2019 # 8 - The Best of Christmas

Hi Friends!

Our focus this Holiday Season is on The Best of Christmas and in a word we believe The Best of Christmas is JESUS!

As you Celebrate Christmas I encourage you to speak the words "Thanks be to God for this indescribable gift" (2 Corinthians 9:15) into all of your circumstances! And let's cut to core if we could?

Let's admit that our emotions can readily swing from high-to-low and back-and-forth many times over. And if we're totally transparent, let's also admit that this emotional roller coaster can pick up speed during the Christmas season.

Think about it: we all have peaks, and pits, and lots of in-between points in the ebb-and-flow of any given day. What Christmas promises is that JESUS came to walk us through everything on our earthly journeys in a way that brings us personal peace and glorifies our Father in heaven.

We'll be studying a single Scripture passage (Isaiah 9:6-7) throughout December. My hope is that we'll unpack the power in Jesus' name and in His nature, and that we'll tap deeply into the peace that Jesus brings in all circumstances, as we praise God for His indescrible gift of grace!

I encourage you to join us and share in our worship services and to participate in our many festive ministry opportunities. Invite your family and friends to experience The Best of Christmas at Connections Christian Church. And have yourself a very Merry Christmas!

For unto us a Child is born,Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

God's Peace and my Prayers,

Jeff

2019 #7 - Pick-me-Ups for Get-me-Downs

Hi Friends,

Recently I have taken a Sabbatical from writing or posting - the Daily Word that I normally write about THE WORD and send by email to many has been more of a Weekly Word of late as well - all this to say that the opportunity to soak-in without deadlines to press-out has served to refresh my Spirit and so thank you...I am most grateful :)

That brings me to that which the Lord laid on my heart and brought into my mind while taking a rest from writing - it's called "Pick-me-Ups" for "Get-me-Downs" and the essence of it is that we all must acknowledge sin before we can be healed by our Savior - now there's nothing extra-profound in that acute revelation of this age old truth save this: have we become increasingly confused about sin?

My conviction from Sabbatical rest is that in general - our culture and perhaps even the church at large has increasingly wandered far away from the standard of righteousness which is Jesus and found ourselves compromising truth with situational ethics - and so while that may not sound terribly exciting in our entertainment culture it's my ground-zero for ministry in culture by the church.

"Pick-me-Ups" for "Get-me-Downs" is about looking at the life of Jesus and following Him - it's about trusting Him and His ways over trusting other standards that change based on situations and thus are constantly changing - whereas Jesus is the same, yesterday, and forever and because of His perfect integrity the standard by which we measure life and success never changes.

So, yea, that's pretty much it - nothing that is going to win the Pulitzer Prize on this blog but one thing that will give you victory over sin and death and His name is Jesus and He is the standard by which life is lived to the full - the standard by which the Eternal Prize is received by any who trust Him and follow Him and allow Him to be their "Pick-me-Up" for their "Get-me-Downs".

Isaiah 2:11 says, “A day is coming when human pride will be ended, and human arrogance destroyed. Then the LORD alone will be exalted.” I encourage you to live each day with that day in mind: focus on the standard of Jesus and allow Him to shape the ethics of your situation rather than allowing your situation to shape your ethics.

“Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God and He will exalt you in due time. Cast all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you” (I Peter 5:6-7). That plan is trustworthy for every situation in the world: focus on it, thank God for it, trust it when you can't see the next step the same way you can trust it when you can see for miles.

God is faithful: He made you, He knows you, and He loves and He won't ever forsake you in any situation...ask Him and He will pick-you-up now and He will continue to do it forever...just trust Him.

God's Peace and my Prayers,

Jeff

2019 # 6 - Commissioned in a Hurting World

Hi Friends,

In Philippians 1:21, the Apostle Paul penned a profound sentence that should give everyone pause in a very positive way: he said, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."

Everyone lives for something and everyone dies for something and so to me what Paul is saying could also be said this way: "If you are living for anything but Christ, to die is loss."

I believe to have the best life anytime is only possible through living for Christ always: that requires dying to some things (sins) in order to consistently and selflessly love God and others.

That's the focus of our current lesson series at Connections and we're fleshing that out in some tangible ways: namely pray, Bible study, worship and service.

The Christian life is not driven by a formula but by the Spirit of Christ and we are blessed with tons of joy as He leads: challenges are sure to come but greater character is sure to be built.

Pray and consider your personal engagement in our Vacation Bible School Ministry, Hispanic Ministry, Team Expansion Ministry (Joe and Ashley Derry), Bread Ministry, Food Pantry Ministry, Free Store Ministry, Mid-India Christian Ministry (Jay Henry), Hands Against Hunger Ministry (A Child's Hope International), Life Forward Ministry, Matthew 25 Ministry, Olivia's Basket Ministry, and Community Engagement Ministries.

Our focus as Connections Christian Church is to be faithful in loving up (God) and loving out (others) in the Spirit of Christ: it's the best life now and when we die in Christ it will be even better in the future...and that's something to live for today, tomorrow, and forever.

In Philippians 4:13, the Apostle Paul says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." And we can too: Amen?

God's Peace with prayers for all to have an extra-blessed Summer,
Jeff

2019 # 5 - Commissioned in a Hurting World

Hi Friends!

Stress is often a catch-much word and sometimes purposefully-applied test to benchmark measurable, standardized, parameters of wellness.

Our hope this Summer as Connections Christian Church is to identify root causes of stress and tap into root cures for stress.

In other words: our goal is not just to live a balanced life as a church, but to fully experience abundant life in Jesus Christ.

In John 10:10, Jesus identifies a challenger to abundant life whose deliberate agenda is to steal, kill, and destroy our personal and family health and wellness.

I hope you'll join us as we take on that challenger: you'll receive a T-Shirt (Just Say Yes) and Back-Pack (Thriver Supplies) that will put pep in your step and joy in your spirit!

We will revisit proven ways to improve and facilitate physical, emotional, and spiritual Family Health: if that's something that resonates with you then I encourage you to connect with us!

Have a blessed Summer everyone!

God's Peace and my Prayers,
Jeff

2019 # 4 - Commissioned in a Hurting World

Hi Friends,

Our lesson series leading up to Easter has been from the New Testament book of Romans and our key verse for Easter Sunday is Romans 8:1 "There is therefore (see Romans 7) now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." 

With that in mind I'm re-posting my blog entry from 03/01/19 and wish you all a very blessed Easter as we celebrate the victory over sin and death that ONLY JESUS gives to anyone who puts their faith and trust in Him.

Thank God that as Michael Card penned years ago: "Love Crucified Arose!"

God's Peace and my Prayers,
Jeff

Easter awakens everyone in the world to the possibility of personal regeneration in Jesus.

Many will accept His absolute truth and His amazing grace and experience a miraculous and magnificent transformation in the quality of their lives.

Others will reject Him and experience less than the best God provides for their lives now as well as miss the opportunity of eternal joy and peace.

• ONLY JESUS can provide best outcomes for everyone in the world.
• You either believe that or you don't?

The message is not difficult to understand because truth is by the grace of God only Jesus can save us from sin and death and give us abundant life.

The Bible assures us there is no other name under heaven whereby mankind can be saved except the name of Jesus (Acts 4:12).

To that end I hope all who read this blog this Easter season will choose to believe that only Jesus provides the best outcomes today, tomorrow, and forever.

Hi Friends!

Easter awakens everyone in the world to the possibility of personal regeneration in Jesus.

Many will accept His absolute truth and His amazing grace and experience a miraculous and magnificent transformation in the quality of their lives.

Others will reject Him and experience less than the best God provides for their lives now as well as miss the opportunity of eternal joy and peace.

• ONLY JESUS can provide best outcomes for everyone in the world. 
• You either believe that or you don't?

The message is not difficult to understand because truth is by the grace of God only Jesus can save us from sin and death and give us abundant life.

The Bible assures us there is no other name under heaven whereby mankind can be saved except the name of Jesus (Acts 4:12).

To that end I hope all who read this blog this Easter season will choose to believe that only Jesus provides the best outcomes today, tomorrow, and forever.

God's Peace and my Prayers,
Jeff

2019 - Post #2 - Commissioned in a Hurting World

Hi Friends!

Jesus Christ instructs His followers to lead others to follow Him - in other words: with the privilege of being called Christian comes the personal and collective responsibility of the Church to go and make disciples of Christ in all nations - we are commissioned as Christ followers to seek and save souls in a hurting world (see Matthew 28:18-20).

The translation of the word "go" reads more accurately "as you are going" - the significance of the actual tense is huge: the idea is not that we pack our bags once for a day trip but that we continually unpack them as part of our daily journey - everyone we meet, greet, and know should know that we are Christians by our love (see John 13:35).

The Bible validates many virtues but confirms that the most excellent way is unconditional compassion for God and for all people (see I Corinthians 13:1-13) - said another way the most excellent virtue is Jesus - because the healing needed for every heart in a hurting world is only found in His love for God and for others.

Truth is the Bible asks and answers the question of help in a hurting world (see Psalm 121) - it tells us to look up to hills not because the hills hold the hope but because the Maker of the hills gives hope to all people on Golgotha: a hill called Calvary (see Matthew 27: 35-44) - this is where the journey begins for any that would follow Jesus.

And there is no higher calling in the world than to follow Jesus - no higher commission in the world than to share the hope, to share the faith, and to share the love that lasts forever - and the greatest of these is love because "love crucified arose" (Michael Card) and covers the multitude of sins in the world and the stench of death in the world (see Romans 6: 1-23).

I encourage you to follow the link below to a music video by King and Country - you may want to watch the video several times and reflect on the images at different points throughout the day, or week, or beyond - the video does not camouflage the hurt people experience in the world but rather confirms that the best help for the hurt in the world is Jesus (mature content).

We'll be renewing our focus on being commissioned in many of our future worship and study times at Connections - we want to be careful to continue to keep our eyes on Calvary, on the cross, on the hill where we find our help, our hope, our faith, our love - we don't want to just talk about helping people in a hurting world but to tangibly touch people with Jesus (love) as we daily "go" into the world.

God's Peace and my Prayers,
Jeff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfiYWaeAcRw

2019 - Post # 1 - New YOU for a NEW YEAR

Hi Friends,

Welcoming 2019 knowing the world and our lives will be filled with opportunities as well as challenges that Christ alone can meet with compassion, assurance, hope, and good will - I encourage you to wrap your mind around the promise of 2 Corinthians 5:17 - the old is gone and the new is here in Christ: the new is here for You in the New Year in Christ!

Key components to an exceptional 2019 from my perspective - 1) Continual Prayer 2) Daily Bible Study 3) Communion with Christ 4) Fellowship with the Church 5) and an unwavering Commitment to nurturing your family in the faith that will move mountains - faith in Christ alone to continually create new life in all things: believing nothing is impossible with God!

• Dream Big: make a list of things that seem impossible to you
• Trust More: put those things in the hand of the One who makes all things new
• Serve All: people everywhere need Jesus to be their Savior and Lord

God's Peace and my prayers,
Jeff