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Fearless begins next Sunday night, April 25, at 6 p.m. at Amana Christian Fellowship in Maurice. Get started now. Chapter 1, your reading assignment for week one can be found here.  Please read the Chapter before next Sunday night and join us. Begin to live a life of Faith Not Fear. Click here for more info. 

When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment . . . and plunged into the sea —John 21:7 Peter, Peter, Peter. So impulsive. Such a one to act without thinking. So quick to speak. If only I could be more like Peter more often. Peter heard it was the Lord and dove right in. Why won’t I dive right in? I’m more like the kid who can’t swim. He sees the other kids in the pool splashing around and having fun, but sits on the edge, one foot in the water. Afraid. It’s really a question of trust versus fear. I don’t dive in because I fear. I don’t trust enough. We recall the other incident with Peter and the Lord and the water. Peter didn’t dive in that time. He walked on. Sure his faith faltered and fear crept up on him and trust waned; but he took the first step. What is fear keeping you from today? What is He asking you to dive into that seems a bit too scary? Let’s take a chance. Let’s dive in. For once let’s act impulsively. He’s waiting. Be blessed. Nick

We love the mountain top. We love the feeling, the sense of God’s presence, the high. God can bring us to the mountain any time He chooses. He can surprise us with a mountain when we really need it. I like to make regular  planned trips to the mountain. The mountain, for me, is the place where I know I will see God work and know he will speak to me. For me that is Kairos. But we’ve been taught that we can’t live on the mountain tops.  We are told we have to live in the valleys. The mountain tops are not “real life.” These thoughts may be true to some extent. But we can bring the mountain top with us back into the valley. We must bring our everyday life up to the standard revealed to us on the mountaintop when we were there. Moses spent time with God on the mountain. He came down alone but he brought the glow and the law of God down with him. On the mountain He teaches us, by His word and by His presence. Hold on to that glow and word. It will help you through the valley times. […]

I find myself thinking that God and I are okay, at least on the main points. I have nagging feelings that we are missing each other but not on the big things. “Beware of ever thinking, “Oh, that thing in my life doesn’t matter much.” The fact that it doesn’t matter much to you may mean that it matters a great deal to God. Nothing should be considered a trivial matter by a child of God.” One of our great defense mechanism is “minimization.” Each day we strive to “hit the high points” and “do the important things.” Tragically, when we have time to reflect, we often realized we missed the important things. We confuse the urgent and the important. Don’t you hate in when you are  at a place of business, talking to someone there, and they stop the conversation to pick up the phone. That’s a case of confusing the urgent and the important. The same kind of confusion causes folks to stop what they are doing multiple times a day to “check emails” or to “answer a text.” As the illustration demonstrates, some things are urgent but not important; some are urgent and important; some are […]

“. . . the joy of the Lord is your strength” ( Nehemiah 8:10  ). We spoke yesterday of burdens. Some burdens which we should never carry and others which we carry but should always share. There is another burden. It brings joy and by its very nature it is shared. It is the burden of the presence of God. This burden belongs to the believer and it brings joy when the believer makes a moral decision about sin and the ever-present God can begin His work. “Where do the saints get their joy? If we did not know some Christians well, we might think from just observing them that they have no burdens at all to bear. But we must lift the veil from our eyes. The fact that the peace, light, and joy of God is in them is proof that a burden is there as well. The burden that God places on us squeezes the grapes in our lives and produces the wine, but most of us see only the wine and not the burden. No power on earth or in hell can conquer the Spirit of God living within the human spirit; it creates an inner […]

Cast your burden on the Lord . . . —Psalm 55:22 We should never carry a burden alone. In fact, some burdens we shouldn’t care at all. The burden of sin should never be ours. If it is our past sin that burdens us, we need merely to confess and forget. He does. If it is a current sin or temptation, we need to focus on Him and all else dims. We should never bear a burden of doubt, because there is no doubt. He is who He says He is and will do what He promise He will do. There are some “appropriate” burdens: responsibilities that God gives us, assignments if you will. Even these we are not meant to carry alone. As OC says “God wants us to roll them back on Him— to literally “cast your burden,” which He has given you, “on the Lord . . . .” Perhaps our greatest failings when it comes to burdens, is our failure to share them with our brothers and sisters. The early church had “all things in common.” I think this included more than their material possessions. The sharing of burdens in the modern church is rare. […]

“ knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. .”Romans 6:9-11   Pastor Kerry asked, “What language do you speak?” Is it the language of death or life? My problem is I want to be bilingual. And I think that I can do it. No matter how many times scripture makes it clear that I face a choice; that it is God’s way or the highway. I still think I can have it both ways. I think I can run my own life; I just need a little help from time to time. I think I can handle sin. I can control it; it won’t control me. And when I mess up, God will bail me out. Give it up, Nick. I can have life or death. I can have sin or God. I can live the life I was meant to live […]

If we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection . . . —Romans 6:5   Ever notice the similarities that develop between owners and pets or between couples who have been together for many years? “The proof that I have experienced crucifixion with Jesus is that I have a definite likeness to Him.” As we identify with Christ, our likeness to Him increases. As we are crucified with Christ, and rise with Christ, we become more like Him.  For many, Christianity is only a guarantee of heaven. But “I can have the resurrection life of Jesus here and now, and it will exhibit itself through holiness.” This is not a holiness based on our improved behavior; but it is the holiness of God now resident in us and living out Its will in our lives. The world sees not a better us, but the emergent Christ.  As the Spirit works out life within us, our identity diminishes and only Jesus is seen. This is, of course, completely contrary to nearly everything the world teaches as the path to joy. It teaches individuality. It screams “Be […]