God's Exception = God's Redemption

I had the joy of being asked to preach for a friend of mine last week at Harvest Bible Church in Ellsworth, KS. Marc Compton, who grew up at Grace and whose parents are still vital members here, is the pastor there. Harvest has a wonderful Bible reading plan that they use as a church family. To encourage the use of the plan, their Sunday morning preaching comes from a section of the reading plan that the church will read next week. So on Sunday, they are getting a preview of some of the reading they will do from Monday through Saturday.

So what was I stuck with… All of the Bible is beneficial (2 Tim. 3:16-17), but there are definitely denser parts where the benefit is harder to find. I found myself in the middle part of Deuteronomy, where there are many of the laws listed that God gave the Hebrew people to make it visibly obvious that they were separated from the other tribes around them. I didn’t get some of the fun parts at the beginning of Deuteronomy (like Deut 6), where Moses writes about loving God and teaching His ways to the next generation. I was stuck with things more like Deuteronomy 22:11-12 “Do not wear clothes made of both wool and linen. Make tassels on the four corners of the outer garment you wear.” It is sometimes hard to see how a law written in a faraway place, for a long-ago people, for reasons not 100% obvious at first glance, would provide a massive benefit to our relationships with God.

Further contributing to our ability to be apathetic about this portion of the Bible is the fact that many of these laws are those Jesus fulfilled- or better said, He cut through the red tape and gave us a direct relationship with God that no longer requires many of these laws. God is now focused on creating a kingdom of people from all nations rather than being in nation-building mode with a specific people group. However, if we trust that God is working to draw us closer to Himself and that He gave us His Word for our benefit, we must believe that there is a reason we are reading them. As I was reading from Deuteronomy 16 and onward, I knew I would have to look closely for something meaningful to spend 30 minutes discussing. 

I love history, as I have probably mentioned many times. So, when I came to Deuteronomy 23 and saw some laws about two nations that have an extensive past with the Hebrew people, I knew this might be the section I was looking for. In this chapter, God tells His people that they are to have nothing to do with the nations of Ammon and Moab. If you want to dive into that history and explore other relevant texts, I will include those at the bottom. The short version is this, and I will focus on Moab because it has a specific twist that teaches us something very important. Moab was a tribe of people whose beginnings occurred through incest. Throughout their history, sexual immorality was not just something they practiced but something they embraced as a way to hurt God’s people, the Hebrews. They were related to the Israelites, as Moab was started by Lot, who was the nephew of Abraham, the founder of the tribe of Israel. However, when the chance arose for Moab to offer hospitality (Abraham had once saved Lot’s life), they rejected kind gestures and threatened war. Moab was wicked and specifically sought the downfall of the Israelites. God did not take kindly to this; He commands His people to have nothing to do with them, not to marry them or even show kindness to them! God says that anyone who has any Moabite ancestor cannot enter into the religious assembly of their day. Anyone who had a Moabite in their family tree was not allowed to enter into the sacred place of worship and certainly they could not lead that as a leader of the religious assembly. This is not a strong suggestion either, but a firm command.

If you read the book of Ruth, any genealogy of King David, or either of the genealogies of Jesus in Matthew 1 or Luke 3, you will see that this command was broken. King David’s great-grandmother was from Moab. One of his more distant grandmothers was a Canaanite, and there was an equally strong restriction on that. Kind David should not have been able to worship God at the Tabernacle, which was the religious assembly of His day. David not only attended but was a leader in those worship events. Likewise, I think we all understand that Jesus, who was a descendant of David biologically (on His mother’s side, Luke 3) and legally (on Joseph Mary’s husband’s side, Matt 1) had those same people in His family tree. Jesus is not just the leader of our worship but the object of it.

Rather than belabor the point and explain the ins and outs of Biblical context and other cases where God provides exceptions for people to enter His worship who weren’t supposed to, the Bible leads us to this conclusion. God’s redemption, His saving of people from destruction, makes exceptions for His laws. God saves people and brings them into His family when they are forbidden to enter His presence. That is the lesson of this legal, historical saga. 

This lesson is absolutely for us today. Not only are we supposed to be actively pursuing people “outside” of our assembly to bring them in, but we ARE those people. This exception to the law is not an actual exception, it is something more significant: it is a redemption. We can all be eternally grateful for that! Our sin breaks God’s law and forbids us from ever entering a relationship with Him. Every time God makes an “exception,” it is because repentance and redemption take place. Just like Ruth, who was a Moabite, she repented, declaring that God would be her God and God’s people would be her people; she declared herself no longer a daughter of Moab but a child of God. She was then redeemed and brought into God’s people. We are just like her. The Gospel is God’s great exception, better said as a redemption. He saves us from being forbidden to enter His presence because He sent Jesus to die on the cross for us to wipe away the sin that keeps us out. He rose from the dead so that He could bring us into God’s presence forever. We should not lose our joy over the act that brought us into the worship of God, and we should not lose sight of the call God has on us to bring others in, too.

References: Gen. 19:30-38, Num. 20:14-21, Num. 22-23, Judges 3:12-31, Judges 11:14-17, Ruth, Isaiah 15-16, Jeremiah 48-49, Zeph. 2:8-11, Ezekiel 25:8-11, 2 Peter 2:15-16, Rev 2:14

Pastor Will

Who Is This Man

Repetition is a powerful tool for memorizing verses and information. It’s something we seek out to help us grow. But repetition when it’s not on our terms, can feel irritating. Like a song on loop, or someone bringing the same problem to you without seeking solutions. What once was helpful can quickly become annoying.

Over the past few years, something has been repeated and not by any one person. One day, someone laid it out clearly for me, “Jayden, God is trying to tell you something. Listen.”

It all started about five years ago when I attempted to follow The Bible Recap with a few of my youth group leaders. The Bible Recap is a chronological Bible reading plan, and by day four, I hit the book of Job, and I struggled. I hate to admit it, but I became Job’s number one hater that year. I told myself I would never read that book again, dismissing it as nothing more than useless back-and-forth between Job and his so-called friends. End of discussion. Book closed.

Two years later, I found myself at a Christian university, where my Old Testament professor dedicated an entire lecture to the uniqueness of Job. He explained how the book was primarily written as poetry rather than a classic narrative. This stirred grace within me, and I had a desire to reread the book. After all, if Job made it into the Bible, it probably had something to teach.

I went verse by verse, reading different commentaries over each section of the book of Job. After many months and a couple breaks, I finally finished. I admit, I was wrong about Job.

Job was “a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil” (1:8). Satan approached God, questioning Job’s faith, arguing that it was only strong because of His blessings. So, God allowed Satan to test him. One by one, Job lost everything—his servants, his wealth, even his children (1:14). His wife urged him to curse God and be done with it (2:9), but “throughout all of this Job did not sin in what he said” (2:10). Then, his three friends arrived, mourning with him before launching into 34 chapters of debate. Job wrestled with his pain, his confusion, and his questions, yet he held fast to God.

In those chapters, there is so much to unpack. Job 31 echoes the sermon on the mount. It covers the same ethical issues, like lust (31:1,9-12), loving your neighbor (31:13-15), social justice (31:16-23), and idolatry (31:24-28). Then, God finally answers Job in chapter 38.

I made a note in Job 38:2-3, that says, “We shouldn’t think that God expected them to know what they couldn’t know, He wanted them to appreciate that there were aspects to the matter known to God but hidden to man. Those things made sense of things that don’t make sense.” Then my favorite chapter comes last. Job comes humbly before God in contentment with not knowing the answers to questions he has had about his situation. God then restores Job. My favorite quote from one of the commentaries I read says this,

“If we find it exasperating that God never gives Job any reason for his long ordeal of suffering, then we have entirely missed the point of these final chapters. While it is true that the Lord’s answer was neither logical nor theological, this is not the same as saying that he gives no answer. The Lord does give an answer. His answer is Himself.”

Which leads to the question, who is this man who praised God when all was lost? Who is this man who fell in prayer saying, “The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord,” (1:21)?  Who is this man who says, “as long as my breath is still in me and the breath from God remains in my nostrils, my lips will not speak unjustly,” (27:3-4)? Because in all honesty, I would doubt God’s love. I have had doubts over smaller things, let alone the loss of everything and everyone I love.

The book of Job doesn’t provide easy answers, but it does reveal truth: God is sovereign, and He is enough. Even in suffering, even in confusion, even when we don’t understand, He is still God, and He is still good. Job may not have received the answers he wanted, but he encountered God Himself, and that was more than enough. May we, too, find peace not in explanations, but in the presence of our Creator.

Have an amazing day!

Jayden Smith

His Glory is My Good

“We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28 CSB)  

This is one of the most memorized verses in the Bible.  It’s a call to trust that God is working for our good.  For those that have a saving faith in Jesus’s death and resurrection, He is at work in our lives.  And as Philippians 1:6 says it, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”  But this begs the question, what is our good?  Does our good equate to a lack of hardships and trials? Does our good mean riches and comforts in this life?  No, the Scriptures make a clear case that sanctification is our good.  Sanctification, or becoming more like Christ, is our good, and it results in God’s glory!   Sanctification is not a pleasant process, but it is for our good.

The first verse of our newest song, His Glory and My Good talks about God’s Glory revealed in Jesus, and how the more we see Him in His glory the more we are satisfied.  It reminds me of John Piper’s words in his book Desiring God, “God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him.”

The second verse articulates our trust in the Lord through trials.  Even when we don’t understand and even when He doesn’t answer our prayers as we think He should, we follow Jesus in faith because He is always working for His glory and our good.

The third verse of the song articulates how Jesus’s death on the cross was for our good; it was for our salvation, which brings great glory to God!

The final verse is a call to die to ourselves so that Christ might be magnified.  I’m reminded of John the Baptist’s words in John 3:30, “He must become greater; I must become less.”  The song lyrics say, “Would I gladly be made nothing, that Christ would be made more?”.  I love that this line is stated as a question, because every time I sing it, it reminds me of my need to die to myself and carry the cross.

In the chorus of the song, we declare glory and praise to God, and we boast in Him, because we know His glory is our good!  You can learn the song at home here.

I look forward to singing this with you on Sunday!

Pastor Kyle

Letter to God

What I am about to share is an unaltered, word-for-word letter that a broken man wrote to God in the midst of a difficult season:

“I want You. 

I want to stop hurting You.

My soul craves to be around You.

My stomach twists in knots when I think about my weaknesses and failures.

You’ve given me an abundance of wisdom and clear sight into Your truth. Yet, I turn away. I continue to switch my focus on worldly things and negative self-talk. 

I enjoy distracting myself with worldly entertainment and earthly glory. 

Save me. Pull me up out of the water. Remind me of Your love for me. Remind me of who I am in You. I need spiritual CPR. Breathe life into my lungs. Raise me up from the pit.

I don’t like my neediness. I am discouraged by my constant failure, and the need for you to rescue me over and over again. It makes me feel like a loser. I would rather give up. I would rather quit. Why live as a constant failure? The guilt and shame is overwhelming. 

However, I know quitting is not the way. It’s not what is best. It’s not what You want. You want me to endure. You want me to persevere. You want me to come to You again. You desire mercy and not sacrifice. 

How is it that Your mercy for me is better to You than me dying and just getting rid of me? Aren’t I a problem to You? Aren’t you sick of me? I’m sick of me. 

Help me to receive and sense Your love and mercy and compassion. You’ve done all that is necessary through Jesus. But I am blind at times. I am coming to you as a blind man, asking for healing. Asking You for what I don’t deserve. Asking You for what I seemingly cannot do. I come to you in faith, trusting in You because of who You are and what You are able to do. You came to set the captives free. I need deliverance. I need Your saving work.”

Matthew 11:28–30 (CSB) 28 “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Grace & Peace,

Pastor Jack

Old Days vs Old People

I should write something about romance, with tomorrow being Valentine's Day, but I am not smart enough to make something work that I haven’t been thinking about. I should qualify that by saying that I have been thinking about Valentine’s Day enough to have a plan for making my wife and daughter feel special. However, I haven’t been thinking about it in any grand way regarding our faith or the church. 

I have been studying Esther, the Old Testament book about a Jewish girl who becomes queen and then saves her people from a plot against them. In effect, she saves them from genocide. One of the key statements in the book is something Esther’s uncle tells her. 

Esther 4:14 says, “Who knows, perhaps you have come to your royal position for such a time as this.” I am sure Esther did not want to be born into a time when it would take extreme bravery and God's intervention to save her and the lives of all the Jewish people living in her country. This got me thinking about one of my favorite verses, which also discusses our times and how we need to see them.

Ecclesiastes 7:10 says, “ Don’t say, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’ since it is not wise of you to ask this.” Many of our conversations and jokes revolve around making fun of how people live today. Or we bemoan how life was better in the old days. As Ecclesiastes says, it’s not a wise thing to do. When we remember older times or even previous circumstances, we often forget everything we were going through. We also miss a very important truth that God taught Esther. God has us each in the time and place He wants us to be in. The old days may have been better for the people who lived in them, but they are not better for you. God has put you in this time, given you gifts (1 Corinthians 12), and has work for you to do (Ephesians 2:10).

The Bible does not want us to reminisce about and envy past days or the old ways, but it has a very different thing to say about older people. Preverbs 16:31 says, “Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life.” Gray hair doesn’t always mean righteous and wise, but it often does. Our elders have walked through what we are walking through and have kept the faith. This is no small thing. Proverbs give us sayings to live by, but there is also a very explicit command. Leviticus 19:32 says, “You are to rise in the presence of the elderly and honor the old. Fear your God; I am the Lord.” There is little confusion about how older people are to be honored. The reward for this cannot be understated. This next verse specifically talks about elders in the church. 1 Peter 5:5 says, “In the same way, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” We plainly see that our humility in following those who go before us in faith brings the reward of God’s grace, and the rejection of that brings our downfall.

My conclusion is this… older days can lead you astray, but older folks can give you hope. When we get lost wishing for our idealized versions of past times, it is all too easy to miss what God has us to do right now. We cannot shrink back from the issues of our day simply because they are harder in our view than what the generations before us dealt with. But when things are hard, do not hesitate to go to an older person, especially someone you trust, to get some perspective on how to make it through. Life is best when we walk through it with others and look to those who have gone before us.  I am convinced that only then will we walk into the good works Jesus has prepared for us to do. 

Pastor Will

Living the Mission

One of the local ministries that Grace supports, and one I have the joy of being part of, is Young Life (YL). Though YL is still relatively new to the Newton community, its history here runs deeper than many might realize. In the early 1910s, Jim Rayburn, the founder of Young Life, lived in Newton for most of his childhood.

At its core, Young Life is about building relationships with middle and high school students and introducing them to the gospel. The goal is for leaders to step into students’ lives, meet them where they are, and consistently show up for them, earning the right to be heard through relational connection.

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a Leader Weekend with YL. To be honest, I wasn’t eager to go. I only knew one other person attending, and the thought of traveling far and feeling “alone” didn’t appeal to me. But I swallowed my pride, showed up, and quickly realized it was exactly what my heart needed.

Throughout the weekend, Justin McRoberts shared powerful messages about living a life modeled after Jesus. One point has stuck with me ever since:

"Nothing you do [in leading and serving others] is as important to God as who you are while doing it."

Ephesians 2:8-10 echoes this truth:

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Ministry and outreach are vital, but it’s easy to get caught up in the doing and forget the why. I’ve fallen into this trap time and time again, especially when ministry is part of my job.

McRoberts spoke about “living out the mission” through the story in Acts 8:26-38. In this passage, the Spirit tells Philip to take the road to Gaza, where he encounters an Ethiopian eunuch reading from Isaiah. Philip asks if he understands what he’s reading, to which the eunuch replies, “How can I unless someone guides me?” Philip takes the time to sit with him, explain the passage, and share the gospel. Moved by their conversation, the eunuch is baptized in a nearby body of water.

This story is powerful because Philip didn’t know where he was going, he simply obeyed when God said, “Get up and go south.” He followed when the Spirit said, “Go and join that chariot.” Often we are too quick to act when God is simply calling us to listen; first to Himself, then to those you want to love. As believers, we don’t grow the seeds, that’s God’s work. McRoberts’ final point resonated deeply: Philip was ‘on his way to…’ I know that if I focus too much on where I’m going, I risk seeing people as only a mission, and forget to love them as a person.

This is why I love Young Life. It’s a relational ministry where I get to be intentional about loving kids because God is so intentional about loving me. I invite you to add Newton Young Life to your prayer list and lift up the next generation of believers in prayer.

Blessings,

Jayden Smith

Part-Time to Full-Time to Director to Pastor

Since August 2022, I’ve had the privilege of overseeing Bryant Hart as one of our staff members at Grace.  I’ve watched as he started part-time in communications, thrived in his role, and switched to full time taking on more responsibilities.  After he went full-time, we started designating some of his hours towards youth ministry because of his passion and gifting with students.  Last June he transitioned to the role of student ministries director, and I’ve watched joyfully as he has bloomed in this role.  He pours his heart into the students and into his ministry.  He has quickly gained favor and respect with the students and is doing a great job leading our student ministry.  I’m excited to continue watching him grow in what he was born to do!

            As we’ve seen his heart for shepherding students grow, and his spiritual leadership increase, we’ve recognized the pastoral calling on his life.  With this in mind, the Elders have changed his title from Student Ministries Director to Student Ministries Pastor.  This is an affirmation of His leadership and calling.  He will continue leading the Student Ministry and serving our church as a Pastor.

            If you don’t have any students, I invite you to pray over the student ministry. Pray that our student ministry raises up students to be the church!  If you have students who are not involved with our student ministry, I encourage you to consider talking to them about getting involved.  I’m sure they will not regret it!  I believe that there are good things coming for our students, and I’m already seeing glimpses of those things!  Honestly, I can’t help but be thankful and smile as I think about Bryant’s influence and encouragement to my teenagers through their involvement in our student ministry.  I’m excited that Noah will get 3 more years of being shepherded under the pastoral leadership of Bryant Hart!

See you Sunday!

Pastor Kyle

Under the Weather

I woke up Saturday feeling sore and lethargic and thought, “Well, I am getting older...they did warn me about this. Maybe I overdid it when removing the ice and snow from my front door and part of the driveway?”

It’s not like I’ve never been tired before.

However, once I checked my temperature at 102 degrees, I realized I wasn’t just sore. My heart sank. I was excited about preaching the next day, and it’s not easy getting someone else to step in to preach at the last minute.

On Monday I was still pretty sick and decided to visit the doctor (technically a Physician’s Assistant). I found out that my body was fighting Influenza A, my heart was fighting disappointment from being out of commission and unproductive, and my mind was fighting all the missed work and rearranging of the week.

Being unable to work or even help my family with normal chores has been discouraging to say the least. Being under the weather is like being trapped under a rock. I’m sick of it...

However, this has provided moments of clarity.

For one, I am blessed with an exceptional wife. Courtney took care of me and everybody else in the house for multiple days and was nice about it. Never complained.

Second, our church is blessed with a multitude of godly leaders. Our elders and pastors came together and nothing was missed (except for me, hopefully). Wasn’t Pastor Dave’s message exactly what we needed to hear? He did a great job preaching on the lost parables of Luke 15.

I also realized again that it’s not a sin for me to be “unproductive.” I’m a strong advocate for resting in the Lord, but it didn’t translate to when I am sick for some reason.

I still have a fever today (Tuesday), but I am definitely feeling better than I did previously. Lord willing, I plan to be with you this weekend. My “at home nurse” told me I must be fever free without the aid of meds for at least 24 hours before I can be around other humans again. So, if you could add that to your prayers,I would greatly appreciate i

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Jack

Changed Their Lives

I was singing, but it was no longer just singing—it was worship. I developed friendships that are more like family now. For the first time, I knew God was trying to tell me something. I gave my life to Christ. I shared my faith for the first time. I surrendered to the call of ministry God had placed on my life. All of these moments happened at camp. All of these moments changed my life for the better—forever.

Camp was the tool God used in my life to reveal all these things to me, and He does the same for thousands of students every year.

In my role at Grace, I want to urge every parent, guardian, and caretaker to sign up their students for camp this year. I believe every student should go to camp with us, and here's why: Camp is one of the most integral parts of the youth ministry mission at Grace. It is an environment that fosters not just incremental growth but exponential growth in all areas—spiritual, relational, and physical. We go to Fuge because every element of camp is soaked in gospel intentionality. It pushes students out of their comfort zones, creating fertile ground for growth.

Students will gain new experiences and make lifelong friendships. They will bond with leaders who want to walk alongside them and point them to Christ throughout middle and high school. They will be challenged to take their faith seriously and share it with others. Students will encounter God in ways they may never have before. These experiences... that growth... IS LIFE-CHANGING! Every student in our ministry needs to go to camp—no exceptions.

To those in our church who do not have students in their homes, I ask you to pray. Pray fervently, pray often, and pray with great faith for our students. They are the torchbearers next in line to carry on the faith Christ has passed down to us.

Thank you, Grace, for being a church that values reaching the next generation!

Peace and blessings,
Bryant Hart

To sign up for camp, follow the link below or email Bryant at bryant@gccnewton.com. The registration deadline is February 1st.
https://gccnewton.churchcenter.com/registrations/events/2583429

Foundations and Fiery Arrows

I got a lot of time to read scripture over the holiday season. I had six vacation days to use, and so I used them. We had time with family near and far, got some rest, road-tripped (which is about my favorite thing ever,) and just enjoyed some downtime. It was what I needed, and I thank God for it.

I got to read some books and also got to read plenty of scripture! It is always such a joy to have unstructured and plentiful time in God’s Word. I read a lot in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes that are old favorites of mine. I also read 2 Corinthians which is a new and current favorite! However, I was struck by Matthew 7. One of the passages that changed me the most when I was a teen was Mathew 7:21-23 which says:

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

I thought I knew God but learned in that verse that thinking I knew him did not matter. It mattered if He knew me! The only way for God to know us and for us to know Him, is by entering into a saving relationship with God by trusting Jesus to pay the debt of our sins through His death on the cross. Believing that He died for our sins, was buried, and then rose from the dead on the 3rd day so that we can defeat death and live with Him forever is the only way to have a relationship with God. 

When I am able to read God’s word in an unstructured time, my mind often goes back to old classics like that or goes to find new favorites as I did in 2nd Corinthians. However, what struck me when I went to Matthew 7 was the entirety of that chapter. 

Headings that describe a paragraph or chapter in your Bible are not part of the God-written (inspired) and mistake-free (inerrant) parts of the Bible. That being said, when they represent the passage well, they can help organize our thoughts and remind us what the main point of that section is. They can, in a small way, help as we interpret, meditate, or explain scripture. Not to the same degree that scripture itself declares its truth, but in this instance, I knew the passage well but did not know the headings. It struck me that Matthew 7 contains some of the most foundational sections of scripture for how the church operates. It contains some of the most misguided or ignored teachings of the Bible that create wounds in peoples' lives when they interact with churches or church members who are not following Jesus well!

That is why my title is Foundations and Fiery Arrows. When Matthew 7 informs us how we do church, our churches will have a lot of health. When we don’t use it well or when we ignore it, then our enemy has a wonderful time shooting fiery arrows at God’s people and wounding them right and left!

Here is a list of the headings in my Bible. I will give a short explanation of why each is foundational and how it is misused or ignored to become a wounding projectile in people’s lives. You should read each section of scripture yourself, and I think you will see the foundational truths and feel the sting of would-be arrows.

Judging Others- Matthew 7:1-6

As a good stone in God’s foundation, this passage reminds us to not judge each other in our pride! There are stern warnings against being a hypocrite and we all know being true to who we say we are makes huge strides for health in a church.

On the flip side, people judging others and then being a hypocrite on that issue, is one of the most common complaints people have about “church people.” We are bad and we make bad decisions that hurt people… people in our church usually have no problem with that but if you do not own the mistakes you make and then judge other people for the mistakes they made, they may avoid the church forever.

Ask, And It Will Be Given- Matthew 7:7-11

The foundational truth could not be taught more clearly that God loves giving us good gifts and that when we ask for good (and that good may be our own repentance or suffering,) He would never give us evil instead. When the church lives this out, they ask God for Himself and for His good gifts with determination and long-lasting excitement for what He will do.

Our enemy loves to twist this in churches. He wants us to think we can ask for anything, and then, if we have enough faith, we will get it. That’s a lie that gets people to have false expectations. They think getting what they want depends on them and not on the will of an always good God, and then it leaves them high and dry when they don’t get God to act like their genie-in-a-bottle. This crushes people and makes them feel the church hurt them but that God hurt them directly and on purpose.

The Golden Rule- Matthew 7:12-14

This is one of the most foundational statements for how God made the entire moral structure of the world and how He wants us to act in it. Do to others what you want them to do to you. No explanation needed. A healthy church does this and does it joyfully!

When this wonderful foundational stone in God’s church gets sharpened into a fiery arrow to wound people, it is simply ignored. People do what they want to do with no consideration of how they would feel if the same thing was done to them. They become selfish at best, and at worst, they take the place of God as judge, jury, and executioner. They treat people how they think that person deserves to be treated. They have no idea what God is doing in that person's life and they don’t care, and they treat that person as worthless. This fiery arrow creates carnage when unleashed!

A Tree And It’s Fruit- Matthew 7:15-20

Turns out Jesus does want us to evaluate things. You might even say judging is approved here. When the church evaluates messages about what God taught them and do not judge other people in pride, they do a good thing. They should look at the fruit created by a ministry. Good fruit equals a good tree that could bear more good fruit in the future. Bad fruit means the tree is bad, and that messenger should not be approved in the future. Notice that fruit should be evaluated primarily and not the messenger or the message. The Bible teaches us to evaluate the messenger and the message, but in other passages. This done well means a church has fruit bearing ministry and not just ministry that people like or think is good.

When used wrong, people just don’t evaluate things. They disregard this passage. They use Matthew 7:1-6 and the message not to judge others to cancel out this encouragement to actively judge things. We miss a lot of blind spots and healthy growth when we don’t weed out the bad ministry trees in our churches.

I Never Knew You- Matthew 7:21-23

Like I said earlier, this passage should help us evaluate our hearts. Do you know a lot about God, or think you do? That is, or should be, no comfort to you. Do you know Jesus? Do you trust in Him and Him alone for your relationship with God? And do you know that God knows you? If you aren’t sure of that you should not worry about anything else until you have that question answered for yourself!

When this passage wounds us, it's when we disregard the divisive truth it contains. “Me and God are Mates” was a line from a movie I saw as a youth. God loves you like a son which is more than anyone loves their friend. He brought havoc, death, and ultimate pain on Himself for you… and it wasn’t to curl up and watch Netflix on your couch with you! God loves you yes but it's not until you stop trusting yourself and start trusting Him. Then He will stop at nothing to be there for you… but only if He knows you!

Build Your House On The Rock- Matthew 7:24-27

There is a kid's song about it because if you don’t build your life on Jesus and His Word, everything crumbles! Churches built on Jesus Himself live and thrive. Build on literally anything else… rubble it is or soon will be!

This hurts people when they make a “once and for all” determination that their church is built on the rock. We all drift and sometimes we drift away from what God has for us as a group. Entire churches drift every day. Some choose to drift from harsh truths they don’t like. They end up disregarding God’s Word completely at some points (some would call these liberal churches). The other extreme seems more righteous but is just as dangerous. Some people build their churches or lives on traditions, severe religious practices, and exclusive group dynamics (these are often called legalists or ultra-conservative groups). Both of those extremes our enemy loves. If you are surrounded by religious people who build their house on top of rules that they hope help them obey God’s word, then you will feel the fiery sting of never being good enough. Worse yet, you will essentially wound yourself fatally if you ever start thinking you are good enough and that you do measure up. If you join people who want everything soft with blurry boundaries, you will join in a bunch of people convincing themselves they are happy as they eat sugar with no substance until they die of malnutrition. They walk happily into the enemy’s trap thinking God loves them and wants them to do whatever they want and feel however they want to feel. We have to decide every day to build our house on Jesus. Everybody and every group drift. We are not Whole or Holy yet, and until we are, we have to check the foundations of our house daily! 

The Authority Of Jesus- Matthew 7:28-29

This is a simple statement but foundational. Jesus taught with the power of God. If we remember that we all stay healthy together. Following Him and what He said is not optional. It’s life or death.

Death comes when we lose our desperation. When we forget our need for Jesus’ constant authority in our lives and churches our lives and churches immediately catch fire from any number of arrows launched by our enemy.

For any of you who read to the end, you deserve a medal. Let’s each be a part of using Matthew 7 as foundational for our lives and our life together as a church. It has been a huge blessing as I have processed my wounds from the past and meditated on the foundational truths that God so graciously provides through His Word. 

With Much Joy,

Pastor Will

The Ultimate Gift

As a child, Christmas was a magical time filled with new toys, delicious food, and the excitement of gifts. It was one of the few days of the year, besides your birthday, when you could count on receiving presents. What wasn’t there to love about that? Christmas was simple then—fun, carefree, and full of excitement. It is sad that growing up usually means losing that childlike joy and seeing Christmas as a season of stress and tight funds. 

Growing up, I loved gifts. I knew that the meaning of Christmas was the day Jesus was born, however, I knew I would be receiving His birthday presents. I remember waking up at 6 or 7 years old, racing out of my room, eager to see what gifts awaited me. Every year, I received more than enough, but there was always one thing I longed for, a Barbie Dream House. I had enough dolls, clothes, and accessories to supply an army, but my Barbies remained homeless.

Then, one Christmas, as I was about to give up hope, I unwrapped my last gift. Beneath the wrapping paper, I spotted a pink box. My heart jumped, and I ran to my mom, grinning from ear to ear. That moment became the highlight of my childhood, nothing could compare to the joy I felt after waiting years for this gift.

A couple of years ago, it hit me that I might never feel that same level of excitement again. As I’ve reflected on Christmas this year, I’m reminded that the heart of the holiday goes far beyond presents. Making Advent posts on social media has been a way for me to pause and consider the deeper meanings of Christmas— hope, peace, joy, and love. And, as cliché as it may sound, I’ve realized that the greatest gift I’ve ever received was given to me long ago. The book of James reminds us, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17). As a child, I might have disagreed, but now I understand that the birth of Jesus is far more than just the arrival of a baby, it is the ultimate gift.

This Christmas, I’ve found hope (Isaiah 25:9), knowing that the One Israel waited for came and fulfilled all He promised. That same hope fills me as I look forward to Him returning. I’ve found peace (Isaiah 9:6-7), knowing that the Prince of Peace will reign forever, bringing peace with no end. And I’ve found joy (John 3:16-17), knowing that God’s only Son came to be the ultimate sacrifice for me, and knowing that His Spirit is with us because of that sacrifice. Finally, I’ve been overwhelmed with love (Galatians 4:4-5), knowing that through Jesus’ birth, I’ve been adopted into God’s family. 

If I could be filled with so much joy from receiving a Barbie Dream House, how much greater is the joy I experience now, knowing that my Savior has come once and will come again?

Merry Christmas!

Jayden Smith

Christmas Eve Invites

I think the best way to lead others to Jesus is through relationships. That’s why I try and get to know the people in our neighborhood.  We pray diligently for the people in the homes around us, and sometimes we are able to do dinner together with some of our neighbors.  Sure, I invite them to church, but I’m more interested in loving them, finding out what they love, serving them, and talking with them about God.

And then there’s Christmas.  Christmas is one of those seasons when I push the invite to Church a little harder.  Studies show that people in America are more likely to walk through the doors of a church facility on Christmas Eve Service than just about any other time of the year.  It’s one of the best opportunities we have all year to invite people to Grace! 

Just like last year, we have a plan.  We like to make Christmas goodies.  We especially enjoy Avalanche Bark, Buckeyes, toffee, and Oreo balls.  We set aside the better-looking ones for our neighbors, because we care about presentation!  The funny-looking ones still taste great, so we eat those up!  Apparently, there is an art to dipping chocolates that I haven’t mastered yet.  Our Communications Coordinator, Jayden, has made a nice Christmas Eve invite that will be in the programs this Sunday.  I like to grab extras of those to share when we deliver our Christmas goodies.  Finally, we find a nice evening and walk door to door in our neighborhood to wish people a Merry Christmas, share some of our favorite Christmas goodies, and invite them to our Christmas Eve services!

So, who are you praying for in your neighborhood or at your workplace?  Who does God want you to invite to our Christmas Eve Services?  I hope when you get your program this Sunday, you’ll take home the invite, pray over it, and share it with a neighbor or coworker.  Feel free to steal our idea and take some Christmas goodies with you when you deliver the invite.  I’m praying that God would give us favor and prepare hearts as we invite people to Grace. 

See you Sunday!

Pastor Kyle

Faith Supplements

Having tried the carnivore diet, I relearned that my body requires a variety of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients to be healthy. I can’t live off bread alone, or steak alone, or any one food alone. God designed our bodies to reflect His infinite wisdom, power, and creativity; and our dependency and vulnerability.

Turns out our spiritual nature is not that different. For us to be spiritually healthy, Peter writes that we must add to our faith 7 qualities that will help us walk with God and benefit from His “great and precious promises” (2 Peter 1:4–7). He makes the point that growing in Christ requires more than faith.

Then he offers two more ideas for the church to learn from: growing in Christ takes lots of practice, and growing in Christ needs constant reminders (2 Peter 1:8–15).

Why lots of practice and constant reminders?

Starting in verse 8, we notice how we must “possess these qualities in increasing measure.” These Christian qualities are not one-and-done items that can be checked off or completed. We must practice them over time for them to increase in our lives. Otherwise, Peter tells us that we will be “useless or unfruitful.”

In verses 9–11, we learn that if you don’t practice these things constantly, you will end up choosing and practicing sin. A lack of practice will cloud your judgment and you won’t see that you are going back to a life that’s contrary to God—“blind, shortsighted, and has forgotten the cleansing from past sins.”

This is why Peter keeps reminding them of these 7 faith supplements: “Therefore I will always remind you about these things...to wake you up with a reminder...and I will also make every effort so that you are able to recall these things...”

Taking Peter’s example, we can set up reminders for ourselves so that we will not only apply them but pass them on to others so that they recall them after we are gone. This is what it means to be a disciple that makes disciples.

It’s no accident that Peter’s focus was the continuation of these Christian qualities throughout all generations of the church. Disciple-making was God’s plan from the beginning.

My prayer for myself and those I love (you’re included in that list) is that we will evaluate our lives to see how we are growing in these 7 qualities. We choose whether we practice them in greater ways. Only we can remind ourselves and one another to apply them and not lose sight of what’s important. This way our intimacy with Christ will prove useful and fruitful.

I’m looking forward to the Kids’ Christmas program on Sunday and getting to preach on what it means that Jesus is the light of the world. See you then! 

Grace, mercy, and peace,

Pastor Jack

Thanksgiving Prayer

Happy Thanksgiving! May the Lord bless you and your family in an abundance of ways.

I recently learned about a study conducted by some neuroscientists, which found that anxiety and thankfulness come from the same part of the brain. This means that only one can be present at a time. Where thankfulness is, anxiety cannot be. I do not know your Thanksgiving plans, nor do I know all of your current life circumstances, but I do know our Father wants you to call on His name.

Today, no matter your circumstances—high or low—spend a few minutes praying in a posture of thankfulness to Jehovah Jireh, which means “The Lord My Provider.”

If you’d like, please use the prompts below!

1. Thank God for Salvation

“Lord, we thank You for the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. We praise You for the forgiveness of our sins and the promise of eternal life. Help us to live in daily gratitude for this incredible gift and to share it with others.”

2. Gratitude for God’s Sovereignty

“Heavenly Father, we praise You for being in control of all things. Thank You that even in uncertain times, Your plans are perfect, and Your love is steadfast. Help us to trust in Your sovereignty and rest in Your peace. You are the Prince of Peace”

3. Thank God for providing

“Lord, we are grateful for Your faithful provision in our lives. Thank You for the food on our tables, the homes we live in, and the many blessings, big and small, that come from You. You are Jehovah Jireh, you are my provider.”

4. Thankfulness for Community

“Father, thank You for the gift of fellowship within the body of Christ. We are grateful for our church family, for their love and encouragement, and for the ways You use us to build each other up.”

5. Praise God’s Creation

“Lord, we thank You for the beauty of Your creation. From the changing seasons to the intricate details of nature, we see Your power and creativity. Help us to steward Your creation wisely and with thanksgiving.”

6. Gratitude in Trials

“God, even in the challenges of life, we choose to give thanks. Thank You for using trials to grow our faith, teach us perseverance, and draw us closer to You. Help us to see Your hand at work, even when life is hard.”

7. Reflect on Family Blessings

“Father, thank You for the blessing of family. Whether our relationships are thriving or in need of healing, we acknowledge Your goodness in placing us in the families You’ve chosen. Help us to love, forgive, and encourage one another.”

8. Thanksgiving for His word

“Lord, we are so grateful for Your Word. Thank You for the truth, guidance, and comfort it brings to our lives. May we treasure it deeply, meditate on it daily, and live by its wisdom.”

9. A Challenge to Gratitude in Action

“God, help us to show our thankfulness in action. May we be generous with the blessings You’ve given us, serve others joyfully, and give sacrificially as an act of gratitude. Let our lives reflect Your goodness to a watching world.”

10. Give Thanks for God’s Faithfulness

“Father, we thank You for Your faithfulness through every season of life. From past blessings to present mercies and future promises, You are always good. Help us to remember and proclaim Your faithfulness to the next generation.”

Happy Thanksgiving,

Bryant Hart

Jesus Was No Damsel in Distress

Recently I heard an incomplete Gospel presentation. My goal is to explain why it was incomplete and to give you a picture to sit with. I will use some theological terms but will not give complete definitions of those terms because this is not meant to provide definitions. Painting a picture is art, and is by definition somewhat subjective. However, the impact can be powerful when properly given its appropriate influence in our hearts. Jesus painted word pictures and used object lesions repeatedly. Though my example will fall utterly short of His abilities, it comes from a real experience and I hope because of that, it can speak to you.

We often think of Jesus as meek and mild, a loving shepherd caring for a gentle and helpless lamb, and He was and is. We are those baby lambs and we are incredibly weak and helpless. I have raised sheep, and known many shepherds and sheep farmers. They will all agree that however cute a lamb is… its cuteness will not save its life. Its utter reliance on its mother cannot be understated. If the mother is poor in health or dies then that lamb becomes fully dependent on the shepherd to either be its caretaker or to get it a surrogate mother. Jesus does not just shepherd His baby lambs like in a sweet scene from a View-Master (look that reference up if you are under 40), or a Netflix special. Similarly to the movie “Star,” He not only has to be gentle with the lambs He also has to fight off the stray dogs that want a snack!

That picture is the background to the Gospel presentation that I heard… and it went like this… “Jesus died for us to show us how much He loved us!” Truer words have never been spoken! But left to themselves they utterly fall short and the message is so incomplete it becomes incorrect. It was a sacrificial love that drove Jesus to the cross where He died… However, the presentation that I quoted above did not mention the cross, the suffering, the pain, or what our role was in making Him approach that great scene of injustice and justice combined. Jesus did die because He loved us but the incomplete statement I heard painted the picture of Jesus as a white-robed damsel, throwing Himself off a cliff and sweetly explaining “I Loooooooooove Yoooooooou!” on the way down. He was willing to do anything to show how sweetly He cared for us…. like a love-struck damsel from the Middle Ages, like a Romeo who couldn’t live without His Juliette, like a Disney character that was incomplete without their crush. Is that what sent Jesus to the Cross to suffer death, a criminal’s death, an agonizing death, and all the while being the only innocent person to ever be executed??? 
NO!

Jesus was NO damsel in distress!

He walked into the teeth of death itself, He walked at whatever image of pure evil and death you can imagine like a dragon of immense size and temperature, a black void where no light escapes or where no life can exist… He walked into that! More like a shepherd cradling a newborn lamb with no strength while fighting off a pack of wolves barehanded. He had to go towards death that way because the reason for His death was our own ugly, bitter, infectious, and ravenous SIN. He had no flowers in His hair and did not sing a sweet song as he pranced off of a grassy knoll into sweet oblivion. He marched in agony into the horrors of separation from God so that we, His little lambs, would not have to. All He asks of us for His endurance of the most terrible suffering possible is this… to repent (turn away) from our unbelief and believe in His death, burial, and resurrection. That the power of those gives us new life, pays our sin debt that we owe God Himself, and that our hope of a future with Him forever is secure based on that faith. That is the trust of a baby lamb in its shepherd… who will not only give it all the gentleness it needs but will keep every killer wolf at bay. 

Jesus’ love is not the pitiable and pansies-draped love of a damsel. He loves us like a Shepherd King who understands the very essence of Sacrifice… and so it is not out of pride that He expects us to trust, turn, and listen only to Him, as well as follow Him every day with absolute obedience. 

This Christmas remember the star, the light, the gentleness, the cuteness of it all. But also when you hear the Christmas carol sung in the minor key, do not forget the darkness that the light is saving us from. Sit with these pictures I have tried to paint and if you are privileged enough to share the Gospel remember to share what Jesus saved you from and what His sacrifice means to you!

Pastor Will

One Step at a Time

I used to consider myself a very patient person. I was calm and level-headed 90% of the time, never one to succumb to road rage. I was fine with waiting in long lines or being stuck in traffic—these things didn't faze me. For a while, I wore my patience like a badge of honor. Waiting three hours for a roller coaster? No problem. Sitting in traffic? I was just hanging out. I thought that the Spirit in me was radiating patience, until it felt like it wasn’t.

In April of 2023, I broke my ankle in three places and was told I wouldn’t be able to walk for 10-12 weeks. Inconveniently, in 15 weeks, I was taking kids to camp in Colorado, and in 16 weeks, I was moving to Georgia to work at a camp in the Appalachian Mountains. Suddenly, patience felt like a distant memory. I found myself consumed by frustration, anger, and fear about the future. Verses like 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 and Isaiah 30:18 seemed to mock me rather than comfort me.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says,
"Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."

And Isaiah 30:18 says,
"Therefore the Lord is waiting to show you mercy,
and is rising up to show you compassion,
for the Lord is a just God.
All who wait patiently for Him are happy."

It was hard to imagine being happy, let alone patient, in the midst of such pain. Being forced to rely on others for everything made it even more difficult to “rejoice always”. But in hindsight, I believe God was trying to slow me down. I had been living at a fast pace, rarely stopping to notice His presence around me. Through this experience, I began to redefine patience. I realized that patience isn’t just about enduring for a few hours or days—it can also mean waiting for months, even seasons, with hope and trust. I learned to be patient with myself, too. I couldn't rush my healing process or force my body to recover faster. I had to wait, to accept where I was in the moment, and trust that God was using this time to shape me.

What once felt like a setback has, in fact, brought me closer to God. Through this journey, I’ve come to understand that patience isn’t just about waiting—it’s about trusting, learning, and growing, even in the hardest moments.

Have a blessed day :)

Jayden Smith

“He removes kings and sets up kings”

Trump is going to be president again.  God knew this, and He is sovereign over this.

This past Sunday I shared about living as exiles.  Our eternal home is with God in heaven and we look forward to that.  While we are here, we are exiles, and we seek the welfare of our city and nation.  And we pray for our leaders and for the peace of our country.  Some of you are probably thinking, for sure I can be praying and seeking the welfare of our city, especially since Trump is going to be president again. Let me challenge us, that even if Harris had been elected, we would still do these things.

Jeremiah wrote to the exiles to seek the welfare of the city where God had exiled them to, and to pray for it.  One of the guys in exile in Babylon was Daniel.  He was taken to Babylon as a youth.  He continued to worship the one true God and lived to glorify his maker.  After God revealed the meaning of Nebuchadnezzer’s dream to Daniel, Daniel is recorded as saying “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might.  He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding…”  We can also follow Daniel’s example as an exile, by continuing to seek the Lord for wisdom and bless His name.  We also acknowledge with Daniel that God removes presidents and sets up new presidents.  He is sovereign.  He is in control.  Daniel knew that God had set up Nebuchadnezzar as King.  We know that God had set up Biden as president.  His authority was given to him by God (Romans 13).  

Today I’m thankful for the results of the election, but I also know that we were not meant to rely on the government or put our trust in leaders. We continue to put our trust in God.  Let’s commit to praying for Trump and other leaders, and let’s continue to live as exiles, seeking peace for our nation and desiring our heavenly home.

See you Sunday!

Pastor Kyle

Prayer is NOT a List of Requests

It changed my prayer life completely. I used to go into prayer in order to ask God for things or to do something. I had no idea that prayer was never meant to be just a list, but a means of intimacy, comfort, silence, and growth.

Here’s my acronym that outlines how I pray and what it leads to in my life. I’ll only be explaining the part I didn’t include in the October sermon series (Yield):

PRAISE leads to Purpose & Identity.

REPENT leads to Forgiveness & Peace.

ASK leads to Provision & Trust.

YIELD leads to Obedience & Maturity

In order to “yield” in prayer, I’ve had to learn how to pray as I read through the Bible. I want to hear from God because I love Him and He’s my Father. Since He has spoken through the Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16), listening to Him requires that I read His Word.

As I’m reading, I meditate on the words that stick out, taking brief moments to ask God to help me understand Him. Some of the Bible is difficult to understand even though I’ve been studying it for over two decades. A prayer I have memorized from the Bible comes from:

Psalm 119:18 (CSB) 18 Open my eyes so that I may contemplate wondrous things from your instruction.

It’s important to quietly listen for God’s direction as you are thinking about what is written in the Bible. This silence won’t be wasted.

Understanding His Word always leads to a changed life. As He is transforming my mind and heart, my actions are ready to follow. What God said was never meant to be buried in the past, but is still meant to be applied today.

As I contemplate how He wants me to apply His truth to my life, I often pray:

Psalm 139:23–24 (CSB) 23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.

This kind of prayerful contemplation and silence has be known as Lectio Divina in the past. (You can google it if you want to learn more.)

The bottom line is, God wants our prayer time with Him to include listening, not just talking. It should lead to obedience to what He said. And that obedience will turn into maturity if we let it.

I’m comforted by Jesus’ word to the disciples in John 14:

John 14:21 (CSB) 21 The one who has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father. I also will love him and will reveal myself to him.”

God’s interest in your one-on-one time with Him is love. He desires for you to grow in your love for Him.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Jack

Starts With V Ends With You

Are any of you major board game people like I am? Now, I'm not talking about “Candy Land” or the “Sorry” game. Not a mambo jambo game based on chance that’s over in 10 minutes. I’m talking about the longest game of Monopoly you’ve ever played or a strategy-filled game of Settlers of Catan. The games that take time and involve strategically outsmarting your opponents? That’s the kind of game I want to play. Maybe it's just because I am a guy and there are some of those building and conquering instincts in the fabric of my DNA, but I absolutely love the games where you conquer land or territories. In all these games, finding vulnerabilities in your opponent's defense is the name of the game. Sneak attacking, maneuvering, and positioning yourself in such a way that their vulnerabilities are exposed helps you win the night.

Now, what I find joy in, in board games, does not necessarily translate to the real world, but I believe there are some parallels to be drawn.

The Lord has placed on my heart the need for real vulnerability within the Church, and I mean the big "C" Church, not necessarily just Grace Community Church. I think this is one area that can be hard for Christians and humanity in general. Because of the sinful nature that is within us, there have been moments where individuals have weaponized someone's vulnerabilities or taken advantage of a vulnerable place in their life, and that can cause pain that rocks people to their core! This can cause us to throw up walls around our lives, where vulnerability is never allowed to show its face again.

Another danger that the Church faces is a “holier than thou” culture that never allows someone to be real with the mistakes and difficulties they might be currently facing. If the expectation is “I’m perfect, so you have to be too,” vulnerability will never safely be a part of normal routines within that community.

James 5:16 says, "Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." I have personally experienced the power of this verse and the value of being vulnerable with your community. Whenever we hold our cards close to our chest or struggle in silence, it's almost as if we’re fighting two battles: one against the struggle itself, and the other being the human need for community. Life only gets harder.

We were created to be honest and vulnerable with God and with others. Jesus modeled it in His flesh as He was approaching the day He would be hung on the cross. He cried out to God and was vulnerable to the fact that His flesh did not want to endure the pain. He didn't bottle it up, push it down, put a smile on His face, and tell the disciples, “Life is good.” He begged the disciples to come and pray with Him, for He was “grieved to the point of death” (Matthew 26:38).

Vulnerability, I believe, is a spiritual discipline that requires more attention than we realize. Vulnerability does not just happen by chance. It takes intentionality. On a spiritual level, it takes the constant removal of pride and the laying of everything at the feet of Jesus through prayer and petition. The more we do this, the easier it gets, as is the case with any discipline.

Now I am going to say something that is somewhat difficult. Vulnerability in a community where it is not present starts with you. If you look around and think, “I have nowhere to be vulnerable,” or, “Nobody seems to be honest with their struggles,” there is a strong possibility that God wants a culture and community of vulnerability to start with you. You just might be the needed vessel God wants to use. One thing I have learned in communities of vulnerability is that it gets easier and easier the more people around you are doing it. So if it is not happening around you, I’ll say this: it starts with you. Almost every time I haven't wanted to share the darkest parts of my testimony or be honest about my current struggles in life, but in obedience, I share anyway, the Lord has blessed those moments immensely. It’s worth it. Be vulnerable.

Where do you need to be more vulnerable? For your own sake, for others' sake, and for the kingdom's sake?

Peace and Blessings,
Bryant Hart

Ditches...

When I was in 2nd grade, I had a teacher (she was a long-term substitute because my teacher was getting cancer treatment) who wanted to push me to “do better” in my school work. She had me write an essay about what I wanted to be when I grew up. I did not have the best feelings for this teacher because she had sent me to the office multiple times, and I was not used to getting sent to the office. This teacher and I had a personality clash. I liked learning but did not like doing repetitive assignments that went over the same material over and over. I wanted to get my work done and learn something new. All my teachers before had liked my energetic nature (or at least they told my parents so), but this one preferred still and silent, more than I was able to muster in my 7-year-old little boy body. I think the principal knew this because I never even got a raised voice from him when I was sent there. He would usually just let me sit in the office for 15 min and then send me back. Well, I saw her strategy coming… I had been around my parents enough and knew this assignment was to,“prove a point.” 

And so, in a very Christmas Story movie way, I set out to write an essay to prove a point of my own. My goal was not to get a BB gun out of the deal like in the movie, but it was to write an essay that would get her off my back… And so I attempted in my feeble 7-year-old mind to write the most convincing essay about how my life goal was to be a ditch digger. To toil away with a strong back and weak mind digging the deepest and longest trenches by hand at a speed that modern machinery could not compete with, much in the vein of the classic Legend of John Henry. My plan was to show her that I wouldn’t use all this learning I was getting anyway, so she should lessen her desire to see me excel. Well... after my teacher called my parents, and I got in sufficient trouble, deservedly so, I ended up having a good relationship with this substitute. She just wanted to push me to do as well as I could, and I actually liked being one of her helpers after that.

I told this slightly off-topic and personal story simply to highlight that I have always had an affinity for ditches. I did like to dig with a shovel as a boy, with an excavator as a man, and still to this day, don’t mind turning over some dirt. I also love the lesson I learned about clear communication and hard relationships turning good. But something I love even now is knowing where the ditches are in life. Maybe some of you remember driving with your dad and grandpa and hearing them say as they swerved on the road, “Well at least I kept it between the ditches!” The emphasis of that quip is an admission of some less-than-perfect driving, but also that the greater danger of leaving the road for the ditch was avoided. Life is not so different than that. I have tried to hone in on what I want my kids to know at this stage in their lives, and have landed on a few very simple things. I pray the fruit of the Spirit over them. The list found in Galatians 5:22 and 23 lists them as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We have also talked about those gifts, enough so that they remind me how often I forget to quote “faithfulness” when I quote the list. Now I can never forget it and nail the list… finally getting it consistently right after probably having it “memorized" for 25ish years. But what I love about this list is that it truly is a ditch, or rather if you live out these gifts of the Spirit, you will not go into the ditch because of the phrase tacked on after self-control. Paul, the writer of Galatians, says, “Against such things, there is no law.” Whatever mistakes you make when swerving a little on the road of life, you will avoid the big, scary ditches if you are living out the fruits of your connection to Jesus. Suffering will still happen. You will still annoy or frustrate people. You will hurt someone's feelings and have yours hurt as well, but there is no law against these things. These things will never swerve you into a ditch. 

My next “avoid the ditches” scripture to share with my kids will be Psalm 15. It starts with the basic question (in the Will paraphrase) “God… who can live with you?” And it ends with (again, my paraphrase), “You can’t swerve someone in a ditch who does these things.” I will let you read the middle stuff on your own, but again, I love these rock-solid promises. As I teach my kids, but also as I continually remind myself, God himself loves us enough to tell us how to avoid the ditches. Life is not like any of us imagined as a 7-year-old, I am sure, but there is so much joy in walking the road with Jesus. Whether you swerve a bit, or you get a little too excited and run ahead, or if you are struggling with despair and lagging behind. No matter your situation, Jesus offers a gentle path to stick close to HIM and with HIM to avoid the ditches.

Blessings,

Will Regier