Grace for New Life

As much as we want to ignore it, death is a future reality for all of us. How can we face our own mortality and have a settled peace about it? By knowing who God is and who we are in relation to him. For God is not only our Creator, he is also our Redeemer and Savior. God the Son, Jesus Christ, came into this world and paid the cost to bring us into life with him. With him carrying us in his lovin...

We can find many things online which help us in life. But who will show us how to live an abundant life? Freed from condemnation by Jesus, the Holy Spirit helps us to live life in a new way. As we meet with Jesus in our everyday challenges, the Holy Spirit transforms us by flooding our heart and mind with the thoughts and feelings of Jesus. Guided by the Spirit, we intentionally form new habits an...

One of the main tasks of being a human being is to discover who we are. We usually build our sense of self upon the things of this world: our work, our relationships, our possessions, or our looks. But what happens when we lose those things? We don’t know who we really are anymore. But the Holy Spirit helps us to see who we really are in Christ: beloved, forgiven children of God and heirs of the f...

Sometimes it is hard for us to face up to the fact that we are all sinners. We wish we could do better and would like to fix our sin problem with a DIY solution. But that never works. God’s solution for our sin problem is to trust in him and his goodness instead of our own. It was God’s goodness that propelled Jesus into this world to pay the full cost of forgiveness for all our sins. And it is th...

We can become fearful when our life goals are frustrated or threatened. Our life can even be shattered when things don’t work out the way we want. That shattering can be a gift if we bring our broken life to Jesus. That’s when the Holy Spirit quenches our soul's thirst for shalom peace in Jesus. (Based on John 14:23-31.)

Sometimes things beyond our control happen which threaten to diminish or remove our possessions, and that can be scary for us. But Jesus took all of our guilt and brokenness upon himself to open the door for us to a new and much better life with him. With him as our greatest treasure, we have everything we need. (Based on Matthew 6:25-34.)

It is disheartening when we are not able to accomplish what we desire. But the solution is not to try harder. Instead, God calls us to look at our desires. Often they are misaligned and being only one degree off course means that we never arrive at our intended destination. By resting in Jesus and letting him transform our affections, we focus our efforts in a new direction as we seek to help God’...

One of the hardest things to deal with is a relationship breakdown within a family. Ideally, these are the closest relationships we should have, so it is especially painful when those relationships are fractured. In our grief and sorrow, we turn to Jesus, and through the relationship we have with him, we have a perfect Parent, an ideal Brother, and a faithful Encourager who keeps reminding us of w...

Because all of us are broken humans living in a broken world, we will all face health challenges at some point in our lives. Preventing such things from happening is beyond our control. But we do control how we respond when health declines. So we look to Jesus. Because he took up our infirmities on the cross and nullified their power to destroy us, we know that the physical healing we long for wil...

In moments when our life quickly takes a dramatic downward turn, it feels like that is the most important thing. But there is something deeper going on. Without Jesus, we are already spiritually dead in all our relationships with God, our self & others. Jesus gives us new life in all those areas of life, but we often need resurrection friends to help us to grow in that new life. (Based on John...

We often think of resurrection as something that happens in the far off future after we die with little or no relevance for our life in this world. But the resurrection of Jesus changes everything for us now and forever. As we live in the present with a deeply held awareness of resurrection and what it means for us, Jesus will change our lives to be more like his. (Based on Mt. 28:1-10.)

Jesus’ resurrection may sound like good news that only matters when we die. But the Bible and history show us that Jesus’ resurrection has the power to transform lives so that people are more fully alive and loving than they otherwise ever could be. By being attentive to Jesus’ presence with us in our meals, he can help us to live his resurrection in our everyday life. (Based on Luke 24:13-35.)

In our skeptical, secular culture, it would be easy for us to become discouraged & think that there is no point in trying to go and reach others with God’s love. But going is one of the five targets Jesus has given us to aim at in our life with him. Trusting his words that a great harvest awaits, we go, demonstrating the power of God’s Kingdom and declaring its presence, knowing that Jesus has...

Money and material goods are often considered to be measures of success in this world. To God, the way that we use money & our possessions indicate what is going on in our soul. Jesus not only came into this world to win forgiveness for us for all the times we have misused money & matter, he also calls us to live in a new way in a new realm. As Jesus transforms the value we hold in our sou...

It is easy for us to believe, as the world does, that what you have determines whether you are blessed or not. But Jesus sees things as they really are, and he tells us that it is what he is doing in our heart that determines whether we are blessed or not. Jesus is constantly at work, in good times and in bad, molding and shaping us so that we become more like him. And serving others is important...

It is easy for us to think of church as a place for people who have it all together and those of us with brokenness in our lives need to keep that brokenness well-hidden if we are going to be part of a church. But that is a misunderstanding of what it means to follow Jesus. Living an authentic life and a real community means both admitting that we are both completely broken and unconditionally lov...

Failing to finish well is something that many of us struggle with. But the solution is not to try harder. Jesus is calling us into a greater, more fulfilling life which will yield results that last. And that abundant life begins with, is rooted in, and is nourished by, being with Jesus and receiving from him.(Based on John 15:1-17.)

Sometimes we can have great intentions to go to one place and end up somewhere else. And the negative impressions that non-Christians have about Christians suggest that that is what’s happening as we follow Jesus. It is time for us to re-focus and aim for a new way of living by taking the words of Jesus and putting them into practice. By putting God’s Word into practice, and aiming at the targets...

During the month of February, we will be focusing on the importance of the Christian Church's mission to the world. Our mission is actually Jesus' mission to redeem and restore all things and it is rooted in his infinite love and compassion for the world. During this series, we will have four guest speakers who will each share with us about a different area of missions and each of these...

During the month of February, we will be focusing on the importance of the Christian Church's mission to the world. Our mission is actually Jesus' mission to redeem and restore all things and it is rooted in his infinite love and compassion for the world. During this series, we will have four guest speakers who will each share with us about a different area of missions and each of these...

During the month of February, we will be focusing on the importance of the Christian Church's mission to the world. Our mission is actually Jesus' mission to redeem and restore all things and it is rooted in his infinite love and compassion for the world. During this series, we will have four guest speakers who will each share with us about a different area of missions and each of these...

Our ordinary lives may seem like they have little significance. We are born, we live, then we die. But Jesus is the God who removed all barriers to life with him and invites us to join him on his mission of redeeming and restoring all things. Comforted, encouraged and strengthened by his loving presence with us, we are prepared to leave all behind and follow him. (Based on Luke 5:1-11.)

Because we can never fully know all things, we live much of our lives based on assumptions about many things, including God. But if our God-assumptions are false, they can hold us back from fully living in God’s kingdom and lead us to oppose God and what he is doing in the world. It is through repenting of our false beliefs and believing the new truths Jesus reveals to us that we are able to partn...

One of the hardest things for a human being to endure is to be publicly shamed, and yet such an experience can help us because it reveals where our faith is placed. Refocusing our faith can be a challenge, but Jesus makes it easy for us because he is the God who turns our embarrassments into blessings. (Based on John 2:1-11.)

We tend to derive our sense of security from our circumstances, but when we do that, we live with constant anxiety over the possibility that our circumstances will change and our lives are shattered when they do. Thankfully, in his Baptism, Jesus both stood with us broken humans and was revealed to be the beloved Son of God. United with him in our Baptism and secure in the new identity he has give...