A Day of Strength - Introduction

As the Apostle Paul concluded his famed epistle to the church at Ephesus, he encouraged the Christians there with these words, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His great power." (Ephesians 6:10)

What did Paul mean by "be strong in the Lord?" To be sure, it sounds like a condition to be desired, one that certainly beats the alternative. All of us want to be strong people, able to endure pressure and forge ahead in the face of resistance. No one wants to be weak, collapsing under life's load, unable to finish. 

Through the years, a lot of people have asked me to pray for them that they would be strong or that they would be strengthened. And, through those same years, I have met a lot of strong people who have shown incredible grace under fire; inspirational people who seem to have tapped into a source or a capacity unknown to others. What is their secret, these strong ones? 

I propose that their impressive strength actually has nothing to do with a secret; rather, they have simply found some key truths which are available to all of us.

It is obvious that God is creating a very special community out of us. He is truly making us strong in the Lord.

Peace

Stan Mitchell

Grace Maximized - Sunday Leftovers

I actually made it to the end of my sermon notes which is a bit of a rarity for me but I suppose that's a good thing. The only downside is it cuts into potential Leftover's content. So, in the absence of remnants, I'm left to consider what parts of the lesson I would like to have a do-over on and what I've thought of after-the-fact that I wish I would have thought of last week while preparing the sermon.

The gist of the message was the age-old theme of learning to live in the moment; to seize the day; to recognize the only place life is actually lived is in the present. At the present, I am sitting in a midnight showing of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, with Stan Jr and I am multi-tasking which might not be the most effective way of fulfilling the aforementioned goal.

So... I will cease and desist and get back to, what promises to be, a rip-roaring conclusion to this movie. And my best "leftover" advice is - avoid multi-tasking if you can and don't miss the gift of every moment.

Stan

The Maximized Life - Introduction

Have you ever had someone give you a break, a gift of mercy, let you off the hook, or otherwise just grace you with an unexpected gift? Whenever that happens to me I usually remind myself to make good use of the gift; to not waste it in other words. Not infrequently, I hear myself reminding my kids to do this with the breaks and advantages Nancy and I give them.

Our scripture text for tomorrow (which happens to be Father's Day!) is 2 Corinthians 6:1 which reads, "As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain." (New International Version) The Contemporary English Version has it, "We work together with God, and we beg you to make good use of God's kindness to you." And finally, Eugene Peterson's The Message captures that verse this way, "Companions as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don't squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us."

Tomorrow, from this verse, we are going to discuss what Jesus called "life more abundant" or "eternal life." I call it a maximized life or a life fully lived. We are going to focus on ways to take full advantage of this gift we have been given as well as note five life wasters that we should avoid at all costs. I trust this very practical theme is going to be highly relevant to all of us, so I hope you will join your church family at one of our worship services (9:00 & 10:45).

Looking forward to the Lord's Day.