Palm Sunday

Happy Palm Sunday! Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!

Just like those on the first “Palm Sunday”, we are here to praise and worship the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And like many in the crowd that day, each of us has our own expectations as to what Jesus’ presence will mean in our midst. Many that day thought He was coming to set them free from Roman oppression; that He was coming to set them free from earthly bondage. However, they learned quickly that the freedom from bondage that He brought was much different than they has imagined. This quickly turned their voices of praise to voices of rage.

Today, we are faced with the same Jesus, however instead of riding in on a donkey, He is here by His Holy Spirit, in the lives of His children and in the midst of this room in which we are gathering. His question to you today is, what will be your response to His coming?

Today, we are focusing on one of the central passages in Scripture today. John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (NIV)

That verse includes twenty six simple yet powerful words, powerful enough to change a life for eternity if received by faith in Jesus. Listen, with your heart and lift your voice in thankfulness and praise today, if you already know Jesus as your Savior. If you have never been introduced to Jesus, accept His Father’s invitation today to join His family by coming to Him through faith in His Son and receive His free gift of salvation.

No matter what your circumstances are today, He is here to meet you where you are and is ready and willing to give you a new life in Him, a life that is eternal but has incredible ramifications for your life today and in the days to come. May this be your best “Palm Sunday” ever.

God's Presence

In the presence of Jehovah God Almighty,

Prince of Peace troubles vanish,

hearts are mended. In the presence of the King

Cathy Goddard

Throughout my life I have been overwhelmed with the subject of God's presence. From a very young age I was taught that God is omnipresent, meaning that He is everywhere. That is clear in the Bible.

Think about all of the places people met with God: on a mountain, on the sea, in the desert, in the furnace, in a lion’s den, at the bottom of an empty well, in front of a burning bush, in the Temple, in a

tent, in a garden, in a dream, in trouble, at a wedding, at homes, at dinner, in the sky, in the heavens. He was seen, heard and felt. From the first verse of the Genesis to the last verse of Revelation "He is here"!

This truth has always been a source of comfort to me, and rightly so. Knowing that God is always with me is my source of strength, my comfort, my peace and my hope. Last week, my brother made a comment. He said something like, "As I walk through life, in every situation I feel like mom's voice and presence is there and that keeps me from doing things that she taught me not to do as a child."

Then it hit me like a two by four, I've often practiced the presence of God very one dimensionally. I've soaked in the comforting aspect of His presence in my life, but I have only grazed the other aspect of His presence.

When God "came near" throughout history, people not only got comforted, they fell down as dead men. If we, if I truly understood what it means that God is with me 24/7 how different would my life be?

Have I been so enamored with the God of peace and comfort that I've forgotten the God in whose presence one cannot be in without the fear of death?

What difference should this make in our worship and in our moment by moment lives? After Easter we will take a journey together and see what being in God's presence really looks like. Hold on, it might look very different than you've always thought and lived.

Blessings, MJ

Do We Really Trust God

“What you ‘talking ‘bout Willis?” I used to love hearing Gary Coleman in his character as Arnold Drummond on the sitcom “Different Strokes” say that when his brother Wills would say something that seemed outlandish and made no sense to him at all.

Have you ever felt like saying that to someone who requested something of you beyond your means or reasonable ability? Have you ever felt like saying that to God? Or like someone once said after hearing God tell them to do something, “is there anyone else up there?”

There are a few godly men throughout history that probably felt like saying that.

Think of Noah: It had never in all of history rained. God told him to build an ark, because it was going to rain. Noah’s response: “Noah did everything just as God commanded him. (Genesis 6:22)

Think of Moses: God said, “Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water (Exodus 14:16) Moses response: “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea.” (Exodus 14:21)

Think about Joshua: God told him to march around a fortified city, blow trumpets and shout, and that when they did they’d have victory. Joshua’s response, he obeyed God. (Joshua 6:1-27)

Each of these men had faith, not in their circumstances, but in the God over the circumstance. Not in their ability but in his ability.

Faith enables us to reach above what we see and sets us on the field with God’s perspective. However, faith without works and faith without obedience is no faith at all.

“Faith and obedience are bound up in the same bundle.

He that obeys God, trusts God; and he that trusts God,

Obeys God,” Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892)

Father asks us to serve Him today and each day, moment by moment, choice by choice with our “everythingness”!

Today, this new day, may we worship Him by proclaiming that He’s worthy, by doing as Mary, the mother of Jesus said to the servants at the wedding at Cana, “Do whatever He tells you!” (John 2:5)

“You just think about Noah toting’ his umbrella when there wasn’t

a cloud in the sky. All his neighbors would laugh at his pet giraffe

And they would snicker as he passed by.

But the Lord said, “Hey Noah, be cool, just keep building’ that boat;

It’s just a matter of time ‘til they see who’d gonna float.

You just keep doin’ your best and pray that it’s blessed,

Hey Noah, I’ll take care of the rest.” (Keith Green)

Trusting Him with you because He’s worthy, MJ

For God So Loved the World

16"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish,
but have eternal life.
John 3:16

Probably the most popular, most memorized and most quoted verse in all of Scripture, John 3:16 sums up in twenty six words the most incredible act of love and sacrifice in all of history, past, present and future.

By His own initiative, God the Father, sent his Beloved Son to this earth in order to pay the penalty for the sins of mankind and make a way, where there was no way, for the relationship between God and man to be restored.

It is a simple verse to memorize, yet a profound and difficult truth to comprehend to the fill extent. The offer is free to us, but cost God everything. Yet, He did it for you and for me. It’s that amazing love that we stand in awe of every time we gather together to worship.

On March 28, Palm Sunday, the choir and worship teams will be presenting 3:16 – The Numbers of Hope. This is a participatory worship musical based on the book by Max Lucado.

We want to encourage you to bring your friends and family who do not yet know the Lord, to come and hear and be able to respond to the greatest invitation ever given.

Between now and then, prayerfully think about who you should invite. And be praying that God will open the hearts of all who attend.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (NIV)

“If you know nothing of the Bible, start here. If you know everything in the Bible, return here. We all need the reminder.” (Lucado)