I can’t tell you how excited I am about this weekend! Easter is here!
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”
There is no greater news that anyone could here and we get to share this good news with many people who are far from God on Easter Sunday. God love you! He gave His only Son Jesus for you! Through Christ your sin is forgiven and you have been set free!
Do you know anyone who needs to hear this good news? Do you know anyone who is searching for the truth? Do you know anyone who questions God’s love? Invite them to church this weekend! This is the easiest invite to church all year!
I can’t wait to see how God moves this weekend! I am praying that those who are far from God will find life in Christ!
Who will you invite to church to hear the Good News of God’s love?
“Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10
It is amazing how crazy busy life can become. The pace of life that so many of us live cause us to feel like we are constantly living in a fog. When busyness consumes us it is easy for the important things of life to feel neglected. The urgent quickly begins to take priority over the important. The more busy we becoem the less time we have to pay attention to the most important things in life. Time with those we love becomes rare. Stress and pressure increase. We can feel like we never stop moving and the idea of sitting still is a lost concept.
The problem with this busy life is it is in the stillness and the space to breath that the best things of life truly happen. To spend time with our loved ones requires time away from the hectic pace. To spend time alone with God and hear His voice in our lives requires and intentional effort to sit still. For a long time I felt that if I was sitting still I was wasting time, but I am learning the importance of being still.
It is when I sit still that I am reminded God is in control and I am not. It is when I sit still that I actually have time to think and realign my priorities. It is not easy to sit still in the busy world we live in, but I would argue that it has never been more important for us to find time to be still.
Are you scheduling time in your life to be still? Are you hearing the voice of God because you are willing to break away from the chaos of busyness? If you long to draw closer to God it is time to be still. Don’t neglect what is most important because you can only see what is urgent. When we make time to be still we will find that the urgent can usually wait and what is most important is available if we will just be still.
Here is the Home Makeover House! As you can see there is a ton of work to be done. Our first big work day is this Saturday, February 27th. We would love to see you there. I will be posting Home Makeover updates after each big workday. I can’t wait to see how God uses this project as we “Live Love” in the community!
This past October Cedarcrest hosted a Compassion Sunday in which over 140 children were sponsored. It was an amazing Sunday and has been an incredible blessing as many families in our church are now connected to children around the world in the mission to “release children from poverty in Jesus name.”
Compassion is an amazing ministry that we feel privileged to partner with. The most recent edition of Compassion Magazine documents the way God has used this ministry at Cedarcrest. It is an incredible honor to be featured in partnership with Compassion!
If you are interested in sponsoring a child through Compassion follow this link to the website or stop by the coffee cafe on Sunday morning at Cedarcrest.
“If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I wonder how different we would treat people if we truly knew all that was going on in their lives. How would I react to someone who is rude or treats me unfair if I truly knew the back story and circumstances of their life?
We interact with people every day who have been through far more than we could ever truly understand. People are living with baggage and pain that affects the way they interact with others. We maybe see someone lash out or treat us in such a way that causes us to get defensive or want to write them off. The reality is if we could truly see all they are living through and all that is weighing them down we might be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Please hear me, in no way am I trying to excuse sin or give people permission to blame their circumstances for their poor treatment of others. What I am saying is that we should not judge a book by its cover.
As a follower of Christ I am called to be a beacon of grace, mercy and love to all I come in contact with. Every day we interact with people who are barely hanging on and looking for just a glimpse of hope. If I am going to live under the banner of grace I must be willing to also extend the gift of grace that I have received to others. Imagine how different our reactions to people would be if we sought to extend them grace instead of fight for our rights when we are treated unfairly. Remember, we can’t control the actions of others, but we can control our reaction to the way they treat us.
May we never forget that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
As you interact with people today think about the grace that you have received and seek to offer grace to others. Who do you know that needs a little grace right now? Who do you know that might be barely hanging on and could use a word of encouragement? If we only knew the back story of people’s lives, we might be willing to extend a little more grace.
This past Sunday after church Megan and I hopped on a plane for Madrid, Spain to teach a course at Sefovan Seminary on Church Leadership. After several weather delays and a brief 7 hour layover in London we finally arrived in Madrid 28 hours after the trip began! As I write this we are just getting used to the time change as we prepare to head back tot he states this weekend. Aside from the travel it has been an incredible week!
Spain is a country that is in desperate need of the Gospel and it is so encouraging to see this group of seminary students that is passionate about reaching this country. Less than 1% of the population in Spain are evangelical Christians. A large part of our discussion this week has revolved around reaching the lost and it has been so inspiring to see these students with limited resources passionate about reaching the lost! I am so grateful to have this chance to see the Gospel advancing in a place of incredible spiritual need. Weeks like this further stoke the flames of passion in me for the Vision of Cedarcrest to Reach our community, Connect the disconnected, and Grow in our faith! I can’t wait to be back and share more of what we have seen. Thank you for praying for us this week!
In our current series, “Christmas Conspiracy”, we have been talking about how we can recapture the true meaning of this Christmas season. I have talked about how much I love this time of year but how it can be totally exhausting because of all the things to do and people to see and shopping list to complete. It is easy to get so caught up in doing things at Christmas that we miss out on the joy of the gift of Jesus Christ, the reason we celebrate Christmas in the first place.
Sometimes our kids have a funny way of illustrating the point. This week our three year old son, Brody, had his Christmas musical at preschool. As this video clearly shows, he has had enough of Christmas music so he just decided to sit down in the middle of his class production. Oh the joys of parenting at Christmas!
Just remember, if Christmas is wearing you out, you are not alone! Maybe it is time for you to step back and reflect on what Christ has done for you instead of focussing on all you have to do for Christmas.
Sometimes you just need to sit down and take a break from the Christmas Chaos! Enjoy Brody’s demonstration of the “holiday spirit”! He’s the one in the white shirt on the front row sitting down.
This Sunday is a day that we have been praying toward and looking forward too for a long time at Cedarcrest! We are gathering to celebrate all that God has done in a few short years in the life of our church. This service will serve as our official constituting service as a church. We are also celebrating the fact that God has answered our prayer and allowed us to purchase a tract of land that will serve as the permanent home of Cedarcrest Church.
As I think about this day I am overwhelmed with gratitude and humbled by the love and grace of God. He has guided us through an incredible journey and as we gather to celebrate all that He has done I firmly believe that this is just the beginning.
I hope you will join us Sunday, Decemeber 6th, at 10:00 as we celebrate this milestone day in the life of Cedarcrest Church. Bring somebody with you for this exciting service and make plans to stay with us to enjoy a time of food and fellowship after the service.
Congratulations to Amanda Speer for winning the Cedarcrest T-shirt Contest. It is hard to beat a picture of a Cedarcrest shirt in the Cayman Islands! It would be hard for a picture from the Cayman Islands not to win since that is where Megan and I went on our honeymoon and it is one of our favorite places in the world. In fact we love the Cayman’s so much that we named our dog “Cayman”.
Thanks for submitting your photos. There will be more contests coming soon!
