Baptism

Many of us who have grown up at church, were baptized at some point. It is something found in some form, in every Christian church. It is obvious that there is a rich tradition behind this, but what is it that makes it so significant? Is there something in the water, that is doing something to us? Baptism is a powerful symbol, that represents something so significant that, it makes this symbol indispensable. Though my wedding ring is simply a symbol, I wouldn’t dream of not wearing it. Like a wedding ring, baptism is a powerful proclamation of a personal commitment.

What does baptism represent? It represents that, since I have accepted Jesus’ sacrifice as my salvation from the penalty of my sin, and have committed to make Him the boss of my life, I share in the effects of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. Specifically, the wrong things I do, my sin, used to have total control over me. But now that sin, died with Jesus. I have a new life, just like Jesus had when He rose from the dead. I am literally buried in the water, like Jesus was buried, and raised out of the water, like Jesus was resurrected, to walk a new kind of life, one that desires to live God’s way. For those of us who have been baptized, we look back at our baptism as a marker, to remind us that we are to be living a life that has victory over sin.

What has been your baptism experience? Even if you were baptized as a baby, have you considered being baptized as a believer, to symbolize the new life you have because of Jesus? Have you ever used your baptism as a reminder that you have a new life of victory over sin? Share your thoughts with your church family.

Ancient Paths Part 6 - Communion

Here is the link to Part 6 of our Ancient Paths Series. Our teaching time was followed immediately with a time of communion together as well as a luncheon after the service. We had a great time!

Communion

The Lord’s Supper, also called Communion or The Eucharist, is a practice that every expression of genuine Christianity upholds. Though it may look different in various traditions of the faith, the essential elements of bread and wine, representing the Body and Blood of Jesus, are present. There is no doubt, Communion is a religious part of our faith. We partake of these symbols as a way of remembering and proclaiming His sacrifice. But there is also another important facet.

The context of the Lord’s Supper is extremely significant. We participate in this together. It is not something we practice privately. In fact, we administer it to each other. Communion reminds us of the unity we are called to because of Christ’s sacrifice. When we take communion we are to examine ourselves to see that our lives reflect the life we are proclaiming. Do we love each other, radically as Jesus did? Do we unite, forgive, serve, protect, heal, as Jesus modeled through His death? It reminds us that we are bonded together by something stronger than anything that could divide us. Jesus’ selfless sacrifice.

What have been your experiences with the practice of the Lord’s Supper? How has it impacted you? Have you sensed a deeper connection to the rest of the body because of Communion? Share your thoughts with the rest of your church.

Ancient Paths Part 5 - Bible Study

Hello everyone! Sorry for not posting this earlier, but click here if you'd like to download/listen to this past Sunday's message on Bible Study. It was a great challenge to each of us who heard it, and I hope it will benefit you as well.

Bible Study

There is one particular ancient path that perhaps is the most easy to detect God’s power working in our lives. That practice is studying the Bible. Interestingly, the Bible tells us of the unimaginable benefit it is to us to study it. In fact, it says that as we get more serious in our commitment to God, we will begin to feel increased hunger to study it. For most of us, studying isn’t something we naturally enjoy. In fact, even the word, “study” may bring us back to the terrors of homework. It seems like studying just takes the place of something we would rather do.

But a hunger to study, all depends on the material we are studying. A child with a new toy, will rip open the box to find the directions to study, so he knows how to put it together. People in a burning building will frantically find an escape route to study. A new mother will study everything she can find about how to care for an infant. The same athlete who dreads school work, will pore over a play book. The problem is not that we don’t have time, or don’t know how, it is that we don’t know how essential the material is!

Share your thoughts and experiences with the rest of your church family: What are the biggest obstacles to setting regular time to deeply study the Bible? What inspires you to make studying the Bible a priority?

Ancient Paths Part 4 mp3

Hello everyone!

You can download/listen to this Sunday's message on fasting right here. If you weren't able to make it, I'd encourage you to check it out. Also, let's try and put the message in practice this week. Let's choose to take a day and fast and see how God changes us and our vision of Him.

Fasting

If there is a Christian practice, that initially sounds the least appealing to participate in, it would be fasting. Not eating for a set period of time, as a way to draw closer to God, seems like something monks do in some monastery in the Tibetan mountains. Yet we see Jesus expect that we, His followers, will use this practice of fasting (Matthew 6:16, 9:15). Also, we see many occasions where God’s people fasted, all throughout the Bible. So what good does denying ourselves food really accomplish?

The Bible says that those of us who are believers are at war with our own flesh. We have desires that though our bodies want to indulge, we know are wrong. When we give into our flesh, we end up saying things in pride, or cheating, or gossiping, or lusting, and in the end when we face the consequences, we have regret. Though our culture encounters this war of discipline on a physical level, like exercising and dieting, it endorses and even aims to indulge the flesh, while trying to sweep the consequences under the rug. God has given us the powerful tool of fasting, to help war against the flesh, and draw closer to the heart of God. Fasting then in turn, makes our prayers more pure, our battle against sin and its consequences more victorious, and our sense of God’s direction more acute.

I would love to hear your thoughts on fasting. Have you ever participated in this ancient practice? What was your experience? What is the thing that makes it the most difficult? When are times that you have felt compelled to fast?

Ancient Paths Part 3 mp3

Hello everyone. In case you are wondering, here is the link to download Sunday's message. Check it out, and let us hear your thoughts!

Confession can be an incredibly freeing experience. We’ve all seen examples of how humble confession has the power to restore broken relationships between family and friends. As important as confession is in our relationships with others, it is even more important in our relationship with God. Today we talked about how Jesus set the pattern for confession in the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-12). Jesus intended that confession (the acknowledgement of our guilt and the request for forgiveness) would be a consistent practice of ours. We also talked about how confession can be both spontaneous and structured. We can spontaneously ask God for forgiveness the moment the Holy Spirit brings conviction to our hearts, and we can set aside time to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal things in our lives that we need to confess to Him.

What about you? Has confession (spontaneous or structured) been a regular part of your life? If so, what does it look like for you? Have there been times in your life where you felt far from God because you were suppressing His conviction instead of confessing your sin? What were the consequences in your life of suppressing instead of confessing? Have you ever felt guilty receiving the free gift of God’s forgiveness?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

BTW – Here’s a passage I referenced today that would be a great passage to meditate on throughout the week.