Church was and is about coming together to see “on earth as it is in heaven” actually happen. Yes, we come together to worship, but the focus of that worship is on God and what God has done and is doing to redeem his lost creation. And then, we leave to serve - feeding the hungry, welcoming strangers, caring for the sick, visiting those in prison – and by serving this way, we do the Father’s will.

One of my favorite parts of Easter is singing He Lives! The last line of the refrain says it all: “You ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart!”

That really is the ultimate evidence. When that testimony is multiplied in the hearts of multitudes of other believers, and you see the evidence in changed lives, to quote one of the skeptics, “at the least you have to admit something happened.”

Since Easter, I’ve been speaking and writing about the evidence that supports the resurrection. Of course, we can’t look at physical evidence because there isn’t any (the tomb is empty). But there is other evidence that really needs to be considered.

Doubts . . . questions . . . there are times when we might well have them. One writer referred to them as the “dark night of the soul” – those painful and extremely difficult periods in life when we ask, “where is God?” For the other 10 disciples, their “dark night” was only Friday and Saturday. For Thomas, it went on for a week. But, Thomas, even though he’s holding out on the resurrection, hasn’t chucked the whole thing.

The resurrection of Jesus transformed cowards into heroes. Boldly proclaiming what they witnessed and fearlessly facing the enemies before whom they previously cowered, the disciples of Jesus – men and women – would “turn the world upside down” with the message of the resurrection.

There are some who claim the resurrection of Jesus, the key event in the history of humanity, is baloney and, honestly, if you can debunk the resurrection, then our entire faith falls apart.

Why do we do what we do?

I think that’s a dandy question to ask at all points of our lives, and it’s an important one to ask as believers.

Forgiveness isn’t easy, but neither is anything really worth doing. But forgiveness is necessary for our wholeness as children of God. Paul urges the church in Romans 12:21, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” And the supreme example of that is Jesus hanging on the cross, praying “Father, forgive them.”

When God forgives us, God cancels the sin debt against us. When we forgive, we have to cancel the debt that we believe someone owes us. When we don’t forgive, we are saying, “That person owes me an apology.” But Ephesians 4:32 calls us to forgive others as God has forgiven us. That means concluding that they don’t owe us anything. Not even an apology.

For one thing, we learn God wants us to be honest with him. He’s a Big God and he’s been around a very long time and has seen and heard it all. Nothing you are feeling or nothing you have to say is going to take God by surprise in the least. God’s never going to say, “O, that’s a new one.”

There are some people who it may never be possible to reconcile with. Just make sure it is their problem and not yours. Make certain that your heart is free and your hands clean, that your attitude toward them is pure.

Lent invites us to “listen” to the music of our lives. Lent invites us to take honest stock of our hearts and deal with what’s lurking in their deepest recesses. Lent calls is to be honest – honest to ourselves and honest to God.

Several years ago I preached on the “essentials” of the Christian life. These are essential because they are the guide rails that keep us from running off the road. They are essential because they enculturate our Christian faith into our lives. They are essential because Christ practiced them, and we want to be like Christ. They are essential because they ensure that the things we give our lives to will matter for eternity. They are essential because when we face life’s challenges, we can live lives of faithfulness!

Because no matter what situation, we find ourselves in, no matter the ruling government, no matter the country, no matter the culture, what doesn’t change about us is that we are an utterly unique family who are created by God’s call and governed by God’s loving rule. We’re not a race; we’re not a government; we’re not a culture. We’re not even physically related, necessarily.

We are God’s people. God established us. We are His.

As Christians, we live our lives as reflections of God’s love for us. John tells us in I John 4:19, “We love because he first loved us” and “whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.” Can’t get any more plain than that!

But don’t just breeze through Deuteronomy. Listen carefully and you’ll hear familiar quotes from the New Testament (“Man shall not live by bread alone” and “do not put the Lord your God to the test”). Read closely, and you’ll find that Deuteronomy lays the foundation for the story that follows.

Through their calendar and through their worship, they were constantly reminded of all that God did for them.

God is with us in the midst of our storms. And in the entire history of the world, there was never a storm that didn’t pass.

I’m of two minds about Christmas music . . . on one hand, I love reserving Christmas music for only Advent/Christmas, but the messages of some of the Christmas hymns, like “Joy to the World” in particular, seem appropriate all year long!

Our mission of “Loving God . . . Loving Others'' comes together in a special way each Christmas with our “Christ Birthday Offering.” In the past, we’re received offerings for our Hispanic sister church, Fuente de Salvacion, for Matt McGraw and his work in Turkey, for Joel Aycok’s water filter ministry in Honduras and the Tatums in Costa Rica.