A New Creed

I have been thinking about creeds lately. Check this one out, especially the last line.

Creed of the Eternal Covenant

We believe in God the Father, who with the Son and the Spirit fashioned, from His heart, the eternal covenant before time began.

Because of this great decree, He created the heavens and earth. He created mankind in His image.

We confess that man, by willful disobedience, attempted to break the covenant, but the plan of God was, and is, certain.

We acknowledge that the great love of the Son compelled Him to take on human flesh and live a perfect life in keeping with the terms of the covenant. He suffered the wrath of the Father for the sins of all believers of all time; making right what we had made wrong.

After He completed that work, He ascended into heaven and continues to labor on behalf of our offspring and us to this day.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, who awakens the children of God from spiritual sleep and enables them to become more like Christ by faith. He will continue to do so until Christ Jesus comes again in glory to fully consummate the covenant.

We believe in the church universal. We commit our time here as stewards of the visible church to His glory by using the gifts He has richly blessed us with. May He correct us, even ever so sternly, if we waver from the life and faith He has purchased for us. Amen.

Get ready! We are about to take this blog to the next level! New writers, pictures, links. Podcasts! We are excited!

Forgot to tell her

As a single woman she had lived in our basement apartment. We were and are good friends. We laughed and cried together and exchanged Christmas gifts. We are close. I officiated at her wedding to a wonderful man in the church. How much more can you know someone?

One day she came to me and told me the news, “I am pregnant!” I congratulated her and even gave her a public hug. What great news! In these days, there are couples who keep it close to the vest when they are pregnant, wanting to tell only a few people so I asked, “May I tell my wife?” “Of course you can” she said.

Well, you know what happened. I forgot. I got busy thinking of other things. I did not rush home and proclaim the news, “She’s having a baby!” I know all of you men can relate to that, and I am sure all of you women are thinking, “Yes, and when the baby is born he will not remember how much it weighs, its length or even its sex!” Convicted.

The next Sunday, she saw my wife. My wife knew nothing and so did not congratulate her. There was an awkward silence. She was expecting a response over hearing of the news. No response came because the news had not been shared. “You don’t know do you?” she asked. “Know what?” my wife said. Then she re-told the news, and they celebrated.

So how about you. Do you have the news? He had a Son. I don’t know the size or weight. I do know He was and is weighty. I also know His love cannot be measured. He had a Son! Can I encourage us as we enter the holiday season to not forget to share that news? I know you are busy with a lot of other things, but we implore you to share this news. Some people do not know because they have not been told. We pray that you will be able to rejoice with them as they receive it.

Along the way, invite them to come to church and celebrate with the rest of us. It will be a joyful time.

Worship Well.

I am seeing if I can post by phone!

Fix Me!

Reverend Carter and I have the joy of meeting with people who are hurting. We see a lot of pain and brokenness, and we see the God of the universe do mighty things through it. It is not always easy. Sometimes, when people come to see us they say, in so many words, “Fix my spouse!” or “Fix my life!” Well, you know what happens. We can’t fix them. We are not Mr. Fix It, so expectations have to be re-set.

We are in the fix it business though.

What do we do? We say, in so many words, “Fix your eyes!” We encourage people to fix their eyes on Jesus. Now that sounds too simplistic doesn’t it? It sounds very churchy. It almost sounds goofy: “You mean fixing my eyes on Jesus is the answer?”

Yes, we do mean that.  We mean it in a very large part, and it is a lot easier to say than do. Our eyes want to gaze everywhere but to Jesus. We want to look to our partner’s sin; we want to stare at our own problems, and we want to cast a dark glance at the world, politicians and businessmen. We want to look everywhere but to Him. We are called to fix our eyes on Him because He is the author and perfecter of our faith. That is what we need: faith that is being made more perfect through which we can live.

Behavior modification, communication techniques, tinkering with schedules, toying with counseling and attempting to white knuckle it will get you nowhere but hurt when it comes to fixing life’s problems. Only the Holy Spirit can do the real work of change in a person’s heart, and He shines a spotlight on Jesus. So Jesus is the God Man on whom we should fix our gaze.

Can we encourage you to ask yourself a question? Are you trying to fix it? If you are, we implore you to look to the One who can do immeasurably more than you can ask. By the way, we are His helpers, and you are welcome to contact us. We are learning to fix our eyes too.

Worship Well.