The Biblical definition of the Greek word for faith, pistis, is "conviction in the truth of something, with the idea of trust and holy fervor joined with it..."  The author of Hebrews calls it "the assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1 ESV)  The Scriptural pattern is to describe faith not only in terms of belief or intellectual ascent, but also in terms of actions taken because of faith.  Faith becomes FAITH when you do something "by faith."  In light of this pattern, I believe that it makes sense for each of us to consider our own faith.  Do you have faith?  What is it based on? This week we launch our annual theme for the 2018-2019 year: Live By Faith.  It's based on Galatians 2:20, a verse packed with implications for anyone who seeks to be faithful.  What does it mean to live by faith?  What do we have faith in?  How does our faith impact our decision making?  What does it mean for Christ to live in us?  All of these questions and more will be covered throughout our new preaching series: Live By Faith - A Study of the Book of Romans.

     Growing up, I remember from an early age being very conscious of how I approached certain people.  For instance, if I needed something from my brother, I wanted to make sure he was in a good mood, maybe distracted, but I would never approach him when he was in a bad mood lest I end up on the wrong end of a full-nelson or with my head burning from a noogie.  I think we all have similar experiences (minus the noogies), and that we all still practice being careful in our approach to many people, places, and situations. 

     If you’re like me, then sometimes I forget myself when approaching God.  On Sunday, we will look at Psalm 86, which contains the simple prologue, “A Prayer of David”.  At its heart, a prayer is us approaching God.  But do we take the time to be careful with our attitudes, posture, and motives when approaching the Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth?  Join us as we examine how David, a man after God’s own heart, approached his heavenly Father.

     What do you do when you’re caught? The choices we make when we’re caught reflect the true nature of our souls.  We learn responses to being caught by watching our family, friends, or worst of all, popular culture.  It’s actually fascinating to watch it happen lately in our society.  It seems that more people (especially famous people) are actually trying to own their faults, although  not always in the most convincing way.  We have a number of different models to choose from when we decide how to respond to being caught.  Which one do you choose most often?

     As we continue in our series on the Psalms, Songs of Strength and Hope, by examining a clear Biblical model of what to do when you're caught.  Psalm 51 is a powerful example of what it means to respond to sin in a Godly way.  David is caught, and he makes the choice to own it.  Even though he faces the consequences of his sinful decisions, he is able to prioritize what matters most: his relationship with the Lord.

How much time do you have? Our answers to this question can vary wildly.  In one sense, we don't have a lot of time that isn't already earmarked for something ("Have you looked at my calendar lately?").  In another sense, we humans in the United States get about 78 years to play with, on average ("I've got plenty of time left to do everything I want to do...").  In still another sense, we can't count on a certain number of days or hours, because we don't know when our time will be up ("I'd better live every moment to the fullest!").  C.S. Lewis wrote, "For the present is the point at which time touches eternity."  Lewis knew that God's Word teaches us to look at our time with an eternal perspective, as hard as that is for our finite minds to handle.  Having an eternal mindset can directly impact how we spend our hours in the present.  This week, we continue in our series Psalms: Songs of Strength and Hope by looking at Psalm 90.  Written by Moses, this Psalm is a reminder of how our time touches eternity.  God is outside of time, and His perspective has important implications for us as we live day to day.

Who do you know? As of today, the population of the world is approximately 7.6 billion people.  Over the last 5 years, the number of human beings on the planet has grown by approximately 1.1%, or about 83 million people each year.  Experts predict that the world population will reach 10 billion in 2055 and 11 billion in 2088.  Now consider this: the world’s population didn’t reach 1 billion until around the year 1800.  But since then, in just over 200 years, we’ve added 6.6 billion more people. That’s a lot of people.  There really isn’t any way for us to talk about those kinds of numbers that will make it possible to understand them.  Graphs and visual aids don’t do them justice.  It starts to hurt my brain to continue thinking about it. 7.6 billion bodies, 7.6 billons souls, 7.6 billion unique personalities exist on Earth at this very moment in time. 

This Sunday we continue in our series on the Psalms entitled Songs of Strength and Hope, and as we do, I want you to keep those numbers in mind.  We’ll be examining another Davidic song, Psalm 139.  Here we find an incredible statement of the depth of God’s connection with us, and we’ll see a powerful picture of what our response to him can look like.  But please understand: when I say “our” response, I don’t simply mean you and me, or the 300ish people who attend HCC each week, or the 90,000 people who reside in Hesperia, or even the 325 million people in the U.S.  Psalm 139 is a global statement of God's knowledge, encompassing each one of those unique bodies, souls, and personalities who God has created. He knows all of us, and He wants to lead all of us.  Let’s dwell on that truth together.

As we continue in our series Psalms: Songs of Strength and Hope, we now arrive at one of the most familiar passages of Scripture in the entire Bible: Psalm 23.  It's here that we find the Biblical comparison between us humans and sheep, as well as God being clearly identified as a Shepherd.  David's intention is to praise the Shepherd while acknowledging the vast needs of sheep, which he knew firsthand.  David was a shepherd himself as a young man, and his experiences played a huge role in the crafting of this important poem which has affected so many lives over the years.  Chances are you have heard this Psalm read at a memorial service, but there is so much more going on in these 6 short verses. Let's embrace our identity as sheep as we study Psalm 23 this Sunday, and in so doing rediscover the Source of our strength and hope in this world: the Good Shepherd.

"How do I know what God wants me to do?"

It's one of the most common questions I get asked as a pastor.  When faced with a troubling situation or crucial life decision, many Christians struggle to find a definitive answer.  Most followers of Jesus genuinely want to live for the glory of God, but when the cost of doing so is high or the means of doing so is unclear, we can become paralyzed.   God knew that this would be our reality, and so provides us with all we need to make decisions.  This week, as we continue in our series entitled Psalms: Songs of Strength and Hope, we'll be taking a deep look into one example of how Scripture answers the questions of direction.  Psalm 1 is the doorway into the Psalms, a short 6-verse road map to navigate us toward the road less traveled by.  I'm looking forward to studying it with you.

     As long as human beings have been on Earth, we have looked up to the skies at night and seen the beauty of the stars. The stars have a place and meaning in every people group. Sailors use them to help navigate our planet. Farmers use them to mark the seasons. Civilizations throughout the centuries have even tried to receive direction and guidance from the stars through belief systems such as astrology. 

     Do the stars have a message for us? Are they more than just balls of gas burning billions of miles away? As we begin our summer teaching series entitled Psalms: Songs of Strength and Hope, Psalm 19 tells us the Creator of the stars had a very specific purpose for making them. The stars point us to our glorious God and His perfect Word!

     This week we learn the true message of the stars, what they reveal to us about our Maker, and how we can share their truth with our world! The heavens truly declare the glory of God!

We conclude our series in the book of Acts, For His Glory, seeing that God fulfills His promises through His provision and protection, so that we can fulfill the purpose He saved and called us to fulled us to fulfill.

Storms don't always come with wind and rain, do they?  Medical crises, financial troubles, difficult relationships, family drama: all of these storms can appear at any moment.  They can begin at home, at work, in the neighborhood, and in our own souls.  We might even feel like we've been shipwrecked, and we're floating on a plank in the middle of the ocean, just trying to survive.  Our personal storms can make us feel very, very small.

We can take great comfort in realizing that our Savior, Jesus Christ, lived through storms of his own.  His disciples certainly did, as did the early church.  One of the greatest gifts we have in the New Testament are the letters of the Apostle Paul, who gives us solid encouragement on how he lived through the incredible storms of his own life.  We have seen many of his storms firsthand as we've walked through the book of Acts in our series For His Glory.  This Sunday, we arrive at Acts 27, where we find Luke's account of a literal storm which results an an actual shipwreck.  Luke gives us his eyewitness testimony of how Paul dealt with the reality of this storm, and I pray that our discussion of this harrowing chapter will give us needed perspective to better deal with our own storms.  Christians worship the God of the Shipwrecked, who sent Jesus to take our place on the cross so that we might be saved.  The storms of this life won't stop, but saved people can survive our shipwrecks by being dependent on the power of God, the presence of Jesus, and the prompting of the Holy Spirit.  I hope you can join us for this encouraging study.