Bay Area Community Church

“How is Jesus amazing to you?” Hopefully, you’ve been talking with family and friends about how amazing Jesus really is. Wherever Jesus shows up, people are never the same. His birth, teaching, miracles, love, and influence are truly amazing! There has never been and will never be in history anyone who can compare with Jesus of Nazareth. But let me ask you, “What is the most amazing thing about this most amazing Person?” If you were to ask me, I’d answer, “His death and resurrection.”

How many times have you used the word, “amazing,” today? If you’re like many, it seems like almost everything is amazing. “Your hair looks amazing today!” “That golf shot on the par 3 was amazing!” “The dinner you prepared was amazing!” “Our summer vacation…wow, amazing!” Seems “amazing” has taken on a life of its own. When people encountered Jesus, they “were all amazed” (Mark 1:27). That included the disciples (Mark 10:24) and the people around Jesus (Mark 10:32). Why? Because everything about Jesus is truly amazing.

In the past few years, have you found yourself disappointed? Perhaps it was with a friend who failed you, a leader that had fallen, or a failing institution that is not responding to the critiques and cries for help. Perhaps you have been disappointed with yourself. Perhaps you have wanted to give-up, throw in the towel, or even do something drastic. And in your great disappointment, perhaps you silently asked God: why?

This Sunday we will explore one of the worst stories in all of Scripture. For the past month we have been cycling down and down into the moral chaos in the book of Judges. As we close this Sunday, we hit rock bottom and discover that God quietly whispers hope in one of the most hopeless, terrible stories in the Bible.

Have you ever heard the story of Samson? Perhaps the first thought that comes to mind are your memories from Sunday school stories about Samson as a mighty hero. Although that would be accurate, a better way to describe the life of this fascinating character of the Bible might be as an anti-hero, a hero whose life-style is not to be imitated. Join us this Sunday, as we reflect on this powerful story of how God uses Samson's life (as well as ours) to accomplish His mighty purposes for His glory.

Gideon’s fear so overshadows his faith that he repeatedly asks for a sign. But God is gracious and draws Gideon into one of the great stories of God’s miraculous working through unlikely people, just like you and me. But what will become of Gideons legacy as his personal battle with a divided heart influences Israel? And what of our faith story and legacy?

Some people love surprises - I'm not one of those people. Surprises usually mean I was out of the loop: I do NOT like being out of the loop. But, our passage this week is absolutely FULL of surprises - surprises that are meant to shake us out of our expectations and wake us up to God's desire to use us in His work in the world.

Have you ever found yourself in a strange place, then looked around in a mild panic asking, "Where in the world am I?!" Sometimes, when we look at a book of the Bible it's easy to feel that way (especially if the stories are as strange and outlandish as they are in the book of Judges). This Sunday, we're kicking off a series on Judges and I hope to give us a sense of where we are in the Biblical story, and why this book has so much to offer us at this moment in history.

All of us go through valleys in life. A valley is a dark place of discouragement, fear, insecurity, and doubt. In the valley we lack hope. We feel like God has forsaken us. One valley that we will all experience is the valley of the shadow of death. Death comes like a thief in the night stealing away loved ones from our presence. And death is a doorway each of us will pass through. God will bring us through valleys because that is the best way for us to take higher ground…and the highest ground the Lord has for us as believers is when we enter His presence. In this valley, we experience perhaps as never before the overwhelming grace of God to die will. And we come to know, perhaps like never before, the reality that God is enough.

God has a vision and plan for each of us. At its core is a vision that you and I would become like Jesus. He wants us to know that He is enough; and that God plus 1 is always a majority. God brings us into and through valleys because He wants to take us to higher ground. He has good things ahead for us…the best things. It’s in the valley that He does some of His best work. He has a marvelous way of taking the place of our trouble and defeat and turning it into a place of blessing and hope. He lovingly pursues us with relentless love, and He promises to be with us in trouble.

One of the hardest things for us is to wait on the Lord for His timing and direction. Yet this is one of the most important principles for the child of God. Waiting requires faith in God. And waiting teaches us that God is enough. Everything within us wants to try to take control of our situation, to get out of our pain and to vindicate ourselves. For all of us who have been on the short end of justice, waiting is especially difficult. When we’ve been taken advantage of, when someone in authority is abusing their power, when we don’t understand why God has allowed our circumstances, it’s those times that we find ourselves in the cave of Engedi. Welcome to 1 Samuel 24 and David’s life. What does courage in this cave look like?