To Do

Its a New Year with lots to do already. Well as we all know this area and time of life many opportunities will be available to us. Things we can do, things we will do, things we may or may not do. However scripture tells us some things to do. What if we took the things that speak to our character and way of life from the word of God and made them a part of our To Do list.

Romans 12:9-21 is one of the most profound piece's of Paul writings to the Roman church and it literally reads like a list of things TO DO. So join us this Sunday as we kick off a new series and maybe a new way of approaching our spiritual walk.

As we begin this Sunday, we will take a look at love and how it plays an integral part of who we are as followers of Christ. Love should be part and parcel of who we are. Be encouraged but also challenged that we are commanded and encouraged to love. Let's learn to really love the actual way God has written to us....Unconditional, sacrificial, love.

Be blessed

pastor J

Merry Christmas

Have you ever wondered why we say Merry Christmas? Modern day use of the word merry means festive or cheery; but hundreds of years ago, merry also meant peaceful and blessed. Thus, when you say Merry Christmas you are literally wishing someone a peaceful or blessed Mass of Christ(although Christmas can also literally mean Christ is sent). As protestants, we don't celebrate mass, but rather attend services or church. On Christmas Eve at Horizons,we usually gather for a service of carols,communion and candle lighting to celebrate and remember that Christ has been sent and we are called to remember His cradle, His cross and His crown and share that hope and light and love with others.

From our hearts to yours - Merry Christmas! And may Christ be the center of your Christmas this year.

Pastor Rich

Preventive Maintenance

Often times we act on need or impulse. I continue to learn this valuable lesson of preventive maintenance. We can do some things today to prevent failure, sickness, issues that come in life. I get my oil changed and I ensure that all my fluid levels are up to make sure my car is operating at  high level.  I take my vitamins, eat my green vegetables, exercise, all to stay healthy. It's much easier to maintain than deal with sickness.

As we begin to start the holiday season, excess become our buzz word.  Hey its the holidays let's indulge in all the goodies, pile on the helpings we may say.  I am not denying that human side of us that likes to let our hair down for some temporary yummies.

When it comes to our spiritual well being, that is our spiritual health; what are we doing to prevent crisis?  It is incredibly important to maintain our spiritual nature. We are constantly at war with our fleshly nature, as it is in  constant state of being fed. We must feed our spiritual nature. We can't live on a Sunday only meal, we must dive into the word, get into fellowship, and pray "continually".  When we take these proactive steps, we can avoid many of the pitfalls in life. Not all of them, because occasionally they have purpose and we learn and grow from them and manage through the trial. Scripture encourages us to live by the Spirit.

Romans 8:13,14 "For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God"


I would encourage you to read more in Romans 8 as this is a marvelous chapter to help us sort out the spiritual nature and the power of God's love as we put to death the misdeeds of the flesh.

Life has its challenges let us all be "More than Conquerors" as we learn and grow together.

Pastor J

Wide Eyed Wonder

I love the wide eyed wonder of a child when it comes to the Christmas season. I can still remember the uber joy of my kids on Christmas morning. They still get excited; but there is something special about those early years. On Sunday, our movie is Elf - a funny movie that has some great themes. One of those themes is the special innocence of the main character and his overjoyed expression about all things Christmas.

As we grow older, we lose some of that wide eyed wonder. My prayer for you this Christmas season is that you will rediscover some of that awe in the remembering of the Christ child being born in a manger; the King of Kings come in the form of a babe so that we might experience the fullness of God's grace.

I look forward to seeing you this Sunday.

Rich

Happy Thanksgiving & Sunday

I will go home this afternoon(it's Wednesday) and begin hours of preparation along with others - so let's just say a total of 25 hours by different people in our group will be spent to prepare a meal for 13 of us that will gather on Thanksgiving day for at most an hour long meal, What's the point - that a lot of life is about preparation - the hard work of doing something for those few meaningful moments.

But I love those meaningful moments. In the crazy world that most of us live in around here; it is these special moments of connectedness that mean so much. Pastor Jay is preaching from the movie Home Alone this coming Sunday and there are some valuable spiritual lessons to be learned from not living life alone. But we have to be intentional about those relationships and put in the preparation for those meaningful moments. My encouragement for all of us is to be more intentional about our connectedness.

I pray that you enjoy your Thanksgiving and that you will have a blessed Holiday season. See you Sunday.

Pastor Rich

Storytellers

There are great storytellers that we all know. They are relatives, friends, co-workers, and inspirational speakers. They weave facts with emotions and events we can relate to. Their story conveys a message, has a point, evokes a laugh, makes us empathize.

You are a storyteller. Your life tells a story. The way you live it, the way you talk, the way you behave. In the pressure cooker of getting it right on a day to day basis we let our lives tell a story and sometimes its not too pretty. It's important for we as Christians not to be perfect, but to be Christlike. That does not happen by accident.

Join us this Sunday as we talk about telling the right story. Tapping into the resources and tools that God has given us to ensure that our life is telling the right, redeemed, life giving story of someone that has met the Savior.

Remember we are called (all of us that follow Christ) to be salt and light. I may read that and wish it, but there are some steps to take ensure that our saltiness is good and our light is shining on a stand brightly.

blessings

Pastor J

Deeper In

That is what we are talking about on Sunday. How to have a deeper prayer life. For most of us; our prayer lives our centered around our petitions. But the prayer life that God desires for us to have in this plentiful life is a much richer and deeper experience than what is common to most of us.

One of my favorite albums this year has been Gungor's Beautiful Things - track 11 is Late Have I Loved You. The lyrics are taken from Augustine's Confessions and speak to the challenge we all face in really communing with God. But our experiences with God do not have to be a challenge; maybe we just need a better education about prayer and that is what we will focus on Sunday.

I encourage you to attend this Sunday so that you can go deeper in with God and then make a commitment to come to the Prayer and Worship night on November 12th.

Pastor Rich