Jesus is God. This means that He is eternal. He has always existed. There is not a beginning to Jesus. He has always been. This also means that He is creator too. Jesus created all things. Jesus is God.

Here are a few verses that you may have already known that teach us these truths.

John 1:1-2, 14
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

There are several places in the Bible that teach that Jesus is God, eternal, and creator. Here is another one that I read today.

John 17:5 when Jesus is praying right before He is betrayed and arrested.
“And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”

Jesus praying to the Father and referring to the glory that He and the Father had together before the world existed.

Wow! Thank God for His Word. It is so important that we take God’s Word seriously. Knowing and Believing that Jesus is God; that Jesus is eternal; and that Jesus is creator; is so foundational and critical to our strength in living for Him by faith.

1 Samuel 2:12
“Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the LORD.”

Romans 3:10-12
“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks after God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Philippians 3:8
“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

Take some time to think upon these three verses from the Bible. Think about the words worth and worthless. Are your priorities in order? Is Christ your goal, focus, and heartbeat?

Let this jingle ring in your ears
“Only one life, will soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last.”

Click on this link to see stunning pictures of Haiti three weeks after the earthquake.

This Sunday we will take up a special offering for Haiti.

Father God, Please give us hearts for these people and then the strength to do something about it.

Eli, my 9 month old son, began crawling today. You can click this link to see the video.

http://joshjr.blogspot.com/2010/02/we-have-crawling-baby.html

My oldest, JJ, never crawled, so I never thought much about crawling.  But today when Eli took off, I was reminded of that good ol’ sound foundational advice that says ‘you gotta learn to crawl before you learn to walk’. 

Following Jesus is so much like that.  As a pastor and leader in our church, I never want to lead people into thinking that beginning to follow Jesus is like taking off and running like a skilled athlete. Its not. At times, it is hard and sad and lonely and trying and discouraging. Jesus is there with you in those times. And it is unquestionably worth it. 
Following Jesus at times is like crawling, more than it is like walking. Especially early in the life of the believer. 

So if you are new to following Christ, or if you are just at one of those tough times, take heart and be strengthened because ‘you gotta learn to crawl before you can learn to walk.’  By God’s grace you will soon be walking. Hope fully and completely in God, He is teaching you to walk.

We had five or six inches of snow on Saturday morning. We praise God for the snow.

The snow provides many opportunities to have fun and to serve. Several folks in our church went around shoveling driveways and sidewalks.

Here is a picture of three of our youth having fun making snow angels after they shoveled off our driveway.

Please read this blog post entitled Postmodern Architecture.

http://shar.es/aPcof

The parable of the good samaritan (Luke 10) as told by Servant King Jesus is well known to most people.

I want to point out the details of the story that the good samaritan did.

*he was on a journey
*he saw him (the one who had fallen, been beaten, robbed and stripped)
*he had compassion
*he went to him
*he bound up his wounds
*he poured on oil and wine
*he set him on his own animal
*he brought him to an inn
*he took care of him
*he took out money (two days worth of work)
*he gave the money to the innkeeper
*he said “take care of him, whatever more you spend, i’ll repay”

That is a lot of doing for someone else. It took time and effort and understanding and attention.

After telling that parable, Jesus said “You go, and do likewise.”

Lets go do it!

In our Sunday evening services, we have been hearing different members of our church body tell their story of how Jesus saved them.

In our efforts to teach people faithfully, here are the three main keys we seek to build every testimony around. (I hope these are helpful. And I hope your testimony includes these three components.)

1) Before Christ-Meeting Christ-After Christ. Every testimony should tell of the person’s life before they get saved; how they met Christ; and their life after they got saved.

2) You or Jesus? Every testimony should be about what God has done. Therefore, you can ask ‘Is this more about what you have done or is this more about what Christ has done in you?’

3) Faith & Repentance. Every testimony should include Faith and Repentance. Faith and repentance are 2 sides to the same coin. We are saved by grace through faith, and unless you repent you will die in your sins. No matter how much you have said… Until you tell when you believed and were forgiven, you have not given testimony to God saving you.

Snow is awesome!  Lately we have seen it so regularly. In two days, we have a chance of getting another large snowfall. (I sure hope we do.)

In the book of Job (37:6), his friend Elihu says, “God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend. For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth…’”

A simple statement yet so profound. Our lives need to be about God. We were made for Him. We are to love Him above all things. We were created to worship, honor, and glorify Him. I am praying that God would produce God-centered people who possess the mind of Christ. I am praying that God would make men and women who think about God in all situations.

Even as the snow falls daily, and sometimes there is accumulation and sometimes there isn’t, Are you mindful that God told that snow to fall? Are you looking to Jesus as the one who is telling the snow where to land and stick?

Allow the snow to give you further understanding of how awesome your great God and Savior Jesus Christ is!

The other day while sitting in on a local high school’s after school meeting of the FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes), I heard an awesome talk on the joy that comes from daily walking with God. The speaker was a young athlete and did a great job emphasizing the Holy Spirit dwelling in the believer. He confidently stated that the believer can find hope and strength by knowing that God is with them all the time.

After he was done, he took a few minutes to answer any questions.  One question from a girl was “Do you ever put sports in front of God?” She then asked if it was OK to miss church due to a game or practice. That is a great question and concern coming from a teenage athlete and Christian.

In answering, the speaker said that church is not what is imporant… God is.  He went on to say that as long as you stay close to God it doesn’t really matter if you go to church.  (I don’t think he meant to send the message he sent. He is very active and involved at his church.)

However, Church is so incredibly important.  Active faithful involvement with a local church is essential for the life and growth and faith of the child of God. The New Testament assures us of this.

Notice, Paul’s comment in 1 Corinthians 14:12 while speaking to eager believers “strive to excel in building up the church.”

What do you strive to excel in? Do you strive for excellence in anything? The New Testament teaches that the committed Christian is also committed to God’s church because the church is the bride of Christ. Therefore, if you call yourself a Christian, get started this week in working hard for the church.