Hey Friends…
I’m glad I ran out of time this past Sunday. It’s not often that I get to take a second pass at something that we simply ran out of room to finish. I had loaded up my teaching notes with way too much good stuff, the clock was expiring simultaneously to your attention span, so we stopped right there in the middle. I’m glad we did. We’re going to be able to slow down on something that has monumental importance for us, take a second pass, and perhaps make this even more relevant to us. I’ll tell you more in Deeper Thoughts below… But first…. · Will you seek God fervently with us? This Sunday night at 5:30 p.m., join us for a very special prayer, worship, and sharing night as we lay out some vitally important next steps to what’s happening at Mt. Hope and then lay it all before God in prayer and surrender. We have a TON of big stuff in front of us—from the uniqueness of our culture to the development of ministry strategies, to the expansion of our facility, to the resources we need God to provide. Let’s get before God and each other about this on Sunday night!! · Palm Sunday—March 24—is going to be an amazing extravaganza of worship, celebration, testimony, fellowship, and seriously yummy food. In addition to a super-creative and celebratory service with testimony and baptism, we’ll hang around afterwards for a delicious fellowship luncheon. In addition to Chris Nicholson’s world-famous and scrumptious cuisine, we’ll also bring potluck sides to fill our bellies with sheer goodness. Click here to let us know what you can bring! · We are launching a NEW middle school program every Sunday morning starting March 24. The middle-schoolers will go out after worship to their own dedicated teaching, fellowship, and games with Chris Bowen, Jess Sauder, Kelley Adrain, and others! · Ladies: The day before our great Palm Sunday extravaganza, get your bowling shoes out and join us on Saturday, March 23, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. for fun, fellowship, and bowling. Click here for more info and to RSVP! · Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 27 for an all-church “Freedom in Christ” teaching and healing event led by Chris Campbell. Not only will we tighten down our understanding of identity and freedom in Jesus that we’ve been learning from Romans, but we will also step across lines of faith into practical, actualized healing. More info to come!! OK…that’s it today for you email skimmers and those who would rather just move on to something else. BUT… Some Deeper Thoughts… Have you ever hung on every word that someone was saying? Every single word of the Bible is a treasure for me. Not everyone sees it this way, I know. Truth be told, even among faithful and passionate believers, the Bible’s complexity, its rich but sometimes confusing history, and its wildly spiritual language can make its relevance to our daily lives hard to recognize. But because each individual word in the Bible is the direct and purposeful revelation of God to us, I want to hang on every word. How about you? To this end, we have been carefully combing through every word, every nuance, every definition of each phrase of the revelation the Holy Spirit gave to the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Roman Christians, circa 57 AD. The revelation to us could not be more important. Its relevance to our daily--even hourly—lives could not be more significant. The promise of abundant life transformation could not be more hopeful. Last Sunday, we carefully unpacked the scripture’s revelation on the role our “flesh” plays in our spiritual victory or defeat. It is a teaching found in more than 120 places in the New Testament, demonstrating the immense consequence of the flesh for each of us. Yet, this concept is largely ignored in contemporary Christian circles because modern translations of the Bible have simplified Paul’s writing in such a way that we typically miss what is actually being revealed to us. If you missed last Sunday’s teaching, may I humbly suggest you invest a half-hour this weekend to catch up? Click here to take it in. Simply put, the scriptures reveal that our basic human nature—called “the flesh” in the Bible—profoundly stands in the way of our relationship with God and our spiritual victory. Worse, God calls us “cursed” if we depend upon it. Gulp. I didn’t want to write that just now. I doubt you wanted to read it either. Jeremiah 17:5: “This is what the Lord says: Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on his flesh for his strength.” There is a counteracting promise in response: “But blessed in the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him” (Jeremiah 17:7). To the one depending on his or her flesh, God reveals that we will be “like a bush in the wastelands” dwelling “in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives” (Jeremiah 17:6). But good news! To the one who turns away from depending on his or her flesh—his or her human nature—and puts their confidence in the Lord: “he will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit” (Jeremiah 17:8). Who wants no fear, no worries, no failure? You in? Paul’s letter to the Romans promises us victory for those who “do not live according to the flesh” (Romans 8:4, 12), for those who do not have “their minds set” on what the flesh desires (Romans 8:5), for those who are not “controlled by the flesh” (Romans 8:9). When we live according to our flesh, drought, dryness, parched places, and uninhabitable salt lands describe the inner workings of our soul. But when we reject the flesh and turn towards living by the Holy Spirit, the abundance and freshness is as brilliant as a well-watered tree basking in spring rains and vibrant fruit. This Sunday, we will explore this concept one layer deeper. We will provide you with an even more practical way to look at this teaching--the good part I ran out of time to show you last Sunday!! I will share my own story of what this looks like in my life and give you very pragmatic ways to focus yourself away from the flesh and into the Spirit. Before Sunday, dig around Romans 8 and Galatians 5 once more. And, if you’re really bold about it, wander over into Jeremiah 17 and see what stands out to you. I am so grateful that you are hungry to search out the revelation of scripture with us. I’m SO looking forward to praying with you all, worshipping alongside you, and opening God’s Word together this Sunday. Can’t wait!! Much love to all… Chris Eads Mt. Hope Pastor Friend
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