The Lamb of God

When John the Baptist saw he Jesus he proclaimed in John 1:29 - The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

This is an especially important concept to the Jews of that day. Jesus is the perfect Lamb of God. This week is the Feast of Passover - a perpetual feast established by God for the nation of Israel that celebrates and commemorates God's deliverance of the Jewish people from Egyptian bondage and slavery. At the last plague, the Spirit of God moved over Egypt bringing both destruction to those opposed to God and freedom to the Jewish people. At every household, they would kill a lamb without blemish and then use the blood to paint over and around the doorposts of the home, and whatever home had this blood covering the angel would pass over that home.

For over 15 years my family and some friends have celebrated a modern day Passover on Good Friday. Jesus came and served as the sacrifice once and for all for anyone who would receive this act of grace and salvation. This is why Jesus is called the Lamb of God because he served as the final and complete sacrifice for the atonement for our sins so that our relationship with God can be repaired and restored.

This Sunday, we celebrate and commemorate once again God's love demonstrated in sending His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ - the Lamb of God.

See you Sunday.

Pastor Rich

God is Able

This is the song by Planetshakers that I am playing over and over again right now.

I know my God is able
And I know His love never fails
I know my God is able
I believe in You

I trust in You with all my heart
Cause I know You have the master plan
So I'll throw my life into Your hands
For Your glory, for Your glory

I pray these lyrics encourage you as they do me. In every moment of our lives - God is able.

This Sunday we are examining the god of pride and comparing and contrasting the rich young ruler and Zacchaeus. It's interesting that two people that have similar backgrounds and economic status have different reactions to Jesus' teaching. The question we all have to ask ourselves is, how am I responding to the teaching of Jesus and God's word?

See you Sunday.

Pastor Rich

Breaking Habits

Habits, especially bad ones are hard to break. Why, because they are part of who we are at present. From the little things like specific words in our language, to the way we sit, the way we chew and many other things; they are things that characterize us. To break these mundane things to breaking the truly detrimental habits in our lives will take work. The first step awareness...That is where a good friend can help us to identify our blind spots. We can also be made aware by the Holy Spirit that can convict us. Second - decision. Making this decision is the best thing we do. We draw a line in the sand and say no more. Thirdly, the move to action. Now the first time we try this action (stopping or starting something) its pretty easy. We are motivated by our decision and can take that first step. Here is where the rubber meets the road..Fourthly, repeated action. This is where we crucify our flesh, battle our cravings, discipline our life and deny our human nature. It wars against us; and tries it best to beat us down. This is where many well intentioned people fail. However you don't have to fail, not at all. Why, because there is a payoff that is liberating, freeing, and energizing. We learn that to really live we have to die. Gal 2:20 "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live." This is a powerful truth and I encourage you all to examine yourself and make a decision to put something in your life, a habit that needs to go away. When there is less of you then there can be more of Him. We all could use that. Blessings Pastor J