West Pines Community Church

Have you ever had one of those dreams where you are falling? It is kind of a rush until you are startled awake. One of the scariest feelings is falling. You have no control. By nature when you fall you are helpless. So what about the phrase “falling in love”? There is some truth in it, particularly when talking about affection and infatuation. But we also use the inverse of that phrase: “falling out of love.” Have you ever heard someone say, “the love died,” or “I just don’t love them anymore”? It is almost like love happens to us. As if it comes and goes and we can do nothing about it. But what if that is the polar opposite of how love operates? If we don’t understand how love works, we may be missing out on real love altogether.

“You’ll know it when you experience it.” Sometimes that’s the best we can do to explain the powerful, mysterious concept of love. But we need more than that to build a lifelong vibrant marriage. It can’t be done accidentally. It is not done on instinct. Relationships are too hard for that. We need a full description of what it looks like to truly love well. We need to be trained on what it looks like to love in a way that forges an ironclad, lifelong covenant between two people. We want a love that kindles a raging fire of passion. We want the kind of love that fosters a vibrant, thriving marriage. The Bible gives us a description of love that can do that. It gives us a description of a love worth fighting for.

We say we love so many things. The world has overused and undervalued this word “Love.” The scriptures present and look at love very differently than people often do. In fact the world has a dysfunctional view of love, and God help us, many of us have a self-centered view of it. By telling us what love is not, the Apostle Paul unfolds for us a clear and crisp view of the kind of love that is “others-centered”. God’s view of love is always a preference for the other person! Paul’s strong letter to the Corinthian church is an appeal for this kind of love. However, Paul’s words pierce time and space to show you and I today the kind of love which is to mark our marriages and illustrate our lives.

What is the most important thing to make a thriving marriage? Some believe it is compatibility. If they find the right person who fits them, they will be happy. There are many other good contenders like friendship, communication, and trust. But according to the Bible, the single most important attribute someone can have is love. This is something that doesn’t sound strange to us. Our culture has produced many voices that have said love is the most important thing in a relationship. The problem is that rarely love is defined. Is it a passionate emotion that overcomes everything else? Is it a powerful feeling that strikes us without warning? There is a foundational chapter in the Bible that clearly defines love. The vitality of your marriage or future marriage hinges on whether we understand how God explains love.

Insiders. Those that are in the right groups, have the right status, or know the right people. Almost every sphere of life has them. But what does someone who’s on the “inside” look like when it comes to spiritual things? Maybe spiritual insiders are those who know a lot about their faith. They are well read and can answer people’s questions. Maybe it’s the people who are really loving and hospitable and generous. They sacrifice a lot for others. Maybe it’s the person who has a religious position. They are a leader in their church or faith group. Interestingly, the story of Naaman pushes our conventional thinking about who is an insider. What does it take to be accepted by God? It may surprise you what the Bible says about what an insider looks like.

Control. That is a tough thing to give up. It’s not just “control freaks” that want control. We all do. Some could say it’s the hardest thing to give up. But what about glory? Glory is hard to pass up. Deflecting recognition or praise for something is not our instinct. What about letting someone else get credit when you deserve some too? That’s not easy. But which is harder? Would you be happier giving up control to get glory or giving up glory to get control? But maybe that’s not the real question. What if surrendering control AND glory would actually make us the happiest? The story of Naaman once again turns the world upside down, and shows us how our instincts often need to be reprogramed.

Think about the idiom “climb the ladder.” We use it in a couple different spheres of life: “climb the corporate ladder,” or “climb the social ladder,” or just “climb the ladder of success.” In our culture we intend to desire a general upward trajectory. We even use the phrase “upwardly mobile,” to communicate someone improving their general situation economically or socially. It is interesting that it is so instinctual for our society to see the “up” direction as superior. We say I want to be “over” more responsibility, “above” people on the chain of command, and have a “higher” position of responsibility. Upward seems like the natural trajectory. But how does that square with the trajectory of Jesus? What if with Jesus everything changes? When you have Jesus everything is turned upside down.

He had everything you could want out of his life. Wealth? He had boatloads. Connections? He rubbed shoulders with the most significant people of the time. Power? He was a war hero, that now had armies at his command. He even made a splash in the fashion world. There was one major problem... he had leprosy. But the sickness in his heart was actually worse than the disease on his skin. Despite all he had, he spent his life trying to prove his significance and find his identity. But God took this man on a journey to brokenness. And when he got there he found restoration he could have only hoped to be possible. Let us introduce you to a man named Naaman.

The story of David defeating Goliath is one of the most famous stories in the entire body. It has even become symbolic and idiomatic in our culture. We might say something like “face down your giants” that alludes to the story. But what if the story is actually a symbol of an even more famous literary framework in history? A close look at the story reveals a young hero slaying a monster in order to win the princess. That is a story we’ve all heard before. But even more than that, that is fundamentally our story. Do you know where you fit in the story?

04-02-17 SENT to The World by West Pines Community Church

You know, Christians and non-Christians alike have heard of Jesus. Many know some facts and even some stories, but do they really get the message that Jesus brought with Him? It’s amazing to see how easy it is to think we are in “control,” and overestimate just about everything about ourselves. But Jesus has a unique message that strikes at the heart of who we think we are and what we think we can do. Jesus teaches a parable comparing the approaches of two very different men, to God. Therein lies the true picture of the heart that God shows grace to and the one that He resists. That picture comes to vivid life in the Gospel. It is the Gospel that puts in proper perspective the position of man and the position of God. It is the Gospel that displays man in desperate need of God, and God desiring to give grace to man. You see, religion says, “Look what I have done for you!” but the Gospel says, “Look, I have come for you!” The Gospel is the remedy to self-righteousness and shows us a picture of God’s work for us

There are two good friends that for some reason people always think are fighting. Some even think these two are enemies that can never be reconciled. But they are not really at odds at all. In fact, they love being together, always drawing the best out of each other. They are miserable when they are apart. You would never want one without the other. Who are these two friends? Love and Truth. Some people more naturally lean to the side of love leaving out truth. And some people lean more to the side of truth leaving out love. But truth and love are inseparable friends, attached at the hip. They should always go arm in arm.

In The Ring, Part 1: Tolerance vs. Grace by West Pines Community Church

Expect the unexpected when you study the Bible. Most would probably think the scripture teaches that we need to enjoy our earthly treasures less. But surprise, God actually says that he wants to teach us how to enjoy the blessings He’s given us. First, He teaches us that contentment with what we have, not the constant craving for more, is key to enjoying what we’ve been given. But more than that, the Bible tells us that it is truly more of a blessing to have the privilege of giving, than just receiving. When we are generous and get to love someone, it produces a vibrant joy inside of us. But if that wasn’t enough, God has even more in store for us when we learn to be generous. When we give, He gives back!

Activate, Part 3: Compulsive Generosity by West Pines Community Church

It’s 9pm. You are sitting on the couch, winding down from the day in front of the television. You were minding your own business, when a commercial came on that changed everything. It must have been the close up camera angles on the melted cheese. In slow motion the thick strands of mozzarella endlessly trail from the piping hot slice to the rest of the pizza. Somehow now you can even smell the crusty dough wafting from your TV. They know what they are doing. And what did you ever do to them? You weren’t even hungry. But now life cannot go on without the satiation of this craving they’ve induced. In a thousand different ways, through a thousand different mediums this same scenario plays out. It demonstrates one thing: our culture knows how to obliterate contentment. But what we know from the Bible is that God gave us everything to enjoy. The challenge is we don’t know how to enjoy it.

Imagine for a second that you invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in a brand new sports car, but are so afraid of scratching the paint that you never take it out of the the garage. What if you inherited a priceless work of art, but all of your life it sat collecting dust in your attic. What a waste. There’s no question it is a tragedy to have access to a tremendous resource, but leave it unutilized. One of the biggest sources of regret in life is wasting an opportunity. What if we are each on the cusp of being able to be a part of something great. The only question is will we tap into the opportunity we have. In this series, we intend to ACTIVATE something inside of you. We believe God has called each of us to be catalysts transforming the world around us. There is something that may be lying dormant in your life right now that we want to fire up. Don’t miss this series as we ignite the world changer in each of us.

Struggling With God by West Pines Community Church

What if you decided to get into the business of flipping houses. So, you buy a fixer-upper, that needs a ton of work. You gut the whole thing. You put in a lot of hours and a lot of money. And at the end of all the renovation, the house looks beautiful. You are ready to sell. But there’s one major problem: the location is abysmal. The realtor informs you that it is pretty much hopeless to get someone to buy this house. He reminds you of the old saying: location, location, location. It doesn’t matter how much renovation you attempt, if you are in a bad location, it’s pretty much a waste. Psalm 1 says something similar about our spiritual lives. If you want to thrive, you need to be situated in a place where God’s word is constantly present.

Analyzing a big decision and not knowing what to do can be exasperating. If you’ve been in that situation, maybe you’ve gotten to a place where you just wish someone could come alongside of you and tell you what the right decision is. What if we could have a life coach that always knew the right answer. What if they always could perfectly direct us. The Bible claims to be that for us. It says that we will thrive if we anchor our lives to it. Maybe you’ve heard that before but it’s not worked for you. Where in the Bible does it tell me if I should date this person or take this job? It’s hard to find that page in the Bible. But maybe the problem is we don’t know how to use the Bible. Don’t worry. Think of Psalm 1 as the user's manual. You may be one step away from full access to inexhaustible wisdom and insight.