Take those old records off the shelf

The brand new year is upon us. The turn of the calendar makes us excited and hopeful for what is in store. What amazing thing will God do in our lives? What will we be set free from? What obstacle or hardship will He graciously guide us through? What will be different? What will be better? What will be new?

Often the greatest thing that we can encounter of the freshness that comes from something being new is looking at something that is timeless. At Engaging Life we will start the New Year by rediscovering the essential elements of Christianity: “The Classics”.

During “The Classics,” every Sunday morning at 10:30am, we will focus on the following tenets of our faith:

• Week One: What We Believe: 13 Doctrines of Engaging Life
• Week Two: God’s Communication to Us: God’s Word and Our Obedience
• Week Three: Dialog with God: Prayer and Worship
• Week Four: An I Can in Christ Attitude: What It Means to Be in Christ
• Week Five: The Two Sacraments of the Church: Water Baptism and Communion
• Week Six: What Me Worry?: Giving and God’s Provision
• Week Seven: Fantastic News: Evangelism and Mission

According to Ecclesiastes 1:9, nothing is new under the sun. We can however have a new appreciation, deeper understanding and fresh impactful application to these classic essentials.

Starts Jan. 2!

Not I, It's He

Reflections on two verses in Isaiah 43:

18 Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.

When we fixate on what was yesterday, we tend to look through different lenses. Hind sight might be 20/20, but it makes looking forward very blurry. While we need to mourn because of our sins, learn from our mistakes, remember how we achieved success, and cherish memories of time spent with loved ones; we can’t live there. The past we visit, we do not inhabit. A move of God we experienced 5 decades ago, 5 years ago, or 5 days ago does not take the place of what God wants to do in us now.

19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

There is an emphasis on “I,” as in God saying He will do something new. He is not telling you to reinvent the wheel, or to discover a fresh and relevant new way of doing church, or a yet undiscovered way of using your gifts more effectively. He is dropping that on you, downloading that straight from the throne. Don’t miss the question though! That new thing that God desires to do, that thing that is springing up; “do you not perceive it?” Instead of brainstorming how you can do something new how ‘bout start realizing He is making a path; a new way. He promises to make that way in the wilderness and to bring streams in the wasteland. Comforting, to be sure; it seems to me that He always makes all things new in the environment of want and emptiness.