Archive for November, 2009

Give Thanks

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

I love Thanksgiving: it’s my favorite holiday.  Of course the pecan pie, turkey, and stuffing are great, but that’s not really why I like it.  I like it because it uniquely reflects a Christian attitude.  Scripture tells us, “Give thanks to God in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess 5:18).  An attitude of gratitude strikes right to the heart of what believers’ perspectives on life ought to be.

We have SOOO much to be thankful for.  When I think about my own life, I am thankful for my family.  God allowed me to marry up, way up.  Jill is one of the most outstanding, supportive, and faithful people on the planet.  My kids bring more delight to my life than I ever dreamed possible.  I am also thankful for the opportunity to be a part of Church on Mill.  What a blessing you all are to me.  Finally, and most importantly, I am thankful for God saving me.  I didn’t deserve it yet he did it any way.

What are you thankful for?  Have you thanked God for it today?  I hope so.  Don’t let this wonderful holiday week pass you by without being provoked to worship God for the huge evidences of His grace in your life.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Chuck

Posted in Preparing to Worship | 2 Comments »

Repentance

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

Yesterday was a great day at Church on Mill.  God seemed to really move in peoples’ lives in the morning worship service as we talked about repentance.  We had an important and well-attended COMPASS meeting in the evening.  Great day of fellowship and worship.

I thought a little more explanation on repentance might be profitable.  Just what is repentance (μετάνοια) and why should we do it?  I’m glad you asked!  At its most foundational level to repent is to change your mind about something.  No matter what continent you live on, what level of education you have, how old you are, or how ‘good’ you’ve been compared with someone else, God tells you to repent (Acts 17:30).  When we ask God to search our hearts and reveal sin to us, what we’ll find is there is often plenty in our lives to change our minds about.  Whether it is actions taken that shouldn’t have been, attitudes held that are harmful, or things left undone that ought not be, we desperately need a change of mind that something was okay, justified, necessary, or no big deal.  Repentance is simply agreeing with God that something is sin and confessing it to him.

God’s promise is to remove the sin from our lives and to forgive us (1 Jn 1:9).  The Perfect God of everything graciously forgives if we’ll just ask!  I find that astonishing, given what I know about myself.  If sin goes unconfessed, we can end up far from active fellowship with God.  Heck, even a church can end up with Jesus standing outside the church knocking – asking to be let back in!

Spend some time in repentance today.  It’s God kindness that leads you there…

Chuck

Posted in Sermon Exploration | 1 Comment »