West Pines Community Church

The responsibility to raise up successful kids is daunting, exhausting and overwhelming. They have to be physically healthy so if anything is wrong we take them to people like the orthodontist, dermatologist or optometrist. They need to get good grades in school, so if one subject is slipping we will often find a tutor. Athletically we want to make sure they have every opportunity, so we even look into summer sports camps and leagues. And then there are piano lessons. On top of that, we want to make sure they are well rounded spiritually. So we should follow the same pattern, right? Find a good church and let the experts train them spiritually… But wait. What if the Bible tells us that when it comes to spiritual development, parents HAVE to be the front lines. Raising up our kids to be full-throttle worshipers of the Almighty God has to be primarily spearheaded in the home.

All relationships are messy. This is primarily because we are constantly responding and reacting to each other. If someone acts selfish, we can’t help but respond with grabbing what I think is mine. If someone is defensive, our instinct is to respond the same way. If someone acts prideful, our ego rears up. But the inverse is also true. If someone is giving, humble, patient, listening, trusting, encouraging, and selfless, we are drawn to respond in kind. There is a fundamental truth that is under this. Like a magnet - selfishness is the pole that repels and selflessness is the pole that attracts. There is no other relationship that this is more vital to than marriage. This is what defines marriage. This is what is misunderstood about marriage. This is what can make a marriage painful or passionate.

There is an evil tyrant that rules over us. His regime has lasted in our society for decades and maybe even longer. In fact, we are so used to his oppressive rule, that many don’t even see how crooked and deceitful he is. His brainwashing propaganda is everywhere. And the vast majority of our populace follow him like drones. But we have to rise up against this despot! We must save our generation, our households and our children from this monster! This tyrant goes by the name Materialism, and his regime is called Normal. But it’s time for a coup. He will no longer hold us back. Join the resistance!

The book Ecclesiastes is one of the darkest, most hopeless books of the Bible. It is ruthlessly honest about life. It paints a real picture of what life is reduced to without God. It says it is all meaningless and empty. Solomon methodically moves through every sector of our lives proving this with ironclad insight. When he gets to the category of money, it is no different. He says we will never be satisfied with money. He goes on to say that in the end we are going to die anyway and we can’t take anything with us. His unavoidable conclusion is that life is empty, so just enjoy what you have while you can. It’s depressing. But at the end of the book he has one sentence of hope: “fear God and obey Him.” There is great power in those simple and straightforward words. We know there is a God and that there is more than this life. God tells us that in Jesus we have eternity. We can live our lives now in light of that incredible reality.

In our culture, there is an oppressive dictator: Materialism. This tyrant has hooked us on his propaganda. He has made us believe that if we have more stuff, we’d be happier. And even though our own lives prove that this is not true, we still buy into his manipulative manifesto. This dictator has henchmen everywhere. Materialism’s henchman is Commercialism. We have to be aware of the influence advertising and marketing can have in our lives. Those things are not evil in and of themselves. But we are foolish to not understand their impact on our lives and on our kids. Our finances are one of the greatest resources we’ve been given. They have the power to change lives and even influence the eternity of a soul. We cannot afford to thoughtlessly let advertisers tell us how to use one of our key commodities. So, join the resistance. Revolt! Reclaim your finances. Your life can leave a legendary impact!

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the demands on you? That’s a dumb question. What’s funny is probably everyone has felt that, no matter how much they actually have on their plate. We know we are not the world’s savior, but it sometimes feels like we have so much expected of us. This seems to be common to the human experience. Jesus experienced this too. Although, he literally had crowds following him, pushing in on him, and crowding him. There were multiple times that the crowds were so dense and frenzied that there were safety issues. And, of course, He actually was the Savior of the world. To combat this, there was one practice that was essential to Him. In the midst of the craziness of the pace of His life, He would go up on the mountain to get solitude, alone with God. So here’s the question for us… Do we need that less than Jesus?

The gentle rhythm of crickets chirping is shattered by rustle in the bushes. You’d be lying if you said you weren’t very concerned. What’s out there? It wouldn’t be all that bad if it wasn’t the complete darkness of the deep forest. But the worst of it is you are lost. At some point during the hike, you got off the path. You must have taken a wrong turn. How are you possibly going to navigate your way out? This can happen in the wilderness and it can happen in our spirituality. There are certain truths that we have to fix our eyes on. If we lose sight of it, we can wonder off and get lost. Often we think the Gospel, the beautiful message of what Jesus did to save us, is merely the welcome sign to our journey of faith. We think it is something we leave behind. But it is much more than that. It is the path we stay on. It is a message that we have to walk in every day of our lives. If we are going to survive, we have to know the Gospel well enough to let it be the constant compass for our souls.

One of the most important elements for sustaining life is water, pure water. There are many things our bodies can live extended amounts of time without, but clean water is essential to our survival and is one of the most critical things our physical self requires. Another critical area that might be as acute is what we feed our minds - our mind diet. While we may be able to ignore deficiencies in this area longer than being deprived of water, the damage can be just as harmful and possibly more important as it can affect our spiritual, emotional and even our physical health. As Mathetes, it is important that we are intentional about our “mind diet” and Paul takes a critical opportunity in the book of Romans to help us appreciate the necessity of this idea. It is also important that we be mindful of the quality of our mind diet even more so than the quantity of input.

If you are exploring the wilderness, one of the keys to survival is setting up a proper campsite. This is the place that you find shelter, prepare your food, and rest from a day of adventuring. This is especially true if you are staying and exploring in an area for a while. You need a basecamp. It is the central location you return to. It is the hub for your adventures. Understanding the necessity of a basecamp is essential. This is also true of our lives more broadly speaking. In the perilous terrain of life’s circumstances, a christian’s home church is their base camp. It is not merely one of the attractions we visit along the way. The Bible describes church as our home base. Utilizing this is a survival essential.

The Christmas season is festive. There are strings of lights wrapped around our houses. We import evergreen trees from distant forests and temporarily install them into our houses and then drape them in bright colored ornaments. There are delicious delicacies that we only eat this time of year. Not to mention parties and presents and family in from out of town. There is a magic to the Christmas season. It is a twinkling distraction. It lets us temporarily escape into a winter wonderland. It brings a glimmering escape from the weight of life. But what if Christmas was more than just consuming festivities? What if it didn’t simply distract us from our weariness but provides something much more? Christmas isn’t a gingerbread latte. That does little for those who are doubting, broken, lonely, or lost. What this weary world needs is a Thrill of Hope!

Imagine you are an heir or an heiress of a tremendous empire. How would that change how you view yourself? You would be born significant. You would be an important person simply by your inherited position. There would be few accomplishments you could attain that could add to the importance that you already have. So then what does it mean that Jesus who was the “heir of all things,” came to earth to give up everything? What does that say about the character of Jesus? What does it say about our significance to Him? The reality of our lives is that we exhaust ourselves, striving to build relationships, careers, and our own image. And in the deepest places of our souls, so often our motive is to prove to ourselves that we have significance. But Jesus brings a THRILL OF HOPE, to our weariness.

One of the things that is so endearing about caring for a baby is watching them develop. At the beginning they can do nothing on their own. They can’t even burp without help. This is also one of the most wondrous parts of the Christmas story. Jesus was called Immanuel, which means “God with us.” Jesus is God, in the flesh. So that means that there in the manger wiggling around because he is unable to pick up his head or control the movement of his arms, is the One who created and is sustaining the entire universe. This shows what it took for God to be here “with us.” That truth is utterly transforming for us in our present circumstances. No matter how alone we may feel in this current season of our lives, Jesus committed to us that He is always with us.

All the time in our culture we greet each other by saying, “how are you?” We mostly respond saying simply: “fine.” It is simply a polite exchange. We rarely actually respond with what is going on. It’s instinct and reflex. Interestingly there is a common greeting in the first generation of the church that was very common. In almost every letter recorded in the New Testament we find these words “grace and peace to you.” Was this spoken all over the world in the first generation of the Christian church because it sounded nice? Was this just empty pleasantries? Or perhaps it is because it encapsulated a truth so explosive that it turned the world upside down. And it can turn our lives upside down too.

It’s funny to see how trends change and often repeat themselves. What was rad in the 80s became lame in the 90s, only to become cool (or fresh, or on point, or tight, or legit, or or fly) once again. Life has this interesting tendency to go back to the way things were. When it comes to our spiritual life, a similar principle is at work. Those who follow Jesus are brand new people. They are people who once had an old life before Christ, but they now have a new life in Christ. There’s a new trend that has been introduced that is altogether different from the old one. Those old trends may fight to come back again, but because Jesus has made us new, we don’t have to go back to the way things were.

What if you had the opportunity to tell yourself 10 years ago what life would be like now? Or what if you could get a glimpse of yourself in 10 years? How would that change how you feel about today? How would what you hope to see in your future change how you live this year? What if you had the confidence of knowing you will succeed or what you will become? Knowing what the Bible tells us about ourselves can make 2016 our best year yet!

01-17-16 The Time of Our Expenditure by West Pines Community Church

You’ve watched a scene like this in a movie or you’ve experienced this in a work meeting. People are sitting around a table, trying to solve a problem and someone asks, ‘What’s our Plan A?’ This is typically what the group determines is the best option. It’s the plan that gives the greatest chance for success. And then the group may go on to develop a Plan B, C, or even D depending on the situation. When it comes to His Church, God has a plan for growing it. We’ll call it Plan A. He loves His Church and has an amazing plan for it. From the time of the rapid expansion of the Early Church in the book of Acts to this very day, God has been implementing Plan A to bring healing and restoration to a hurting and broken world. He calls every single one of us to get on board with Plan A. And it’s a good thing that He does!... There is no plan B.

03-20-16 Palm Sunday by West Pines Community Church

It’s the great fish story of the Bible. We know it as Jonah and the Whale. No doubt a memorable episode in scripture. When hearing the story, it’s only natural to wonder what it would be like to be in the stomach of a whale. Jonah cries out describing how terrible his situation is. But even in midst of it, he believes and hopes that it will turn out ok. While most likely none of us will experience being in the belly of a “great fish,” we have all been through excruciating experiences that we hope will be redeemed somehow. Our natural instinct is to believe that these bad circumstances will be turned around for good. But on what basis is this hope? Is it based on an expectancy that fate or destiny or karma will right the wrong? Maybe we just have an empty belief? But the story of Jonah reveals more for us. It points to another story that is profound enough to hang all our hope on. It is the greatest redemption story in history.

There are few things more inspiring than being immersed in a story that depicts someone’s untamed passion, unmatched ingenuity and unconquerable will to build something. We are wired to build. We are instinctively driven to create and craft and cultivate. This is why stories that display that kind of plotline are adventures that inescapably draw us in. This is the story of Nehemiah. It is known to be one of the most profound leadership texts in history. It is a story of tears and blood and especially sweat. We intend to immerse ourselves in Nehemiah’s story. And in doing so, we will learn how to approach whatever it is God is calling each of us to arise and build. It is a call to pick up our shovels and swords, and be ready for anything.