Church guide

You can love without being a christian, but you cannot be a christian without love.

The two newest members of our family at 12 & Laurel! Godiya and Dinah placed membership with us on Sunday. They had visited many congregations, but they said they felt at home with us. Pray for them and for this church.

Looking for something solid in a very shaky world? Isa.33:5

ALL CHURCH SERVICES CANCELLED TODAY for the Mishawaka church. Icy streets, more snow falling, temperatures dropping. Stay home and stay safe.

That's what your Bible says . . .

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Both Active and Contemplative “The report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed” (Luke 5:15,16). COMPARING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE TO A MELODY, THERE ARE TWO KEYS THE MELODY CAN BE PLAYED IN: ACTIVE AND CONTEMPLATIVE. Some Christians tend in the direction of active service while others tend toward quiet devotion. Neither is inherently wrong; there is a need for both. We should be cautious before criticizing someone for not doing discipleship exactly as we do it. In the life of Jesus and His apostles, we see some times of activity and other times of quietness. “Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. And He said to them, ‘Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.’ For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat” (Mark 6:30,31). Just so, the life of the individual Christian will move through different periods, some more active and some more contemplative. But what about the Lord’s church? Is there not room in the kingdom for individuals whose overall lives tend more in one direction than the other? The answer should be an obvious “Yes!” The body needs all, and we all need each other. As Paul warned, “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’; nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you'” (1 Corinthians 12:21). If I’m a more active Christian and you’re more contemplative, I need your example to remind me to take time for spiritual refreshment. And if I’m more contemplative and you’re more active, I need your example to remind me that Christianity is about more than just “my God and I.” Together we’re stronger than we would be without the influence of the other, and we should be careful not to criticize or minimize the other. Neither of us has a personality or style of service that is inherently superior to others. And arguing over who’s putting the emphasis where it’s most needed is little more than a waste of time. None of us, all by ourselves, will get the emphasis right — it’s together that the Lord’s work gets done. “There are two kinds of Christian living. One is a life of activity. The other is the contemplative life. These two lives are united. It is impossible to live the one without having some of the other” (Anonymous, The Cloud of Unknowing). Gary Henry – WordPoints.com

True Heart, Brave Heart “Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus” (Mark 15:43). HOW DANGEROUS A JOURNEY ARE WE WILLING TO UNDERTAKE IN ORDER TO GET TO GOD? Do we understand that seeking God requires a heart that is brave as well as true? True Heart. The faith needed to seek God is a faith that is utterly sincere. The writer of Hebrews speaks of this when he says, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:22). We must not only make a genuine commitment to God, but we must keep that commitment with allegiance and loyalty. If our heart is true, it will pursue God in earnest. Brave Heart. Spiritual growth, like any other real progress, is frightening. Since there is always loss as well as gain, we have to add courage to our sincerity. Great sacrifices are required; serious risks have to be taken. God has not guaranteed that our passage through this life will be completely safe. Some things will clearly be at risk, and we’re urged to “count the cost” (Luke 14:25-33). If we delay embarking on a serious quest for God until we have hedged all our bets, then we’re not worthy of God. Heading the list of the lost in Revelation 21:8 are the “cowardly,” those who play it safe, afraid to pay the price to walk with God. It takes a brave heart to say such a thing as Paul: “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8). And David, another man of courage, said, “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart” (Psalm 27:14). In the hymn “Amazing Grace” there is a verse which says, “Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come; ’twas grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.” Do we take these dangers seriously? Do we understand what’s at stake if we fail to find safety in God? If nothing could go wrong on our journey, neither the true heart nor the brave would be needed. But where there is no real risk, faith is no real virtue. “Every advance in spiritual life has its corresponding dangers; every step that we rise nearer God increases the depths of the gulf into which we may fall” (Robert H. Benson). Gary Henry – WordPoints.com

Courageous Reason “. . . who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens” (Hebrews 11:33,34). FAITH IS APT TO GET US INTO TROUBLE. Unlike mere “belief,” real faith leaves the comforts of home and gets out there where the real fight is taking place between good and evil. It is willing to take risks in the course of serving the Lord’s will. Based on what God has done in the observable realm of history, we reason that He is telling us the truth about the unseen realm, and we are willing to follow that reasoning out onto the battlefield of life. In the kind of faith that takes risks, trust is the key element. We are willing to put any number of things in jeopardy in the short run because we have confidence that, in the long run, the Lord will not let us down. “For this reason I also suffer these things,” Paul wrote; “nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day” (2 Timothy 1:12). A well-reasoned faith will impart not only courage but also determination and persistence. In Luke 5:17-26, there is the story of some people who brought to the Lord a paralyzed man for Him to heal. There was such a crowd, they could not get to the Lord. Undeterred, however, “they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus” (v.19). Jesus was pleased with the persistence of their effort, and He knew it to be the result of their faith: “When He saw their faith, He said to him, ‘Man, your sins are forgiven you'” (v.20). The courage that comes from genuine faith is far different from the cowardice that tags along behind superficial faith. In John 12:42, we read that “even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue.” If this kind of faith could save, even the demons would be in heaven: “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe — and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?” (James 2:19,20). So the question is not “What do you believe?” but “What are you willing to do about it?” “Faith is reason grown courageous” (Sherwood Eddy). Gary Henry – WordPoints.com

Joyful Strength “Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). THE GREATEST STRENGTH WE CAN KNOW IS THE STRENGTH OF JOY IN GOD’S GOODNESS. Indeed, the very powers of hell quail before any person whose strength is the true joy of the Lord. And when we neglect to grow strong in this way, every other strength is but weakness. Without joy, our strength is easily broken. Consider the source of Jesus’ own strength. Only hours before He allowed Himself to be crucified, Jesus said to His disciples, “Therefore you now have sorrow, but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you” (John 16:22). He prayed to God, “Now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves” (John 17:13). John’s account says that when the mob arrived to take Him, “Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, ‘Whom are you seeking?’ They answered Him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ . . . Now when He said to them, ‘I am He,’ they drew back and fell to the ground” (John 18:4-6). All the massed forces of evil in that hour of darkness had nothing with which to breach the fortress of joy within this great heart. Consequently, we are told to look “unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). For nothing less than the joy set before Him, our Lord endured! In the song that followed Israel’s crossing of the Red Sea, Moses sang, “The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; my father’s God, and I will exalt Him” (Exodus 15:2). The Lord is both our strength and our song. Is it not clear that He is our strength when He is our song? When we’ve grown honestly eager to bring glory to God and when showing gratitude to Him has become our greatest joy, then we will have grown “strong” in the highest and finest sense of that wonderful word. “Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of trouble, attempts what is above its strength, pleads no excuse of impossibility . . . It is therefore able to undertake all things, and warrants them to take effect, where he who does not love, would faint and lie down” (Thomas à Kempis). Gary Henry – WordPoints.com

Courageous Desire “Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.’ Then He said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven'” (Luke 7:44-48). IF THERE’S ONE THING THAT IS OBVIOUS ABOUT LOVE, IT’S THAT LOVE WANTS TO SHOW ITSELF. Love (that is, real love) is active. Like a healthy toddler, it can’t sit still for very long. It always wants to be doing something, preferably to act out its desires. Like faith, love is not only active, it’s willing to take significant risks. The woman in Luke 7, whose love led her to anoint the Lord’s feet with expensive oil, risked several things to show her love. For one thing, she accepted the risk of real loss. The ointment was costly, but wanting to show her love, she was willing to make a sacrifice (suffer an actual, couldn’t-afford-it loss) to do so. But second, she accepted the risk of the disapproval of others. To show her love for the Lord, she pushed past the “respectable” crowd and did something that incurred criticism from those, like Simon, who loved the Lord with nothing more than an official love. Today, we need to be careful, but we also need to be brave. Love doesn’t give us the right to do anything we please in showing our love for the Lord. We know nothing about what pleases Him except what He has revealed to us in His word, and we dare not disregard the Scriptures in deciding how to show our love. But that said, it’s important for us to be courageous in the desires of our love. All the scriptural correctness in the world will not accomplish anything if it is not carried out in active love. “The loving are the daring” (Bayard Taylor). Our lives and our relationship with God would be richer if we loved Him more deeply, dreamed of showing our love more extravagantly, and then demonstrated our faith more boldly and bravely. It’s time we got over our fears: our fear of being hurt and our fear that others will think we’re crazy. What if the woman in Luke 7 had stifled her desire and done the “sensible” thing? Well, the world — and certainly the Lord’s cause — would have been much the poorer. “Have the courage of your desire” (George Gissing). Gary Henry – WordPoints.com

"...because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” Acts17:31 NASB

"And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,..." Hebrews 9:27 NASB

“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery." Luke16:18 NASB

He *said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. “And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.” Matthew19: 8,9

"Some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began to question Him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce a wife. And He answered and said to them, 'What did Moses command you?' They said, 'Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.' But Jesus said to them, 'Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and the two shall become one flesh; so they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate. In the house the disciples began questioning Him about this again. And He *said to them, 'Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery.'" Mark10: 2-12 NASB

"But to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not leave her husband (but if she does leave, she must remain unmarried,or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not divorce his wife." 1Corinthians7: 10,11

“It was said, ‘Whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce’; but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery." Matthew 5: 31,32

"For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man." Romans 7:2,3 NASB