How Deep Are Your Roots?

“Let your roots grow down deep into Him, and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.” Col. 2:6

A forest of quaking aspens in Utah is known by the name Pando, meaning, “I spread.” It’s also called “the Trembling Giant.”

This is because all the trees in this 106-acre forest are genetically identical and are believed to have a single, combined root system.

In essence, this forest is a single tree with 40,000 trunks, each of which appears to be a separate tree from an aboveground perspective.

This is the way it is in the Body of Christ. We are all rooted in Christ.

The question we should ask is: “how deep are our roots?”

In order for our roots to be deep in Him, four things need to be true:

First, we need the right source of nourishment, vs. 7a, “Let your roots grow down deep into Him.”

We see here that Paul is using an agricultural term and the idea is that God has caused us to take root, with our roots dug deeply and firmly into the richness of Christ.

The deeper our roots go in Christ, the more His life giving strength will be manifested in and through us.

May we sink ourselves deep in Christ, so we can move forward spiritually!

Second, we need the right building material, vs. 7b, “and let your lives be built on Him.”

Because we have been firmly rooted and are drawing our nourishment from Christ as our source of life, we can progress to erecting the building.

Christ is the sphere within which the building process goes on, and He is the building material.

The whole building process is done within the sphere of Christ’s life and power.

We, individually and as a body, are being brought, by Christ’s power, to higher and higher ground in Him, as you would raise a building one tier at a time.

Third, we need the right kind of faith, vs. 7c, “then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught.”

We are to take advantage of every opportunity to be strengthened more and more with reference to our faith.

It is a process and not something that takes place once, and then we forget about it.

We are strengthened in our faith the more we live in dependence on the Lord and His Word.

Lastly, we need the right kind of spirit, vs. 7d, “and you will overflow with thankfulness.”

If we have been deeply and firmly rooted and are in a process of being built up in Christ, and our faith is being strengthened, then we will become more and more grateful.

We are to give thanks freely and continuously, as a way of life, like a river overflows its banks.

Trees that are not deeply rooted can dry up and die.

May our roots grow deeply in Christ as our source of Life, so that we can thrive in His life!

Blessings!

Pastor Ken Keeler, Director of Church Ministries

Is This the Year?

So, are you ready for 2017?  What do you anticipate this next year to be like?

Are you excited about the transition from Obama to Trump?

For some folks, that thought creates fear and anxiety.  For others, it leads to rejoicing.

Nevertheless, this is the time of year that I encourage folks to pray through setting their annual goals in a variety of areas of life… spiritual, physical, financial, and career.

And, I want you to do that, but as I look back over 2016 and even some recent world events, I can’t help but wonder if 2017 might be the year our Savior comes for His Bride.

You see, all the key players are in place for the battle described in Ezekiel 38, there are many rabbis preaching that their Messiah is very near, and Israel is being pressured from all sides and by the UN.

Our world seems like a powder keg, and someone has lit the fuse.

So, I guess what I want us to ponder is the question: are we ready for the upward call of Christ Jesus?

What do we need to do to be ready?

First, we need to make sure that we are in a relationship with Jesus, which can only happen by repenting from sin and placing our faith in His shed blood to pay for sin.

Second, we need to surrender to His Life in us as His disciples.

It’s one thing to believe Jesus is the Son of God, but it’s another level of faith to choose to follow Him as Lord.

I believe strongly that this year could be the one that Jesus comes for His Bride — those who have accepted Jesus as their Savior.

So, I want to be found ready as a Jewish Bride would be, if she expected her groom to show up at any moment to sweep her off to the wedding ceremony.

I also don’t want to leave here with the regret of not sharing the gospel with the folks I care about.

How about you?

Are you ready for His return?

If not, what do you need to do this year to be ready?

Who do you need to share the gospel with?

What areas of your life need to be cleaned up with a lifestyle change?

Let me encourage us all to spend some time allowing the Holy Spirit to search us to see what changes He wants us to make, so that we can be prepared to share the gospel and to meet our Bridegroom in the air when His call comes.

I hope you’ll accept this challenge, and I hope you have a blessed 2017.

Happy New Year!

Robyn Henning

HOW TO APPROACH GOD’S WORD IN 2017

A man in Kansas City was severely injured in an explosion. The victim’s face was badly disfigured, and he lost his eyesight as well as both hands.

He was just a new Christian, and one of his greatest disappointments was that he could no longer read the Bible.

Then, he heard about a lady in England who read braille with her lips. Hoping to do the same, he sent for some books of the Bible in braille. Much to his dismay, however, he discovered that the nerve endings in his lips had been destroyed by the explosion.

One day, as he brought one of the braille pages to his lips, his tongue happened to touch a few of the raised characters and he could feel them. Like a flash he thought, I can read the Bible using my tongue.It wasn’t real long before the man had “read” through the entire Bible four times.

We have 2017 before us and we cannot go back to 2016. How will we respond to God’s Word in the New Year?

James tells us how we are to respond:

“in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21b).

Notice, first of all, the inner attitude we should have toward the Word.

We are to be humble and teachable, so we can receive insights into His Word. The Holy Spirit teaches us as we humbly receive His Word.

Next, we see that the Word needs to be “implanted” to do its full work in us.

The idea is that we need to not only have it in our conscious minds, but also in the deep, inner recesses of our subconscious minds.

This comes through memorization and mediation on the Word.

May we make a commitment in 2017 to spend more time memorizing and mediating on God’s Word!

Notice the result of implanting God’s Word into the recesses of our minds, “which is able to save your souls.”

This phrase is not talking salvation from sin’s penalty or hell. It is talking about being saved from sin’s power to control us.

It is the delivering of the believer from the destructiveness of sin to the Spirit’s work of growing and maturing us spiritually.

Our souls (mind, emotions, and will) are delivered from sin’s power as we welcome eagerly the implanted Word and appropriate it by faith to our lives by the power of the Holy Spirit.

This is the key to victory!

When their son left for his freshman year at Duke University, his parents gave him a Bible, assuring him it would be a great help.

Later, as he began sending them letters asking for money, they would write back telling him to read his Bible, citing chapter and verse.

He would reply that he was reading the Bible–but he still needed money.

When he came home for a semester break, his parents told him they knew he had not been reading his Bible.

How? They had tucked $10 and $20 bills by the verses they had cited in their letters.

Is this like our commitment to reading and studying the Word?

2017 is before us and we cannot go back to 2016.

How will we respond to God’s Word in the New Year?

Blessings!

Pastor Ken Keeler, Director of Church Ministries

Avoiding the Dangers of Christmas

When I choose a title like this one, I run the risk of people saying Dr. Seuss was thinking of me when he wrote “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” or that Charles Dickens would have asked me to play Scrooge in his story.

I want to be clear that I’m not anti-Christmas, even though Linda at times thinks I am.

I am not a big fan of playing Christmas music or singing carols and I’m not crazy about the build up to Christmas.

Our family has a tree every year, we exchange presents, and I enjoy the great family time of Christmas.

Believe me—I have no bone to pick with the Christmas season, unless it’s meat off the turkey!

But I am sure we’ll have to agree that the season is not without its unique problems, dangers, and temptations.

The United States Census Bureau states this: Americans spend an average of 30.5 billion dollars at retail stores, 39 billion dollars for Christmas gifts over the Internet, and more than 493 million dollars on Christmas trees during the Christmas season.

We, as believers, need to avoid the dangers of getting all caught up in the season and forgetting the reason for the season.

We are going to look at 4 dangers to avoid at Christmas:

1. The danger of the temporal substituting for the eternal.

2 Cor. 4:18, “while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

It is very easy during the Christmas Season to get all wrapped up in the temporal things of this life.

We can allow the world around us to get us sidetracked from what we are to be celebrating, our Savior’s arrival, not Santa’s.

The significance of gift giving is to be directly connected to God’s giving us the gift of His Son, not based on who is naughty or nice.

2. The danger of seeking to impress others rather than imparting to others.

2 Tim. 4:2: “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season in season.”

There isn’t any better time to share Christ than in the Christmas Season, it truly is “in season.”

How often do we seek to impress others this season by what we buy them for Christmas, how we decorate our houses, or the spread we put on for our Christmas parties.

People are far more open to the gospel at this time, so let’s share Him as we have opportunity.

3.  The danger of getting caught up in the greed of Christmas rather than the giving of Christmas.

Acts 20:35: “You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

The danger here is for us to be spending more than we have or can afford.

If there ever was a season that tempts people to be greedy, it is the Christmas Season, because many people way overspend at Christmas.

When we focus on the gift of God’s Son at Christmas, we can overcome the greed of Christmas and realize that Christmas is about giving not receiving.

4.  The danger of getting all wrapped up in the excitement of Christmas rather than the worship of Christmas.

Matt. 2:11: “They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped Him.”

We are to be excited about Christmas, but remember “Who” we are to be excited about, Jesus!

If we stay occupied with the Person of Christmas, we can fight off getting that “high” to the point of a letdown after Christmas.

Beloved, I hope we are all able to avoid the dangers of Christmas and have a merry Christ-Centered Christmas!

Pastor Ken Keeler, Director of Church Ministries

 

Surviving Christmas

How does the Holiday season make you feel?

For some folks, it’s their absolute favorite time of year, but for others, it’s a sad reminder of lost loved ones, broken households and perhaps even being alone.

So, how do we survive the good, the bad and the ugly of the Christmas season?

There really is a simple answer.

Focus on Jesus.

How do we do that in all the hustle and bustle?

Listening to Christmas music that focuses directly on Him.

Unfortunately, secular Christmas music has even invaded Christian radio stations.

But, traditional Christmas carols and modern songs that celebrate Jesus’ birth really can help us stay focused on why we celebrate this holiday.

How do we survive this family oriented holiday if we’re missing a loved one or our family is broken through divorce?

Finding something each day to thank God for will shift our thinking from loss toward gain.

The enemy wants us to focus on what we don’t have (a loved one, a marriage, a happy home, etc.).

This negative focus will suck us down into the pit of despair, and we will bah humbug everyone around us as we wallow in our pain.

Instead, we must resolve to thank God for something or someone each day, and our mindset will shift from the negative to the positive.

Doing this will enable us to stay cheerful and joyful even though our circumstances are not ideal.

Remember that Satan is the ultimate Grinch who wants to steal our joy.

So, beloved, no matter what life circumstances we’re facing this Christmas, let’s purpose to celebrate Jesus and give thanks to God for something or someone, and then the enemy won’t be able to steal our joy.

I hope this encourages you, and have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Robyn Henning

A Tale of Two Sons Part 2

Last week, we looked at the prodigal son  and how his Father gladly extended grace and celebrated his return home.

But, there was a family member who wasn’t so thrilled with the party.

Remember that both brothers were given their inheritance at the same time.

One spent it all on lose living, and one hadn’t learned to live in the abundance of his inheritance.

He was livid that a party featuring the fattened calf was thrown for his brother who had indulged in sin with prostitutes.

He had always done what he was told, but did he get so much as a goat kid to party with his friends? NO!

He had a serious knot in his knickers and did not want to celebrate with them.

His father implored him to come in to the party, and pointed out that all that was His had always been available to him.

What was the older son’s error?

He never appropriated what was already his.

He lived in the trap of performance based acceptance instead of grace.

He lived under the Law instead of grace.

There is no celebration in the Law. No, there is only fear and insecurity.

The Law does not empower us to walk in righteousness.

Grace alone teaches us to say no to unrighteousness.

The Law is good, righteous  and holy,  but it is cold and seemingly harsh.

Grace is filled with love and forgiveness.

It is not license, rather it teaches us to live in God’s love which leads us to obedience.

John tells us that love and obedience are linked together.

If we live in God’s love, we know that obedience is the absolute best for us, and we want to obey.

Grace is the power source for obedience, as we are filled with the Spirit of God.

The same Spirit that empowered Jesus, empowers us for obedience.

We are free from the Law and free to celebrate with fellow believers in all that is ours already in Christ Jesus.

Nothing the world offers us can compare with that!

Beloved, are you enjoying your inheritance, or are you trying to earn what you already have?

That can only lead to legalism and a judgmental and critical spirit.

Enter into the joy of His rest, and celebrate with each child that comes home.

All of us need His grace.  Let’s rejoice with each one’s return!

Blessings!

Robyn Henning

A Tale of Two Sons Part 1

Most of us are familiar with the parable of the Prodigal Son.

Which one of the brothers do you relate to the most?

Perhaps, you relate more to the Father because you have a prodigal child.

Over the next two weeks, I want to look at these two very different sons and their unique struggles.

The younger son comes to his Dad and says, “Give me my inheritance.”

So, the Father divides his possessions between them.

Note that they both get their inheritance.

The younger one travels to a distant land and spends it all on wine and women.

When his resources are gone, he hires himself to a man who has him feed his pigs.

He looks at the pigs’ food and longs to eat it because his boss isn’t even offering to feed him.

He comes to his senses and remembers how his father at least feeds his servants decent food.

So, he decides to return home to ask to be his father’s servant.

While he is far off, his father sees him, feels compassion and runs to embrace and kiss him.

The son humbly apologizes and asks to be his servant, but his father ignores him and orders a change of clothes that symbolize sonship and calls for the fattened calf to be killed and a party held.

The Father rejoices in his son’s return and wants nothing more than to celebrate his son’s rebirth.

This is indeed a beautiful depiction of God’s love and grace toward all of us.

But, how many prodigals believe that they’ve messed up so bad that they cannot come home because of their sins?

Beloved, there is nothing that will make Father God run from you.

He longs to run toward you.

But, you must first turn around and start heading toward Him.

Coming home for the prodigal meant first turning away from sin and heading back to his Father.

He didn’t expect a party; he felt so unworthy; he didn’t understand grace.

Grace frees us from the trap of performance based acceptance.

Beloved, if we are in Christ, we are always accepted by the Father by His grace.

He is always looking to extend His grace to anyone willing to turn from sin and come home to Him no matter what they have done.

He doesn’t make any of us second class Christians either.

He makes us all full fledged sons and daughters and celebrates our return to Him.

Never stop praying for your prodigals.  Be ready to celebrate their return!

Blessings!

Robyn Henning

Threefold Thanksgiving

The first American Thanksgiving did not occur in 1621 when a group of Pilgrims shared a feast with a group of friendly Indians.

Rather, the first recorded thanksgiving took place in Virginia more than 11 years earlier, and it wasn’t a feast.

The winter of 1610 at Jamestown had reduced a group of 409 settlers to 60.

The survivors prayed for help, without knowing when or how it might come.

When help arrived in the form of a ship filled with food and supplies from England, a prayer meeting was held to give thanks to God.

We celebrate Thanksgiving once a year, but as believers, we are to give thanks every day.

In this Thanksgiving Blog we want to look at three things we are to be thankful for every day.

First, we are to be thankful for Material Blessings.

1 Tim. 4:3-4 says, “God created food to be received with prayers of thanks by those who believe and know the truth. Everything God created is good. Nothing should be rejected if it is received with prayers of thanks.”

We see from these verses that we are to give thanks for our food.

From this, we can say that we are to be thankful for all the material blessings that the Lord gives us.

We aren’t to become materialistic and live for material things, but what the Lord gives us, we are to be thankful for.

Second, we are to be thankful for People Blessings.

Philippians 1:3 says, “Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God.”

We are to be thankful for the people the Lord has brought into our lives, since they enrich our lives and help us to grow in Christ.  Even those who bug us at times!

Third, we are to be thankful for Spiritual Blessings.

Let’s look at six ways that the Lord blesses us spiritually:

1. God hears our prayers.

John 11:41 says, “Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me.”

2. God has freed us from sin.

Romans 6:17-18 says, “Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin … Now you are free from sin, your old master, and you have become slaves to your new master, righteousness.”

3. God has given us victory in Christ.

2 Cor. 2:14 says, “But I thank God, who always leads us in victory   because of Christ.”

4. God has given us a rich inheritance in Christ.

Col. 1:12-14 says, “giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

5. God causes our growth in Christ through the instruction we receive.

Col. 2:7 says, “Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all he has done.”

6. God has given us the greatest gift of all – Christ.

2 Cor. 9:15 says, “I thank God for his gift that words cannot describe.”

Take a moment and thank the Lord for all His blessings in our lives!

Blessings!

Pastor Ken Keeler, Director of Church Ministries

 

Energy of the Flesh Christ-Centeredness

Joe thought to himself, “I am totally frustrated as a believer. I try really hard to live a Christ-Centered life, but I find myself frequently failing to keep Him at the center of my life. I get all caught up in my daily life and problems, and I spend more time thinking about everyday life than Christ.”

How do believers go about living a Christ-Centered life?

Is it putting Him first above all human relationships?

Are we to always be talking about Him throughout the day as we interact with those in our lives?

Is it trying to live as He lived while on earth?

Maybe if we witness, obey the Bible, have our devotions daily, faithfully attend our church, help those in need, or disciple other believers, we will be more Christ-Centered.

There seem to be so many options that we find ourselves struggling to put Christ first and to keep Him there in our daily lives.

Christ-Centeredness in definitely the Biblical goal for our lives as we see in Col. 1:18:

“He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.”

He is to have first place in our lives.

The question we need to ask is: what is true Biblical Christ-Centeredness?

This question is answered by 1 Cor. 1:30:

“By His doing you are in Christ Jesus.”

Did you catch that?

The moment we trusted Christ as our Savior, God the father put us in Christ, thereby centering us in Christ.

The Bible also says in Col. 1:27:

“to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

The Father not only put us in Christ, but He put Christ in us, in our human spirit.

Because of this, Christ is already the center and core of our life.

Actually Col. 3:4 says:

“Christ, who is our life”

So, Jesus is our very life.

So Christ-Centeredness is not about me trying to place Christ at the center of my life and seeking to keep Him there.  That approach is energy of the flesh.

We need to learn and remind ourselves that our life is already centered in Him, because God put us in Him and Him in us.

This is all by grace, God did it and it will never change and remains true even if our thoughts and feelings don’t always line up with this truth.

If we realize we already have a Christ-Centered life, we can live it out by faith.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Blessings!

Pastor Ken Keeler, Director of Church Ministries

 

Why Study Prophecy?

Let me ask you this: Why should believers study Bible prophecy?

I think there are a number of very good reasons.

First, it’s one of the coolest ways that the Lord shows us His uniqueness.

He alone knows the end from the beginning.

Prophecy is one of His ways of showing us His sovereignty.

Next, studying prophecy protects believers from deceivers who come in Jesus’ name, but don’t line up with God’s Word.

That said, one of the most important reasons to study prophecy is that it keeps us motivated to live a Spirit-filled life.

Being reminded of the Imminence of the Rapture helps us to resolve to walk in obedience, so that others see Christ in us and are drawn to Him.

Prophecy is a great motivator to share the gospel.

I don’t want anyone to have to go through the horrors of the tribulation.

As we see the signs of the Last Days unfold, there is a greater sense of urgency to share the gospel every time the Lord gives us an opportunity.

Being ignorant of prophecy can lead to complacency in our moral choices as well as in sharing the gospel.

We need to be aware of the signs of the end times so that we are well prepared for coming world events.

Like Paul, part of me longs for the rapture so that I can get out of here and be with Jesus, and part of me hopes He tarries so that more folks can come to know Him as Savior and escape the Rapture.

Beloved, studying prophecy is a great motivator to walking in the power of the Spirit so that we are always prepared to defend the hope that is within us.

There are a lot of hopeless people out there.

Why not join me in praying for the Lord of the Harvest to lead us into one last great revival before He comes to catch away His bride?

I hope you’ll join me in this prayer and in the study of His prophetic Word.

Blessings!

Robyn Henning