Adventurous Living - The Meadow Springs Community Church Podcast

Our relationship with our earthly mothers (or fathers) is imperfect at best and disastrous at its worst. Why? Because we are all broken and sinful. It is only with God that we can find a perfect and unbreakable attachment that surpasses anything here on earth.

It had been 400 years without a word from God. Then a guy shows up, having come from the desert, wearing a strange coat and long hair, wild and untamed, proclaiming the arrival of a King. This was some kind of announcement for sure, but were the people ready to hear it?

Jesus reminded His disciples before His departure into heaven to affirm and reflect on their faith in Him; trust and be confident of His love for them and be filled with hope, for He would return for them. Friends, this period of separation is only for a time and what a glorious day it will be when we unite, face to face, again.  

Our bodies always tell us when we're hungry. If yours is like most families, there's some debate about what everyone is hungry for. It's the classic ritual of trying to pick a place to eat away from home.  Our souls are also hungry and we can feel it...but what are we hungry for? Our hunger may feel vague and a bit hard to describe but God understood our hunger perfectly and sent His Son Jesus so that we may know Him.

So this is the question: If our salvation cost Jesus his own life blood and abandonment by His Father, what more could we pay? If He proclaims, "It is finished," what more could we do?

If anger or lust is on the menu, it is always for a party of one. They only work to separate and draw us away from the relationships God has placed in our lives.

All sin is deadly if it goes unchecked and the sinner unrepentant. Don't let apathy for your neighbor or consumption of the wrong nourishment prevent you from growing in your relationship with the Lord. 

Let's face it - sin is playing the long game. It exists to alienate us from one another and separate us from God. Envy and greed  make us ask the questions, "Why them? How come I didn't get that?" We frequent the the local 'Stuff Mart' for things to fill the space where God needs to reside. Be someone who knows what it is to desire the things of God, not the things of this world.

When the curtain comes down, the lights fade and the applause we craved dies away, there will be nothing left and the theater of our life will be empty. There's a reason its called 'vain' glory. In life, we get what we go after. 

Your life, though designed to be lived with a purpose given to you by God, is really just the title page at the beginning of a great book.

Love is an earthquake that changes the way we see ourselves and the way we see others. How delighted we can feel and how strong we can be is revealed when we hear ourselves addressed in love by one who truly loves us.

Leonard Cohen's song, "Hallelujah" moves us deeply as it focuses on the reality of broken relationships. But it doesn't give up on them; it is a broken hallelujah, but it is still hallelujah. Praise the Lord for the relationships we can experience and for the hope we have in Jesus Christ.

Why would God include the Song of Songs in the Scriptures if it did not express an essential message for us today?

Known. Formed. Created with and for a purpose. Chosen. Loved. You are a child of God, that's who you are.

Even for a champion of the faith like David, very few words were recorded in scripture upon his death. David had fulfilled God's purpose and plan for him in his own generation and then he died. What is God's purpose and plan for you? Could you write it down? Articulate it at all? At MSCC, we will strive to make 2020 the year  we live life 'on purpose'. 

"We will function by these values... or we won't exist." These were wise words from a businessman with a clear vision for his company. Every church can embody this system - living out values and beliefs with passion and courage, regardless of the consequences.

Since the fall of creation, God has known that we have a sin problem and we can't fix it on our own no matter how badly we want to. He says, "You are my people and I will be your God" and invites us into everlasting relationship. Let's take Him up on that offer.    

The thing about Jesus is He is far more of everything than we can comprehend.

This might not be quite the story you were expecting to hear.

To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. Amen.