Be Complete!

“Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.”  2 Corinthians 13:11

Paul gave a wonderful encouragement to the Christians at Corinth.  To be complete means we want to “aim for God’s perfection” in our lives.  Does this mean we will make perfect choices or live perfect lives this side of heaven?  No!  But it does mean that the Holy Spirit will guide us to be more transformed into the likeness of Christ everyday if we will follow Him!  That’s the question:  Who will we follow?  As Christians, there is only one answer.  We will follow Jesus Christ.  As we trust and follow Him each day, it is simpler to be likeminded in our thoughts and God’s love is able to flow through us.  We can more easily remember John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

God’s love for each other transcends our faults and failures.  We choose to love one another to honor God and also to show the world we are His followers. We have opportunities right now to become more complete in Christ.  Working together in love, the people of our neighborhoods can see believers with a fresh spirit of joy and a likeminded approach to life.

I want to invite you and your family to consider sponsoring a neighborhood Bible Study in your home.  This idea was really impressed upon me by the Lord when we had our 40 hour prayer time last weekend.  I have all the materials to help you get this started and I am also willing to be a beginning teacher and attender of each group.  In this way, we can show friends and neighbors the love of Christ and gather more folks into His family of faith.  Would you consider sponsoring a Bible Study group one night a week, or twice per month in your home?  Studies have found that most people in our secular culture will not come to a church service, but they will attend a neighborhood Bible Study when invited by friends.  This needs to become a new avenue of reaching people in our church family.  It will help us go beyond ourselves and into our world with faith.  Would you please consider this idea and then let me know?  I will be talking about it a lot in the coming weeks.

I leave you with a verse that is near and dear to my heart.
“Being confident in this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the Day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6

I love you all,
Pastor Stephen

Have You Been An Encourager Lately?

Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.
Hebrews 10:24

It’s vital for God’s people to be encouragers in a season of time when there can be so much despair!  Our nation’s economy has put a damper on every family.  The things we thought we could count on in the past are being stripped away. We are the church of Jesus Christ who is always to “consider one another.” This is not only our direction in good times, but also in the tough ones.  Do we think of other folks needs before our own?  Do we remember the great opportunity to bless someone else during our day?  It’s easy to be selfish and only be concerned with our own needs and families, but what we need most is to be surrounded by some spiritual cheerleaders who will “stir us up in love and good works.”

I had the opportunity this week to teach and help some new church planting teams.  They were filled with anticipation, but also with fear!  They all understood that they are embarking on a very stressful journey filled with hard work and on the front line of ministry.  Although our teaching team was there to encourage these new church planters and their core teams, these folks were encouragers to us!  In fact, I believe every person involved in the workshop this week left at the end with a wonderful sense of God’s grace and strength.  Everyone felt lifted up and blessed.  That’s what God’s people can do for one another!  We’re placed here by the Lord to do life together and love each other through it all.

I feel privileged to serve as your pastor and your friend.  It is our joy to serve with you and do life together.  We all have an opportunity: “to consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.”  I’ve seen the great love River’s Edge has for one another.  Let God’s love continue to reign over us all!

I look forward to seeing you on Sunday.  Jonathan will be sharing about his medical mission trip to Haiti in the morning worship time.  It will be a great day to encourage each other.

I love you all,

Pastor Stephen   

Holy Spirit at the Wheel

“Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’” Acts 11:16

When we submit and surrender to the Lord’s will and become a part of His family, we are baptized with the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit of God becomes our Teacher and the One who directs our actions in life.  Do we always allow the Holy Spirit to control us?  Unfortunately, our sin nature still tries to assert itself over us and we fail.  Thank goodness, God is always ready to forgive us and help us overcome our weaknesses!  But the overarching teaching here is that the Lord needs to be the one driving our lives.  When we drive our cars, some days we do a good job of obeying the rules designed for drivers on the road.  Other days we may get in a hurry or even drive recklessly.  Sometimes we might receive a speeding ticket or a violation ticket if law enforcement officers catch us….there are consequences for poor behavior on the road!  Likewise God’s Spirit is supposed to be driving our lives.  If we take the wheel away from Him and try to drive our own lives, we inevitably will make poor decisions and face some discipline for our failures.  What’s the answer?  Stay in God’s Word.  Be a prayer warrior.  Don’t make hasty choices.  Don’t become reckless members of Jesus’ family.  Trust God’s Holy Spirit to lead you in His ways.  When you do, no matter the challenges in life, you will be blessed with the Spirit at the wheel!

I love you all,
Pastor Stephen

Stay Connected!

“ ‘Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.’  Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.’ ”   Genesis 28:15-16

In my personal Bible study, the Lord reminded me of some things as I read this passage in Genesis about Jacob.  In fact, God has shown me several good things about the Jacob of the Old Testament that I had never considered before.  One of those is in these verses.  Here, Jacob has gone to sleep and received a dream from God.  The dream is about a ladder that reached from earth to Heaven with God’s angels ascending and descending the ladder.  The Lord reminds Jacob in the dream that the land he is resting on will be his land and the land of his descendents.  God also tells Jacob that He will be with him wherever he goes and that He will keep His promises!  This is not only good news for Jacob, but also great news for us!  God is indeed faithful.  He will walk with us through every challenge in life.  He will always supply our needs and seek to bless His people.  We just have to recognize that God is at work in our lives and honor Him by how we live.  Jacob said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”  I think often we don’t see God’s hand at work where we are.  We may cry out for something different or exciting while all the time the Lord is present and striving to speak to us.  Are we listening?  Do we recognize that God is in this place and we may not realize it?  Jacob went on to name the place where God gave him the dream as, “Beth-el,” or “The House of God,” in Hebrew.  The fact is, the Lord is with us always!  He doesn’t leave and He doesn’t take a vacation from us as many times we try to do from Him!  He is always trying to “connect” with us!  He told Jacob in a dream, I’m always here ministering to you with my angels and I’m constantly connected to you.  Are you trying to stay connected with God?

Tonight in Vacation Bible School, our theme is about connecting with love to God and others.  We are teaching the kids that they can love Jesus.  This is what the Christian life is about.  Join us tonight in prayer for VBS and in person!  Let the Lord remind you that He is with you always!

I love you all,
Pastor Stephen

Be Encouragers through God's Word

...that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God.
Colossians 2:2

This week I have been personally convicted about my/our need to dig deeply into God’s Word.  Encouragement comes from the Lord in His Word and not just from one another!  When we are seeking to understand the knowledge of the mysteries of God, He ministers to us through each other.  We learn how to be knitted together in God’s love by immersing ourselves in the Scripture.  I know in my own life that I need to spend more time in the Bible.  I am rededicating myself to the teaching of the Scriptures and I ask you to pray for me to be the best prepared Bible teacher and preacher that I can be.  I want to encourage you to be in worship this Sunday morning, July 17^th, because the Lord has given me a special message to share.  Let our hearts be encouraged together in the Lord’s Word!

Who have you invited to Vacation Bible School?  Remember we begin sharing God’s love with children and their families on Monday!

I love you all,

           Pastor Stephen

New Mercies for Today!

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning. 

Lamentations 3:22-23 (NRSV)

I really like these verses!  They remind me that God is faithful and never leaves me.  They remind me that when I feel the most alone, I am not!  They remind me that each new day brings with it “possibilities” or as my dad used to say, “you have some new opportunities, son.”  What are your new opportunities today?  The Lord will always love you.  “Steadfast” suggests that God’s love will stand strong in your life.  He will not remove His love from you no matter how far you stray away from His will.  The Lord will always be merciful!  He will always offer His people an opportunity to make things right.  Every day we are able to start again!  That’s good news!

Do you need to start over with God?  Do you need to give Him the opportunity to repair your feelings, heal your memories, or just lovingly forgive you?  Take this new day as an opportunity to accept the steadfast love of the Lord and allow Him to refresh you with His mercy!  He will do it. You can trust Him!

Next week we share God’s love in our community through Vacation Bible School.  Who in your neighborhood can you bring with you?  Children, teenagers and adults need Christ Jesus.  Please extend a special invitation to kids and families around you and bring them next Monday night at 6:00 pm to VBS!

I love you all,

Pastor Stephen

Just Give Thanks!

Hey Wonderful Church Family,
Just a note to say thanks to everyone who came to Church Work Day last Saturday!  We got a lot done and the building and grounds is shaping up. Also, after a great morning worship time, we had a terrific Awana leaders meeting yesterday.  The Lord is meeting our needs with several new Awana leaders.  The team has an awesome spirit and we are poised to have a very promising Awana year.  Keep praying for Vacation Bible School which begins next Monday night at 6:00 pm.  You all are such a blessing and I’m excited about what the future holds for River’s Edge!
With thanksgiving…..

It is good to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to Your Name, O Most High; to declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night...
Psalm 92:1-2

Declaring thanks to the Lord sets the whole day up for more blessings even when things don’t work out the way you planned!  As we begin our work week, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and discouraged right out of the gate.  Everything can just hit you on Monday morning and throw the whole week into a crisis.  Just remember that it is always good to give thanks to the Lord.  In every circumstance He is working.  He never slumbers nor sleeps, the Scripture says.  He’s always available to His people!  The Apostle Paul reminds us, “In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you,” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).  Start your day and your week by giving thanks to God.  He is always faithful!

I love you all,

Pastor Stephen