Watch this video, I posted it without comment given our current series on the church. soli deo gloria

Love God and do as you please. What a dangerous and yet liberating concept. A ‘biblical’ concept I might add. One not taught too often in our churches today. Oh sure, in recent times we have heard that Christians should follow their new heart in Christ and somehow find their identity within that journey. But that’s not what Augustine and Luther meant when they said, Love God and do as you please. For Jeremiah 17 tells us that our hearts are deceitful and wicked. Even after Christ has regenerated us, making us alive to Him and changing us from enemies of God to lovers of God, we still have within each of us the potential of the vilest of sins and our hearts are still capable of being deceived by The Deceiver himself. Just because I strongly desire something doesn’t mean God has placed that desire on my heart. Just because something is ‘natural’ doesn’t mean it’s aligned with God’s will. Our hearts can and will deceive us. So what makes the statement biblical? LOVE GOD and do as you please. The greatest commandment, according to Jesus is ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind’. When we find ourselves so in love with God, so aligned with His purposes, so submitted to His will, so consumed with His glory, we will discover that His desires have become our desires. What He wants is what we want. What pleases Him is what pleases us. The danger is when we reverse the cause and effect. First we love God THEN we do what pleases us. It is my desire that we at CHCC become so passionate about the greatness of God and His glory and so in love with God that we can say with every decision, we simply did what pleased us. soli deo gloria

This is the third year for the AWANA program at CHCC.  God has chosen to bless this ministry tremendously to the degree that we will be adding another level of participation for ‘clubbers’.  The TREK level is for 7th and 8th graders and continues the AWANA commitment to instilling biblical principles in young people through bible lessons, scripture memorization and interaction with a ‘road trip’ theme. Check out ‘Our Awana’ page on the website for more details. Two weeks to launch of this year’s AWANA.  You doing the ‘happy dance’ yet? soli deo gloria!

We have recently e-mailed questionnaires to our folks at CHCC asking for their input into an expansion program for our church.  God has been working, and there are weeks that we are at near capacity in our sanctuary.  He is not only at work numerically but spiritually in the hearts of His people.  This is exciting! It is to God through the people of our church, that the leadership has turned for wisdom and counsel.  For the scriptures say, in the abundance of counselors there is wisdom.  We encourage our people to prayerfully consider how to respond to the questionnaire.  We have received several back at this point and each has been thoughtfully returned as evidenced by the responses.  If you have not yet returned your form, please do so by the 30th of August. A summary of the responses will be presented to the board and to our people in mid September. God has plans for CHCC.  It is for us to ask the right questions and then to humbly submit to those plans as tools in the Master Builder’s hands. soli deo gloria!

This past Sunday, we began a new series in our study of the church, entitled ‘The Church According to Acts’.  We will be taking a look at key passages within the book of Acts to learn what the first century saints experienced together in their Holy Spirit empowered assembly, we call the church. Our Lord’s last earthly words to His disciples and to us today were that we are witnesses of Him to this world.  What a key concept for our churches today and sad to say, a novel concept to some.  We are to be witnesses for Christ.  A witness, one who attests to the truthfulness or veracity of something or someone.  We attest to Christ.  It’s not an option as a Christian.  We are either credible or incredible witnesses of Christ but nevertheless we are witnesses for Christ. How does our individual conduct attest to Christ?  How does our corporate church conduct attest to Christ?  Do we exemplify a life transforming grace, one which has made us alive spiritually and made all things anew? A grace which has radically changed our perspective and lives to such a degree that it gives others something to convert to.  Or do we attest to a Christ who purports a quick fix, an Aladdin’s lamp offering nothing more than ‘hopeful thoughts’ coupled with a self complacence? According to Acts 1:8, we in the church are to be credible witnesses of God’s explosive (dynamite) power to transform lives from enemies of God and lovers of this world to lovers of Him and His word.  It is very quite simple, we are called to be a witness of a person, Jesus Christ.  Nothing to join, no system to be a part of, no required volunteerism, only a person to receive and His finished work on the cross. Even though the witness is one of a simple message, the commitment is great to those who bare that witness, for the transformation goes to the very core of our being.  We are changed and therefore we willingly commit our lives to this new witness, sometimes at great cost.  ‘We can’t help but speak of the things that we have seen and heard’. The apostle’s knew of this commitment, for most it led to their death.  To others of the first century church, it meant suffering, loss of earthly goods, family and friends.  They were true witnesses.  They walked their talk. This past week we held VBS at Center Hill.  What a great week.  During the nightly sessions, the kids were taught a very catchy song which had one line in it that I used in the Sunday sermon.  I later had the kids come forward and lead our congregation in the song for closing.  I leave you with that line from the song as a reminder and encouragement to be witnesses of Christ until He comes again. “Your Walk Talks and Your Talk Talks but Your Walk Talks louder than Your Talk Talks” soli deo gloria