The APROACHABLE God

Our view of God has changed over the centuries. I can still remember reading Puritan

Jonathan Edward’s sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and more recently being told by a husband, who was leaving his wife of 30 years, that he was convinced that God wanted him happy and not bitter and that God told him to “get rid of everything in his lifethat made him bitter”. When I pressed him on the consequences of his actions he replied, “God is good, He’ll forgive me.” Hopefully, you can see the extremes.

Sometimes our perceptions of God as Father are grounded in our experiences, or lack

thereof, with our earthly fathers. Good experiences? Good God. Abuse? Bad God.

It occurs to me that how we view God might better be shaped by what the Scriptures teach us about Him. As we teach and preach through Ephesians, it’s pretty clear, that God is a choosing God, an including God, a transforming God and as chapter 3 teaches, God is an approachable God. We are able in Christ Jesus to approach God with FREEDOM and CONFIDENCE. The door is open because of what Christ has done. The walls are torn down.

This is a mystery. It does not make sense. God is Holy. We are not. He is the King. We are

beggars standing at the gate with hat in hand. BUT JESUS is knocking at the door. He’s

standing at the GATE and sayin’ “Come on in, I want you to meet my Dad. Don’t worry the walls aren’t going to fall down!”

Could it also be possible that folks outside the sheep pen have developed a view of God

that is confined to their interactions with His children? Ghandi rejected Christianity

because of his interactions with Christians while working in South Africa. They rejected him due to the color of his skin. And so its necessary that I ask myself, “Is my life reflecting Jesus? Is it worth imitating? What kind of ambassador am I?”

When I’m challenged like this and become convinced that I need to make adjustments, I

also need to think about it. It’s hard to think. There are so many distractions. Even good

things can distract. In order to do absolute, clear, thinking I need solitude. I need to think away from the distractions, being able to focus. This is not easy. Where can I go? Especially if there are children around!

Sometimes the bathroom is the only place “surely no one will

bug me there!” Wrong...lol.

The APROACHABLE God is available to you today, right now.

Shame Culture

We live in a shame culture. I’m not referring to The Church or our Church. I’m

writing about the culture all around us. It fat shames us, skinny shames us,

clothing shames us, car shames us, job and income shames us, housing

shames us, nose shames us, hair or baldness shames us, short or tall shames

us, smart or…….Well, I think you get the picture.

Knowing that the World is at heart evil and that our flesh makes us susceptible

to its focus on self, Jesus tells us to not JUDGE each other. Our Faith is not

dependent on or granted to us because of our “Coolness” or “Success”.

Likewise, our “coolness” or “success” is not necessarily the evidence or fruit of

our faith. Performance does not equal salvation. Salvation is not dependent on

performance. Faith is a gift from God. Faith is expressed in behavior flowing

from believing trust in God’s provision and God’s sufficiency.

Realizing this and wanting to explore these ideas, I think that it’s important for

us to explore as a family just what does determine our significance, our worth.

Beginning April 27th I will start a series, rooted in a study of Ephesians, called

WHO AM I? It will be followed by another series WHERE DO I FIT IN? Also,

from Ephesians.

God decides who we are. God determines our worth. God knows just where we

fit!

Pastor Brian

God's Invitation

It’s normal to wonder if God really exists. The circumstances of life often call

out to us, questioning God’s involvement in our lives. In the last few weeks in

sermons, Bible studies and our Friday emails we have come to realize that

God is revealed all around us. God is at work all around us and He is inviting

us to join Him in His work. This invitation offers to us an intimate love

relationship with Him. When we finally come to terms with this reality we can

be confronted with a crisis or crossroads experience which requires us to go

God’s way or our way. Whichever way we choose requires us to adjust our

lives to that “Way”. Choosing God’s WAY necessitates obedience to His Word

and as we obey, we begin to discern His will, experiencing intimacy with Him

that is transforming. For some this transformation is soon. For others it’s a

longer process but the transformation happens, none the less.

Lives that are transformed by the redeeming power of Christ reflect that

transformation with changed behavior. We were all created in the image of

God. That image has been distorted by our willfulness. That image is being

healed and restored by that redeeming power. As we are restored it is natural

for us to grow from questioning God’s existence to affirming His presence by

our behavior. Our minds are transformed. We stop abusing our bodies. Our

relationships become more stable. We learn to live for others. We serve

instead of “deserve”.

It’s not logical or sensible in the world’s way of thinking that a person could

find their self by surrendering their self to God, but that’s what this is all

about. The Gospel of Jesus isn’t about self-promotion. It’s about self-denial.

Think about that for a while. Surrender to God’s way. Get to know Him. Build

a bridge and invite someone else along.

Pastor Brian