What Being Adopted By God Actually Costs You
Excerpt from "Do The Work: In Season And Out"

Amadeusz Kepinski •
September 13, 2026

8 Minute Read

Being adopted by God means inheriting the family business. In Romans 8, Paul says that children of God are heirs, and the inheritance is not a comfortable life. It is the work God is already doing in the world, and that work costs something.

Most of us come to Jesus carrying expectations. We have ideas about what His work is and about who He is. We just do. By our sinful nature, we expect Him to grant all of our prayers and wishes and to make everything okay in the world. That is not our inheritance.

What Does It Mean to Be Adopted by God?

Paul writes, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirits that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may be glorified with Him" (Romans 8:16-17).

Notice who we are fellow heirs with. Christ Jesus is the true Son of God. We are adopted into that family, and we inherit the family business, the work that God is doing in the world.

That work includes suffering, and specifically willful suffering. Jesus did not suffer because a pile of bad things happened to Him outside of His control. Jesus chose to suffer for people.

What Kind of Messiah Were People Expecting?

Israel had expectations for what the Messiah was going to do. They were waiting for Him. He had been prophesied. This messianic figure was going to come and free them from oppression and slavery. At the time, that meant the Roman Empire, a brutal empire. Everyone expected Jesus to show up and liberate Israel, to be a great warrior who would lead the people and overthrow Rome.

That was Israel's expectation, and again and again, Jesus showed no interest in it.

Jesus came to defeat the real enemy, which was the evil that empowered Rome to be so brutal and also empowered the vicious resistance to Rome's rule that ended in the destruction of the temple. Jesus went after the evil behind those actions. He did not come to rain fire down on sinners, even when some of His own disciples wanted Him to. There is a story where Jesus is not received well in a village, and His disciples ask whether they should do the Elijah thing and call fire down on the people who would not receive Him.

Jesus came to rescue people from the sin that stops them from receiving Him. That is the family business. That is what we are adopted into. That is our inheritance.

How Did Jesus Defeat Evil?

He willfully stepped into the very heart of darkness. The worst thing possible happened to Him. Abandoned by all of His friends, betrayed by a friend, with no one to stand with Him, He was humiliated, spat on, stripped, tortured, and crucified. He did not have to go through any of that. He wanted to go through it, for your sake and for mine.

He let all of evil pour over Him and absorbed it without letting it change Him, without becoming the thing He was fighting against. That is how He defeated the devil and made a way for us to be adopted into the family, so that His Spirit could come and reside in us. It happened through costly love.

Does the Church Actually Follow That Example?

I want to say this next part as gently as possible. As a church in the 21st century in the West, and that is the only church I know, I do not think we follow that example. Not always. Very rarely. I do not think we really understand it, and I am including myself here.

We look at people who are suffering the consequences of their actions, and we think that serves them right. Look at them, they are reaping what they have sown. There is a German word for this, schadenfreude, where you take satisfaction in the fact that somebody else has to face the consequences of their own actions.

Jesus did not feel any schadenfreude. He lamented. God laments. The Spirit laments the state of the world.

What Does Romans 8 Mean When It Says Creation Groans?

"For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself would be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now" (Romans 8:19-22).

There is something deeply wrong with the world. People keep choosing to follow their own passions and desires instead of choosing God. A lot of this is in Romans 1, where Paul says that the wrath of God is being revealed against all unrighteousness. It does not say the wrath of God will be revealed in some distant or even not so distant future. It is being revealed in the moment. Later, Paul explains how it is being revealed. Three times he says that God lets people go. He lets them go to follow their own passions and desires. A lot of what we look at and call sins are the result of sin. Broken people, a broken world.

And that world, those people, that creation is waiting with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. We are the sons and daughters. We are the children of God. They are waiting for us.

We sometimes hear this message as, preach the Word of God so that your friends do not go to hell in the future. But there is no waiting involved. There are people suffering right now, in a measure of hell on earth, already in the present moment.

God set it all up that way. That is God's wrath. There is also God's mercy. God's mercy is that He has sons and daughters, children through whom He works to offer people a chance to get out of that darkness. And the world is waiting for it eagerly.

Pains of childbirth. Imagine creation laboring for us to be born into the purpose for which we were made.

What Being Adopted by God Actually Costs You

"And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies" (Romans 8:23).

Creation is groaning. It is suffering. It is terrible. We should groan and suffer too. Our inheritance is not a big party in a big palace. You are not saved for the celebration. You are saved to step into the darkness and weep with those who weep.

Feed the hungry, and be hungry with the hungry. Feed them out of your own plate rather than out of your abundance. Be patient with people who do not deserve your patience. Let people speak, even if it means that you do not get to. It should cost us something to groan with the groaning world.

Why Does the Holy Spirit Groan Within Us?

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And He who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God" (Romans 8:26-27).

There are three groanings here. Creation groans in anticipation of us. Then, as we step into what we are supposed to do and willfully go to that place of suffering, we groan. And then God's Spirit, who lives in us, groans within us.

You are a temple of God. God lives in you if the Holy Spirit lives in you. You are different from the temple that the Jews used to have, because you have legs. The world does not come to the temple anymore. We are the temple that steps out into the world, into the very darkest places of it. And from that place, the Spirit who lives in us, God who can do anything, will cry out. The Spirit will cry out in groaning, and the Father who searches all hearts will hear the cry.

Where This Leaves You

That is where the real power of all of this is. That is how the world will be reconciled, the groaning creation reconciled to the Kingdom of God, heaven and earth becoming one.

That is our job. That is the family business. That is the work God is doing in the world. Being adopted by God means you inherit that work, and it will cost you the comfortable inheritance you were expecting. You are adopted into it. You inherit the family business. Now it is your job.

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October 11, 2026 • 7 Minute Read
How To Share Your Faith When You're Scared
If you've ever wanted to share your faith but held back because you were scared you wouldn't know what to say, you're in good company. I believe that sometimes we are ashamed of the gospel simply because we don't know what words to use or how to start talking to people. The good news is that learning how to share your faith is something every believer can do, including the shy, the timid, and those of us who think of the right answer hours too late. We are stewards and servants of the gospel, and the gospel is filled with God's glory. So I want to encourage you: don't be ashamed of the gospel. Be an evangelist. Paul Was Not Ashamed of the Gospel The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 1:14-16: "I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." The word obligation describes something like a financial debt. I think for Paul, that debt felt enormous. He got the chance to hear the gospel, and he was transformed by the gospel. Now he owed it to people of all kinds to share it with them. Then he says he is "eager to preach the gospel." I think that's fascinating. Paul had a long-standing invitation to come to Rome and share with the believers there. When he described what he would do once he arrived, he didn't say he would hold a seminar about when he was in Heaven, or about other things that might tickle people's ears. He said he would preach the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation. And throughout his letter to the Romans, he actually teaches the gospel. The Gospel Is the Primary Thing Paul describes himself as "a preacher and apostle and teacher" of the gospel (2 Timothy 1:11). Today we hear of people who are apostles of many different things, and we have Bible teachers who specialize in all kinds of subjects. That may be good. But Paul said he was a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the gospel. I believe the gospel is the primary thing, and everything else is secondary. It should be the primary thing in everything we do and in every church. And we shouldn't be ashamed of it. Why Is It So Hard to Share Your Faith? For me, it was a struggle when I started following Jesus. I honestly had no idea how I would answer if people started to question the gospel or ask me questions about the Bible. I felt very uneducated to answer these things, and that made me shy about sharing the gospel. I had to work on myself and break through that to become more bold in sharing the gospel. I still have to conquer it, because it's so easy, even as a pastor, to get busy in the church. There are so many things to do and so many people with needs, and suddenly you may pass by people with whom you could have, and should have, shared the gospel. Do the Work of an Evangelist, Even If You're Timid Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:5: "As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." If we look a little at Timothy, we can see that he probably was not an evangelist. He was a little timid and a little shy. Paul had to encourage him to let his gift flame up and not to let anyone look down on him. And here Paul tells him to do the work of an evangelist. It doesn't say Timothy has to be an evangelist like Philip. Even if you're not an evangelist, and I'm not one either, you can still do the work of an evangelist. You Don't Have to Be Billy Graham to Plant a Seed The fantastic thing is that the gospel is a seed, and you don't have to be a Billy Graham or a Reinhard Bonnke to plant a seed. Nearly anyone can plant a seed. That is God's wisdom: each and every one of us can share our testimony about Jesus, and each of us can share the gospel. We can also train ourselves in this. In our church, we have practiced sharing our testimonies in our small groups, and we have been working on it together. How to Share Your Faith: Start With Your Testimony One reason this matters to me is that I have sat with people when I wasn't really prepared. Suddenly someone said something about the meaning of life, and I wasn't quick enough. Sometimes I'm a little slow (please don't tell anyone). Afterward I started thinking, "Maybe I should have said something." During the afternoon I thought, "I definitely should have said something." By the time I came home in the evening, I had figured out all the things I should have said, but I never said them. So I prayed, "Lord, forgive me. Give me a new opportunity." That's why I've decided that as soon as an opportunity comes, I will take it. I usually start with my personal testimony, because people listen when they know a person has actually experienced something. I keep it very simple: "I haven't always been a believer. My life was like this. But here I met Jesus, and this is how I met Him. And today I'm so thankful, because He has been with me all these years." That's a simple way of sharing your testimony. From there, you can easily move to what the Bible says in John 3:16, and then continue to talk about Jesus, talk about sin, and talk about the fact that Jesus is alive today. You can share a whole lot of the gospel in just a few minutes. Sometimes we need to train ourselves a little, but we can do it. What If People Don't Respond to the Gospel? Don't expect everyone to be saved immediately. In John 4, Jesus said that we must labor and sow, and that sometimes we harvest where others have sown. So sometimes our task is simply to sow the gospel. Regardless of the reaction, don't take it personally. People dwell in their own personal darkness, with their lies and everything else they carry. Then suddenly you come along, happy, saying, "I believe in Jesus," and they just want to shut the door in your face. Say something anyway. Share something and start. When you share your personal testimony, many people actually listen, and they respect it. You sow something, and then you can continue to pray for them. Decide to Share Your Faith, Even When You're Scared So I want to encourage you today: decide in your heart to take every opportunity to sow the gospel. You don't have to be a famous evangelist, and you don't have to have every answer ready. That's how you share your faith when you're scared. You take the opportunity, you start with your story, you point people to Jesus, and you keep praying for them.

Ingmar Aronson

October 4, 2026 • 10 Minute Read
Why Jesus Took His Disciples To The Gates Of Hell
What did Jesus mean when He said the gates of hell would not overpower His church? The answer begins with where He was standing. In Matthew 16, Jesus led His disciples to Caesarea Philippi, a place pagan religions considered the doorway to the underworld, and there He asked them a question God still asks today: "But who do you say that I am?" Jesus chose this spot on purpose, walking His disciples to the base of the Mount Hermon range to make some amazing declarations in the face of everything that region represented. What happened there reveals who Jesus really is, and it exposes the temptation that opens the door to darkness in every one of our lives. Who Do You Say That I Am? The scene opens in Matthew 16:13-16: "Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, 'Who do people say that the Son of Man is?' And they said, 'Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.' He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?'" In that moment, Simon Peter somehow has a spark and answers, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus responds, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 16:17). The Father's identity was already starting to imprint on Peter. Peter recognized something about Jesus that was producing a relationship with the Father, and somehow he could hear the Father's voice. He knew what the Father was doing. Jesus continues: "I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven." Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ (Matthew 16:18-20). Why Did Jesus Go to Caesarea Philippi? A little history helps here. Caesarea Philippi marks the northernmost border of Israel's territory, going all the way back to the days of the initial conquest. It sits in the area of Mount Hermon, a place that appears in the Old Testament, and the disciples knew its history well. They were standing in a charged atmosphere, to say the least. A Doorway to the Underworld For one thing, the area had a long history of being considered the doorway to the underworld by pagan religions. Right where Jesus stood at the base of the mountain, there was a cave and a spring going down into the earth. The local people, who believed in Pan, in all kinds of false religions, and in demons, believed this was a passage into the underworld. A Temple to Caesar Put Rome on top of that. Caesar Augustus was considered a god and a deity, and Herod built a temple to him and dedicated that mountain to him as a god. So the pagan religions already believed this was a place to interact illicitly with the spiritual world, and now the cult of Rome was producing idol worship and making it a stronghold. Fallen Angels and Giants on Mount Hermon The last layer is the strangest, but it's interesting. Consider Second Temple period Judaism, the season between the end of the Old Testament with Malachi and the beginning of Matthew. During those 400 years of silence, no Scriptures were being written, yet people still believed in God. Jewish people still observed the law and still had temple worship and a priesthood, and by the time Jesus showed up, sacrifices were still being made in the temple. Your average Jew of the Second Temple period would have believed that angels fell from heaven and descended on Mount Hermon, where they had intimate relationships with women and produced giants. Whether you believe that or not is not the point. This is what they believed. And in the Old Testament, when Israel had to drive out physical giants during the conquest, it was in the Mount Hermon area. Standing at the Gates of Hell Picture it. The disciples walk all the way up there with Jesus and stand in front of this pagan, demonic, demon-possessed area. The men standing there think angels came down to the earth and committed nasty deeds that produced giants, giants Israel still had to defeat when they came back into the land, leaving some sort of footprint on the place. Then the cult of Rome brought another demonized layer to it. All of this was multi-layered on top of each other, and Jesus essentially said, "We're going to walk right up to it, and I'm going to ask you a question." Imagine that. The disciples must have been mortified. Where are we going? To Philippi and Mount Hermon, to the place of giants, devils, pagans, Rome, and demons? We're going to stand in front of the thing they call the pathway to the underworld, and You want to have a conversation with us there? That is exactly what Jesus intended. So He asks His question with all of this as His backdrop. Who am I? Am I one of these? Are they in competition with Me? What do you know about Me at this point? This matters because Matthew 16 is the first time Jesus really announces that He is the Messiah. He endorses Peter's confession, something Peter had probably been thinking about up to this point in the Gospel. It had never really been said like this. Jesus lays it clearly on the table: I am the One. He is so much the One that He is about to show them how far above all of this He is, because Matthew 17 brings the Mount of Transfiguration. For now, though, they are down at the base of the mountain. Who Is Jesus to You? Whether you are in Caesarea Philippi or in the middle of your own city, there are powers and multi-layered, demonized ideas, sinful, wicked, pagan, nasty things working in the atmosphere. And God still asks the same question: Who is Jesus to you? Is He simply alongside all of this stuff, someone you consider in tension with it? Or do you understand who He is, that He is the ruler over all of it? He rules all of it. Until your identity is secure in what He made you to be, this stuff will keep working on you, even though you claim to know Him. Jesus is getting at the root of something. Underneath it all is the myth of self, which works on humanity to offer a wisdom alternative to God's. Man took the bait from Satan in the garden, chose his own wisdom, became alienated from God, and became a sinful, rotten person. Compile that over time, and by the time Jesus arrives at Caesarea Philippi, demons, pagans, rituals, and all kinds of things have convinced the world of every variety of ideas about who God is and what God is. Jesus stands up in the midst of all that multi-layered confusion and says, "Let's answer this question. Who am I?" Peter's answer, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," cuts through the atmosphere like a knife. It was a good moment, but it doesn't end there, because Jesus is about to go after something else. Why Did Peter Rebuke Jesus? Once Jesus knows His disciples understand that He is the Messiah, the conversation turns. "From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, 'God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You'" (Matthew 16:21-22). Think about what just happened. In front of every demonic thing in that part of the world, Jesus asked, "Who am I?" and the answer came back that He is the One who rules all of it. Now that they understood that, Jesus began to show them how His rulership would be extended and produced to impact the whole world. Peter didn't like that idea, so he came up with an alternative wisdom. In effect, he said, "Jesus, there's another way to look at this. Let's have some wisdom over here." Notice the words Peter uses. All through the New Testament, the proper name for the Father is God, and the proper name for Jesus is Lord. Paul would say things like, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" [Reference needed]. Jesus is Lord; the Father is God. So here is what Peter is really saying: "You just told me a few minutes ago that the Father speaks to me too. Since I have a role in this now and can somehow discern something, I have some wisdom for You. I'm here to rebuke You and tell You that God, Your Father, surely doesn't want You to do that. Let me give You some advice, Jesus. Let me sort You out and tell You another way to do this." Why Did Jesus Call Peter Satan? Remember where they were standing: a hostile, spiritually charged, demonized region, probably one of the worst in Israel. Jesus walked in there and settled who He is over all of it. But is it possible that the atmosphere of that highly charged, demonized place, with wisdom altered a hundred different ways, got hold of Peter, and he lost his mind? If Peter, who was called by Christ to follow Him and lived with Him, could take the bait of self-interest in a moment and offer an alternative wisdom, what are the chances you will do the same? How realistic is it that the same atmosphere is talking to you right now? You may be able to sing songs that declare who He is, but when the moment hits that challenges your self-interest, can you still answer well? Or is that where you collapse? Peter hit the wall. Did Jesus respond by inviting him out for coffee for a gentle pastoral conversation, to help him understand the Scriptures a little better? He did not. Jesus said, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's" (Matthew 16:23). Listen to how Jesus defines where stumbling blocks come from. They come from a mind set on man's interests in place of God's. Self-Interest Is the Doorway to the Gates of Hell Jesus took His disciples to the gates of hell, a place layered with pagan religion, Caesar worship, and stories of fallen angels and giants, and revealed Himself as the Christ who rules over all of it. Moments later, one of His closest followers took the bait of an alternative wisdom. That is the warning of Caesarea Philippi: the temptation of self-interest is the doorway into the demonic every single time. The same question Jesus asked at the base of Mount Hermon is still being asked of you. Who do you say that He is? Is He one option alongside everything working in the atmosphere around you, or is He the ruler over all of it? When your identity is secure in what He made you to be, you can answer that question well, even in the moment your self-interest is on the line.

Tom Bedford

Senior Pastor

September 20, 2026 • 5 Minute Read
More Than a Moment: Communion as a Way of Life
On the night He was betrayed, Jesus didn't hand His disciples a program or a strategy. He gave them a meal. He took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me" (1 Corinthians 11:24). At Bread of Life Church, we receive communion together as a regular part of our life as a church family. We want you to understand not only what we do, but why. Communion is not simply a moment in a service. It is a picture of the whole Christian life. Why We Receive Communion Communion, also called the Lord's Supper, is a meal Jesus Himself instituted and asked His followers to continue (Luke 22:19–20). The bread represents His body, given for us. The cup represents His blood, the new covenant that secures our forgiveness and brings us into relationship with God. When we receive communion, we are not re-sacrificing Jesus or earning grace. His work on the cross is finished. Instead, we are remembering, proclaiming, and receiving. By faith, and through the Holy Spirit, we encounter the living Christ who is present with His people. Paul calls it a "participation" in the body and blood of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:16). This is not an empty ritual. It is a holy meeting. A Meal That Shapes a Life The early church didn't treat communion as an occasional add-on. They "devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers" (Acts 2:42). The Table was woven into their everyday life together. Here's how it shapes ours. A life of remembrance. Remembering isn't just recalling a fact; it's re-centering our lives on what is most true. Every time we take the bread and cup, we're reminded that our identity is rooted in Christ, not in our performance, our failures, or our circumstances. That reminder is meant to follow us into Monday morning. A life of proclamation. "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" (1 Corinthians 11:26). Communion is a sermon without words, and the way we live afterward continues that message in our homes, workplaces, and neighborhoods. We don't just receive the gospel at the Table; we carry it out the door. A life of honest examination. Paul encourages us to "examine" ourselves before we eat and drink (1 Corinthians 11:28). This isn't about proving we're worthy. None of us are. It's an invitation to come honestly, confess sin, and receive grace. A healthy rhythm of communion builds a healthy rhythm of repentance. A life of unity. "Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body" (1 Corinthians 10:17). We don't come to the Table as isolated individuals. We come as family. If there is a broken relationship in your life, the Table invites you to pursue reconciliation (Matthew 5:23–24). A life of dependence. Bread is daily food. Jesus called Himself "the bread of life" (John 6:35), and as a church that bears that name, we take this personally. We need Him every day, not just on Sundays. The Table trains our hearts to keep returning to Him as our source. A life of hope. Jesus said He would not drink of the fruit of the vine again until He drinks it new in His Father's kingdom (Matthew 26:29). Every communion looks forward to the day we will sit at His table face to face. At the Table in Worship, in Homes, and in LifeGroups In the early church, believers broke bread "in their homes" as well as when they gathered together (Acts 2:46). We follow that same pattern. Alongside receiving communion in our worship services, you'll also experience it in homes, LifeGroups, prayer gatherings, and other settings where believers gather around Jesus. These moments matter. Receiving communion around a kitchen table or in a living room reminds us that the presence of Jesus isn't confined to a building or a stage. The Table travels with His people, and it belongs in the ordinary places where life and discipleship happen. Who Can Receive Communion is open to all who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ, regardless of church background or membership. If you know Jesus as Lord and Savior, you are welcome at His Table. If you're exploring faith, still asking questions, or simply not ready, that is completely okay. You don't need to participate, and no one will think twice. Feel free to hold the elements, sit quietly, or use the moment to pray and reflect. We're genuinely glad you're with us, and we'd love to talk with you about what it means to follow Jesus. Parents, we encourage you to use communion as a discipleship moment with your children and to decide together whether they are ready to participate. What to Expect in Worship When we receive communion in our worship services, you'll be handed a prefilled communion cup with a wafer as you enter. Hold on to your elements as you find your seat. We receive communion together in the middle of worship, as part of our time in the presence of God. A pastor will lead us through a brief reflection, prayer, and Scripture, and then we'll receive the bread and the cup together as one family. Come to the Table Communion is a gift. It reminds us who Jesus is, what He has done, and who we are becoming in Him. Our prayer is that this simple meal shapes not just our Sundays, but our whole lives: people who remember well, love deeply, and carry His presence into every place.

Daniel Dunn

Elder

September 20, 2026 • 10 Minute Read
How Jesus Talked To The Person Everyone Avoided
Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well is the account of God going out of His way to reach the one person everybody else refused to touch. In John 4, Jesus walks straight into the territory Jewish travelers avoided, sits down at a well in the heat of the day, and starts a conversation with a woman who had every reason to expect nothing from Him. Think of the place in your life you refuse to go because it is so terrible and the people there offend you. That is where we are going today. There is real theological depth in this chapter, and there is also a mirror in it. Most of us have someone we have already written off. Why Jesus Went Through Samaria We start in verse three. "He left Judea and departed again to Galilee." Judea sits in the southern part of the kingdom of Israel, and Galilee sits on the northern end. To get from one to the other, "He needed to go through Samaria," which sits right in the middle and blocks the direct route. They come to a city of Samaria called Sychar. For those of you who are Bible nerds, Sychar is almost certainly the old city of Shechem, mentioned many times in the Old Testament. If you study that out, it makes a little more sense why the Jews especially did not like Sychar. It sat on the lower slopes of Mount Gerizim, right there at a place called Jacob's well. That ground carries deep Jewish heritage and history, and the Samaritans had taken it over, living there and perverting the law, the good news, where to worship, and all of it. So here is Jesus with His disciples walking smack dab through the middle of what they would have considered the worst of the worst. He "came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well." Remember, He was fully God and fully man. "It was about the sixth hour," which means roughly noon, the middle of the day. And along comes a woman of Samaria to draw water. Why Did Jews Hate Samaritans? Pause right there, because by Jewish culture and custom, Jesus should not have said anything. You do not talk to Samaritans. Especially not a Samaritan woman. Especially not by yourself, and verse eight tells us "His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food." Jesus is there alone. He breaks rank with every bit of it and says to her, "Give Me a drink." Her reaction shows just how surprising that was. "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" The text explains why she would ask: "For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans." Here is a detail worth knowing. The prohibition covered anything that carried even a hint of relationship. You could not receive a gift from a Samaritan. You could not receive a drink of water from a Samaritan. You could buy something from them. They were good enough as merchants, treated like every other Gentile. So when the disciples go into Sychar to buy food, they are doing the one thing they are permitted to do, and their eyes are locked forward. Get the food, do whatever you have to do, and get out as quickly as possible, because I do not want to deal with these awful people. That is what the disciples were thinking. Jesus, on the other hand, decides to violate everything they thought was right, and He asks for a drink of water. How Jesus Started the Conversation That was the introductory statement of Him sharing the gospel. That is evangelism. This is Jesus evangelism right here. He did not open with, "Guess what, I am the Messiah." He did not announce His name. He started by asking for something. When she pushes back on why He would even talk to her, He does not explain Himself or defend His kindness. He goes straight to the offer: "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." Now she is confused. "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water?" See what Jesus did there. It is very clever. He has already introduced the good news, already announced His kingship, and already announced that He is the Messiah without saying as much, and He has her hooked. I do not think this passage is intended as a good sales pitch seminar, and that is not what evangelism is. Jesus, knowing all things, is incredibly efficient. He is able to give loads of doctrine, truth, and love and get right to the heart of the matter with no wasted words. What Does Living Water Mean in John 4? Living water is life from God, an eternal life that satisfies a thirst no well can reach. She keeps testing Him. "Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?" That question would have upset the Jews. Your father Jacob? Really? You broke off from Judaism, and you want to refer to Jacob as your father? There is so much hostility even in this moment. She is throwing things back at Him, trying to bait Him, and He will not take it. Jesus answers, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."Translation: your well is carnal. You have probably read this passage before if you are saved, and there is so much theology sitting inside it. He is talking about life from God. He is inviting her to something before He ever talks to her about who she is. Jesus Gave the Invitation Before the Confrontation The very first real invitation from Jesus is this: you can come and be saved. You can come and receive water of eternal life. There is something about the gospel that you and I, by ourselves, can do nothing to change people. It takes the power of God, the spark of heaven. I was talking through this in a podcast conversation, and we landed on the fact that a moment of encounter is necessary for someone to receive anything. If I go and have a conversation with you, there is a physical encounter at the human level. You and I can talk and know one another without knowing anything about each other. Conversely, I could read a book all about your life, know all about you, and not know you at all. In this moment, Jesus brings both. He is bringing Himself with a true encounter, and at the same time presenting the truth of who He is. Something supernatural and divine is happening here, because look at how this woman responds. "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw." I do not want to have to walk all the way up here anymore. Yeah, I will take it. What is it? He Named Her Sin Without Withdrawing the Offer Now Jesus pulls out the confrontation. "Go, call your husband, and come here." The woman has to answer truthfully. "I have no husband." And Jesus tells her exactly what is going on with her. "You have well said, 'I have no husband,' for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband." This was a big problem. It meant she was living an immoral life. It meant she had sin. Her present relationship was not correct. Jesus knew exactly what was going on before He ever spoke to her, and now He is calling it out. He is saying, I have already given you this invitation, and to receive it I need confession. I need there to be a faith that says, I know who I am, and I want You, and I give myself to You. He does not minimize it. He calls it out by name. He also does not withdraw the offer of living water. The Person I Wrote Off Sometimes we get to know someone a little bit, we see what they are really about and what is important to them, and we write them off. That person? I do not know if I could reach them. I have missed more chances than I have taken, and here is a big one. My wife has step family, and one of them was living in a lesbian relationship. The first time I met them, here are these two women in a very different lifestyle, clearly having rejected any measure of Christianity or faith. They knew I was a Christian, and I did not want to say anything. I looked at them and thought, well, they have made their choice, so what am I going to do? The only thing running through my mind that entire dinner was, this is uncomfortable, this is uncomfortable, this is uncomfortable. I do not know what to say. I do not know how to talk to you. I probably looked like a total prude, over there making small talk. They probably thought I thought I was better than them. This went on for a while. We spent more time with them and saw them relatively often, maybe a couple of times a year, and I never really made any effort to get to know them at all. Then one day one of those women came into my father in law's house while I was there. I do not even remember how the conversation started, but she began telling my wife how she had been invited to church by her son, who had been invited by his friend. She walked in the door and encountered Jesus. She became radically saved. She went home that night and realized she could not live that lifestyle anymore. She moved out of the bedroom because she did not know where else to go. They broke up immediately. The other one, to this day, is still bitter about it. I was deeply convicted, because I realized I was right in front of you the whole time and I could have invited you. I could have shared the good news with you, and I did not, because I had assumed there was no hope for you. I did not do what Jesus did. I left her to rot in hell because I was too proud, stubborn, and stupid to give her a chance. Where to Go From Here Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well gives us the pattern. He walked into the place His own disciples would not have chosen. He sat down with the person everyone avoided. He offered her living water before He ever named her sin, and when He named it, He did not take the offer back. So the question this story leaves with each of us is a simple one. Who have you already decided is beyond reach? You may be standing right in front of them.

Jason Guenther

Currently Reading
September 13, 2026 • 8 Minute Read
What Being Adopted By God Actually Costs You
Being adopted by God means inheriting the family business. In Romans 8, Paul says that children of God are heirs, and the inheritance is not a comfortable life. It is the work God is already doing in the world, and that work costs something. Most of us come to Jesus carrying expectations. We have ideas about what His work is and about who He is. We just do. By our sinful nature, we expect Him to grant all of our prayers and wishes and to make everything okay in the world. That is not our inheritance. What Does It Mean to Be Adopted by God? Paul writes, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirits that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may be glorified with Him" (Romans 8:16-17). Notice who we are fellow heirs with. Christ Jesus is the true Son of God. We are adopted into that family, and we inherit the family business, the work that God is doing in the world. That work includes suffering, and specifically willful suffering. Jesus did not suffer because a pile of bad things happened to Him outside of His control. Jesus chose to suffer for people. What Kind of Messiah Were People Expecting? Israel had expectations for what the Messiah was going to do. They were waiting for Him. He had been prophesied. This messianic figure was going to come and free them from oppression and slavery. At the time, that meant the Roman Empire, a brutal empire. Everyone expected Jesus to show up and liberate Israel, to be a great warrior who would lead the people and overthrow Rome. That was Israel's expectation, and again and again, Jesus showed no interest in it. Jesus came to defeat the real enemy, which was the evil that empowered Rome to be so brutal and also empowered the vicious resistance to Rome's rule that ended in the destruction of the temple. Jesus went after the evil behind those actions. He did not come to rain fire down on sinners, even when some of His own disciples wanted Him to. There is a story where Jesus is not received well in a village, and His disciples ask whether they should do the Elijah thing and call fire down on the people who would not receive Him. Jesus came to rescue people from the sin that stops them from receiving Him. That is the family business. That is what we are adopted into. That is our inheritance. How Did Jesus Defeat Evil? He willfully stepped into the very heart of darkness. The worst thing possible happened to Him. Abandoned by all of His friends, betrayed by a friend, with no one to stand with Him, He was humiliated, spat on, stripped, tortured, and crucified. He did not have to go through any of that. He wanted to go through it, for your sake and for mine. He let all of evil pour over Him and absorbed it without letting it change Him, without becoming the thing He was fighting against. That is how He defeated the devil and made a way for us to be adopted into the family, so that His Spirit could come and reside in us. It happened through costly love. Does the Church Actually Follow That Example? I want to say this next part as gently as possible. As a church in the 21st century in the West, and that is the only church I know, I do not think we follow that example. Not always. Very rarely. I do not think we really understand it, and I am including myself here. We look at people who are suffering the consequences of their actions, and we think that serves them right. Look at them, they are reaping what they have sown. There is a German word for this, schadenfreude, where you take satisfaction in the fact that somebody else has to face the consequences of their own actions. Jesus did not feel any schadenfreude. He lamented. God laments. The Spirit laments the state of the world. What Does Romans 8 Mean When It Says Creation Groans? "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself would be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now" (Romans 8:19-22). There is something deeply wrong with the world. People keep choosing to follow their own passions and desires instead of choosing God. A lot of this is in Romans 1, where Paul says that the wrath of God is being revealed against all unrighteousness. It does not say the wrath of God will be revealed in some distant or even not so distant future. It is being revealed in the moment. Later, Paul explains how it is being revealed. Three times he says that God lets people go. He lets them go to follow their own passions and desires. A lot of what we look at and call sins are the result of sin. Broken people, a broken world. And that world, those people, that creation is waiting with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. We are the sons and daughters. We are the children of God. They are waiting for us. We sometimes hear this message as, preach the Word of God so that your friends do not go to hell in the future. But there is no waiting involved. There are people suffering right now, in a measure of hell on earth, already in the present moment. God set it all up that way. That is God's wrath. There is also God's mercy. God's mercy is that He has sons and daughters, children through whom He works to offer people a chance to get out of that darkness. And the world is waiting for it eagerly. Pains of childbirth. Imagine creation laboring for us to be born into the purpose for which we were made. What Being Adopted by God Actually Costs You "And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies" (Romans 8:23). Creation is groaning. It is suffering. It is terrible. We should groan and suffer too. Our inheritance is not a big party in a big palace. You are not saved for the celebration. You are saved to step into the darkness and weep with those who weep. Feed the hungry, and be hungry with the hungry. Feed them out of your own plate rather than out of your abundance. Be patient with people who do not deserve your patience. Let people speak, even if it means that you do not get to. It should cost us something to groan with the groaning world. Why Does the Holy Spirit Groan Within Us? "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And He who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God" (Romans 8:26-27). There are three groanings here. Creation groans in anticipation of us. Then, as we step into what we are supposed to do and willfully go to that place of suffering, we groan. And then God's Spirit, who lives in us, groans within us. You are a temple of God. God lives in you if the Holy Spirit lives in you. You are different from the temple that the Jews used to have, because you have legs. The world does not come to the temple anymore. We are the temple that steps out into the world, into the very darkest places of it. And from that place, the Spirit who lives in us, God who can do anything, will cry out. The Spirit will cry out in groaning, and the Father who searches all hearts will hear the cry. Where This Leaves You That is where the real power of all of this is. That is how the world will be reconciled, the groaning creation reconciled to the Kingdom of God, heaven and earth becoming one. That is our job. That is the family business. That is the work God is doing in the world. Being adopted by God means you inherit that work, and it will cost you the comfortable inheritance you were expecting. You are adopted into it. You inherit the family business. Now it is your job.

Amadeusz Kepinski

September 6, 2026 • 7 Minute Read
Why You Don’t Need Talent To Share Your Faith
You do not need talent to share your faith. You need the message. That is not a lowered standard, it is the actual instruction the apostle Paul left behind in the last letter he ever wrote, and his charge to a young pastor was short enough to memorize: "Preach the word" (2 Timothy 4:2). If you have ever thought you were not gifted enough, confident enough, or interesting enough to tell someone about Jesus, the qualification you are looking for was never supposed to come from you. It comes from the Word you are carrying. For anyone unfamiliar with the Bible, it is made up of a lot of different books written by a lot of different authors, but it has one real Author, and that is God. This is the Word of God. So when we want to know things about God, when we want to understand what He thinks, what He sees, and what He has commanded us to do, we look at the Scriptures and we line our lives up around them. Why Paul's Final Letter Carries So Much Weight The verse just before the charge sets the tone. Paul writes, "I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom" (2 Timothy 4:1). Who is the "I" in that sentence? Paul. He is a man who wrote a large portion of the New Testament, an apostle converted by Jesus, brought into His Kingdom, and then commissioned out from Him to preach the gospel. Here is what makes this so weighty. 2 Timothy was written around AD 64 to 66, likely from a place called the Mamertine Prison, a small holding cell in Rome. The only way in and out was through a hole roughly the size of a manhole cover. You were dropped down into it. When it rained, it flooded. You were never expected to survive in there. You were sent there because you were going to die, either when the powers that be finally remembered you and decided to kill you, or simply because they forgot to feed you enough times. It was not a good place. I have been there. It is terrifying. So this is Paul as an old man, writing what he knows will be his last letter to one of his sons in the faith. He had called Timothy his true son in the faith, and over the years he had sent him out to strengthen churches and preach the gospel. This is the last chapter of the last book of Paul's life, and he knows it. This is what he chooses to say. "I charge you." That is not a suggestion. It gets heavier when he adds that he is giving this charge in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, the One who is to judge the living and the dead. Paul is laying it on thick, and he means to. It is the equivalent of me telling my kids, look, if you do not remember anything else, would you please remember this? Four chapters in, after everything else he has already said, Paul wants Timothy holding on to the presence of God, the judgment of God, and the promise of His appearing while he hears what comes next. What Does "Preach The Word" Mean In 2 Timothy 4:2? Then comes the instruction itself: "Preach the word." That is the whole job. Not build the Word, not improve the Word, not make the Word interesting. Preach it. Paul does not tell Timothy to become compelling. He tells him to deliver a message that is already compelling. Do You Have To Be Qualified To Share Your Faith? Not in the way most people assume. Sharing your faith is not based on your confidence or your competence, and it is not based on your creativity either. If you are thinking you need to be stirred and inspired before you can preach the gospel, you do not. You do not have to bring inspiration to the Word of God, because the Word of God is already inspired. Your job is to bring the message. If you have read this far, you have enough awareness and understanding of the truth of the gospel to share it. You could pass along what you have read here. You are qualified if you know Jesus, because at the end of the day what you are preaching is Him, and He has all the creativity you need. He made the universe. You are fine. You are really fine. Does Sharing Your Faith Require A Big Personality? No. You do not need a bunch of personality or charisma. I can tell you that from experience. I have been in rooms where people ask me, "Are you angry?" No, I am not angry. I am sorry. It is just my face. It is just the way it is, and I am working on it. According to some of the older men I know, I am still young, so I have room to grow. Here is the point. I do not need a great personality to preach the gospel. I need to know Jesus and preach His Word. It really is that simple. What Does Hebrews 4:12 Say About The Power Of God's Word? It says the Word does the work you and I could never do. "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). Notice what is not in that verse. There is nothing in there about you being able to do any of that. I do not have to divide soul from spirit. I do not have to judge the thoughts and intentions of anyone's heart. The Word does that for me. All I have to do is offer a life that looks like the Word so people take me seriously. If I preached a gospel of fitness, who would listen? Nobody, because I do not look like it. If I preached a gospel of a full head of hair, nobody would listen to that either, because I do not live like it. But if I look like Jesus and I live like Jesus, they will listen. They will still know I am imperfect, because I am human and so are they. If I preach the Word to them, though, the Word does all of that for me. He does it for me. Does God's Word Really Accomplish Anything? Yes, and God says so about His own Word. "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it" (Isaiah 55:10-11). The rain and the snow are the metaphor. The point underneath them is that God's Word accomplishes God's purposes. It does not come back empty. Where To Go From Here When Jesus met Paul on the road, He sent him into the world with the gospel, knowing it would return to Him with the salvation of souls. The same holds for you. When you are sent into the world, all you have to do is bring the gospel. He takes care of the rest. So you do not need talent to share your faith. You need to know Jesus and carry His message. His Word is enough. His Word is enough.

Daniel Dunn

Elder

August 30, 2026 • 8 Minute Read
Why Being Forgiven Isn’t The Whole Story
Forgiveness clears the record of your sin. Deliverance frees you from its source. Salvation includes both, and if you have only ever been taught the first half, you will spend your Christian life confessing the same darkness you were given authority to break. Being born again was not handed to you so you could be a good boy or girl and keep your nose clean. It was given to you so you would have power and authority over the power of hell and over the rulers of darkness, in your prayer life, in your obedience, and through the gospel of Jesus Christ. His rulership of the spiritual world in Jesus Christ brought back our ability to live for God and to see His righteousness prevail in the earth over the powers of darkness. If you do not understand that, you do not understand your commission. What Is The Difference Between Forgiveness And Deliverance? Your salvation does more than forgive you for participating in darkness. It gives you authority over darkness, and it gives you the power to set other people free from it. Let that sink in, because the implication is uncomfortable. You cannot remain in darkness and think you are going to set somebody free of it. So salvation has to include deliverance from Satan and from the nature of evil that works in this world. Being forgiven for the failures is one thing. Being delivered from the source is another thing entirely. Most of us were handed the first and never told the second existed. Jesus Called The Devil A Father, Not A Force When Jesus confronted the Pharisees, He did not describe Satan as an impersonal influence floating somewhere out there. He said, "You are of your father, the devil." He calls the devil a father. "You want the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks, it is a lie. He speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44). Satan is a father of lies, and he is a father of evil. That word father matters, because fathers pass on a nature. They do not simply commit isolated acts. They reproduce something in the people who belong to them. Where Did Sin Actually Come From? Some Christians would say that you are the originator of sin, that it is inherently in you, that you are the author of it, and that this is why you need to be forgiven. I would say something different. Before man was ever made, there was a devil, and he was the original sinner, the energy behind sin in man. Man, by falling in his nature, has used that energy for evil, and in turn becomes creative at it and becomes his own source of it. But Satan is the author, the father of lying and deception, and the evil one. Sin did not originate in humans. It originated in the devil. And to this day, demonic powers seek to rule humanity through deception and seduction. How do they do it? They do it by baiting and seducing the sinful nature that is in us, working through self-interest, which is a constant, and through sinful passions. So when you get a new Father, it is because you had an old father. You were saved from your old father because you have now come into relationship with the Father in Heaven through Jesus Christ. You have to be delivered from an old father in order to walk with this new Father. Why "Deliver Us From Evil" Is Part Of The Lord's Prayer Jesus made this so simple. "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." You begin with the Father. Then comes your dependency, your repentance of sin, and your forgiveness of others. And then it comes back around to this: "deliver us from temptation, and from evil and the evil one" (Matthew 6:9-13). Why is the tempter's path in the Lord's Prayer at all? Why is the evil one named there? Because you do not worship the Father and simply ignore that this other thing exists. Repentance and dependence on God is what delivers you from it and connects you to Him. Look at the shape of that prayer. Sandwiched in the middle of two places, God the Father on one side and the evil one on the other, is you. Your dependency, your repentance, and your forgiveness of others set you in the Kingdom instead of on that other path. Standing in one place, darkness has you. Standing in the other, the Father of lights has you, and with Him there is no shifting shadow. That is where the Kingdom, the power, and the glory are. There Is No Third Space Ephesians chapter 2 is a masterpiece that explains the world you are living in right now. Paul writes, "You were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience" (Ephesians 2:1-2). Stay on that phrase for a moment: the course of this world. The course of this world is everything outside of knowing Jesus Christ. There is no third space. There is God in His Kingdom, and there is the father of lies in his domain. There is no other place where you get to say, "I don't want to be in that, but I'm not too hot on this either, so can I live over here?" That is a deception. There is the Kingdom of God, and there is darkness. That is it. When we did not know God, we were living in it and operating in it. We walked in it. And who is guiding it? The prince of the power of the air, who works out of a nature of evil and disobedience, in people who want to be disobedient. That compelling darkness of wickedness is now at work in disobedient people. Here is what that means for you. God delivered you from your sin, but He also delivered you from the nature to be disobedient to God that Satan loves to revel in. Satan cannot walk into your house. Demons cannot walk into your house and take it over. But you can absolutely open the door and give it to them. Can Christians Have Demons? I took an enormous amount of heat as a young believer for saying that Christians could have demons. I got thrown out of churches over it. People would tell me they were really mad at me, and I would tell them they probably had demons. Here is what I actually want you to hear. You can have whatever you want to have. You can decide tonight to go down the street and participate willfully in dark deeds, and demonic powers will take advantage of your disobedience and come right back. Your job is not simply to be forgiven of things. Your job is to be delivered of the things that make you do what needs to be forgiven. What About Everyday Sin And Failure? We live in a fallen world and we are not perfect. We need forgiveness every day of our lives, and we need the blood of Jesus at all times. None of that is in question, and no honest reading of this should make you think you have to be flawless before God will have you. But there is a difference between daily failure and willful service. I do not need to go walk in willful disobedience, serve demonic spirits, and then say, "Well, I'm a Christian and I've been forgiven, so I'm dark and I do dark stuff when no one is looking, but I'm saved." No. You will have no authority over the powers of darkness until you stop serving them. Where To Go From Here The gospel of Jesus Christ is what sets you free. That is the whole point of it: to set people free from the power of hell, to bring forgiveness of sin, and to separate people from demonic spirits. So the honest question is not whether you have been forgiven. If you have come to the Father through Jesus Christ, you have been. The question is whether you understand the difference between forgiveness and deliverance, and whether you are still holding open a door that God already gave you the authority to close. Being forgiven is real, and it is yours. It is simply not the whole story. The rest of the story is that you were given authority over the very darkness you were forgiven for, and the power to set other people free from it too.

Tom Bedford

Senior Pastor

August 23, 2026 • 8 Minute Read
What God Really Did When Jesus Died For You
What Jesus did on the cross was larger than forgiveness. According to Colossians 2, God made you complete, made you alive, canceled the certificate of debt that stood against you, and disarmed the spiritual powers that had been using that debt to push you around. All of it happened at once, and all of it belongs to anyone who surrenders to Him. Most people who grew up near the church can tell you that Jesus died for sins. Far fewer live like the record has actually been erased. If you have ever stood in a worship service singing about grace while a voice in the back of your mind whispered, "Yes, but what about that thing you did," then Colossians 2 was written for you. Why Religion Loves to Replace the Gospel Paul opens this section with a warning worth repeating: see to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world rather than according to Christ (Colossians 2:8). Men love religion, and religion loves to replace the gospel. Whenever you are part of a group that starts saying things like we are the only people who know God, we are the only people who have the gospel, we are the only people who really have it right, that is a tradition of men that has moved out in front of the gospel. Imagine believing you are the only people in the whole world who know God. All of a sudden the work becomes about maintaining your position and your influence, and the thing meant to bring people in becomes a barrier that keeps them out. When traditions of men replace the gospel in our doctrine, our stuff becomes more important than people's lives. That is why the devil loves religion. It is the fastest way to blind our eyes and get us thinking about ourselves instead of seeing the lost. What Does It Mean to Be Complete in Christ? Paul keeps going: for in Him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete(Colossians 2:9-10). Notice the word you. He has made you complete. Ask yourself what completion would actually mean in your life. Would you like the torment in your mind to come to an end, and a maturity to settle over you that is no longer susceptible to it and no longer listens to it? Would you like the warfare against your family to finally stop, and for your household to arrive at a place of completion and development in this thing called the gospel, where you are no longer under its power, where it no longer makes your decisions and pushes you around while you sit there with no ability to resist it? When I came to Jesus, I knew that sin, ongoing and lived out and enjoyed, would kill off the eternal life living in me. Given enough time I would have let that life go and gone back to evil. So I was grateful for a completion that entered my soul and said, that is no longer who you are or what you are. You are no longer that man. You are no longer that person. Why, Lord? Because I died and rose from the dead to break its curse and deliver you from its nature. Now I live in you, and I spring up all the time, life and righteousness, so you can be like Me now instead of like what you were. That is what it means to be saved. This is why I come to the altars, lift my hands, and cry out to God. Some people assume I do that because I am the preacher and it comes with the job. It has nothing to do with being a preacher. I am simply grateful that the power of sin no longer rules my heart, no longer rules my thinking, and no longer controls my life. Why Do I Still Feel Guilty for Sins God Already Forgave? The gospel does a next thing. When you were dead in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions (Colossians 2:13). The reason I can stand and lift my hands and weep in the presence of God is that I am alive. The gospel made me alive, and I no longer have to think about my transgressions, because I have been saved from them. You know the thought. You are singing the song, and something says, yes, yes, but there was that. Here is what the gospel of Jesus Christ answers back: I thank You, Lord, that I have been forgiven and that it is under the blood, and I cast that thought out, because that is not me anymore. The whole world needs to hear that. Some will say, "I am a new Christian, and I still have a lot of problems." You have fewer problems than the people on their way to hell. They have real problems. A friend and I used to remind each other when we were going through hard things that other people have real problems, the kind you find out on the streets when people are disconnected from God and end up with all kinds of hell working on them, eating their lives out and destroying them from the inside. I may not be perfect, and I do not have to be. I have Jesus, He is perfect, I live in His light, and that transformation never ends. What Did Jesus Cancel on the Cross? Colossians 2:14 says He canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us, and He took it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Think about what that means. The devil comes to your house and says you are this and you are that, you are all of this, it is never going to work for you, you are a big loser. Then God picks up the decree and stamps one word across it: canceled. It is finished. Then He posts it on the cross so the whole world can read how free you really are. That is what cancel culture should be. Cancel culture has been running since the garden, where it first tried to cancel God. Now God does the canceling. Evil, canceled. You are this, canceled. Your eternity is going to look like this, canceled. You are doomed to do that again, canceled. Your children are going to have devils, canceled. Whatever decree is standing against you today, say it: canceled. That is good news, and when you surrender to Jesus, the cancellation hits. A church that lives in a place of canceled debt should be the loudest voice telling the whole world about Jesus Christ and how their sin can be canceled too. Did Jesus Defeat Satan on the Cross? Paul does not stop at the canceled debt. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them (Colossians 2:15). He did not only cancel the sin. He also destroyed the powers that use it against you. So the gospel is two things. It is the message of your salvation, your freedom from sin, and your rescue from the wrath that comes upon all that rebellion. It is also deliverance from the powers that use sin against you and manipulate you with it. I am free of it, and I am free of them. Nobody gets to pick one or the other. You have to have both. I once asked a pastor of a large church in another city how he dealt with the spiritual component of a situation he was facing. He told me that just about all the churches in his city do not believe that realm exists at all. My thought was immediate: then what kind of gospel do they have? If your gospel only deals with your sin and never disarms rulers and powers, those powers can walk right back in, because you do not even think they are there. It is the ultimate invisible person. Jesus taught us to do the will of the Father by depending on Him for daily bread, receiving forgiveness through repentance, and being delivered from temptation and from the evil one who destroys men's lives (Matthew 6:9-13). What Does Jesus' Authority Mean for You Today? Matthew 28:18 records Jesus saying that all authority has been given to Him. Authority over what? Everything. What man lost and surrendered in the garden, Jesus took back, in the realm of the spirit and on the earth, and that authority can never be contested again. Then comes the part that changes your Monday. Because you know Him, He extends that authority to you. You did not win it, and you are still more than conquerors (Romans 8:37), which means He was the Conqueror and you get to enjoy the benefit. Your job, though, is not only to enjoy it. Out of the love of God, your job is to go set somebody free. What Jesus did on the cross made you complete, made you alive, canceled every decree written against you, and stripped the powers that once ran your life. If that is true of you, there is somebody near you still living under a debt that has already been paid. Go tell them it is canceled.

Tom Bedford

Senior Pastor

August 16, 2026 • 8 Minute Read
Why God Feels Silent When You’re Struggling
If God feels silent while you're struggling, you are not failing at faith. You're standing right where a prophet once stood. The book of Habakkuk opens with a man asking God why He will not speak, and the answer he gets is stranger, harder, and more hopeful than the one he was hoping for. I'll be honest with you. Habakkuk is not a book I go back and read all the time. But as I was preparing this message, I felt like the Lord drew me to this passage, and the longer I sat in it, the more I saw a man asking the exact question a lot of us are carrying quietly. Who Was Habakkuk, and Why Does His Question Still Land? Habakkuk lived in the nation of Judah and was considered a prophet in the Old Testament, ministering roughly between the seventh and eighth centuries BC. His timing is the part that matters. He stood at the end of the Assyrian Empire, which was a real force in the world at that time, and at the beginning of what we now refer to as the Babylonian Empire. We've all heard of Babylon, and we understand how terrible and how ruthless the Babylonians were. So picture the pressure he was living under: one mega superpower was already bringing destruction to the earth, and another one was rising up right behind it. Something was also shifting inside Judah itself. Judah had been moving through a cycle where it had identified who God was and was living in pursuit of Him and in obedience to Him. But at the beginning of Habakkuk 1, we read how Judah began to turn toward immorality and toward sin. Sound familiar? A nation built on godly principles and godly morals, beginning to lose sight of its own identity and nature. That's the curious place Habakkuk is standing in. His own nation is heading toward its demise, and the nations that would seek to capture it are growing stronger and building. Why Does God Feel Silent When You Cry Out for Help? Habakkuk opens with the question I believe we ask God all the time. How long, Lord? How long will our nation keep turning its face away from You? How long will Babylon keep coming at us? How long are we going to be living so clearly outside of the context God called us to live in? Here's how he says it in Habakkuk 1:2: How long, Lord, must I cry for help, but You do not listen? I call out to You, "Violence!" but You do not deliver. Why do You force me to witness injustice? Why do You put up with wrongdoing, destruction, and violence? Conflict is present, and one must endure the strife. He is basically saying, God, where are You in all of this? All I see is demise. All I see is struggle. All I see is pain, suffering, and rebellion. The point I want to get across is this: Habakkuk isn't questioning whether God exists. He is questioning what God is doing. There's a real difference. His question is, how could it be that this God fearing nation, this called upon people, is both turning away from You and being oppressed by what the world considers an evil empire? How long, Lord, will You remain silent? When God's Answer Is Not the Answer You Wanted God doesn't stay quiet. He says, you know what, I'll answer. But listen to the answer. In Habakkuk 1:5, God tells him to look at the nations and pay attention, because you will be shocked and amazed, for I will do something in your lifetime that you will not believe, even though you are forewarned. That sounds great. Who doesn't love to be shocked and amazed for the better? Habakkuk has to be on the edge of his chair thinking, this is going to be good. I hear revival. I hear things changing. I hear things shaking. This is exactly what I've been waiting for. Then the Lord tells him what He is actually about to do. He is about to empower the Babylonians. He describes them as a ruthless and greedy nation who will sweep across the surface of the earth and seize dwelling places that do not belong to them, because they are frightening and they are terrifying. How would you like that to be the answer to your prayer? Something is coming, but it isn't what you want to see, because He is raising up your enemy. How Could a Just God Allow Something Like This? So Habakkuk changes the question. He stops asking where God is and starts asking why God isn't doing anything about it. He brings a second complaint in Habakkuk 1:12. Notice what he does. He starts reminding God of who God is. Lord, surely You have been active from ancient times. Surely You're the God who created the heavens and the earth. You created all men. You created all species. Clearly You are capable, my sovereign God, and You are immortal. Lord, You have made them an instrument of judgment. Surely God is too just to tolerate evil, and unable to condone wrongdoing. Then comes the question underneath the question: Why do You put up with treacherous people? Why do You say nothing when the wicked devour those more righteous than they are? Habakkuk is trying to remind God of His own character. God, Your word says You are holy. Your word says You are righteous. Your word says You are trustworthy and just. So how could a just God empower the Babylonians? Put another way, how could God empower something that feels like oppression to me, something that feels like resistance against me? Habakkuk cannot understand how God could possibly use this. That question is not rebellion. That question is faith trying to do math it doesn't have the numbers for yet. What God Told Habakkuk to Write Down The Lord has mercy on Habakkuk's unbelief in chapter two. He tells him to write the message down and to record it legibly on tablets, for the message is a witness to what is decreed, and it gives reliable testimony about how matters will turn out. In other words, you can take this to the bank. My word is good. What the Lord is saying is that His word will not come back void, regardless of whether you understand His ways, His methods, His timing, or His reasoning. Surely the Word of the Lord will come through, and His Word will not remain void. It will certainly come to pass. I have no idea what you're walking through right now. I have no idea what battles you're facing, or what questions you're carrying about your future, your family, or your career. But if we could just realize what Habakkuk had to realize, that the Word of God remains true over our lives and remains true over our families and will not become void, it changes how we wait. What Does It Mean That the Righteous Will Live by Faith? Habakkuk 2:4 is the epitome of the response the Lord asks for when we're going through adversity, trial, pain, and heartache. The righteous will live by faith. Read that again, because God is showing Habakkuk something specific here. Faith is not just trusting God when His actions make sense and everything is clear. It isn't assuming that when everything is finally in order, we can then affirm the faithfulness of God. Faith is trusting the nature and the ways of God when His actions exceed all of our understanding. That's why Hebrews 11:1 describes faith as the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not yet seen.Read that slowly, because it carries real weight for anyone in a season of silence. If I don't see it, God is still faithful. If the substance doesn't feel like it's working, and I'm not feeling it, it is still working. Why? Because faith is the evidence of things that have not yet been seen. It is the reality of that promise already working on our heart. Where This Leaves You If God feels silent while you're struggling, Habakkuk gives you permission to say so out loud. He asked twice. He brought his confusion, his frustration, and his sense of injustice straight to God, and God didn't rebuke him for it. God answered him, and then God told him to write the answer down so he would still have it when the waiting got long. The silence you're in is not proof that God has stopped moving. Sometimes God is doing something in your lifetime you would not believe even if you were forewarned. Your job in the meantime is the one given to Habakkuk. The righteous will live by faith, trusting the character of God when His methods make no sense, and holding onto a Word that will not return void.

Alex Kidd

Worship Team Leader

August 9, 2026 • 7 Minute Read
Why Your Kids Learn Faith By Watching You
Children learn faith by watching their parents live it. Not by hearing what you know about the Bible, but by seeing how you know God when life gets hard. If you're wondering how to pass your faith to your children, start there, because how you raise your child determines what kind of foundation you are laying in them. Every decision you make right now is forming that foundation. If you have kids, this is true of you. And if you don't have kids but you serve children in some capacity, it's true of you as well. How you react to God, how you react to storms, and how you react to life is building something underneath the children who are watching. What Your Children Actually Need to See They have to see you, mom and dad, making choices in private at home when no one's looking. Here's why that matters more than any lesson you could sit them down and teach: they don't need to know what you know about the Bible. They need to know how you know Him, and how you know that He knows you. That distinction changes everything. Bible information can be handed over in a classroom. A relationship has to be witnessed. Your children need to see your relationship with God so that when they watch you face something, they see how you know God and how God responds to your life. When God Leads You Through the Storm Instead of Around It Here's the part no parent volunteers for. God comes, and He doesn't always make the storm go away. Sometimes He leads you through it to the other side instead, because sometimes God wants you to go right through the storm rather than save you from it. That's not the version of faith most of us would choose for our families, but it's the version your children need to see, because it's the one that proves the foundation holds. Testimonies are great after the test. They're hard in the middle of it. And the middle is exactly where your kids are watching you. What I Want My Children to Say About Me When I stand before God and leave this planet, I want to know one thing. Did You know me, and was I pleasing to You? Was my life lived in such a way that my children, even in the humanity of my weaknesses, saw something bigger than my flesh? I hope they'll say something like this: dad was an interesting guy, but I'll say this much, the man knew God. He might not have been perfect at it, but the man knew God, and he showed me what it was like to know God. That's not a low bar. That's the entire inheritance. My mom showed me what it was like to know God, and I learned how to know God by watching how she knew God when I was a child. Now I'm teaching my children how to know God the way I know God. One Generation Declares It to the Next My wife and I both had mothers who came to the Lord later in life, but long before we did, they began to declare God's works to us. Psalm 145:4 says that one generation shall praise His works to another. We had to watch our mothers, and then ultimately our fathers, come to the Lord and face the trial of their own humanity. We watched them surrender their pride, their flesh, their pursuit of whatever their vanity desired, and surrender in brokenness to God. It made an impact. When my mother came to Jesus, it was a ticking clock, and it was only a matter of time before I was going to be there with her, because she kept declaring who God was and I saw God shift her foundation in front of my eyes. I watched God shift her foundation right in front of me. She wasn't perfect. She was a brand new Christian. But the foundation shift was so real that it terrified me, because I thought, whatever she has, I don't have, and I am in big trouble. My wife had a similar experience. Her mother came to Jesus and the foundation shift was radical. By the time I met her mother, I was 20 years old, and all she did with me was declare God's mighty works, teach me Scriptures, tell me Bible stories, and tell me testimonies from her own life. The Decision We Made Before We Had Children We made a decision when we got married. We said we may not be rich, we may not be all this or that, and we may not be famous preachers, but my God, if I lose my children, what will it have been worth? I would rather have all of my children in the house of God living on a foundation of truth than have the things of this world. How about you? How many parents would say the same thing, that it doesn't matter what they have in terms of material things and houses, but they cannot lose their children? They cannot grow up, go out to the world, and collapse. Why You Can't Build This Foundation Alone No church is a perfect place. You could walk into most of them and rightly say it could all be done better, and the honest answer is, yes, probably. We're trying. But here's what matters more: we may not have it all figured out, but what we do want is to know God and have Him know us. He'll get us through. He'll get us there. He'll get you there. There's something about building it together that helps the foundation become solid. I watched a group of children put on a play once, and what I loved about it was that they were working with each other. One child loved another child enough to come help them in their calamity and bring them along. We're going to need each other for there to be a foundation that has power. It can't just be you. Your kids need to see other people living it too. Where Kids Really Learn to Worship When you see a room full of children dancing, singing, and rejoicing, where do you think they actually learned that? Do you think they learned it from the worship leader? They learned it from mom and dad. Because when you're driving down the road facing a trial, they can see you in the rearview mirror with tears running down your face, saying, God, You will be here. Your presence will lead us and Your power will save us. What's going on, dad? You okay? Yeah, I'm good. Just praying. What are you praying about? All things. Just praying. They know when you need God. They can feel it in the house, they can feel it in their hearts, and they know it. How to Pass Your Faith to Your Children When they see you choosing God in the hard moments, acting like a man of God and a woman of God, you are sowing into a foundation of rock and teaching them that they can know God too. What you're going to find out on the other side of all of it is that He knew us. So tell your children stories and testimonies, and help build their foundation of faith. Then go live stories and testimonies, so they see a foundation of faith actually being lived out in front of them. That's how it gets passed down, through what your children watch you know.

Tom Bedford

Senior Pastor

August 2, 2026 • 8 Minute Read
Why God Is Worthy No Matter What You're Facing
God is worthy of worship because of who He is, not because of what He does. That one truth is what makes worship possible on the worst day of your life. Your circumstances do not change His worth, which means your circumstances do not have to change your worship. But that truth is harder to live than it is to say, and most of us have never noticed how much of our worship is actually built on something else. What's the Difference Between Worship and Gratitude? I know exactly what my own moments of "worship" tend to look like. I find a good parking spot, and that feels like a moment of worship. I'm moving a little fast down the highway, I notice a CHP officer sitting there, he doesn't whip around, and that feels like a moment of worship too. Not my finest example, I know. I step on the scale and the number went down instead of up, and there it is again. None of that is wrong. Gratitude is good. But look at the motivation underneath it. Every one of those moments depends on a favorable outcome, which means what I'm calling worship is really just relief with a spiritual accent. Jesus is worthy of worship always. When I step on the scale and the number goes up instead of down, He is still worthy, because the number does not touch His worth. When I get the $307 ticket, He is still worthy, and that one is on me, not Him. When I have to park in the back 40, He is still worthy. When I get a diagnosis I don't like, He is still worthy. When I'm healed, He is still worthy. My circumstances do not affect His worth, and so my circumstances do not have to affect my worship. That is hard, by the way. It is tough, because we live in a world that is completely and utterly broken and futile. It is just broken, and we live here. So we don't worship only because He answered a prayer, or only because we happened to feel His presence that morning. Do You Need the Right Atmosphere to Worship? I was in a city once with a group of young people, sitting in a worship service that simply was not landing. I don't know if the piano player had broken fingers or what was going on, but it was a bad day up there. No flow, no momentum, nothing. I looked down the row at those students, and they were dead. Completely disengaged. What they were waiting for was a certain atmosphere before they could enter in and worship. That was the moment I knew we had a serious problem. We needed an atmosphere to worship, and the reason we needed it is that we were not seeing Him clearly enough to understand that He is worthy of worship regardless of the room, the sound, or the mood. Who Is God? The Question Underneath Everything The good thing about asking why we worship is that it pushes us past the wrong question. The wrong question is, what has God done for me? The real question is, who is God? He is the God of the universe. You do not get to understand everything He does, because you are not Him. He sees all of time and all of creation as though it were happening right now. He holds the whole universe in the palm of His hand. If you understood everything there is to understand about God and why He does what He does, then by definition you would be Him. After a few decades of studying the Bible, this is what I have landed on: there is a God, and I am not Him. I don't get to understand everything. I get to trust that He is good. What Does "Holy, Holy, Holy" Mean in the Bible? There is a man in Scripture named John, one of the apostles, one of the first disciples of Jesus, and the one who lived the longest. Rome tried to kill him more than once. It was a rough life. He pastored in Ephesus for a season. He saw miracles happen in and around him. He knew Jesus intimately and personally. And at the end of his days he was in exile on an island, and God came in, pulled back the curtain, and said, let Me show you what heaven is like, and let Me show you what is to come. Some of you have experienced days when the barrier between what is seen and what is unseen feels a little thinner, when God shows you something. Some people would call that mystical. It isn't. That is just what happens when you walk with a God who is spirit, because we worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). But what John received was something else entirely. This was a vision. In Revelation 4:8, John describes four living creatures whose appearance is so strange and complex that no summary does them justice. He writes that they are around the throne, and "day and night they never cease to say, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come." Day and night. They never stop. These unimaginable creatures that God created are so struck by His worth that night and day they are circling the throne with the same words. Heaven is not responding to changing circumstances. Nothing changes for them, and He is still worthy of everything. Two Visions, 800 Years Apart Eight hundred years before John, a man named Isaiah had a moment like that. In Isaiah 6:2-3, he describes angelic beings before the throne, and he writes that "one called to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory." Two men, 800 years apart, different covenants, different moments, and it is the same heaven with the same song. They were singing it in Isaiah's day, they were singing it in John's day, and they are singing it right now. Is It Clean, or Is It Clean Clean? Have you ever told your kids to go clean their room, then walked into said room and found it clean? Some of you are more drill sergeant than others, so I hear it is possible. It never once happened for me. Mine would head upstairs and take an hour on a job that did not require an hour, which means something else was happening up there. Eventually they would come back down, having half forgotten why they went up in the first place, and announce, "Dad, it's clean." And I would say, right, but is it clean clean? Not my standard. Mom's standard, because Mom's standard is higher. That is the sense of the holy thing. In Hebrew, you say something twice to mean the greatest of its kind. There is a book in the Bible called Song of Songs, which means the greatest of all songs. Jesus is called the King of kings, which means He is King over all the kings. So when heaven says He is holy, and holy, and holy, what it means is that He is completely and totally holy. Nothing is holy compared to Him. Nothing can be more holy than He is. He is all holy. Why God's Holiness Is the Reason He Is Worthy Why does that matter? Because that is precisely why He is worthy. There are no imperfections in Him. There are no problems in Him. God never has a bad day and never has a bad motive. Everything He does comes out of love and out of His holiness, because holiness is not something He is holding. Holiness is who He is. When we understand that, we understand why He is worthy. He is holy, holy, holy, the Most Holy, and therefore He is worthy. And what that does in the life of a believer is produce worship in every circumstance, no matter what. How Do You Respond to a God Who Is Holy, Holy, Holy? So the first question is settled. Is God worthy of worship? He is. He is worthy. Which means the question is no longer whether He deserves it. The question becomes what happens in you when you actually see Him. How do you respond to Someone who is holy, holy, holy? How do you respond to a Jesus who is worthy? That is the question worth carrying into your week, especially the weeks where nothing is going the way you hoped. His worth is not up for renegotiation based on your diagnosis, your bank balance, your parking spot, or the quality of the music on a Sunday morning. He was worthy before you walked in, and He will be worthy after you walk out. Everything else is just the setting in which you get to see Him clearly.

Daniel Dunn

Elder

July 26, 2026 • 9 Minute Read
How To Live Like Your Life Has A Mission
Most of us do not move through the day feeling like our lives have a mission. We are busy, we are a little self-absorbed, and we can get from morning to night without really noticing anybody. Learning how to live like your life has a mission does not start with changing your job. It starts with changing who you understand yourself to be while you are in it. For a season I traveled constantly for work. I always had my own rental car, and I would land in random cities: New York City, Pittsburgh, places all over the states and in other countries. I would wake up, read my Bible, and drag around a duffel bag holding a hundred pounds of books and commentaries, because thanks for paying your taxes, I could take whatever bags I wanted. I would set up shop wherever I landed, then head out into the city and ask God one question: where am I going today? It was a really interesting way to live, and somewhere in the middle of it I began to think of myself as an ambassador of Christ. What Does It Mean to Be an Ambassador for Christ? At some point God said something to me that reordered everything. You are no longer an operator who happens to be a Christian. You are my Kingdom ambassador who happens to work there. That was a total mindset shift. If it is true, then everything you do, everywhere you go, and every person you talk to is now on behalf of that. The next morning I woke up thinking in completely different terms: where am I going, and what am I doing for the Kingdom? This is what Paul asks of us in 2 Corinthians 5. He asks us to live life as though it is not our own, and to live as though we are representing the Kingdom of God in whatever place we happen to be embedded. Why Do the Fear of God and the Love of God Both Matter? There are two things happening in this passage. There is a fearful responsibility, and there is a compelling love. The fear of the Lord and the love of Christ are not competing truths; they balance each other. In every mature stance there is a tension between two things that seem contradictory. How do predestination and free will both work? They do. The truth is not apathetic in the middle, it is a tension. That is the way the mysteries of God tend to work, and the mature answer usually lives in the middle, holding both things at once. There are two miles of ditch in every mile of road, and people love to end up in one of them. We plant a flag in one camp or another and settle in. But the road runs between the ditches, and that is where we live, in the place where the fear of God and the love of God both compel us to go after people. I remember living inside that tension. I did not want to fall back into sin, because the fear of God had gripped me, and at the same time I wanted to go out and watch the love of God transform people. It was both. I cannot fall back, because I would be in the hand of an angry God, and yet He loves me so much. You stand there realizing it is somehow the same God. If I ended up in His judgment, I would get everything I deserved, and somehow He rescued me from all of it. He is the same loving, merciful Father who sent a Son, and now His love compels me to act on His behalf. Fear gives the weight of our calling. Love gives the confidence for it. The same holy God before whom we deserve destruction chose to reconcile us through Christ. Without reverence, love becomes casual and cheap. Without love, reverence becomes legalism. The gospel gives us both. Does Living on Mission Mean I Have to Perform? No. If this turns into a works-based religion, it will not last and it will not ring true. The love of Christ is what compels us, and it has to come out of a real well. People can tell when it is fake. Bob Mumford said it this way: it does not matter what somebody is saying to you, you know if they love you, you know if they are prejudiced against you, and you know if they hate you. You can feel it in the room. You do not have to be some discerning prophet to pick that up, because it is simply in us as human beings. The reverse is true as well. You can say some genuinely powerful and genuinely hard things to people if you love them, because they know it. They look at you and say, I know you love me, and that is why you are telling me this. Paul tells us what that love produces. "For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died. And He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised" (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). We do not deserve this, and yet somehow we get invited into the process of watching other people transformed into the Kingdom. Love God, love people, serve both. We operate from a place of having been reconciled ourselves, transformed by the love of God in our own hearts, and now motivated by that same love to go after people in the world as His representation on the earth. Christianity begins with His love, not with guilt, pressure, or performance. I remember the day God said, “I love you.” I was washing dishes in my kitchen, and a second later I was on the floor crying, wondering where that even came from. I was just washing dishes. What Is the Nudge, and Where Does It Come From? The word Paul uses carries the sense of being held together, driven, and carried forward. That is where the nudge lives. Scripture says Jesus looked out at the crowds and was filled with compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36). That is what moved Him. He looked at people and saw that they needed salvation and they needed the love of God. He went to the cross for the joy set before Him (Hebrews 12:2), and what motivated everything He did was the love He had for the Father and the love He had for people. That same love should motivate us. When we understand the reconciliation we have through Him, and when the Holy Spirit begins to transform us, we start to see people differently. The love of God is the nudge. You are sitting somewhere and you become aware of another person, and love is what does that. How Do You Hear God in the Middle of a Busy Day? You slow down. We are all born selfish, and I was born selfish. I can get busy and self-absorbed and move through an entire day without noticing a single person. But when I slow down and ask God what He wants to do here, and who is nearby that needs to hear something from Him, everything changes. Would you slow your life down enough to ask those questions and actually mean them? Okay, where are we going? We are going over there. We are going to talk to them. I do not even need to know what to say, because He will give me the words. Maybe the person only needs to know that God sees them. The fact that you noticed them, and that God pointed them out to you, is a place to start. A friend of mine handled it about as simply as it can be handled: “Hey, we are Christians, and we just felt like God said this.” That is a great answer. “Hey, I am a Christian, and I felt like He wanted me to tell you that He sees you.” Start there. I have said exactly that and watched people make puddles in a coffee shop. That is not the goal. The goal is obedience to the nudge. The stories I keep hearing all share a common thread. Somebody thought about a particular person. There was a nudge, a compassion that surfaced for them out of nowhere. Something in us asks, what is going on with that person over there? That is compassion, and it is the love of Christ compelling us. What Does Living on Mission Look Like on an Ordinary Day? It does not have to be anything cosmic. Pray for somebody. Encourage somebody. Buy a coffee. Make a phone call. Send a text. Sit and listen, and maybe just be quiet and let somebody talk, because that can be more powerful than anything you would have thought to say. None of that is spectacular, and that is rather the point. This is what walking in the life of the Spirit actually looks like. It is walking in the love of Christ, caring about other people, and being led by the Spirit of God through compassion and through His love. You do not need a different job, a different city, or a different assignment to live like your life has a mission. You need to understand that you are already an ambassador, embedded exactly where you are, and then slow down enough to notice the person standing in front of you.

Nick Watson