What’s God’s will according to 1 Thess 5:16-18?
JPT!
Joyful. Prayerful. Thankful.

As we seek to be in constant communication with Jesus, I cam across this from Francois Fenelon, a seventeenth-century Roman Catholic Frenchman, said this about prayer: “Tell God all that is in your heart, as one unloads one's heart, its pleasures and its pain, to a dear friend. Tell Him your troubles, that He may comfort you; tell Him your joys, that He may sober them; tell Him your longings, that He may purify them; tell Him your dislikes, that He may help you to conquer them; talk to Him of your temptations, that He may shield you from them; show Him the wounds of your heart, that He may heal them; lay bare your indifference to good, your depraved tastes for evil, your instability. Tell Him how self-love makes you unjust to others, how vanity tempts you to be insincere, how pride disguises you to yourself and others.
If you thus pour out all your weaknesses, needs, troubles, there will be no lack of what to say. You will never exhaust the subject. It is continually being renewed. People who have no secrets from each other never want for subject of conversation. They do not weigh their words, for there is nothing to be held back; neither do they seek for something to say. They talk out of the abundance of the heart, without consideration they say just what they think.”
Blessed are they who seek to do God’s will.
JPTing together,
Pastor Chris

​A New Year, A New Decade... the possibilities are endless...

How many sunrises are the same?
How many sunsets are the same?
How many spiritual adoption stories are the same?

With Jesus, no sunrise, no sunset are ever the same. He is so creative. 
With Jesus, no spiritual adoption story is the same. He loves revealing Himself to each person differently with different circumstances and situations.

How is Jesus going to use you this New Year, this New Decade?

Or do you think, Jesus loves to use other people to impact this world, not me. Do you think, He doesn't need me. I am not useful to Him.
These are lies. Jesus is eagerly desiring to use you to change someone this year, this month, this week, this day.

Remember the gift of the Savior, the gift of the Incarnation, the gift of Emmanuel? Jesus is in you. Jesus is with you. Jesus is for you.
Do you believe this? Do you live this out? Do you realize that every time you walk into any and every room, you are bringing the presence of Jesus with you?

Do you remember when Jesus went to the cemetery where the demon possessed man lived? Jesus asked the demon's name. Jesus cast the legion of demons into the herd of pigs. The pigs jumped into the sea and drowned. The man was fully healed and restored. Jesus loves to creatively adopt people into His family. He loves to creatively show His kindness, love and power.
Do you remember when Jesus did that to you and for you? Pause and thank Him for that.

Do you remember what the X-demon possessed man did as a free Christ follower? He asked to join Jesus' traveling disciples team. How did Jesus respond? Let's read His response...

"As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with Him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you.” So, the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed." Mark 13:18-20


Why did Jesus refuse to let this man join Him?
Jesus sent this man home so that his family, friends, co-workers and community could see for themselves how powerful and loving Jesus really is. Then the man could not just stop telling people about Jesus in his hometown. He had to go to another town and another town and another town. He ended up going to ten cities (the Decapolis) telling people what Jesus had done in his life. And people in each city were amazed at Jesus.

Jesus wants to do similar things through you.
Jesus wants you to go to your family, friends, co-workers and community and tell them what Jesus has done for you. 
Jesus wants all the people in your life to be amazed at what Jesus has done in you.
Jesus wants all the people you know to want to know more and more about Jesus through you.

Do you believe this?
Are you ready to be Jesus' eyes and see the things He wants you to see?
Are you ready to be Jesus' feet and go to the people He wants you to go to?
Are you ready to be Jesus' hands and care and serve others?
Are you ready to be Jesus' smile to others?
Are you ready to be Jesus' mouth to encourage and share the love of Jesus with others?

Jesus is waiting to do great things in you, through you and around you. Let's let Him do it.

Trusting Jesus to use us this decade, this year, this month, this week and each day together,
Pastor Chris

Happy New Year!

We have not communicated with you through the Encourager since last decade.

So, how is 2020 going so far?
Are you excited? Hopeful? Anticipating?
Or are you realistic, hohum, maybe even cynical?

Jesus always helps us understand that if we are a Christ follower, the best is yet to come. Jesus is a God of Hope.

But, life and the more we live this life, with all the ups and downs, problems, challenges and pain, it is easy to slip into a less than hope filled mind set. Maybe because of so much pain and disappointment, we have stopped trusting, believing and hoping. Maybe cynicism has slipped right in.

To kick this new decade off, we are going to focus on 8 different passages of Scripture that have to do with God's will for our lives. We will dive into each text to discover what is God's will for us. Then at the end we will take a step back and look at what we have discovered. I have entitled the series, Finding 2020 Vision. It is my hope and prayer that God will speak to us powerfully and practically and reinfuse us with His fresh excitement, possibility and hope.

If you were not able to be present this past Sunday, we started this series in John 6. After seeing and talking about signs from God, the crowd asked Jesus, "What must we do to do the works that God requires?" In other words, what does God want? What is God's will? Jn 6:28

Jesus responded, "The work of God is this; believe in the One whom God has sent." Jn 6:29

Then Jesus makes it really clear a few verses later, "I Am the Bread of Life. Whoever comes to Me will never go hungry. Whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty." Jn 6:35

What is God's will according to John 6?
To LOOK at JESUS... "I Am the Bread of Life." Daily behold, look, truly see who Jesus is.

To COME to JESUS... "Whoever comes to Me..." Daily come with all of who you are.

To BELIEVE in JESUS... "Whoever believes in Me..." Daily fully believe that Jesus wants to do His will in you, through you and around you.

Let Jesus' teaching sink in for a minute...
No matter what is going on in life especially during the hard, painful times, Jesus wants us to daily LOOK at Jesus, daily COME to Jesus and daily BELIEVE in Jesus.

"May the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may over flow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Rom 13:15

Looking, coming and believing together,
Pastor Chris