Gospel communities are built on the truth of the gospel that saves and restores people to God and brings them into His family as a group of people commissioned by King Jesus to go into the entire world and make disciples of all nations—starting right in our own city and neighborhoods as GCs on mission for Jesus. Gospel Communities is a place where people grow as disciples of Jesus, while growing to make disciples of Jesus. 

We are doing a mini blog series on Gospel Communities (Theological Foundation, GC for an Individual, GC for a Family, GC for a church) 

Mini Blog Series:

• Theological Foundation: The Church Church Not On Sunday
• GC for an Individual: 6 Ways Gospel Communities Are Helpful For Individuals 
• GC for a Family (2 Blog Posts): In Sickness And In Health, Desperation And The Love Of Discipleship Groups; How Is A Gospel Community A Safe Place For My Family?
• GC for a Church: 

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The Following Blog Post is from Ariel Bovat 

How Are Gospel Communities For A Family?

I hate that my first reaction, my first response, my default mode is not what it's supposed to be as a redeemed woman in Christ.

Let me explain.

The toll of living isolated lives for years with no like minded Christian fellowship, hubby's transfer being approved, selling a house, moving across 6 states over 7 days, living in temporary housing for 2 months, a drastic change in weather, looking for a house, buying a house, the overwhelming relief of finding an awesome church, all of this while trying to keep a somewhat structured  home school schedule finally took a toll on my body and my mind. 

I WAS TIRED!! EMOTIONALLY. MENTALLY. PHYSICALLY. PSYCHOLOGICALLY.

ALL OF ME WAS TIRED. 

My body showed it by getting sick with a re-occurring sickness that 3 rounds of antibiotics over 2 months was not touching. I don't do well while on antibiotics. I don't do well while I am sick. I took it out on the people around me and it was not good. 

Funny thing about getting sick. I expect to be served. I expect...period. 

I don't know if its the lack of sympathy or empathy I received as a child growing up, or the ugly feminist culture that I bought into in my twenties, or just plain good old fashioned sin, what ever the cause of my entitlement was, I felt it deep down inside of my person. I feel entitled when I am not feeling well. I expect it. I demand it even ( i know...it is horrible to even admit)

When I am not served when I am sick,  I get angry. 

When I am not served when I am sick,  I get hurt. 

When I am not served when I am sick,  I get bitter.

I shut down mentally and can't think straight. I operate in pity-party mode all the time. 

I am like a resounding gong. (1 Corinthians 13:1) In my bitterness, in my resentment, in my anger, I cause those around me to sin in reaction to my own sin. 

I know, I cannot control when others sin against me. However, when I am faced with the reality that MY sin causes others to sin, it breaks me into a billion little pieces. 

In steps the reality that God did not create us to live isolated Christian lives. 

It has been years.....eons even, since my family has had the love and support from Bible believing people. Sure, we have had Christian friends in our lives but for some reason, Paul and I felt like something was missing in our relationship with Christian friends. We just didn't know what it was.

Even though we had no idea what that something was, both my husband and I desperately wanted that something, yet had no earthly idea what it would even look like.  

We have been attending our new church since mid November and we absolutely love the preaching. They have, what I have always known as, small groups, but at our new church they call these groups Gospel Communities. They also have a smaller set up that they call discipleship groups. These discipleship groups are a group of people, broken down from the larger Gospel Community group, that meets together regularly to discuss the sermon from the previous Sunday or just discuss and share life stuff. Paul meets with the men's discipleship group every Wednesday morning at 5:30 am at a local coffee house. I meet with the women's discipleship group every Thursday evening at the same coffee shop.

After each session, Paul and I come home really refreshed and encouraged. It's a beautiful thing to experience. There are no other words to describe it.

Even though I have only been attending my discipleship group a short time, there is something about my group that makes me feel safe. I love that when a question or topic is posed, there is great reflective encouraging conversation and no condemnation. 

At my previous group meeting, I shared with the ladies that Paul and I could use some prayer. The toll of moving, sickness and all that comes with it had worn a hole in our communication and it was showing almost daily. It came to a head this past Sunday after an awesome sermon on the 6th commandment, "do not murder" was preached. Ironic huh? 

You can listen to that sermon here. Scroll down to Deuteronomy 5:6, 17 Being Christian: The Meaning of Life

Basically, Paul and I realized we were murdering each other with our thoughts and our words. It was not pretty. I cannot speak for him, but for me, the toll of dealing with my sickness was heavy. It was a heavy burden and I was not carrying it well. I wanted to be comforted in my sickness. I wanted to be served in my sickness. I was tired of being sick. I wanted to be well. I was tired of dealing with physical pain in my body.

I prayed to God for healing so that I could get back to "normal".  It was not happening. 

I had been trying to figure out, through my many conversations with God, why He was not making me better. I was trying to figure out, what I was supposed to be learning about myself through my sickness. I was stumped and my sin and selfishness blinded me.

My depleted emotional capacity to figure it out had me spent. Really Spent! 

In a moment of sheer desperation, I reached out and shared my struggles with a new friend from my discipleship group. (Thank you Janine) I wanted to reach out to her most of that afternoon, but my pride would not have it. I didn't want to seem like I was one of those "needy" chicks. I didn't want to give the impression that Paul and I didn't have it all together all the time. I didn't want to give the impression that we needed help. We were "new" at the church for heavens sake.  

Paul and I read our Bibles daily, pray daily, teach our children the Bible daily, go to church regularly, tithe regularly, and we still didn't have it all together and that was embarrassing.

I felt that the Holy Spirit was telling me to share my struggles, but my pride fought it desperately all afternoon. 

Finally about 8:30 pm, I contacted her and let her know what was going on. Instead of blowing me off with a superficial "we will pray for you", she told her husband and her husband offered to come to our house and pray/talk with us. I was stunned. Humbled.

I immediately started to believe a lie that I had become a burden and I shouldn't want to burden them any longer. To top it off, we were dealing with the biggest, windiest snow storm I had ever seen. I surely did not want this man, my new friend's husband, to have an accident on account of me and my hubby having communication issues. They persisted. I asked Paul. Paul agreed and we conceded to him coming over to pray/talk with us. He is also a part of Paul's discipleship group and I am thankful that my hubby did not have an issue with pride and how he would be perceived. My hubby's humility in allowing another guy to come pray and talk with us helped me with my own personal pride. 

Let me stress how humbling this was for us. We had been accustomed to dealing with personal and private issues on our own for so long, we had forgotten what it felt like to share our struggles with others. We were walking into foreign territory. It was scary. 

He showed up at our house about 10:00 pm. He stayed until almost midnight. He prayed for us. He talked with us. He prayed again. 

Here is what he did and did not do-

1. He didn't condemn us. 
2. He didn't side with either one of us. 
3. He told us what we needed to hear
4. He reminded us of things we already knew but needed desperately to hear again because we had forgotten.
5. He told us some "new things" we had never heard before that rocked the world of both Paul and I. (Later Paul told me what rocked him and I told Paul what rocked me...and it was GOOD)

When he left, the hubby and I knew something changed. We went to bed and I woke up at 5:30 a.m. while Paul was getting ready for work and we talked. We talked and talked and talked some more. He called in to take a day off from work and we talked the entire morning.

Whatever it was that happened, we knew things were different. I can't write about what changed in my hubby, but I can write about what changed in me. 

I came to the stark reality that in my sickness, I was not being Christ like at all. I was allowing the pain in my body to dictate how I treated people, which included my husband. I felt justified in treating him harshly because I was in pain. I felt owed. 

I would cry out to God to take away the pain and sickness because I wanted to go back to being the "selfless sacrificial loving wife and mother" that I thought I was. God showed me that in my pain and sickness the reality was that I was far from that "selfless, sacrificial loving wife and mother".

I used to believe that the marriage vows "in sickness and in health" meant that when I got sick, I needed to be cared for and doted on. When I was not cared for and doted on, I became bitter, angry and resentful. 

Through the conviction of the Holy Spirit I NOW believe that "in sickness and in health" means that I need to love my husband, my children, and anyone else, in a way that is Christ honoring, despite whether or not I am sick or healthy. 

I think back to when Christ was suffering and dying on the cross. He looked down and told John to look after his mother. He continued to serve her and love her in the middle of his excruciating physical pain and suffering. He served in spite of His pain. He served in spite of His suffering. 

I realized that I cannot, in my own strength, serve offers when I am suffering. However, because Christ has served others in His suffering, I am given Christ's strength to do what in my own strength I am unable to do. 

The words to the famous hymn, Amazing Grace, are given fresh meaning to me. Why in the world would my Savior choose to save me is a mystery. I seem to be more of a mess than I thought I was. 

But Ephesians 2:8 tells me: For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God

I am thankful beyond words that my salvation is a gift. He saved me in spite of my messy, prideful, angry, bitter, resentful, broken sinful heart. I am thankful that my Savior continues to show me who I am and then gives me the power and the strength to be better....to be more like Him. 

I will continue to pray that I grow in my ability to love and serve others, even when I am in pain or sick. I will continue to repent when I don't do it. 

We are not commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves, only when we feel like it, or when we are healthy. We are commanded to love them always, despite our circumstances. 

I am thankful for my discipleship group. I am thankful for our new church that equips believers to handle the messy situations of life in marriage. I am thankful for Spirit led, Spirit filled believers who go whenever help is needed and do not pass judgment or condemnation, but instead show love and support and encourage others to walk firmly in the life we are called. I am thankful for the Holy Spirit reminding me and my hubby who we are in Christ.  

"He lived a life I can not live and died a death I clearly deserve"!!! 

photo credit: josemanuelerre via photopin cc

Remember Saint Patrick: According to tradition, Patrick died March 17. Many think the year was 461, but we don’t know for certain. While today’s trite celebrations may leave much to be forgotten, for those who love Jesus and the advance of his gospel, Patrick has left us some remarkable things to remember. And to learn from.

What Evangelicals Can Learn From St. Patrick: To our shame, most evangelical Protestants tend to think of Saint Patrick as a leprechaun. As we watch the annual drunken parades and pop-culture consumerism of the March holiday, no one could seem more removed from biblical Christianity than Patrick. And yet, Patrick’s life was closer to a revival meeting than to a shamrock-decorated drinking party named in his honor.

7 Things You Might Not Know About St. Patrick: I am a servant of Christ to a foreign nation for the unspeakable glory of life everlasting which is in Jesus Christ our Lord. ~ St. Patrick

St. Patrick: Reclaiming The Great Missionary: Today most people know St. Patrick for green beer, banishing snakes from Ireland, using shamrocks to teach the Trinity, or his walking stick growing into a living tree. Indeed, none of these legends has anything to do with the real Patrick. However, the factual accounts of Patrick, missionary to Ireland, are even more compelling than the folklore. Telling the true story of Patrick provides an inspiring lesson in God's grace and mercy.

Happy St. Patrick's Day: Instead, I pray you'll see this day as a reminder of the value of bringing Christ to the lost through prayer, suffering, sacrifice, and loving your enemies.  And above all, I pray it's a reminder of the value and glory of God Himself who loved a small country of barbarians enough to make sure even they would come to know Him. 

Christian's Who Changed The World (Arthur Guinness): People today tend to have a negative view of big business. Corporations are seen as only being concerned with maximizing profits, generally at the expense of workers. The idea that a company could benefit not just itself but its workers and even the society as a whole (aside from the benefit that comes from its products) is foreign to our thinking. And for many, the idea that a brewing company could be a major force for good in the world is even more unthinkable. That is only because we do not know the story of the Guinness family.

St. Patrick: A Model For Missional Living: Bob Thune from the Acts 29 Church Planting Network did a sermon on St. Patrick. Give it a listen.

photo credit: Kristofer Williams via photopin cc

Gospel communities are built on the truth of the gospel. The truth that the gospel truly saves and restores people to God and brings them into God's family. Gospel Communities are a place where people grow as disciples of Jesus, while growing to make disciples of Jesus. 

We are doing a mini blog series on Gospel Communities, (Theological Foundation, GC for an Individual, GC for a Family, GC for a church) to better educate anyone to why we believe GC's are vitally important for anyone and everyone.

Mini Blog Series:

• Theological Foundation: The Church Church Not On Sunday
• GC for an Individual: 6 Ways Gospel Communities Are Helpful For Individuals 
• GC for a Family (2 Blog Posts): In Sickness And In Health, Desperation And The Love Of Discipleship Groups; How Is A Gospel Community A Safe Place For My Family? (Coming Soon)
• GC for a Church: (Coming Soon)

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How are Gospel Communities Helpful To An Individual?

Gospel Communities are more then a small group or bible study or a weekly hangout. Gospel Communities are one of the primary places for community, discipleship, mission and worship to happen in everyday life. At Redeemer Church we believe Gospel Communities are important to someone's growth as a Christian and here is our 6 reasons why.

I met Jesus about 10 years ago, and it was through the relationships I built with a few Christians that help cultivate the relationship I have with Jesus today. But it was through these relationships with Christians that taught me why being apart of a family was so important. 

1. Pushed To Grow Deeper In Love With Jesus

When I first came to know Jesus, my first thought was that all my questions and issues would be answered. That however is not the life of a Christian, questions are still constant and our personal issues still happen all the time. But the great part about being in a community of believers is that I was pushed to grow deeper in my understanding of the gospel and pursue my relationship with Jesus.

True discipleship and growth happens when you're around other people. I would look around the community I was a part of and see men and women that would grow deeper in love with Jesus everyday. It wasn't that they figured out something new and exciting that I didn't already know, it was just that their relationship with Christ was growing daily by the time they spent with Him. When you're in a community and you see people growing personally closer to Jesus, it pushes you to pursue your own relationship with Jesus Christ.

2. I Can't Hide My Sin

Over the years I learned that sin is fun, but it isn't helpful at all. Sin destroys friendships, relationships and personally isolates yourself from others that can help you fight against sin. And it is sin that ultimately separates us from God. Sin always over promises but always under delivers on its promises. 

When you are in community you cannot hide your sin. Those who share life with you get to know your struggles and ungodly desires, and when you want to isolate yourself to hide your sinful behavior it is the community that is called to pursue you, pray for you and call you into repentance. 

3. I'm Able To Learn How To Serve Others Better

Paul says in Philippians 2:3, "Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves." As a young man, I read this and struggled to know how I could do what Paul calls Christians to count others more significant than ourselves. Then I realized later on in life that only when Christians realize where their identity truly lies, only then can they humbly count others more significant than themselves. 

In a community I witnessed people constantly serving one another to bless one another and it wasn't for any other reason then just blessing one another. I wanted to grow in blessing others, because I saw the great impact this type of care did for a community of people. In a Gospel Community, you learn that your community is a place to bless others and also know that you will be blessed.

4. I'm A Part Of A Family

Have you noticed within our culture that there are a lot of individuals trying to live life by "the beat of their own drum?" What I mean is that our culture has done a terrible job at training us to believe that we are more significant then we really are and that our identity as a human being is based off a popularity contest we all seem to be a part of. 

When I joined a Gospel Community, I realized that these people were not just people I saw once a week but these people were a family to me. Through this community I was taught how to truly be a part of a family. Families see each other often, they talk to one another often, they care for one another often, and last but not least families don't allow individuals to fall away from community ever, they will pursue that person because they care and love them. 

5. I Can Learn From Others

Have you ever had a moment in your life where you thought you knew more then most people? I know for a long time I would always think to myself how much more I know about life then the next person. But as I grew in my knowledge as a Christian I realized that the life that Jesus calls me to is a life of repentance and learning. Learning from my short comings and learning from just everyday moments in my life and from those around me.

We each individually are very different. We experience things in life differently. This is the same within a Gospel Community. Community has so many different elements to it that we all seem to enjoy uniquely. As an individual I am able to see others enjoy community differently and learn from others experiences. When people within my community get excited about something Jesus is teaching them, I am able to learn from their experience. We are all constantly learning and continuing to grow as Christ followers, so being in community there is a wonderful opportunity to learn from others and grow as a Christian.

6. Being Missional Is Not Something I Do, But Who I Am

Did you know Christians have a mission statement from God himself? Read Matthew 28:18-20 and you will see this mission statement. Those who are found in Christ now have a new identity, an identity that does not come from within ourselves but an identity that comes from God Himself. From this identity we are called as followers of Christ to live in a way that points to Jesus. We are called to be in our world as showing off the wonderful truth of Jesus Christ.

Here is a quote from a church in Tacoma about being missionaries: "In, John 20:21-22, Jesus commissioned His disciples to go before He ascended to the Father.  Jesus was sent to show off the Father. He did the job flawlessly.  He perfectly showed the love of the Father, inaugurated His kingdom by caring for the “least of these”, and demonstrated the Spirit’s power by the proclamation of His kingship. Now, Jesus continues to reveal God to the world, but He is doing so through His people by the Spirit’s power.  - Soma Blog"

You can see clearly that being on mission is not something we go and do from time to time but being on mission is just who we are. We live out our identity in Jesus through everyday interactions with this world pointing to the savior of the world.

Conclusion

So now you can see why Gospel Communities are so helpful for an individual. The whole reason we call people to be apart of a GC is because we believe that these groups will help people grow more like Christ and help others meet Christ. If you are an individual I recommend you get into one, you don't know what you're missing until you try. 

photo credit: A_E_P via photopin cc

Should We Expect More From Our Teenagers?:  “What does it reveal about the condition of your heart if you are measuring your value by the number of likes you acquire on a social media site? And as concerning that is, what would ever inspire anyone to solicit fake likes?”

The Beauty And War Of True Fellowship: God has given us each other in the church, not just for company and co-belligerency, not just to chase away loneliness and lethargy, but to be to each other an indispensable means of his divine favor. We are for each other an essential element of the good work God has begun in us and promises to bring to completion (Philippians 1:6). Such is true fellowship.

Must Art Be Evangelistic To Be Christian?: The scriptures do not determine what art you must make. But they do focus on the content of your life and heart. So we must rule out anything that does not flow from a regenerated heart, anything done for selfish gain or sinful motive, whether speaking ill of someone in order to get a promotion or changing your music solely to gain acceptance and accolades.

15 Prayers For God's Power: But make no mistake, the pursuit of this might is not the path to human power and pride. It is the path of ceaseless warfare with your own self. The greatest power in the world among human beings is the power not to sin. The power of holiness and love.

If Jesus Is The 'Word of God' Can We Call The Bible The Word Of God?: At this point I think it becomes clearer that to pit Jesus as the Word of God incarnate against the Bible as the Word of God written is a false choice. It’s not only confused both at the level of language, not the attitude towards the Scripture taught to us by Jesus, but at the deeper level I fear it leads many to denigrate the diverse testimony of God to Christ in Scripture all in the name of elevating him. So then, is Jesus the Word of God? Yes and Amen. Should we still speak of the Bible as the Word of God? Of course we should–Jesus told us to.

The Problem With Jesus: So when it comes to evangelism, we do have a problem with Jesus. But we also have a wonderful opportunity. In every way, the Jesus of history and of heaven is more genuine, and brings more joy, than the domesticated fake Christs of our culture. It’s our privilege to be able to say to someone, “Let me tell you about my Jesus. He’s more compassionate, more controversial, more compelling than you ever imagined. And he’s real. Wouldn’t you love to know him?”

The Gospel Of Resurrection And Repentance: The Church was founded on the belief that the resurrection demonstrates the lordship of the Son of God. If Jesus has risen from the dead, then that historical fact is sufficient evidence that He is who He said He was. And if He is truly Lord and God, He has every right to claim absolute rule over every life. Slow down and read that sentence again, for it will truly change your life if you believe it. If Jesus is Lord, He has absolute and unbounded authority over all things—including you.

Delighting In The Greater Adoption: God did not choose to adopt you because of anything you did, for we are completely undeserving of his great adoption. As a helpless baby in Romania, I could not do anything to prove that I was worthy of being adopted. I could not work my way into my earthly father's heart. I could do nothing but accept and enjoy the gift of adoption. As God's child, there is nothing you can do to make him love you more, for he has already given the greatest gift—his Son.

How Complementarian Teaching Shaped My Life: So I am not surprised when people who do not know Christ do not conform their lives to God's standard for gender and sexuality. And in some sense, it is easy to understand how even young believers or confused believers, living in a sensual culture, can fail to understand God's standards for purity, gender, and marriage. It's a process for all of us as we are conformed into the image of Christ. Here are a few things I learned in my journey to understanding what it means to live out the ethics of Christ regarding sexuality and gender, a view that I have come to know as complementarianism.

photo credit: Stuck in Customs via photopin cc

Yes, our church family celebrated Lent this last Wednesday. For some people the term Lent leaves a sour taste in people's mouths, and if you are one of those people please read this blog post done by Ariel Bovat on her reflections and experiences at the Lent Service. If you don't know what Lent is, its ok just keep reading. This blog done by Ariel will encourage and challenge anyone. Enjoy! 

If you like what you read you can find Ariel's Blog Here

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To Lent Or Not To Lent

I was baptized as a baby in a Catholic church. The end.

That was the only point of reference I had for any of the traditions of the Catholic religion, which included Lent.  

My mother eventually converted to the Jehovah's Witness religion and my very Hispanic Catholic baby baptism became of no consequence. 

I eventually became exposed to a distanced, albeit foreign, concept of Lent through the kids in my junior high who were Catholic. They would leave school for a few hours on Ash Wednesday only to come back to school with ash crosses on their foreheads. It was foreign to me. It was something that other people did. It meant nothing personally to me.  

For me, Lent became associated with Catholicism and unfortunately hypocrisy as well. 

I attributed all religious church traditions with hypocrisy because the first exposure I had with religious church traditions came primarily from the junior high and high school kids in the small New Mexico town that I lived in. For the most part, if someone was Mexican, they were Catholic. If someone was not Mexican, they were not Catholic. This experience/exposure did not leave me to conclude anything different. 

These Catholic junior and high school kids would be cussing up a storm, bullying kids on the school bus, yelling at the bus driver, bragging about their sexual exploits, etc....yet.....when the bus drove by the Catholic church, all these kids would stop what they were doing, make the sign of the cross on their bodies and then proceed with their "bad" behavior. 

I was perplexed.  I knew something was amiss. 

However limited my exposure was, that was my first experience with ritualism. Traditionalism. Empty church symbolism. 

I knew I wanted nothing to do with it.  

Lent....or the activity of Lent never crossed my mind again. 

Up until now. 
Six churches and 30 years later, 11 of those years as a Christ follower.  

Our new church offered an Ash Wednesday service. As foreign as it was to me, I was intrigued.

What could this non Mexican, non Catholic context service look like? I had no preconceived ideas of what it ought to look like. My husband, on the other hand, grew up Catholic, so he did have to wrestle with his personal past experiences on what it used to look like as a former alter boy but he was pretty stoked about it too. My kids were clueless. 

I feel that God was preparing my heart for the idea of participating in a Lent service last year when my family lived isolated lives void of any church fellowship. Your can read about that here. 

So, our very first Ash Wednesday service was pretty gosh darn amazing. The service was not liturgical, dry or passive. 

Instead, it was Spirit filled, worshipful, and very much active. 

The service was centered around the Holiness of God, our desperate need for a Savior, and an encouraging renewed reminder of a Holy and Loving God giving us Jesus to reconcile us to the Father. There was lots of singing (which I love), lots of reading of the Bible (which I love), and lots of prayer and reflection (which I need). 

There was the application of the ash crosses on our foreheads, which the kids thought was pretty cool. There was the participation of the Lord's supper. Then there was the anointing of oil at the very end to send us on our way. 

I don't know what I loved more- the actual service and it's complete passion for God or the fact that we finally had a church to celebrate Jesus with. I might venture to say that it's both. 

As a matter of fact, I wish Ash Wednesday was every Wednesday. But I guess that would defeat the reverence of the occasion. 

Along with the actual service, our church is doing a collective fasting and using a devotional titled Journey to the Cross to help foster a reflective and repentant heart as we usher in the solemn death of Christ and glorious resurrection of our Savior and King. 

It is interesting to see the many different view points concerning non-Catholic denominations wrestling with whether we should or should not participate in Lent. 

I've read several blogs on different view points concerning the participation of Lent as a non Catholic. 
Luma Simms, one of my favorite Christ centered woman writers addresses her perspective HERE after she readanother blog that questions the sincerity of heart of Lenten participants. You can read that blog HERE. 

To Lent or not to Lent...I guess that is the million dollar question of the day for evangelical Christ followers. 

Here is my humble yet limited answer. 

1. If you go to a gospel centered, Bible believing/Jesus preaching church and your church does not do Lent....then no worries. Don't do it. Or, if you feel strongly about doing it, then do it privately with your family. 
2. If you go to a gospel centered, Bible believing/ Jesus preaching church that does do Lent....then do it with your church family. 

However...here are my caveats on it. 

1. Lent doesn't make us holy. Only Jesus makes us holy. 
2. Giving up something for 40 days doesn't make us more holy. Only Jesus, through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit makes us more holy. 
3. Focusing on what we have to give up does not make us more holy. Replacing God's word with whatever we give up reorients us to God. It assists us to recognize the magnificent finished work of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This helps in sanctifying us, aka....making us more holy.  
4. Going through the motions of a religious tradition will do nothing for our sanctification if we do not commit to reading scripture, meditating on scripture as it pertains to Christ's work on the cross, reflecting about our outward AND inward sin and recognizing the depravity of our condition, repenting daily, and most of all praying continually. But.....as Christ following people, we should be doing this already.

My personal favorite day of the year is Resurrection Sunday. Ash Wednesday and this Lenten season is now just an extension of Resurrection Sunday as we allow ourselves to start preparing our hearts in deep, humble, yet glorious gratitude that God loved us enough to have a plan to bring His sheep to Himself. He did this by giving something up.

The Father gave up His Son for approximately 33 earthly years for something the Father thought was worth it. That something is US. 

The Son came willingly...to eventually die a painful excruciating sacrificial death....for something He thought was worth it. That something is US. 

photo credit: AlicePopkorn via photopin cc

We love the local church, and within the family you will see many people from all walks of life, gathered together by Jesus Christ. In this family of people you will see people with amazing gifts, and some of the people know how to use those gifts they have to serve the church body. Below is a great example of a couple from Redeemer Church (Jeffrey & Laura Kranz). They have put together some great resources for people to get to know God's Word better, so take some time and look through these wonderful info graphics. 

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Infographic: How Long Is The Bible? 

• How long is the Bible compared to other major works?
• What’s the longest book of the Bible?
• What’s the shortest book of the Bible?
• Which biblical authors wrote the most?
• How long should it take to read the Bible?

And I’ve been itching to make an infographic for some time, so I put all these answers (and more) here!

If you like the Bible and you’re a numbers geek, you’ll want to read and share this infographic.

Infographic: All The "One Another" Commands In The NT

I’ve heard a couple people reference the “one another” passages in the Bible. You’ve heard a few of them:

• Bear one another’s burdens.
• Encourage one another.
• Everybody get together; try to love one another right now. (Wait . . . that might be something else.)

But I figured it’d be good for us to have all those “one another” commands in one place, ergo, this infographic!

(I have the whole list in text form below, too.)

Infographic: David's Mighty Men (And The Stories Behind Them)

You’ve probably heard about David’s mighty men (if not, you’ll be ahead of the curve in a minute). David was a skilled soldier and leader, but he wasn’t alone. He had a band of very loyal, very powerful heroes who stood by him.

They accomplished incredible things in combat. Stuff modern soldiers couldn’t do. Stuff fictitious soldiers couldn’t do.

Seriously: ever hear of Legolas from The Lord of the Rings? He killed 42 orcs in one battle, and I think everyone agrees that he’s pretty hardcore.Well, you’re about to meet someone who took out 800 bad guys at once.

Here we go . . .

Infographic: Every Dream In The Bible (And What They Mean)

Sometimes in the Bible, God communicates to people in dreams. Some of them are symbolic (like the dreams inDaniel), and some involve explicit instructions from God.

Dreams fascinate me, and I figure they’re interesting to you, too. Since God has revealed some of His word through dreams, I thought it might be cool to find all the dreams in the Bible.

So, I Bible-geeked out and made this for you.

photo credit: green_is_in via photopin cc