Our theme for this month: “Understanding Salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Why was salvation even needed?”

So, why do we need salvation anyway? Why couldn’t God simply bring us to heaven in the condition we are in? The answer is found in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We have all sinned. All of us. None of us is without sin, and our sin causes us to fall short of God’s glorious standard.

God is perfect and pure and holy. Heaven is also perfect and pure and holy. If God were to ever allow any imperfect, impure, or unholy thing into heaven then heaven would no longer be perfect and pure and holy because it would contain something that was not. Since you and I have sinned that makes us imperfect, impure, and unholy and therefore ineligible to be in heaven.

However, God loves us each one of us very much and wants us to be in heaven with Him despite the sins we have committed. In Matthew 18:14 Jesus said, “In the same way, it is not the will of the Father in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” Likewise, in 1 Timothy 2:3-4 the Apostle Paul wrote, “This is good, and it pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

Those are just two of the many verses which show us the heart of the Father with respect to salvation. We have all sinned and separated ourselves from Him. But it is His desire that none should be lost. Instead He wants everyone to understand how their sins can be forgiven so they can join Him in heaven for eternity. This does not mean that everyone will be saved, but it does mean that God wanted there to be an answer for the sin problem and therefore a pathway to heaven for whoever would choose that path.

Sin is our problem; it separates us from our heavenly Father. Jesus is our answer to the sin problem. Tomorrow we will see how it is that Jesus solved the sin problem for us and created the way for each of us to have our sins forgiven so we can one day join the Father in His perfect and pure and holy heaven.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

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Our theme for this month: “Understanding salvation”

Our Bible verse for today: “Like newborn infants, desire the pure milk of the word, so that you may grow up into your salvation.” 1 Peter 2:2 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Salvation involves more than just having your sins forgiven.”

Usually when Christians think of salvation we think of a one-time event when a person prays and asks Jesus to forgive their sins. In that moment their sins are forgiven and the person has the assurance of going to heaven instead of hell.

Actually, although the one-time event I described above is a part of the salvation process, it’s just a part of it. The Biblical doctrine of salvation involves much more than that. Salvation is a one-time event, that’s true, but it is also an on-going process and it is a future promise. It offers us forgiveness for our sins; it gives us the chance to grow spiritually now in this lifetime; and it gives us the promise of eternity in heaven.

Salvation is both free and costly; it is a gift and yet it requires something of us; it is permanent and therefore cannot be lost; and yet it must be safeguarded and treated as the precious thing that it is.

The full doctrine of salvation is very complex and involves actions by the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and also by us. This is what Peter was referring to in 1 Peter 2:2. There he urges us to “grow up into your salvation”. This clues us into the fact that salvation is something that has already occurred for you if you have placed your faith in Christ (that one-time event), and yet there is obviously more to it as well.

In that verse Peter refers to a newborn infant. For a newborn infant who has already experienced birth, there is now growing and maturing that needs to take place so the life that comes after the birth experience can be fully realized. Well, just as the birth experience is only the beginning for the newborn infant, so too the moment of having our sins forgiven is just the beginning for the new Christian. Salvation is a one-time event, but it is also a process. It involves all the rest of life, and then all of eternity too.

We will spend this month exploring the full extent of the doctrine of salvation and what it means for us. We will talk about why salvation was necessary to begin with, as well as what the ongoing process of salvation should look like in our lives. We will also consider the end result of the full salvation process and what that will mean for us in eternity.

Salvation involves much more than just having your sins forgiven. I look forward to exploring that truth with you.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Take care of your body”

Our Bible verse today: “Here I am today, 85 years old. I am as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me out. My strength for battle and for daily tasks is now as it was then.” Joshua 14:11 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Live longer and live better.”

Even though I have used Joshua 14:11 and the example of my Bible hero Caleb earlier in the month, I want to end the month with it too because I love the picture of eighty-five year old Caleb just full of energy and spunk, embracing life and living it fully.

When we think about taking good care of ourselves the object is not just to add years to our life, but to add life to our years. You want to live long, but you also want to live well. In his book “Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest”, Dan Buettner studied the habits of people in eight regions around the world where it is common for people to live to 100 or more. Here are the nine habits he discovered that they all seemed to have in common and which we can adopt too:

1. Remain active. The more active you are the healthier you will be.

2. Cut calories by 20 percent. Healthy people don’t overeat. Being overweight is hard on the body. Consuming too many calories makes every body system work harder. Eat enough so you are no longer hungry and then stop.

3. Avoid processed foods and limit your intake of meat. Natural foods, especially vegetables, fruits, nuts, and grains, are the healthiest foods for you.

4. Drink red wine. It’s not my intent to promote the use of alcohol here. I’m just reporting to you what Dan discovered in his research. People in the Blue Zones tended to have one or two glasses of red wine a day. Evidently it helps to reduce stress and lowers the risk of heart disease.

5. Have a clear purpose in life. People who are happy and healthy tend to have a reason for getting out of bed in the morning. They have a purpose in life that they enjoy and which they look forward to.

6. Be intentional about relaxing. People who are happy and healthy, and who tend to live long, are active and they have a clear purpose in life, but they also know how to rest, relax, and have fun.

7. Have a strong faith and be part of a spiritual community. Those who live long and well tend to have a strong faith in God and they are active in a faith community.

8. Make family and friends a priority. Those who maintain close relationships with people they love and care about tend to be happier, healthier, and live longer.

9. Associate with others who share your commitment to taking care of yourself. It is human nature that over time we become like those we associate with. Those who are happy, healthy, and living long tend to surround themselves with others who are happy, healthy, and living long.

The people in Dan’s study had mastered the art of living long and living well. It’s true that someday we will all die. Nobody lives forever. But there’s a choice in life that we’re all faced with: you can live a shorter life with lots of sickness and disability, or you can live a longer life with the fewest bad years possible. To a large degree that will be determined by the lifestyle choices you make.

I’ll end our study this month by paraphrasing a word of blessing spoken by that iconic Vulcan Mr. Spock from Star Trek: “May you live long and prosper”.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Take care of your body”

Our Bible verse for today: “The Lord answered her: ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41-42 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Maintain the balance.”

Martha was a doer. She was really good at getting things done. She was also conscientious and she cared about people’s needs. Specifically, in this case, she wanted to make sure Jesus was well-fed and taken care of. That’s a pretty commendable goal.

Mary was a good girl too. She just viewed things differently. While Martha was compulsive about getting things done quickly and efficiently, and of course checking them off of her “to-do” list, Mary was more relaxed and casual. Whereas Martha could not leave a thing undone, Mary was content to leave the pots and pans for the moment and to just sit with Jesus and enjoy His company.

Jesus said that Mary had it right and that Martha needed to chill.

The story of Martha and Mary is one of balance and perspective. There was really nothing wrong with Martha’s desire to provide a good meal in a timely manner for her guests. She was just too compulsive about it. It was too much and at the wrong time. Although there is a time to work and to serve, there is also a time to sit and relax – and it’s important to know the difference. Otherwise we end up banging pots and pans and getting all stressed out when we should be sitting and relaxing and enjoying the company.

As we near the end of our devotional series about taking care of our body, we need to remember how important balance in life is. There’s a right time for everything. There’s a time to work and serve, and there’s a time to rest and to play. There’s a time to go to the lake with your family, but there’s also a time to be in church with your brothers and sisters. There’s a time to eat and feast and maybe cheat a little on your diet, but most of the time you need to watch what you eat and to get plenty of exercise. Balance is the key.

Remember, as a person you are a complex being who consists of physical body, mind, emotions, and spirit. Your life needs a pattern and rhythm that includes meaningful work, plenty of rest, physical exercise, spiritual nurture, and a healthy mind. And since we are creatures of habit who tend to do best when we have stable and repetitive patterns that we stick to, ideally your life should be lived on a regular schedule that has you working, sleeping, eating, exercising, praying, and worshiping at the same times each day.

You will be at your best – you will be healthy, happy, and stable when your life is properly balanced.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Take care of your body”

Our Bible verse for today: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Pay attention to what you eat.”

Have you heard the saying, “Eat to live don’t live to eat”? There’s a lot of wisdom in that catchy little phrase, wisdom that many of us need to take to heart. We’re supposed to eat in such a way that we are providing nutritious fuel to power our body so we will be healthy and can do the things God has called us to do. We eat so we can live.

But far too many of us (me included) live to eat.  I’m a little too fond of eating. I like to eat things that aren’t very good for me, like ice cream and cheeseburgers and donuts, and when I do, I eat way too much. And then I lie to myself about it. I underestimate how many calories I’m consuming and how bad the stuff really is for me, and I rationalize that it’s really okay because I’ll just workout a little harder and a little longer later.

As we continue to wrap-up our series on taking care of our bodies, we’re reviewing some of the most important concepts we have learned this month. An important one is that being physically fit and healthy is two-thirds good nutrition and one-third exercise. Exercise is important, but not as important as eating right. You can exercise a lot but if you have a lousy diet you will still have weight problems and your blood chemistry will be bad. But if you have a good diet of healthy foods, you will maintain a good weight and you will probably have good blood chemistry, even if you don’t get a lot of exercise. Then if you put good diet and good exercise together, you will be physically fit and healthy. But nutrition is by far the more important factor in the good health equation.

In his book “The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite” Dr. David Kessler points out what I have already confessed to above, that most of us lie to ourselves about our diets. Most of us underestimate how many calories we consume, and we make far too many excuses about the bad food we eat.

That’s why a good diet plan is so important and helpful. Personally I have often used the P90X diet and nutrition plan. It’s a helpful guide for eating balanced meals consisting of regular food, and it provides a daily record sheet so I can write down what I ate at each meal and how many calories I consumed. The record sheet is simple and therefore easy to use, and the diet plan consists of regular foods. So there’s nothing complicated about it and it doesn’t require me to eat strange foods that taste like paste and cardboard.

There are many good diet and nutrition plans out there but the point is that we do need a plan to guide us and to help us avoid our worst tendencies when it comes to what, and how much, we put into our mouths.

I encourage you to pay attention to what you eat. Be intentional and smart about it. Remember, you are eating to live not living to eat, and by doing so you are taking care of the body God has given you.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Take care of your body”

Our Bible verse for today: “I discipline my body and bring it under strict control …” 1 Corinthians 9:27 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Stick with your exercise routine.”

As we near the end of our series on taking care of your body, I want to spend the last few days reviewing some of the most important concepts we have learned.

As we learned, your body is a gift to you from God and you need to take good care of it. More than just being a vessel that contains your spirit, or some sort of spacesuit that your spirit wears so it can exist on planet earth, your body is an intricate part of who you are as a whole person. Your body, spirit, mind, and emotions all make-up the complex being that is you, and the health of each of those parts impacts the others.

Exercise plays a critical role in helping to keep the body healthy. The more active you are the healthier your body will be. The less active you are the closer you are to being dead. Dead is the ultimate state of doing nothing. The less you do the closer you are to the condition we refer to as being dead.

Any exercise is good, but more is better. Most people exercise too little and they stop too soon. Going for a walk every day is good, but spending 30 minutes on a fast moving treadmill is even better. Better still would be to have a planned weekly workout routine that alternates between cardiovascular work and strength training.

And don’t forget that everyone can exercise. No matter your age or your current physical condition, everyone can do something – and something is always better than nothing. As I mentioned in a previous message in this series, although I’m still pretty young (sixty-four), I live in a retirement community where there are a lot of people in their seventies and eighties. I’m always amazed and encouraged to see all those people with grey hair walking, riding bicycles, swimming, playing tennis, in the park doing Tai-Chi, or in the fitness center riding a stationary bike or even lifting light weights. Everyone can do something.

If you’re not used to exercising then it will take some gumption to get started and some discipline to stick with it. But you can do this thing! Get started, stick with it, and soon daily exercise will simply become part of your normal routine, it will be a habit that you do everyday, and then you won’t feel right if you skip it.

Taking care of your body is a spiritual discipline. It’s a matter of stewardship, of caring for something that God has entrusted you with and which God wants to be able to use for His purposes. So I encourage you to establish an exercise routine and then stick with it.

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Take care of your body”

Our Bible verse for today: “The person who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence indeed is in the Lord, is blessed. He will be like a tree planted by water: it sends its roots out toward a stream, it doesn’t fear when heat comes, and its foliage remains green. It will not worry in a year of drought or cease producing fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Take care of your body by taking care of your soul.”

The term “soul care” refers to the fact that our soul is a living thing that must be cared for. Just as we nourish, exercise, care for, and rest our physical body, so too we must nourish, exercise, care for, and rest our soul. The soul needs to be cared for. And, as has been explained several times in this devotional series, the soul and body are intricately connected. What you do to one affects the other. The health of one directly impacts the health of the other. If your soul isn’t healthy that will have a negative impact on your physical health too.

I love the image Jeremiah paints for us in Jeremiah 17:7-8. When you are spiritually healthy your soul is like a well-watered tree with deep roots and which remains lush and fruitful throughout all the seasons of life. Psalm 1:1-3 expresses the same truth in a similar way:

“How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he mediates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears fruit in its season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”

Those two passages use poetic imagery to portray the life of a spiritually healthy person. But what would that look like in practical real-life terms? The Apostle Paul helps us with that in Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” The spiritually healthy person experiences increasing measures of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in their life. Those attributes come to define your life, and that condition of your soul has a positive impact on you physically, mentally, and emotionally – as well as spiritually.

One of the best things you can do to take care of your body is to take care of your soul. Of course prayer and personal Bible study are crucial aspects of caring for your soul, but so is group worship. I encourage you to attend worship services this Sunday. It will be good for you.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Take care of your body”

Our Bible verse for today: “Go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet, and send portions to those who have nothing prepared, since today is holy to the Lord. Do not grieve, because the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Give yourself time to relax and decompress.”

A few months ago a group of us from our church spent a week in the Amazon Jungle at the El Arca children’s home. El Arca is a 110 acre ranch on the edge of the Rainforest in the southern Amazon basin in Peru. My friends Bud and Laura Lenz have been caring for children in Peru for twenty years.

El Arca provides a loving Christian home environment for orphaned, abandoned, and at-risk children (www.elarcafam.org). It is a great place, but life is hard at El Arca. Everyone is up before dawn Monday – Friday. Each person has chores to do and works for about an hour before breakfast is served. Then the children are off to school while the adults go to work in the hot tropical sun caring for crops, fixing fences, working on construction and repair projects, or a host of other jobs. At the end of the day there are more chores and homework. Then it is time for dinner followed by a little family time, and then bed. It is a long, hard work week for everyone.

Saturday is a Sabbath day. It’s a day of rest. Everyone sleeps late, has a special late breakfast, and then the day is spent playing games, hanging around, listening to music, talking and laughing, and special fun activities, but no work. Nothing. Everybody rests and has fun. Then Sunday is the day for worship services, personal Bible study, spiritual reading, and general quiet time with the Lord.

That is what resting and renewal should look like. That is a great balance between working, playing, and worshipping.

In his book, “The Christian at Play” author Robert Johnston poses the question, “Could it be that what is needed is an alternate attitude toward life … one that would allow work its rightful place while at the same time finding intrinsic value in leisure and play?”

Can all God’s people say “Amen”?

We need to get our balance back. In his ground-breaking study of the American worker entitled, “Working” Studs Terkel concluded, “Most of us … have jobs that are too small for our spirit. Jobs are not big enough for people.”

What he meant was that most of us seek significance and fulfillment from our work, while short-sheeting the rest of life. Work is important, but by itself work will never result in real and lasting fulfillment. For that we need good balance in life. We need to rest, relax, renew, and worship.

What are your plans for this weekend? I’m betting that your body needs a break. I’m thinking you need some real downtime to rest, relax, and have some fun. And you also need spiritual renewal. You need to be in church on Sunday.

I encourage you to get that balance back.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Take care of your body”

Our Bible verse for today: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me besides quiet waters, he restores my soul.” Psalm 23:1-3 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “How leisurely is your leisure time?

I’ve always enjoyed hiking. As a child our family home bordered a thick patch of woods. There were trails to follow, trees to climb, secret hide-a-ways, and lots of adventure. I spent many hours in those woods enjoying the peace and quiet and soaking in nature. I felt like I could encounter God in the beauty and quietness of His creation.

All throughout my adult years I have also enjoyed hiking. Sometimes it was long walks on the beaches of southern California; other times I have hiked the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee; several times I have been in the Andes Mountains of Peru and hiked the ancient Inca ruins of Machu Picchu.

Today I live in a beautiful community in eastern Tennessee that is laced with great hiking trails, many of which are just minutes from my home. Most of those trails cut through deep woods and lead you to foot bridges over rushing creeks, great mountaintop views, and encounters with various kinds of wildlife. Being out there is soothing and relaxing, but it is also good exercise, and it can be a great time with God. It is Psalm 23:1-3 experienced in real life.

And I need it. Like many of you, I work too hard, worry too much, and don’t rest enough.

In his book, “The Christian at Play”, author Robert Johnston asks, “How leisurely is your leisure time?” He then quotes researcher Gordon Dahl, “In truth, for millions of Americans – hard-working Americans – leisure has come to mean little more than an ever more furious orgy of consumption. Whatever energies are left after working are spent in pursuing pleasure with the help of an endless array of goods and services. This is “virtuous materialism” par excellence. It offers men the choice of either working themselves to death or consuming themselves to death – or both.”

So, how leisurely is your leisure? Really, how restful is it? When you rest and relax are you really resting and relaxing? Psalm 23:1-3 describes getting away from it all so that we really are resting, relaxing, and renewing. Filling all of our leisure time with noise and activities and mindless entertainment often isn’t really all that leisurely.

As we approach the weekend I encourage you to consider planning some time to truly rest, relax, and reflect. Movies, parties, family activities, sporting events, and activities like that all have their place and are all good in some respects, but true relaxing and renewal occurs in the quiet times.

Again, “How leisurely is your leisure time?”

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is: