Grace for New Life

Facing a crisis is never fun. But through each crisis we face, God invites us to change our way of thinking and build our life on the new identity that Jesus gives us. We are now beloved, forgiven children of God and that changes everything for us.

One of the last things that Jesus said to his followers before he ascended into heaven was to tell them to wait in Jerusalem until they received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Everything changed for the weak and unqualified disciples when they received the Holy Spirit. The higher life that Jesus wants to give to us happens when we are weak & Spirit-filled.

Death is not a subject that we like to think about. And when we do think or talk about it, we tend to not go to the root of the problem. But God has solved our death problem for us by sending his Son, Jesus, to ransom and redeem us so we can be restored to a relationship with God and renewed in our entire being forever. (Psalm 16:1-11, Jeremiah 31:1-10, John 20:1-18)

With all the scary things happening in the world at this time, it is hard to praise God. But by turning our pain into praise, we can shine a light of hope into the lives of the people around us.

Many of the things we valued have been stripped away during the Covid-19 pandemic. The world has been turned upside down and we may wonder what hope can there be in the midst of this calamity. The truth is that God is still with us and working through our trials and weakness to bring forward what he knows is best. Therefore we trust in him.

There are a lot of people who are feeling fear because of Covid-19. Fear is a natural response to all that is happening around us, but fear can keep us from stepping into the blessing of a rich, deep, full life with God that he has for us. We know that God's promise of blessing is true because of Jesus.

All of us have character flaws but we don’t like to admit it. Those flaws are often hidden from us and we prefer to keep it that way. But going deep with Jesus and admitting our character flaws to ourselves and to him is important, because going deeper with Jesus enables more of his light to shine through us.

People are often intimidated by the thought of sharing the Good News of Jesus in their everyday life. But, in his great love for us, God has made living life with a mission very doable by preparing someone to be a Person of Peace for us. All we have to do is find them, build a relationship with them and watch for opportunities God gives us to share that great Good News of the redemption and renewa...

We know what functions are necessary for an organism to be fully alive physically. What functions are necessary for us to be fully alive spiritually? Using the heptagon and MRS GREN, we can practice the principles of a vital life.

When we miss the vision that God has for us, our lives can fall short of all that God envisions for us. Jesus can give us a unique vision for our life that fits in with His work of redeeming and restoring all things. In the end, life will be more than we can ask or imagine.

Sometimes our prayer life seems listless and empty. But God is inviting us to go deeper in our relationship with Him through prayer. As we walk with God, we experience the fullness of life that He wants to give to us through Jesus.

Sometimes we take prayer for granted, and then we infrequently or only in times of great need. But when we become aware of God's openness and readiness to hear and answer our prayers, we are more likely to pray. God opens doors for us when we pray. And when He does that, our part is to walk through those open doors.

We may think that serving in the church is best left to a gifted core of volunteers. But God has given each of us a gift to serve in 1 of 5 main roles. As we serve in the way God has gifted us, our life has more meaning, purpose and richness.

Becoming the person that God envisions us to be will require that we learn to lead & learn well.  That is challenging because different styles of leading are required at different stages of the learning process. By following Jesus & learning from the way He led, we help fulfill the mission He gave us of helping make disciples from all nations.

All of us have three different kinds of relationships: an Up relationship with God, In relationships with the people with whom we share our life, and Out relationships with the wider community. But we tend to be weak in one kind of relationship, resulting in a life that is flat & out of balance. Jesus came to give us a rich, full life and he is the One who brings balance to our relationships.

Failure to function as God designed us can lead to burnout or a wasted life. But with a life-giving rhythm of rest and work that is anchored in and attuned to Jesus, our life can be sustainably fruitful.

Following Jesus can seem like drudgery if we don’t learn from Jesus and pattern our life after His. But by using the Kairos Circle when special moments happen in our lives, we can more fully follow Jesus and an abundant life with Him.

Sometimes there are bad things that happen in life with no apparent redemptive quality. Yet God the Son came into this world for times just like these. For when it seems that all is lost, with Jesus, we always have the consolation that he is God-with-us.

On our own, we are unable to see beyond this finite existence & when we encounter unsurmountable challenges, it can feel like darkness is closing in around us. But Jesus is the Light of the World who came to show us that there is more to life than what we are living right now.

Though we often trust in other things to save ourselves, what we have & our hopes and dreams for the future, God sends us signs, large and small, to invite us into a deeper relationship with him. Because of his greatest sign, the gift of Jesus, we can trust that God loves and accepts us just as we are.

With all the challenges and turmoil we experience in life, we yearn for peace. Jesus brings us peace by healing and completing us. As we let God recalibrate our beliefs in worship & the Holy Spirit aligns our behavior with those beliefs, we able to live in peace & share that peace with others.

It is difficult for us to be helpless in the midst of personal turmoil. But Jesus brings hope into the midst of turmoil. He is with us and He is working things out for the best for us in the end. Therefore, we keep our eyes on Him and we wait in faith.

People often dream of a better future, but we want it on our terms and in our timing. The Bible helps us to reset our dreams, aligning them with God’s dream for all creation and trusting in Jesus to fulfill that dream at just the right time. With our eyes on Jesus, we dare to dream extravagant dreams of how we can partner with Jesus in filling the new heavens and earth with people who have faith i...

Lists are significant when they are connected with the power and authority to preserve or give live in the face of death. In today’s passage, we read about a Book of Life that lists the names of all the people who will be given eternal life with God forever. Through His one, perfect sacrifice, Jesus has written our name in the Book of Life and erased any record of our weaknesses and failures. Ther...

Sometimes it can seem like the bad guys are winning and standing on the side of goodness seems pointless. But God has promised that, when the time is right, He will bring about the fulfillment of all things, including the banishment of evil. Therefore, we have hope, and our life story finds fulfillment in God’s grand story of the renewal and restoration of all things.