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  We’ve been told that it “takes a village” to raise a child. I don’t think that’s right. I believe it takes a family. Over many years we have moved the responsibility for the spiritual training of children from the family to the church and it’s not working. The statistics regarding the loss of our youth are overwhelming. George Barna, Josh McDowell and others have statistics stating that 85% of teens raised in evangelical churches in America stop attending church in their late teens and early 20’s.  Other studies show we are losing them much earlier. I recently viewed a video which makes a strong argument that our current methods of training our children is at fault. In essence, the argument is that spiritual training is the responsibiity of the family, particularly the father. Our current system of age divided training places the responsibility  on youth pastors and sunday school teachers. The parents are relieved to believe that someone “more qualified” is taking care of this responsibility for them. We, as parents, grandparents and great grandparents, come to believe we are filling our responsibility if we are putting the kids “in Sunday School” and are really super if we […]

Salvation and Lordship Colossians 2:6-10 (New King James Version) 6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. 8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. Probably nothing causes as much confusion in the church as does salvation and Lordship. We are so eager to have folks make a decision for Jesus that we often over simplify for a short term benefit and create a long term problem. From the beginning a new Christian needs to understand forgiveness of sin and freedom from sin. After all, when a person is saved, his sins are forgiven and, he’s given new life, but sinful thinking and conduct,  characteristics of the old life, hang around. It confuses the new believer and can make him doubt his […]

Philippians 4:6-7 (New King James Version) 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Are you ever anxious? Based on the proposed cures, there must be a national epidemic of anxiety. We are promised that vacations will sooth it, gyms promise to sweat it out of us, pills will make it vanish,  and personal improvement gurus promise they have the secret of eliminating it. The truth is that the circumstances of our lives promote heartache, burdens, or trouble.These can not be avoided. However, we can have unshakeable peace during anxious times.  The key is to shift our focus from the scary problem onto God. Serenity can’t be manufactured—it’s a gift from our heavenly Father. The best response to anxiety is prayer. Focus on God puts our problems in perspective while connecting us with the one who has the answers and the power to make them real in our lives. Don’t be anxious, be blessed. Nick 

Hebrews 6: 18-20We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline (an anchor), reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek. We like to believe we are pretty well anchored. That it will take a major life storm to get us off course. I found today that’s not true, at least not for me. What should have been relatively minor events of the day, today left me upset and shaken.  There is a real danger in not dealing with the minor irritations that come every day, as they occur. If we fail to do that, they are piling up somewhere and will jump up and bite us when we least expect it. It’s a good thing that the sureness of our foundation and the tightness of our anchor lines are tested. Without such tests we don’t know we need more faith, to hold on harder, to give Him more control. Remind yourself […]

Blessed Assurance.  “To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved.” Ephesians1:6 Do you have a “know-so” salvation? What I mean is, do you know that you are saved and have the assurance that if you died tonight, you’d spend eternity with the Lord in heaven? Many folks don’t have that assurance, and in some cases it is not a spiritual problem. It is a psychological problem. They cannot accept the fact that God has accepted them. You would think that these folks feel they have sinned too grievously to be forgiven and accepted by God and this is true for some. But for many more it is a question of pride. They can’t let go of the idea that their acceptance is based on what they do. They have to be good enough. Deep down they believe they are better than average, maybe better than most. It’s a dangerous way to think. They often confuse the issue and rail against a “once saved always saved” theology. But that’s a red herring. The issue is now whether you can lose your salvation, but whether you can know you are saved […]

Our subject for Sunday night’s Being the Church session is Authentic Fellowship. Church fellowship is a step above what is available in the world. How is the church called to be different from the local social club? Christian community often is confused with mere cordiality, courtesy, or sociability, says Howard A. Snyder. As such, it can be not much different from the Kiwanis Club or a neighborhood potluck. But genuine Christian fellowship is a gift of the Holy Spirit, centered on Jesus, which becomes a living witness to Christ and the gospel in the world. Why can authentic Christian fellowship be so difficult to develop? What are the markers of genuine Christian fellowship? How can it be deepened and strengthened? These are the questions we’ll be asking and discussing in this study. I know it’s Superbowl Sunday but do you really care who wins this game. The Saints ain’t playing. The Saints will be in church and the sorta Saints can record the game. See you there. Nick Sigur

“For He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21 I generally don’t consider myself a perfectionist.  But, if I am honest, I do consider performance important. I believe this is a problem particularly for men. We tend to think we are what we do. Men, more often than women, take our identity from our careers and achievements.   This can be a real problem in spiritual matters.  Performance doesn’t make us any more or less acceptable in God’s eyes. When we start focusing on performance we set ourselves up falling into the trap of never knowing if we’ve done enough. We never truly feel accepted.  Performance focus is a thief. It promises rewards, but it steals both joy and satisfaction. Why? Because we can never do enough, we an impossible goal, and therefore will constantly be faced with frustration and failure.  Two things about you are true, without your “performance”—   You are forgiven in Christ.   You are righteous in Christ. Holy Spirit, help me focus on what Christ has done and not on what I do. My performance flows from […]

A recent study shows that folks are more miserable after logging on to Facebook. On Facebook folks post their warm and fuzzy pics of their kids, talk about the fun things they are dong and how they love everyone. Since that doesn’t match up with all of “real” life, we get depressed when our lives doesn’t measure up to the world of Facebook.  Just “log off” you say. But, it seems to me, the very same phenomenon is present in the pews of our Christian churches. At church we smile broadly, we get excited about what “God is doing.” Our worship songs are upbeat and positive. Nobody is as happy as he seems on Facebook. And no one is as “spiritual” as he seems in what we deem as “spiritual” enough for Christian worship. Maybe what we need in our churches is more tears, more failure, more confession of sin, more prayers of desperation that are too deep for words. Maybe then the lonely and the guilty and the desperate among us will see that the gospel has come not for the happy, but for the brokenhearted; not for the well, but for the sick; not for the found, […]