Author: Mark

Hubby to the greatest gal, Pastor of an amazing community, brother to a bunch of people called my family, lover of God, follower of Jesus.

Lunch Tomorrow!

On By MarkIn church, PreachingLeave a comment

Tomorrow right after church we have a lunch for EVERYONE at Grace. So, come and plan on sticking around for a bit. It’s a GREAT way to meet others and have some chilaxing time! Bring someone with you to introduce around. Wouldn’t it be great if we ran out of food?!! Sorry hospitality team… what I mean is, wouldn’t it be great if so many more came and hung with us? Don’t just bring someone from another church, bring someone that doesn’t have a church home yet, is looking, is your guest, or even someone that may just be a bit curious. Let’s Eat!

If you wanna read ahead, tomorrow I’ll be teaching from John 13:18-38. Grace Groups have begun and it’s been a great first week. Let’s pray for our time together tomorrow and for God’s amazing grace to go forward to many others through Grace Community.

As we come prepared, rested, and seeking a time to worship, fellowship, serve and learn, we can come expecting God to do amazing things among us. I’ll see you in the morning.

If you’re reading this from another time zone, go to your church; prepared and expecting. God is going to do great stuff through His church.

Oh…one more thing, Happy Birthday, Pastor Bob!

Cancer Free!

On By MarkIn Cancer, Pray, Zac12 Comments

How about this for a ‘faith-check’. Did I really believe? Yes, I did. I believe God is amazingly and sovereignly gracious in all His acts. He is glorified through life and death. He is glorified even when we can’t understand and struggle accepting His actions. And sometimes He is glorified as He delivers what we call ‘really, really good news’.

Today, I received word that my nephew Zac is cancer free! The Friday before Mother’s Day he was diagnosed with stage 4 (worst possible) colon cancer with spots on his liver and spleen. Many of you have followed him on his blog (listed to the side of this one) and have prayed with him and for him. Many of us have believed the whole time that God is certainly able to heal, but we also know that God sometimes brings glory to Himself with the news that we don’t want to hear.

Today God has showered us with a huge blessing. Zac is healed of his cancer. Read his blog for his words on what’s next.

So, as we trust God for His plans for Zac and all of us, let’s also pause to celebrate and thank Him. The Jewish people would celebrate for days, with lots of food, dancing, musical instruments, etc as a response to God’s goodness and His favor. Somewhere, somehow, enjoy the celebration with us today on Zac’s behalf.

People of the towel

On By MarkIn church, GRACE, Teaching2 Comments

Yesterday was amazing @ Grace. At the end of a sermon from John 13 on the washing of the disciples feet by our Lord, we passed out towels to all who would commit to serving one another. I’d love to hear stories of how we’re actually serving the needs of one another. Can we pass on stories without boasting or drawing attention to ourselves? Jesus was simply teaching a lesson by ‘doing’. That’s all I’m looking for. Let’s teach one another by sharing our stories of how we serve the needs around us. Any takers?

Launching our Grace Groups…with a party!

On By MarkIn churchLeave a comment

Tuesday night from 6:30 – 7:30 we’re having our first ever “Grace Group Launch Party”. This is the one time we’re inviting all the Grace Group leaders and hosts to meet up with the new members and invite others to join them in the adventure of a small group.

This is really a prayer and dedication time for the new season of Grace Groups. We’ll have a great time squeezing as many people as we can into our Ministry Center. My prayer is that more and more people will get connected through small groups so that they can live in community in the truths of what we’re talking about in our main service on Sunday mornings. When we go to church and sit in a service and even sing along, we’re fooling ourselves if we think that is ‘community’.

Grace Groups are our invitation to gather in homes and share hearts and minds together based on God’s Word and expressed in His love.

If you’re looking for a way to connect to the community of Grace, this is your invitation to come Tuesday and let us help you make it happen!

Blessings.

Come Here…You!

On By MarkIn Bible, church, Jesus!Leave a comment

Throughout our study in John we’re noticing Jesus’ invitation to come and follow Him.  Yesterday I broke it down to three invitations: Come and See – Come and Follow – Come and Die!

Where are you with Jesus?  He invites us to “come and see”. Check it out. “You gotta see this!” And that’s more than just an invitation to a great church service with amazing music and fog machines.  That’s about an honest look at Christianity and it’s claims.  Remember the gal from Samaria, “Come and see this Jesus, you gotta check this out”.  She could say that because she had already seen, and believed.

“Come and follow” is the invitation to become a genuine follower of Christ by placing your faith in Him as Savior. Exchanging your life for His. Crossing the line of faith.  Repenting of your sins, seeing yourself and your sins as filthy rags, and telling Jesus you believe WHO He is, and WHAT He’s done for you.  Pray the prayer!  I hope several did that at Grace yesterday. If YOU never have, I hope you will.

“Come and die” is the hard part of giving your all to Jesus.  This isn’t the same as being saved. This is an act of the (already)child of God giving full surrender to a life dedicated to the mission of Jesus.  There is a cost to consider.  This is obedience.  This is where God calls/leads us to give our all.

Wherever you are, Jesus reaches out His arms and says, “come here…come to Me!”

Aren’t you glad?

Even the smallest blessings

On By MarkIn Pray, Thanks2 Comments

The front passenger tire had a slow leak.  Stopped by the tire place and was told it would be about 30 minutes.  So I made use of the coke machine and sat down with my iphone to twitter away the 30 minutes.  I realized how little of an inconvienience this was. There have been times when I’d be irritated to be told to wait for 30 minutes. But now I have this great little tool that can keep me busy for a long while.

The other small benefit was the guy has espn on and I was able to multitask and get somewhat caught up on sports news that I’ve missed lately.  I was surprised to see Edgerrin James may be on his way to Seattle.  I’ve been ‘out of the loop’ so this was news to me.

Then when I went to go pay for the repair I was told those coveted words, “no charge Mr. Smith”.  Huh?  “You bought your tires here, so, no charge.”  Sweet.  It’s not their fault a screw wound up in my tire.  But what a nice policy.

You know, sometimes it’s the small things that remind us that really, it’s gonna be alright.  I’ll have much larger issues to deal with soon enough. For now, well… ‘thanks Lord for the tire man’s policy and for the orange soda and for espn and for time to mess with my iphone.’  Amen.

Holy Anticipation

On By MarkIn church, GRACE, Jesus!, Pray, Worship2 Comments

I’m in my office on a Saturday morning going over notes for tomorrow, cleaning up the place, and…oh yeah, listening to the Grace Worship Team rehearsing for tomorrow. As I’m listening to them, I’m thinking of tomorrow morning at Grace. I’m anticipating God’s blessings on His people as we come together FOR Him. I’m picturing hundreds of people lifting their voices and some even their hands as we worship God as His holy community. We are HIS. He’s our Abba, our God, our Saviour, our Life-giver, and our Friend.

Whether you attend Grace on Sunday or your church in your community, do you go with a sense of anticipation? Here are some thoughts to help you get ready for the holy gathering of the community:

  • Lord, what will you teach me about YOU?
  • Who will I see tomorrow that needs a fresh look at YOU, someone I can love and encourage?
  • What will I learn from your WORD?
  • How can you use ME to bless someone else in this holy community?
  • Who will be there tomorrow for the first time, seeking YOU?
  • Who will be there hanging on by a thread, needing more of YOU?
  • Lord, what can I give you?
  • Lord teach me your ways.
  • Lord show me your glory.
  • Lord, bless our holy gathering.
  • Lord, may I be rested and thoughtful as I approach this sacred moment.

I seriously can’t wait to gather with God’s people and our many guests to see what He’s got in store for us as we bring our offering of praise to Him. To the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.

Rom 16:27
to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Chris

Dating Again

On By MarkIn Laurie, Love, Marriage1 Comment

Last week in a wedding I performed, I challenged the couple to continue to get to know each other. To know each other’s ‘stuff’. What makes you happy, what are you thinking about, how are you doing? Dudes, we have to work at that. And we should. You’re not a sissy if you talk from your heart and to your wife’s heart. You’re more of a man than the guy that won’t.

Last night we got to go out for dinner. We don’t do it a lot. I’m glad we don’t. But I love it when we get to. Going out for dinner is still a treat for us. We don’t have to go out, we have food in the fridge. But, after a great productive day, how nice it is to clean up, put on a shirt that doesn’t have a sports team logo and go out. Try going to a place that uses silverware and cloth napkins. Go out, spend a few dollars and look at each other. Listen to each other’s heart. Treat her like you did when you were trying to win her heart.

I’m not about to write a book about marriage or dating, or heart stuff. But, I’m in the game. I love my wife and I love spending time with her. Whether it’s at home or out on the date. Make it real you guys. Live in the moment with the one God has blessed you with.