Peace Seymour Weekly Messages

Life doesn't always go how we plan. Often, the worst possible things seem to happen at the worst possible times. Sometimes, we wake up and we question everything that we've done and that we've worked towards. We ask, "How did I get here? Is this really what I want? What if I had done this or that?" We hit a crisis, a crossroads, and we don't know what to do next. Regardless of whatever crisis you may face, Jesus remains the same. God's word and truth remain the same. If you build upon and rely on him, you can trust in his plan and his purpose for your life. If you build on your plans, goals, desires, etc., you'll eventually reach some kind of crisis, and things will crumble. But if we find our foundation upon the rock of Jesus and his promises, he will support us through anything. In our moments and seasons of crisis, we remember Jesus has brought us this far, he's with us every step of the way, his promises will crumble.

You have to reach the next level. You want to move up the ladder. You need to get that raise for your family to achieve their goals. You're behind on your life plan and you need to move up, or find a place you can move up. That new house with the pool is calling your name. If you can resonate with that, you're in the achieving stage of your life, and you are striving for the next best thing to reach your goals. Yet, often we can lose sight of the life God intends for us. In the middle of your striving, remember what God says about you. That he calls you to himself. That you matter, even if you don't hit your quota. Even if you're not where you want to be, God is using you for his purposes, which are greater than your goals. You can rest in God, because in Jesus, you have all that you could ever need. In the midst of your striving, God calls you to keep your goals in perspective, to remember who you are serving, and to rest in Jesus.

Life as a young family is hard. You may have to struggle just to make it to the next mile. You're life is turned upside down. You're torn in every direction, every which way. You don't know what you're doing or what your next step is, and it feels like everything is on the line! This is the stage of life, you have to grind through. At the same time, this stage of life is a gift. It's a gift from God, and you should savor every precious second. When it feels like a grind, when it seems like you're not achieving or doing enough or that you're not good enough for your spouse, your children, your parents, or whoever, remember that you serve a good and gracious God, who sees your simple acts of service, and uses it for his glory. God calls you to a life of service, who sees your simple acts of service, and uses them to do his work in your life.

The young life is about adventure. You strike out on your own. You experience everything you can. You become independent. You get the most out of life. Yet you can also stray from your roots. You can get into trouble. You make mistakes. You can even get hurt. You can also stray away from your faith, and who God has made you to be. No matter where you go or what you do, remember your roots. Go with God's blessing by living how he has called you to as you go out on your adventure. God isn't a wet blanket, he's your loving Father, who wants to protect and care for you, by allowing you to follow his design for your life. Go, remembering who God has made you to be. Go out on the open road of life with a sense of adventure, living as God has called you to, remembering who he has made you to be.

Normally bad news is just that. It's bad news. All too often in this world, we get just bad news. Things didn't go how we want. Something tragic happened. Life didn't pan out how we wanted it to. The job went to someone else. We lost the person that we loved the most. Bad news is all around us. Bad news happens often, and yet even though it is rare, good news happens too. Easter Sunday is all about the good news of Jesus! On Easter Sunday, we can rejoice that Jesus has come alive! The worst news int he world has turned into good news! Jesus' love overcomes more than just our heartache and pain, it overcomes death itself! Jesus lives, and we know we too will live, because he has loved us! Jesus' love, overcomes our grief, overcomes death, and sends us out to share his love with others.

Love is hard to find in this world. Love of a man for his friend. Love in families. Love in relationships that withstands anything. True love is hard to come by. Rather, we often as sinful people, end up loving and serving ourselves or loving things that we place above others. Jesus calls us to love and serve and care for others. We pray by the power of the Holy Spirit, we would love a fraction of the way he has loved us. Jesus loved us to the end. He loved his disciples as he dined with them, washed their feet, and even prepared to be betrayed by one of them. He loved his mother as he was dragged to the cross. He loved even those who put him to the cross. Through all of this, he showed his love for you. A love that was willing to completely give up everything, for you and I. Jesus loved to the end, by gifting us his promises, serving us, and dying for us on the cross.

It's easy to be drawn towards the glorious and attractive things in this world. It's easy to look at spectacles, brilliant displays, and amazing things, and turn away from the ordinary, normal, and mundane. The triumphal entry seems triumphant and glorious! Yet, all those who praised him would soon betray Jesus. We are often more concerned about the world, and what is great in the world, rather than what is glorious and great in the eyes of God. Not spectacle, but sincere faith in Jesus. Jesus' true glory is not the glory of the world. It's the glory of humility, weakness, abandonment, and suffering on the cross. We are not to look to the glory of this world, but to the true glory of our meek and humble savior who comes not to take the kingdom, but to be taken to death. The amazing actions he once did, are nothing, compared to the glory of what Jesus was coming and going to do! In this world, we do not follow the things that are glorious to the world, but we follow Jesus, to the cross, where we see his true glory.

Often in this life, things feel hopeless. Happy endings only exist in fairy tales. Life's bumps and pitfalls rock our worlds. Life is tough. Losses cannot be won back. What's gone is gone, and we cannot get it back. Hopes and dreams are just that, hopes and dreams that don't come true. We simply move on, and deal with life as it is. Difficult. Bleak. Yes, even hopeless. Jesus shows that his love extends even to the hopeless. Our loving Lord of life, gives hope to the hopeless, even when it's impossible. That's what he does for his people. He gives them hope even when life seems hopeless! He saves them even when they are beyond saving. In Jesus, we have a savior, who always gives us hope, and never leaves us out to dry. Even when life is hopeless, you have hope in Jesus' promises, that he has defeated death, he loves and gives hope to the hopeless, and he is coming soon to defeat all death.

Our sin often clouds our faith and our spiritual vision. When we are preoccupied with what matters to us or what God does not desire for us, we start to not see clearly. We become confused, lost, and eventually, we can become spiritually blind. We retain our spiritual vision and faith, by seeing Jesus love for us, and realizing he came to save us. Jesus came to make things clear to those who are walking in sin. He came to reveal himself so that we as sinners, may not only see the error of our ways, but the trust of who Jesus is: our savior and God. Jesus comes to make things more clear to us. To show us who he is. He is the one who comes to blind those who are arrogant and proud, and make those lost in sin, able to see him clearly. We see with spiritual clarity, when we avoid sin, see Jesus for who he truly is, and trust in Jesus' word over what we think we can understand and see ourselves.

All of us are outsiders to God. We do not follow him as well as we should. We do not live as he calls us to. We are outsiders in many ways, to God's love and his calling to live as his people. We walk in the darkness of sin, do what we please, but we also crave something more. Jesus loves even the outsider. He loves the Samaritan woman, though she is undeserving of his love. He takes time to talk with her, to care for her, to love her, and to tell her who he is. Jesus shows love to the outsider, by welcoming them into his presence, and into his kingdom (his rule and reign). As he did for the Samaritan woman, he does for you and I. We are outsiders, but his kingdom is for the outsider. We are all outsiders welcomed into the kingdom of God, by Jesus, through his love, called to welcome others into his presence and kingdom.

Some things are difficult to believe. What Jesus offers, can often sound too good to be true. How can water and word in baptism do everything that we claim? The Holy Spirit really works and acts in us? I believe in Jesus, but it's easy to doubt and get confused with some of these teachings. They sound like a fairy tale. Too good to be true. God's power and work is not capped at our earthly, human understanding. We truly cannot fully grasp all of who our God is. He is more impressive and powerful than we could ever imagine. Yet, what we can see and understand, is Jesus' love for us. God showed us love in Jesus, who went to the cross, suffered, and died, so that we could have eternal life! Faith is believing and trusting in Jesus and his word, in spite of our weakness and understanding. When we doubt, we trust in Jesus and his love for us, believe his promises he has given us that are beyond our understanding, and live a new life of following him.

Often in life, we feel like nobodies. We feel as if we are simply another face in a world that does not really care. Most of us are not famous, or well-known, or important. We even feel as if no one cares for us. We feel alone. We feel unimportant. What could God really even want with us? Jesus sees you. He cares about you. He loves you. He calls you to come and follow him. In his calling, Jesus does more than just make you feel loved or known, he reveals truth to you. He shows you the big picture in life. He makes you his own, and opens your eyes to the most important thing in the world: who he is and what he has done and will do for you. In Jesus' eyes, you're not just another nobody, you're his beloved disciple. When you feel like a nobody, remember that Jesus has seen you, loved you, and called you to follow after him.

We are sinners. We are born, live, and die, in sin. As enfleshed humans living in the aftermath of the fall of humanity into sin, we are in a condition of sin. This means death. Our flesh will one day break down, fall apart, and we will die. This is the reality of the world. This world is in sin. We are in sin. We will die because of our sin. Jesus came to take away our sin. As John the Baptist said he is "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world". He does so, in the water of the Jordan. By being baptized in the dirty waters of sin in the Jordan river, where John the Baptist washed clean those repentant who came to see him, Jesus took out of that water, all our sin and suffering. He received the Holy Spirit, and so began the redemption of humanity, that we may also be washed clean. We are sinners who will die, but Jesus has taken on our sin, given us the Holy Spirit, and has called us to live a life of repentance following him.

We allow all kinds of things to shape and change us. We are formed and conformed by and to the world. Our sinful hearts look for something to worship, and we end up worshipping all kinds of things around us. This is evident in how we live apart from how God has called us to. We are slaves to our hearts, and we live according to what we love, which is often, not God. By the Holy Spirit, God gives us a new heart. A heart that trusts in God's truth, that Jesus has come to save us from our sin, and call us to live for him, rather than for ourselves. We are to rejoice and abide in this truth. We hear God's Word, rejoice with the community God's made for us in the church, and live by the Holy Spirit, as Jesus has called us to. Our God loves us and calls us to abide in him, when we hear God's word and promises, bear fruit by the Holy Spirit, and look to Jesus for all things.

We are to put to death the sin that lives inside of our hearts. Yet, we constantly give into the sins of the world when we allow our phones, or the entertainment industry, or the music we listen to, or the shows we watch, shape and form who we are and what's important. What we hear and listen to influences us. While it's not bad to engage with media and the world around us (as long as we do not give in to sin), we should not allow these things to control and consume our lives, our thoughts, and our minds. Jesus calls us to look to higher things in life. He died, rose again, and killed and raised you to life through your baptism, so that you and I could live a new life. We would not be consumed by the sin and the things of this world, but rather we would live new lives that prioritize not what we think is important or what the world says is important, but what Jesus calls us to look to and how to live. We refuse to allow media today to consume us when we remember our baptism, set our minds on the things of God, and look forward to Jesus' soon return.

We easily get swept up into playing political games. We follow the news and listen to it every day. We only vote for this party. We argue with each other and make snap judgments about others because of their political leanings. We hate and even fight with others, and slander our leaders that God has appointed. We even look to these political figures as messiahs who will save our country. In other words, we allow politics to become the most important thing in our lives. Jesus upholds the importance of political leaders, while at the same time, pointing to what's truly important: faith in God and following him. Who Caesar is or whether you should give him your tax money is far less important that following your God and giving him what he deserves. Jesus came to show us who is our true king, and he calls us to give to God what he deserves, our faith and our lives. Politics should not shape our lives, but rather Jesus' kingship and his calling for us.

We love our traditions, in church and at home. These traditions are good. Yet at times, they can obscure the good news of Jesus. We fail to teach our traditions well to our children and others. We refuse to change our old ways when they no longer convey the same message. We hold on to the things that we like or that we prefer, and we fail to pick up new practices that are more helpful. We do not honor our traditions or the important truths they teach, when we fail to explain and teach their purpose, and when we refuse to change them when necessary. Jesus has brought us into a new covenant. A new thing that God has done, where he has saved us in Jesus! No longer do we need to do everything God's people did before, because God has done a new thing in Jesus, where the law has been fulfilled, the price for sin has been paid, and old practices need not be done. Jesus has brought us the good news of the Gospel that has saved us from our sins, that we point to with our traditions, and that will one day bring us into perfection of life with him.

We think of glory from a human perspective. We want to have glory and power and control in our lives and in the eyes of others. We want to be lifted up, talked up, and looked up to. We want earthly glory. The problem is, earthly glory is not the same as heavenly glory, and we are seeking that which is not life. We don't want to suffer or be 'weak' or experience difficulty for the sake of the Gospel. The glory that Jesus was thinking of, was not a glory that was pleasing in the eyes of the disciples. It wasn't a glory that was attractive in an earthy sense. Rather it was brutal, ugly, and ended in his death on the cross. Yet through the ugliness of the cross, we see our salvation that Jesus has won for us! We often want to live glorious lives, but the true glory comes in the cross of Jesus, and in quietly, faithfully, bearing our crosses while trusting in Jesus and his promises of future glory with him at his return. True glory for us comes in the cross of Jesus, denying our own desires and wishes, and rejoicing in the truth that Jesus has saved us through his own death and resurrection.

We are blessed to own many good things. We have many possessions that we love and cherish and that bring us comfort and joy. Many of these things actually can help us benefit others. Yet, we often value these things more than we should. We are drawn into a consumerism mindset, where we overvalue the stuff we have, we are consumed by it, and we want the next best thing. As a result, our lives revolve around our stuff and how to get more of it, rather than using it to benefit others. Jesus gives us the most important thing we could ever own: the gift of following him. Jesus does not love things, but loves us, and wants us to love him by obeying him and caring for those around us. It's not that we need to get rid of all our stuff, but that we prioritize and value the gift of faith and following Jesus, over the stuff that we own and/or want. We no longer exist to own things, but we live for Jesus and with his promise of life with him forever. We keep our love of stuff in it's place, remembering that Jesus loves us, he calls us to use our stuff to follow him and love others, and he done the impossible, and saved us.

Often the people we associate with shape and change how we live. Good company can point us together towards a good life and behavior that is God pleasing. Yet at the same time, our friends, family, and those closest to us can point us in the wrong direction. They don't have the same values, the same beliefs, or the same priorities. This is significant, because it means we can be shaped by those that we love and care for, and can be pointed away from God. Jesus himself, associated with sinners. He was not changed by us, but by the Holy Spirit, called, shaped, and formed our hearts to follow after him. While in this world, we do get led astray, Jesus joins himself with sinners, and saved us by making us his own people. By the Holy Spirit, he leads us to follow after him, and by being around him, we are shaped and formed to live as he calls us to. Jesus shapes and forms us to follow after him, by not being yoked to unbelievers, but rather being near Jesus and being in community with his family.

Merry Christmas! Check out this special message for Christmas Day from Pastor Alarik. Christ is born!

There are bad things that happen in this world. There are frightening things. We don't feel secure or safe in this world, because bad things happen not only to bad people, but to all people. There's wars, violence, storms, disasters, and all kinds of bad things in this world. What we need is safety and security. Our God gives us that safety and security in Jesus. We are his people, and he is our all-powerful all caring God who protects us from all evil. While bad things do happen, we know we are safe in Jesus, no matter what. We have security, protection, and a safe home in our God.

Jesus comes to earth, to join us in the dirt of this world, get dirty in our sin, and show us who our God truly is.

Home can be a tough place to be. It can be filled with tension, conflict, arguments, and strife. When you're there, you can be tempted to avoid people, keep to yourself, or even leave altogether. Home is supposed to be a happy, peaceful place. Yet it often is not. Jesus came and died and rose again, that we may have peace. We have peace with God, but also with each other, in Jesus. By coming into our conflict of sin and suffering, he gave peace to all people, restored all brokenness, and repaired every relationship through his suffering, death, and resurrection. We now have a home with Jesus, where there is no brokenness.

Coming to church can be hard sometimes. We often wonder, am I good enough? Have I been away for too long? Have I gone too far? Have I done too much? Have I done not enough? Do I belong here? Will God accept me? We often can think we are too far gone. We can't come home to God, maybe like we can't come to our earthly homes and earthly families. You are always welcome at God's table. No matter what you've done or not done, where you've gone, or what your family may say, you are welcome at God's table. He's got it all set for you. A table where you dine on his word, promises, and good gifts that he offers to you. How do you know it's for you? Because it's for all people. Because all people who turn and come back to God, are his people, and you are welcome. You belong.

Being a just and good person is tough, but through the tasks and gifts God gives us, he blesses us, helps us rise to the occasion, and he shows us what perfect love looks like.

We feel like this world is not the way it should be. That's because it isn't. Our world is broken, messed up, and it feels, not quite right. Sin has entered into our world through us, just as it did through the first two people, and because of sin making a home in our hearts, we were exiled from our home with God, and left on our own in this broken world. God gives us a home in Jesus. He gives us a new home with his son, who left his home in heaven, was born to two people without a home, and himself had no home in which to lay his head. He made his home with us, away from his loving heavenly Father, so that we might have a new home with him in death as we dwell with Jesus, and when he makes all things new.

How do we live a thankful life? Pastor Alarik explores what everyday thankfulness looks like, and how it's bigger than just one day of the year. Check out this special Thanksgiving Day message, made just for you!

The easy, attractive, pleasant things in life, are not the things worth imitating. The things that in the moment feel good and seem good to do, are not usually the things that we are called to do as followers of Jesus. What we want to leave behind is a life that people look back on and consider to be good and well-lived, but for most of us, that means doing the hard thing rather than the easy thing. In Jesus, we are given life eternal. That life we will have after death and when Jesus returns, is better than anything we could ever hope for in this life. He shows us that what it means to live in this world, is to hope in his promises, and to live a life worthy of those promises. Not a perfect life, but a life that is a witness and points to Jesus and his promises, and living for God rather than for ourselves. When we do that, we live the good life.

Money is often times the most important thing to us. We may claim that other things are more important, and even know that deep down, but money often takes control over our lives. We live always thinking on, being reliant upon, and worrying about money and earthly riches, whether we are rich ourselves, or we want to desperately hold on to the little that we have. Jesus gives us true riches. In Jesus, we have a sure and certain treasure of everlasting life. When we live with a generous spirit, focusing on being rich in action, word, and deed, as well as with our wealth, we know that we live truly focusing on what's most important; Jesus' promises. While Jesus does not love us because of our generosity, he treasures our good deeds, and we live out of a spirit of generosity given to us by God, rather than a spirit of fear, greed, or anxiety that we have as imperfect people.

We often focus on leaving behind a legacy about what we've done, what we've gained, and all our successes. We leave a legacy that points to ourselves and the good things we want people to remember. We work towards things in life that are about gaining for ourselves, rather than giving something to others. We are called to a better legacy. We are to leave behind and give to others, legacy of faith. In our lives, we ought to seek to point others towards God, and his promise of provision and salvation for us in Jesus, that he will never break. We leave behind a legacy of faith, when we teach and point others in our lives, not to the community of the church, or to a specific virtuous teaching of Jesus, but to the promises of Jesus himself that we hope and trust in, and pray others after us will as well.

It's easy for us to think of the saints as holy, pious, better-than-me kind of people. We think of them as people who have done what we never could. People who have attained a certain status that overshadows and will always be better than us. When we think this, it's easy to become discouraged, and to even give up trying to follow God's desires for us. God has made us all saints in Jesus. All people are called to be his own. Even as we all are made holy by God and his Holy Spirit, we are to love and serve those around us. We are to point others in our words, but also in our conduct and life, towards Jesus and his promises that he has offered us, trusting that he loves and has saved us, more than we ever could.

We can often fall into a trap of thinking that faith in Jesus is all about going to church. It's all about doing the right thing. It's all about being a good person. It's all about loving your neighbor. It's all about being holy or pious. We replace faith, with works. With being enough. Doing enough. Living holy enough. The issue is, we can never be enough. Jesus is enough for you. All faith is, is trust in Jesus. It's not about your works, your life, your conduct, or anything. It's about Jesus loving you, dying for you, and rising again for you, that you may have forgiveness, life, and the promise of the resurrection, where all the dead will come back to life and live in a new heaven and a new earth, forever with Jesus. The best part, it's all free.

Today, all too many people don't know about Jesus. We simply are ok with that. We allow that to be the status quo. We don't speak about Jesus as often as we should. We even are tempted to think that Jesus is only for certain people. We are even frightened, that it is just us going out into this world, and we don't think we can do it successfully or 'right'. Jesus is for all people. He uses all people, any people, even you, to deliver his Gospel message. We are to simply go forward in faith, praying, trusting, and relying on the Holy Spirit, to use our words and actions to point others to faith in Jesus. He even goes with us, to help us deliver this message.

Power, awards, admiration, popularity, applause, all of it and more can and will go to our heads. We get our worth and find our identity in all kinds of achievements and accolades that are determined by the world's standards. Even if we do earn these things, we may not find happiness, and we also may end up losing these things, if another wants them. God loves you, not for what you can do, or what you can contribute, or what you earn, but just because you're you. God cares for and loves his children, because they are just that, his beloved, baptized, children. No matter what, your God loves you, bled for you, died for you, and rose again to claim the victory, so that he can give you the spoils, of life forever with him.

There are many temptations in this world, to fall away from faith. It's easy to fall in with the direction and morals of the culture. To live your truth, and do what you want with your life and body. To follow cultural saviors, who speak a false Gospel. To get caught up in issues that feel like they are 'Christian' but are truly not. We all fall victim to the temptations to fall away from faithfulness, and we all do in little ways. God is always faithful, even when we are not. He always keeps his promises. In Jesus, he has done just that. Time and time again, he calls us away from ourselves or other gospels and saviors, and back to himself in Jesus. No matter what trials and temptations we might go through, we pray that God in the Holy Spirit, would bring us back to himself.

Unfortunately in this world, there is much pressure when it comes to our faith. We don't often like to be uncomfortable, or under pressure. We want to keep comforts close at hand. We want to live with our luxuries and things that we "need". We don't want to give up that which we like to have. Jesus gave up all that he had, that he might have you. He descended from heaven, became a human, was humiliated as a true man, suffered, died, was buried, all that you may have life, through his sacrifice and resurrection. Jesus gave it all, that we might have all that we truly need. In turn, we also can give up some small comforts, that others may hear about and know these promises of true life in Jesus.

In this world, we often have bad examples to watch and look to. Leaders acting badly. Trusted individuals, breaking that trust. People you know or who you grew up with, giving you less than excellent examples for your future life. When we look to ourselves, we also see that we are fallible, failing, sinful human beings too, who also lead less than stellar examples for others. In Jesus, we have more than a perfect example, we have a perfect God, who was willing to die for us, and who also rose for us, that we may have everlasting life with him. We are pointed to Jesus, by the good examples of those who came before us. We are to follow them and look to Jesus, whom they all point us to. May we also point others to Jesus, as we run with endurance the race of life that is before us.

This world is dark. It is broken. We must often suffer. Especially those who are followers of Jesus endure suffering in this world. For the sake of Jesus and his Gospel, we are called to live differently. We are called to live lives not for ourselves, but for Jesus, which often means, discomfort, awkwardness, pain, suffering, and even death. Yet, we live as witnesses of Christ's love. We endure what many would not bother enduring. We put up with pain, suffering, and yes, even death, all for the sake of the Gospel! We shown the strength of God's word in our weakness, that we are willing to give up all things and become weak ourselves that we may have the promise of the resurrection and the life that comes from Jesus.

We often think of evangelism as coming down to a single moment. As a one-time opportunity that we say our piece, then we pack it up and call it a job well done. Yet, often people come to their own conclusions. They walk through their life alone, seeking whatever truth they may come to, without the help and guidance of others. As people of faith, we know that our God walked with us. We also, ought to walk with others through this life, guiding them into the truth even as we have been guided by those pointing us to Jesus. We are not to simply evangelize once, but we are to walk and be intimately involved in the lives of others, waiting for opportunities to find the cracks that the light of the Gospel might shine into.

We often make mistakes when proclaiming the Gospel. We either think we need to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, killing people with the law and speaking them to life with the Gospel. Or we get uncomfortable, shy, and we don't end up saying anything. In our world today, neither are probably helpful in proclaiming the truth about Jesus. Rather, we ought to be unafraid to speak the truth, clearly and comprehensibly that others may hear. At the same time, we don't have to shove it down people's throats. This comes down not to putting our trust in our testimony or our ability to reason and speak with others, but to God's power that is displayed in our weakness. We are to be a winsome, authentic, humble witness, who boasts in Jesus' power over our own.

We often want to be present with others that we want to be present with. It's easy for us today to disconnect or distance ourselves from those that we don't want to be close to. We "forget" to text back, we walk down the other aisle at the grocery store, and we generally avoid and ignore those we'd prefer not to be close with. Jesus does the opposite. Jesus invites the broken, the hurting, the undesirables to approach him. He even eats and drinks with them! Yet he does so for the purpose that they who are lost in the darkness of this world, might be found in him. Jesus does not lower his standards for his followers or compromise his values, yet he interacts with, comes to, and even loves the sinner. Even us!

This world is dark, cold, and full of suffering. Anyone can see that. This world is not a happy place. Bad things happen. Mistakes are made. Powerful people control the world and the weak are caught in the cross-fire. For many, this world is dark. People try to find the light, yet all light seems, at some point, to fade. Is there hope in this world? Yes, there is hope. This hope shines into the world through little small places. Hope shines through in the midst of tragedy. In the good things that happen that are just too good to be true. In the parts of life where the transcendent and divine come down to light up our world. That hope is only found in Jesus, in his person, promises, and through his people.

It's easy to forget a lot of things. In the mess of life, we often lose sight of and forget the implications and truths that come with God's promises. We see difficulty and hardship in front of us, we go through tough stuff, and when that happens, we can sometimes forget that we are God's children and we are confident in his promises. God calls us to remember. Throughout the Bible, 'remember' is the echoing command of God to his people, because it reminds us of who he has been, and who he will continue to be for us. We remember that we are called to be God's children, that we are redeemed and saved by the Gospel, that we are forgiven, and that we have the promise of eternal life, with Jesus, forever. We also remember that we are called to live as his servants as we share the truth of the Gospel and live as a follower of Jesus.

Often in life, we think it comes down to us to succeed. We think and act as if it depends on us to do enough. To make ourselves good enough. To achieve and be successful, whether that's in our work, our family, or as a follower of Jesus. We often act like it all comes down to us. The truth is, it's all about what Jesus has done, not us. Jesus' success overcomes and erases our failures. We have no fear of failure, because Jesus has won for us. Even if our life looks rough. Even when we fail to love and serve our neighbor. Even when we are failures in work, at home, or in our faith walk, Jesus gives us his success and victory, as those whom he has called his own.

There's always cliques, groups, and clubs that we want to be in and a part of. We want to fit in. Yet much of the time, we don't, or we exclude those who don't fit what we want to see. We often can feel alone, excluded, and left out at school, in our community, even at church. Even so, Jesus always has a place for us. We are welcomed into the greater family of the church! Jesus has made us a part of something much greater, and even as we have been accepted by God, we are to also welcome and accept others, regardless of who they are, what they look like, or what they can offer.

Pastor and Orphan Grain Train - Indiana Branch Manager in Jonesville, Gene Ernst, joins us to share how Jesus intended us to love one another, and also, how he has loved us in an even greater way! Pastor Ernst will walk us through the parable of the Good Samaritan, and encourage us as we love our neighbors as Jesus has called us to do, even as he has loved us in a deeper, wider, and more powerful way through his life of service, his death, and his resurrection! Join us as we dive in to discover who our neighbor is, and what we can do for them!

We often hear it said that God doesn't give us more than we can handle. Yet, life often dumps much more than we feel like we can handle in our laps. The issue becomes that we are forced to look inwardly to bear our burdens, and yet we cannot do it. There are some things for us that are too much to bear. Jesus has borne all our sins and sorrows. We are freed from our burdens of sin by Jesus. In the same way, we are to alleviate the burdens of others. As Jesus has carried our burdens, we are to trust others to help us in our need, especially those in our family of faith, and we are to bear their burdens as well. Knowing that one day, Jesus will take away all burdens from us, and free us to live with him for eternity in the new creation.

Often in life, we think God will work good in our lives no matter what. If you look at the life of Jeremiah, you can see that that's really not the case. Yes, we have hope in Jesus after this life, but that doesn't mean life is going to be good. We will experience hardship and difficulty and we may even have horrible and senseless things happen to us. We can be tempted to think that God will eventually give us something good, but that's not his promise. God's promise is this, that he has saved us in Jesus, and that he will return soon to fulfill his plans for you, me, and everyone. We can rejoice in the truth that God will work his ultimate good (and so ours), even if we have a life full of suffering and pain. Our current or future situation, good or bad, does not reflect God's love for us, we see that in Jesus, who will fulfill his ultimate purpose for all things when he returns.