Mission Support

Church family,

Welcome to Spring! I was hoping for a warmer start to the new season! Oh well. I will say that we are blessed to live here in NWO. Carmela and I enjoy the pace of life and the setting here – and the change of seasons (whenever they come!)

Last week we had the chance to spend a few days in Florida. Yes, we lived there for almost 6 years, but after being there last week we are grateful for being here – now – at this stage of life. We spent time with family, which was nice since we live a ways from most of them.

During our years of ministry, there have only been a short few years that we even lived within a couple hours of family. Most of our time has been spent away. At times it can be difficult to be away. But we know that our lives are in God’s hands. We know that we can be in no better place than where He has called us to be.

I am reminded that as children of God, our lives are not our own. We have been bought with a price. We are His. We were meant to live as He intended. I am thankful that no matter where He has us, He is faithful. We don’t have to worry. We can trust and rest in Him.

1 Thessalonians 5:24a (ESV) He who calls you is faithful… 

Praise God for who He is!

Here at home, we recently heard news of a local medical provider making an agreement with a local abortion provider. Currently, there is a petition against this move and if you are interested in signing the petition, see the link provided below.

www.petition.life

Walking with you,

Pastor Brian

Church family,

I would imagine that as Christians, we believe in prayer. We believe that it is something “good Christians do”. I am not sure of your background in this area, but I can say that in my upbringing, prayer was a part of my life. We prayed before meals, before bed, at the beginning of the day.

When I was a young child, most of my times in prayer involved my parents. They didn’t just assume I would learn. They taught me to pray by, well, praying. Even in their flawed humanity, they made the effort to pray with me and in my presence.

Why? My dad and mom believed that prayer was communing with God. It was not just an expression of needs, but it seemed to always include recognition of the greatness of God.

In his book, Transforming Prayer, Daniel Henderson reminds us of what should be our motivation to pray:

“In heaven, we will not confess, intercede, or engage in spiritual warfare. We will declare forever, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12). It is good to get in practice for this forever expression while we are still here on earth. So we pray because God is worthy. But there is a second side to the motivational coin: I am needy. As I said earlier, prayerlessness is our declaration of independence from God. The heart of real prayer is, “Lord, I need you. I cannot do it on my own. I must seek you today.” These two motivational elements are seen in Psalm 40:16–17: “Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; let such as love Your salvation say continually, ‘The Lord be magnified!’ But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God.” ”

 So why do you pray? Do you pray? Do you just come with your list of troubles and wants? Or do you approach God in prayer as the Almighty God, who is worthy of your praise?

Remember these two elements, God is worthy, and I am needy as you commune with God in prayer. Your Heavenly Father wants to hear more from you than just a “list of troubles and wants”. He wants your worship as well.

Walking with you,

Pastor Brian

Church family,

Matthew 21:13 (ESV) He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” 

This verse in Matthew came to my mind this morning. The focus is the part, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’. In the context, Jesus came into the temple and was angered by what He found. The place that was supposed to be for the worship and praise of Israel’s God, had become a ‘den of robbers.’ The place intended to be about the glory of God, had become a place about the glory of man.

As I am reflecting, I am also thinking of our modern places of worship where the body of Christ gathers. What is the focus? Is it clear that God is the one we are worshiping? Is what we are doing more about His glory and fame, or more about our preference and comfort?

I realize that the ‘house of God’ is no longer a building. Since Pentecost, those who have trusted Christ as Savior have become the house of God (1 Corinthians 6:19). But the focus of the body of Christ should reflect the same things. What should be the ‘main things’ in the House of God? Let me suggest prayer, helping/ministering to others, dependence of the Holy Spirit, and praise as a starting point for the focus in God’s house. Notice that this list is about His praise and glory, not ours.

May our lives as God’s children and our gatherings be a reflection of His praise & glory!

Walking with you,

Pastor Brian

Church family,

Better Together was the title of my first sermon series in 2018. During the year, I want us to approach our times together with that in mind. Whether we are having coffee or lunch with another member of the body of Christ, worshiping on Sunday morning, or learning in a discipleship group – we need each other!

In the next weeks and months, we will continue to have ministry opportunities for you to “be together”. Besides our weekly worship service and discipleship hour, we are starting March with a special simulcast with Paul Tripp on marriage, What Did You Expect? Don’t miss this! We will meet Friday evening, March 2 from 6:00 – 8:30 pm. Then the second part will be Saturday morning, March 3 from 9:00 – 12 noon. There will be free childcare (sign up here or contact the office ASAP) refreshments, and giveaways throughout the time together. This is a perfect time to invite a friend! Maybe you cannot come to all of the simulcast. Join us for what you can!

In mid-March, the ladies will be starting another 6-week Bible Study. It will begin Wednesday, March 21 and run through April 25. A sign-up sheet will be on the bulletin board by March 4.

March 30 is Good Friday. We will have a Good Friday service here at PAC that evening at 7:00 pm. Join us around the communion table as we remember the sacrifice of Jesus for our salvation.

April 1 is Easter – really! That morning we will have brunch at 9:15 in the gym. A great time to fellowship with the body of Christ!

Sunday, April 22 at 6:00 pm we will have a Great Date Night with Mark Cable. Remember Mark was with us in concert in January 2017. We enjoyed a great time with Mark in his ministry to us. This time he will be with us as part of an evening together – music, ministry, food, and fun! Don’t miss this great time to be together! Cost will be $12.50 per person; $25 per couple.

Finally, I would like to incorporate some time into the worship service for people to share something God has been doing in their life. Feel free to connect with me as those time happen in your life. I want it to be a piece of building community and giving praise to God!

I trust you will make these times a priority. Times to build connection with each other and to encourage each other in the faith.

Walking with you,

Pastor Brian

Church family,

Yesterday was a different day. I got up and came to the office, ready to go! Some things were on my schedule, but I still had some flexibility. It didn’t take long for things to be thrown off schedule.

We’ve all had those days. Maybe more often than we’d like! The question is how do we respond to them? Do we let the sudden, unexpected, and ‘unplanned for’ take control of us? Or do we make the best of things and remember there’s a faithful, omniscient God who made this day?

Yesterday the Internet was out at the office! If you rely on the Internet to do a portion of your work and being online is a necessity, it can throw a wrench into your day! Well, I can tell you what we did. We made it a ‘snow day’ or ‘Internet day’! Honestly, we flexed with things well. The ministry staff had their meeting, shared, and laughed a little more!

We ate lunch together, prayed together, and did what we could. I had the chance for a couple of good conversations with folks who came by the office. Did our initial agendas get done? Nope. But we got to know each other a bit better! Connections were strengthened.

We all need these types of days. Days where we take time getting to know others. Times when we open up our hearts and lives. Times where we laugh with and at each other.

How do you see the ‘Internet’ days that come your way? It may not be the loss of the Internet, but it could be anything that is ‘normal’ in your life. When your plans are interrupted, or the normal happenings get temporarily rearranged, do you remember you have a Father in heaven who knew about it way before you did? You might say. “The Internet isn’t a big deal.” For most of us, I would agree. Any interruption, no matter how large or small, temporary or long term, can change our day/life. We all have these God-ordained interruptions in our lives. How do we respond to them?

Psalm 46:1-3 (NLT) God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!

This day, this year, and this life are not all there is, if you are a child of God! There’s a grander future ahead, one that will be amazingly perfect and free from interruptions! A promised future that we will enjoy forever, with our Savior and our brothers and sisters in Christ!

Remember to keep the bigger picture in mind and make the best of the unexpected things that interrupt your lives! Nothing that comes our way comes apart from God’s hands.

Walking with you,

Pastor Brian

Church family,

February has begun, the Super Bowl hype is over, and we find ourselves just past the middle of winter. For many, New Year’s resolutions have been hard, and many have fallen ‘off the tracks’. Let me encourage you to persevere! Lift your eyes to Jesus!

Hebrews 12:1-3 (ESV) Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 

From the moment of our salvation to the moment of our death, we are running a race.

The challenge here is to endure – to finish the race. Do not give up! Look to Jesus! I believe that our endurance is directly connected to our ‘abiding in Him.’ If you have trusted Him as your Savior, you have a relationship with Him. The barrier of sin and death was removed by His death and resurrection! We are united with Him. We are in Him and He is in us!

Let me encourage you to abide in Him. Read His word to know Him. Pray to know Him. Worship Him! This ‘communing’ is where the confidence and strength to endure to the end comes from. The Spirit deepens your relationship with God as you abide in Him.

Let me recommend some resources if you are needing something to encourage or develop communion with your Father.

Book –Transforming Prayer:  How Everything Changes When You Seek God’s Face by Daniel Henderson    

Book – With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God by Skye Jethani 

App – Mission 119 – Your Personal, Guided Tour Through the Bible

Running with you!

Pastor Brian

Church Family,

Last week I shared an excerpt from Paul Tripp’s book, Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change. I trust you have had a chance to reflect on what I shared with you. Today, I want to share with you three principles that Paul Tripp brings from this passage. But first, let’s read the passage again.

Matthew 23:25–26: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside will also be clean.”

Christ’s illustration establishes three principles that guide our efforts to serve as God’s instruments of change in the lives of others.

1. There is an undeniable root and fruit connection between our heart and our behavior. People and situations do not determine our behavior; they provide the occasion where our behavior reveals our hearts.

2. Lasting change always takes place through the pathway of the heart. Fruit change is the result of root change. Similarly, in Matthew 23, Christ says, “Clean the inside of the cup and dish and the outside will become clean.” Any agenda for change must focus on the thoughts and desires of the heart.

3. Therefore, the heart is our target in personal growth and ministry. Our prayer is that God will work heart change in us and use us to produce heart change in others that results in new words, choices, and actions.

We know that the Apostle Paul encourages believers to ‘take off their old clothes’ and ‘put on their new clothes’. This would be something that we do with the help of the Holy Spirit. Those old clothes are things of the world – character and identity. New clothes are things of the kingdom of God – character and identity. This is part of the process of ‘heart change’, sanctification.

Paul Tripp says, “our prayer is that God will work heart change in us and use us to produce heart change in others that results in new words, choices, and actions.” 

Praying for change is confessing that something isn’t right in our heart. In our ‘talking to ourselves’ and to others, are we pointing them to the need for heart change? Are we pointing them to the Savior who is the only one who can bring real change?

I encourage you to desire real change – heart change. I encourage you to call out to Jesus. He’s the only one that can make it happen.

Walking with you,

Pastor Brian

Church Family,

The next two weeks I am sharing an excerpt from Paul Tripp’s book, Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change. We often struggle with seeing real change in our own lives. We also wrestle with change happening in the lives of those we love – family members and friends. Read and reflect upon these words from Jesus in Matthew:

Matthew 23:25–26: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside will also be clean.”

Some thoughts from Paul Tripp:

Change that ignores the heart will seldom transform the life. For a while, it may seem like the real thing, but it will prove temporary and cosmetic.

This often happens in personal ministry. From a distance it looks as if the person has really changed. When held accountable, the person does and says different things. The husband seems to be gentle and attentive to his wife. The teenager seems to treat his parents with new respect. The depressed person is up and out of the house. The broken relationship seems to have been restored. But the changes don’t last and in six weeks or six months, the person is right back where he started. Why? Because the change did not penetrate the heart, so changes in behavior were doomed to be temporary. 

This is what happens to the teenager who goes through the teen years fairly well under the careful love, instruction, and oversight of Christian parents, only to go off to college and completely forsake his faith. I would suggest that in most cases he has not forsaken his faith. In reality, his faith was the faith of his parents; he simply lived within its limits while he was still at home. When he went away to school and those restraints were removed, his true heart was revealed. He had not internalized the faith. He had not entrusted himself to Christ in a life-transforming way. He did the “Christian” things he was required to do at home, but his actions did not flow from a heart of worship. In the college culture, he had nothing to anchor him, and the true thoughts and motives of his heart led him away from God. College was not the cause of his problem. It was simply the place where his true heart was revealed. The real problem was that faith never took root in his heart. As a result, his words, choices, and actions did not reveal a heart for God. Good behavior lasted for a while, but it proved to be temporary because it was not rooted in the heart.

Next week, I will share some principles from this passage in Matthew, that Paul Tripp offers in our effort to encourage change. These truths are insightful as we seek personal change and to minister to others for real change.

Walking with you,

Pastor Brian

 

Church family,

The new year is but a few days old. In spite of the changes, uncertainty, and turmoil all around us, there is much to rejoice in because of Jesus! We do not go into this year alone. We do not go into any day alone. Praise the Lord for His provision and constant presence with us!

A few days ago, I was reading and came across this prayer that I wanted to share with you – A Gospel-Shaped 2018.

After reading this prayer, five phrases catch my attention:

May it be a year

• filled with knowing You better
• boasting in You more robustly
• serving You more joyfully 

 May intimate fellowship with You seize our hearts.

Our only New Year’s resolution is to believe the gospel more fully and gladly.

What will it take to realize this resolution for you? Consistent time in His Word?

Focused time in prayer? Intentional time with the body of Christ? Maybe a better grasp of the gospel? Let me start by reminding you of this – “the gospel is the power of God.” Maybe spend time this year pursuing the personal understanding of this truth. It starts by choosing to abide in Him. Ask Him to help you understand and walk in the truth of the gospel. Let this be your prayer. It will change your life!

Walking with you,

Pastor Brian

Church family,

As we begin a new calendar year, let’s live with these thoughts from 1 Peter 1:3-12 in mind:

Remember who you are. Embrace your identity in Christ. Do not let the enemy tell you differently! You are united with Christ; in Him! He keeps you and your inheritance secure.

Understanding what God is doing. Remember His greater purpose in your life: everything is brought into our lives to point to the Savior. The work that the Spirit will do in the tests, trials, and grief is part of the process of your sanctification.

Celebrate your salvation! Your salvation was HIS plan before the foundation of the World! Reflect on how you came to place your faith in Jesus as Savior.

Don’t ever forget that Jesus has purchased a future for you that is better than anything you could have dreamed or planned for yourself.

2 Corinthians 5:6-10 (NLT) So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. For we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.

Walking with you,

Pastor Brian