Imagine someone telling you that because you're wearing fabric woven from two different kinds of material, that you cannot possibly be saved. Sound far-fetched? It's part of the law of Moses...{Leviticus 19:19}.

Clearly, I'm over-simplifying here, but this is the topic of Acts 15, that we'll be diving into this Sunday, August 3, in our Contemporary Service.

After all of the struggle, all of the sacrifice, not to mention putting their lives in danger, [Paul even endured stoning]...some self-appointed men decided to tell anyone who wasn't circumcised, that they could not be saved. This obviously outraged Paul and Barnabas, and a great debate ensued.

In our day, I think we're living at the other end of the spectrum, where we're told that the only thing we have to do to get to heaven is...to die. The Bible makes it clear that heaven is not a foregone conclusion for everyone...

John 14:6- Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Acts 4:12 - "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

At the same time, something we can take away from Acts 15 is how they banded together to encourage the Gentiles who were new to their faith...they didn't want to put undue burdens on these new believers...

Acts 15:19, "...we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God."

The result? Verse 31 tells us how encouraged the people were. So it is with us...our mission should be like Paul and Barnabas' mission...to bring encouragement whenever and wherever we can. We have tremendous power...

Proverbs 18:21, "The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit."

EARTHQUAKE!!!

Earthquakes are a great way to take instant stock of our priorities. You can be sitting and thinking about just about anything, and after the shake-shake-shake, you instantly want to put everything else aside and make sure your loved ones are all right.

I felt such a sigh of relief to hear the voices of Lauren, Tyler, and Gary, which took a while...we are so used to being able to get a hold of anyone we want at any hour of the day...but not today...

So, all of my other loved ones...are you all right? I pray you all are...

Psalm 96:9, NIV - "Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth."

Starbucks Outreach

Here are some of the people who came to hand out cards at our Starbucks Outreach last Friday Night...what an awesome group of people!

Here are Tyler and Lauren handing out their cards...notice people engaging them in conversation! Also notice standing behind Lauren is Tarlan. Tarlan ran me all over the place handing out cards herself...she just wanted me to do the talking...but I was just as happy to have her...no one could have refused the kindness of a 6 year old! But even better than that, I was so thrilled that she was so excited to hand out free $5 Starbucks cards, just to show God's kindness! What a great night! Thank you to everybody who donated cards, and to everyone who showed up, and to everyone who prayed for us!

Can't Wait for Friday Night!!!

This is it! This is the place to be this Friday night! This is where unsuspecting people are going to come to hang out, probably to grab a beverage that they think they can't afford...when suddenly...out of no where...they are going to be invaded...

Invaded by what you may ask?

By a tract? No...

By a guy with a mega-phone proclaiming that they're on the road to hell? No...

By a 'Turn or Burn' sign? No...

They will be invaded by kindness. By a group of people who know the best thing they can be doing with their Friday night is to be used by God. How? Well, by demonstrating a portion of the kindness He has shown to us...to someone else.

So, armed with $5 Starbucks cards and our 'You're Invited to my Church' cards we will set out. We've spent the week fasting and praying, so we feel like we are ready...ready to allow God to love the people at Starbucks through our simple efforts.

If you're reading this...please say a prayer for our Outreach, that God will make it fruitful for His Kingdom.

Romans 2:4, NAS - "Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

Power to Fast

This Sunday, in our 8:30am Contemporary Service, we will be going through Acts 13. This is another quite exciting chapter, because the early Church was now ready...to take the gospel out to all the world. They had listened for the Holy Spirit's voice regarding the timing and exactly where they were to go, and who was to go. But the way they got to the point where they could really hear Him speak...was...wait for it...Fasting. Sorry...I'd like to have been able to say it was something like
carb-loading, but it wasn't.

So, we are also preparing to go out, here in our Contemporary Service. No, we're not going to the edges of the earth at this point, but we are going to Starbucks...to reach out in kindness people who are there. I get so excited when I think of the people who will be coming, having no idea that they are going to have an encounter with kindness, and ultimately, the love of God through us...SO this week...we'll be doing some fasting of our own.

If you're reading this, I ask you to stop right now and say a prayer for our outreach on July 25th...that God will make it effective for His Kingdom....Check out how it turned out (after some persecution, of course) for Paul and Barnabas...

Acts 13:49, "The word of the Lord spread through the whole region."

Power to Pray

This Sunday, July 13 in our 8:30am Contemporary Service, we will be going through Acts 12. This is the last time we'll see Peter in this book. In this chapter Herod has James put to death by the sword, and he arrests Peter, with the intent to do the same to him. But the early church didn't forget about him...

Acts 12:5, "So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him."

An angel of the Lord miraculously delivers Peter from jail, even though he is double hand-cuffed to one soldier on his right, and another on his left, not to mention 16 additional guards taking turns watching over him. Herod evidently heard all of the escape from jail stories.

Meanwhile, people were so impressed with Herod's speaking that they called him a god. But the real God did away with him in a pretty dramatic and gross way...

Acts 12:23, "Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died."

This had to have been a challenging time for the early Church. Imagine this Sunday, one of your friends isn't at church because they were put to death by the government for speaking about Jesus. In spite of it all, I love what verse 24 says...

"But the Word of God continued to increase and spread." (see verse 5).

Prayer is SO important...What is it that we can do without prayer??? Oh yeah...NOTHING!

John 15:5, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Power to R-E-A-C-H Lost People

Luke 19:10, "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

This Sunday, our 8:30am Contemporary Service will be taking a look at Acts 11. Peter had just come to the understanding that Salvation and the gift of the Holy Spirit was available to the Gentiles. This was quite a challenge for the believers to wrap their heads around...

So, how does this apply to me? Well, I think Luke makes it clear in Acts that there were many who needed Jesus...as there are in our world today. We may think they are beyond our reach, or even beyond God's reach...but no one is...

Isaiah 59:1, "Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear."

The results aren't up to us anyway. We just need to be sure we're in a R-E-A-C-H posture. This means we're praying, we're talking and we're reaching out in kindness to those around us. I love this saying from Steve Sjogren, who took Mother Teresa's quote and tweaked it a bit...

Small things

done with

great love - -

will change

the world!

The Holy Spirit is the only true evangelist who has ever existed. He is the only one who can compel anyone anyway...which really takes the pressure off of us.

John 6:44, (The Message) "You're not in charge here. The Father who sent me is in charge. He draws people to me - that's the only way you'll ever come. Only then do I do my work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End."