly reveals in the Bible that we all are not only guilty of sin - we are all helplessly trapped in sin. So, first we admit our guilt and need. Next, we turn from sin and self-righteous attempts to earn God’s favor, and we turn instead to God to ask Him to forgive our sin against Him and to free us to live new lives for Him. So, second we beg for saving grace. Finally, we trust in and rely on the reality that God loved the world, including each of us, so much that He gave His only begotten Son so that everyone, including you, who believes in Him and receives Him to be their Savior and King will not perish but will instead have everlasting life in His name! So, understanding the term and the salvation Jesus (the sinless Son of God who bore sin’s penalty in our place) is offering, I pray you turn to Him now and cry, “Hosanna!”

Live the Life

Picture a cross being plunged into still water and sending out concentric waves. Consider everything inside the waves to be inside the Body of Christ and everything outside the expanding context of the waves to be outside the Body of Christ. Within the context of the outermost wave, the leading edge between the Body of Christ and the spiritually lost world, there are multiple other waves - each creating a smaller context within the other.

The point of the picture is this: I believe that God works in and through the church to create contexts that help people move forward in their relationship with God. It is God's work, but we are active participants in that work. We work by His empowerment under His direction to fulfill our role in creating these concentric contexts of spiritual growth.

With this in mind, SoundLife desires to be a growing God-centered church where:

• Love Leads (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)
• Truth Frees (John 8:31-32)
• Hope Heals (Romans 15:13)
• Faith Works (James 2:14 & 26)

Love is the proper leading edge between the church and the world. Everything that happens in the Body of Christ is meant to happen within the context of love. Consider truth. Truth frees within the context of love, but outside the context of love, truth can be devastating. If I know you love me and have my best interest at heart you can share difficult truth about me with me, and I will listen and prayerfully experience increasing freedom in that area. The same truth used against me outside the context of love will likely raise my defenses and drive me away. Tragically, too many churches lead with truth rather than love, and it drives people away from their only true hope. Speaking of which, briefly consider hope in it's proper context - truth. Just as truth belongs in love, hope belongs in truth. True hope heals, but the only hope outside the context of truth is false hope, which does not help anyone in real life. Finally, God-given faith works with joyful perseverence within the fueling context of hope, but it chokes in an atmosphere of hopelessness.

So, let's look at the commitments we need to make to fulfill our roles in creating these contexts of faith, hope, truth, and love. In order to "Live the Life" (that is the God-centered life that we believe God calls us to live), we commit to....

SHOW THE LOVE by reaching out to, welcoming and serving people from all backgrounds and stages of life.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."- John 13:34-35

SHARE THE TRUTH about God, His word, and ourselves with humility, kindness, and courage.

“Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ.”– Ephesians 4:15

BUILD THE BODY by actively giving our time and treasure to church and community group ministries.

“There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope…He gave…the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ… from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” – Ephesians 4:4, 11 & 16

SEND THE SERVANTS by going and helping others go to serve our neighbors and the nations for the advance of the Gospel.

“‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How then will they call on Him they have not believed? How will they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they are sent?”- Romans 10:13-15

If we will truly worship God and consistently show the love, share the truth, build the body, and send the servants, then I believe we will truly live God-centered lives together and fulfill the great mission God has given us. So, let's 'Live the Life' and watch in awe as God grows us into the God-exalting, life-transforming church that He is calling us to be!