Preach the Word

In college I was the backup to one of the best offensive linemen in our conference.  This meant that I was seldom given the opportunity to play in a game.  Yet, I had to prepare for each game with the same intensity as if I was starting.  Because of the violent nature of football the chances of injury were always great meaning that if the man I was backing up was hurt in the middle of a game I was called upon to take his place.  It could be a disaster if I wasn’t prepared at every moment to fulfill what I was called upon to perform.

The gospel message is so powerful and important that every disciple of Christ should be prepared to speak the gospel at any moment’s notice.  In 2 Timothy 4:1-5 the apostle Paul again stresses the power and importance of the gospel message and the reason for being prepared to speak the life-changing Word of God.

Join us this week at ElmCreek Community Church as we look to God’s Word for encouragement and conviction, heading and striving to live out His life-giving Word.  May we be prayerfully prepared to experience His Truth and leave willing to preach the Word whenever and wherever God calls.

Striving to know Christ and make him known.

The Power of the Word

After his Edmonton Oilers lost the 1983 National Hockey League Championship to the New York Islanders, Wayne Gretzky walked past the Islander locker room.  He did not hear loud celebrations as he expected.  Instead, all the Islanders players were sitting down with ice packs on knees, hips, ankles, and other joints.  They were beaten, bloody, and bruised in their quest to win the championship.  Gretzky recognized that if he and his teammates desired to win a championship their bodies would have to pay the price.  Gretzky and his teammates would go on to win five championships in the next seven years.

One would think that being a child and disciple of the Almighty God would bring a life of comfort, ease, and peace without any troubles or trials.  One would think, but reality is much different.  There is a price to pay for the disciple of Christ who lives in a world that denies and hates Christ.  There are consequences for the child of God who lives out their faith unashamedly.  But though the cost of living for God is high the rewards are eternal.  For the power of the Word of God, namely the Gospel message, has a power to change, mold, encourage, convict, renew, and equip the believer of Jesus Christ into all righteousness.

Join us this week at ElmCreek Community Church as we dig deeper into 2 Timothy 3:10-17 and seek God’s wisdom and guidance as we search out His truth for our lives.

Striving to know Christ and make him known.

Godlessness

For a number of years it was our family tradition in the Fall to drive to a friend’s farm and pick out pumpkins for decoration and carving.  There were generally three types of pumpkins: those which were already rotten and decaying, those which were healthy and ready to be picked, and those which appeared healthy but were rotten on the inside.  It was wise to avoid these later pumpkins because your hands could easily break through skin and cause them to fall apart.  The struggle was determining which pumpkins were playing the part of health and which were actually healthy.

As the pastor/elder of the church in Ephesus, Timothy encountered teachers who on the outside had the appearance of health and Godly truth, but on the inside were rotten to the core.  Paul warns Timothy to keep an eye out for such deceivers.  In 2 Timothy 3:1-9 he provides a list of “fruit” which can be used to identify those counterfeit Christian teachers in Timothy’s midst.  But Paul also provides an encouragement for Timothy.

Join us this week at ElmCreek Community as God’s Word teaches us how to recognize those who have a healthy façade but are rotten in the heart, those who seem to be teaching right doctrine, but teach falsehoods meant to deceive and lead people astray from the gospel message of Jesus Christ.

May we be prayerfully prepared to hear God’s Word, worship Him together as His people, and encounter the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and hearts.

Striving to know Christ and make him known.

J.C. Ryle: The Simplicity of the Remedy for a Thirsty Soul

There is a spiritual thirst within every human being, no matter what time in the history of the world.  It is true today and it was true in the time of J.C. Ryle.  But there is only way to remedy this thirst as the battle between our desire to earn the favor of God and to approach Him as an empty vessel rages.  The words of J.C. Ryle below explain this battle well and cut directly to the heart of our own sin.

"How simple this remedy for thirst appears!  But oh, how hard it is to persuade some people to receive it!  Tell them to do some great thing, to mortify their bodies, to go on pilgrimage, to give all their goods to feed the poor and so to merit salvation, and they will try to do as they are bid.  Tell them to throw overboard all idea of merit, working or doing, and to come to Christ as empty sinners, with nothing in their hands and, like Naaman, they are ready to turn away in disdain (2 Kings 5:12).  Human nature is always the same in every age.  There are still some people just like the Jews, and some like the Greeks.  To the Jews, Christ crucified is still a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness.  Their succession, at any rate, has never ceased!  Never did our Lord say a truer word than that which He spoke to the proud scribes in the Sanhedrin, 'You will not come unto Me that you might have life' (John 5:40).

"But, simple as this remedy for thirst appears, it is the only cure for man's spiritual disease, and the only bridge from earth to heaven.  Kings and their subjects, preachers and hearers, masters and servants, high and low, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, all must alike drink of the water of life, and drink in the same way.  For eighteen centuries men have labored to find some other medicine for weary consciences, but they have labored in vain.  Thousands, after blistering their hands, and growing gray in hewing out 'broken cisterns which can hold no water' (Jer. 2:13), have been obliged to come back at last to the old Fountain, and have confessed in their latest moments that here, in Christ alone, is true peace."

The Servant of God

Sign on door: “Gone out of business.  Didn’t know what our business was.”  (University Christian Church, NY, 1963).

The background story to the above statement must certainly be interesting.  It is difficult to run a business successfully when one does not know the business of the business (if you get my drift).

The same can be said for the church of God.  Though the body of Christ is far from a business, it is true that the church cannot be the church is it doesn’t know how to be the church.  In other words, everything done by the church must have a focus, a purpose, an end-goal.  This is far from the Purpose Driven Life made famous by Rick Warren.  This is the purpose driven life to which the church has been called by our Creator God.

In 2 Timothy 2:22-26 Paul once again encourages Timothy to flee sinfulness, pursue righteousness, and correct false teachers.  But the full purpose behind this is not to have Timothy’s or the church’s reputation held high.  The end game is far greater than any reputation of a man or group of believers.

Join us this week at ElmCreek Community Church as we look at God’s Word together, seeking the truth, and striving to give God the glory in all things.

Striving to know Christ and make him known.