I sit here on the edge of disaster

Sunday night the deacons made a decision to move forward with recommending that Calvary purchase a piece of property for our future. This was not an easy decision to reach, but a necessary one. The Land Search Ministry Team has done a wonderful job of praying and seeking a new home for us. They have worked extremely hard and have spent many hours looking at properties. They have gone out with God’s glory and our values in mind. It has been our desire to be a neighborhood church and I believe they have found a spot that meets these criteria.

As a church, we should not desire to build a “little kingdom.” I simply want us to be a place where grace will always be found to be amazing. I want our location and buildings to be a center for radical rescue of those who are lost. It is my desire that our campus be a place where wriggling five-year-olds will be trained in righteousness and love. I want us to be a commissioning and sending church for those seeking to spread God’s fame to unreached lands.

I realize that this is hard decision and, as one deacon reminded us in a meeting recently, “It shouldn’t be easy for any of us.” I want to remind all of us that we do serve a Mighty God who has wonderful plans for us. What seems improbable and impossible is possible with Him.

This will be presented to the church body as an official recommendation this Sunday (5-24-09). We will have a family discussion about this on Sunday night, May 31, 2009 at 5:30 p.m., and we will vote on Sunday morning, June 7, 2009. I want to call the church to Fasting-Prayer over the next two weeks. The only way we are going to have the wisdom to know if this is God’s will is if we ask for it…

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. (James 1:5)

I have been praying regularly that God will show us the way and that He will cause His peace to overshadow all the decisions we make in His name for His glory. I love being your pastor. Every week God’s gives me the honor of being the pastor at Calvary I count my blessings. I love you so much!

Grace & Peace,

Scott

Anxiety displaces hope and is a state of misplaced confidence. This is a truth that explains a whole lot about life. When we worry about something we are so tied up emotionally and physically that we are at a stand still. We can’t seem to get anything done; we are frozen in place, stuck to watch the world pass by. It is a frustrating existence. Jesus teaches how this misplaced confidence can be turned around. In Matthew 6:25-34 He states three times “do not be anxious.” Now, if Jesus says anything three times in this short of a time span we need to pay attention to what He is saying.

The cure for worry is not more money, and it is certainly not more things. The cure for worry is a renewed confidence in God’s sovereignty. Genuine happiness cannot be founded upon the circumstances of our life because too many times those circumstances are terrible and what we would call “insurmountable.” No, our happiness must be rooted in a belief of God’s sovereign care for us. This type of happiness is Christ-treasuring and God-centered.

When we renew our confidence in a God who both created and rules the universe with a gracious and kind hand then we will trust Him with the details of our everyday life. If we see and believe that God takes care of the birds that fly through His creation (v. 26) and the flowers that bloom on His hillsides (v. 28), then will He not take care of us, the ones He created in Him image?

I love how Paul ends his first letter to Timothy,

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. (1 Timothy 6:17)

Even those who seemingly “have everything” must not trust what they have, but who they have. This hope is rightly placed hope that will not disappoint.

Grace & Peace,

Scott

Some days wish I were a Vulcan. You know…Spock, the guy from Star Trek. Spock, being a Vulcan, went through life not feeling, he showed no emotion. I think we are prone to days of emotional distress in our earthly existence for one reason or another. I liken it to a computer virus that invades our life and slows us down a bit. But I also realize that the moments of anxiety, or worry, or feeling overwhelmed will be short-lived and we will get on with life. We will get through this “funk” we find ourselves. It’s just that I don’t necessarily enjoy bad emotions…who does?

But, life would be pretty bland if emotions were erased. Emotions were created by God to better glorify and enjoy Him. If we took bad emotions away like hate, prejudice, and worry that would be just fine with me. I don’t like it when these raise their ugly head in my life; I don’t like the struggle I have with feelings like these. It shows an ugly side to human nature I wish we all could conquer and be done with it. Good emotions like love, kindness, and joy are absolutely necessary to the enjoyment of God and life. Can you even imagine a relationship with no emotion whatsoever? Pretty dull, huh? Emotions are the spice in life that brings out the flavor of relationships.

We need to align with God in His thinking about bad emotions and get them out of our life (confession and repentance). We also need to realize that bad emotions damage good relationships, and we must ask forgiveness when necessary of those who have been affected by our negative emotional outbursts (reconciliation).

I believe that emotions were created to honor God through better enjoying God and positively affecting those around us. All of God’s emotions are good and beneficial, even the ones, like anger, that we might not think of in this way. Even God’s anger plays a role of teaching us that God is not to be treated like the gods of this world (He will not even tolerate it!). Let’s always keep in mind that we can bring joy into a person’s life through our emotions.

A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. (Proverbs 17:22)

Grace & Peace,

Scott

We have been doing a study on Wednesday nights at Calvary dealing with suffering. One of the main sources (other than the Bible) I have used is Michael Card's book A Sacred Sorrow. This has been challenging and encouraging to me personally and I believe God's church corporately. Everyone suffers at some point in their lives and we need to know what to do and how to respond biblically. Our study last night took us in the direction of how Jesus brings all suffering together to make sense of it all. Let me share some highlights.