Have you ever stopped to appreciate the things that are often overlooked? Some years ago, my wife and I had little Toyota Corolla that I drove daily. I had spent a lot of time in that car, so I was confident that I was aware of all its features. However, there was one feature that I wasn't aware of, and it was a coin storage container. I found it one day (full of coins) and if you had seen my reaction, you would've thought that I found a pearl of great price (Matthew 13:45-46).

Often, we can easily have that same relationship with our Bible. We spend time in it, we study it, but for some reason...we miss those exciting little details. I was reminded of that this past week as I opened my Bible to a familiar passage that I'd read, and even preached, on several occasions. As I read the first line of it, I was struck by its beauty all over again and moved to tears. While this wasn't a new point that I was noticing, it hit my heart as if I'd never noticed it before! So let me challenge you to ask God to help you see what you are seeing, and to be moved with gratitude for His goodness in showing you!

Thankful for seeing –

Pastor Patrick

As the legend goes, St. Patrick ran all the snakes out of Ireland. Well, I don't know about that being true, and if it is I'd like to learn his secret! One thing that is amazing was his heart that loved others enough to "go, show, and tell." Historians tell us that Patrick was born a Roman citizen in Britain but was taken captive and sold into hard slavery in Ireland. He later escaped Ireland and returned to Britain, where he became a bishop in the church. After all of this, he went back to Ireland as a missionary. While he wasn't the first missionary to Ireland, he is probably the most well-known!

I'm sure that we could look long enough into his history to find some problematic issues, as is the case with all of flawed men and women throughout history. But I just want to take a moment to consider the boldness he had go back to those who had done so much to hurt him and share with them the greatest gift of all time (the Gospel). What a great picture of selflessness and love! It reminds me of Philippians 2:3-4, which says, "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."

This St. Patrick's Day, instead of celebrating with the wildness of worldliness, or even making it all about wearing green (or pinching those who forgot), may we celebrate by considering how we might go, show, and tell others of the great love of Christ!

In Christ –

Pastor Patrick

Recently I was riding over to the church building and I passed a house that caught my eye. I go this way often, but for the life of me I couldn’t peg what was so different! Finally, I realized that the house had recently put up a new privacy fence. “Good for them” I thought to myself as I zipped on my way. Then it dawned on me…the fence was facing the wrong way! To make sure that I wasn’t mistaken, I looked up which way a privacy fence should face and there it was, in black and white, “the finished side should face the neighbor.” I chuckled a little to myself as I thought about this backward facing fence. Then, I thought to myself, maybe it wasn’t a mistake and the owner was more concerned about the inside view than the outside.

This made me think of Jesus’ words to the scribes & Pharisees in Matthew 23. In this text, Jesus gives a series of 7 scathing rebukes to these religious leaders, making for an incredibly tense moment there on the Temple Mount a few days before Jesus would be crucified. The particular “woe” that comes in mind is in Matthew 23:25-26, where Jesus says, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.”

How often are we tempted to be content with merely looking right rather than being right on the inside. Just like a new privacy fence, we’re often content to make sure that the neighborhood will look at it and think that we’ve got it all together, but the inside is all unmown grass and junk strewn across the yard of our hearts. That backward fence reminded me: pay attention to what’s going on in the heart, make sure the view from the inside is right before trying to put up a front to hide the fact that it isn’t!

Which way is your fence facing? What could it be hiding?

In Christ –

Pastor Patrick

This past Sunday evening, Pastor Kyle had the chance to do the Bible lesson for the 3-5 grade students in our Awana club. Being an athlete in every way, he began his lesson with an illustration from his days as a wrestling coach. He taught his favorite takedown called a "double leg takedown" and then showed the proper defense to that move called a "sprawl." As you can imagine, this captivated the interests of a room full of 3-5 graders!

But from this illustration, he took us to Matthew 4 and the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. He reminded the students and leaders that we will face attacks from Satan, and even our own fleshly desires, but we're not left defenseless against these attacks! He pointed to Jesus' use of Scripture in verses 4, 7, and 10 to defend against temptations to sin. The challenge there was to fill our minds with Scripture so that we might be able to stand against temptation when it comes. He also pointed out that Jesus didn't just mindlessly quote Scripture without it having an impact on his heart. Not only did Jesus know God's Word, but He loved it as well!

What a great question to ponder for every believer, and not just young students! Do we know God's Word? Knowing it, do we love the Word of God? The more we love His Word, the more we'll desire to know it, and the effect will be that we'll have an even greater desire to be walking in obedience to it. That's what we're after, knowing, loving, and obeying the word of God!

That you may know, love, and obey Him -

Pastor Patrick