God gives us vision for our life and our ministry, but sometimes that vision might seem hard - risky, dangerous, and uncomfortable. At a minimum, God's vision for us will unseat us from some place of comfort and lead us to a new place in life.

It will take courage to make such a move toward God's vision and to continue in the ministry directions He sets before us. Can we do it? Do we have the courage to go ... or, will we allow the fires of courage to be extinguished by some alternative?

The Bible tells us in dozens of places that God's nature is love, and His love is so powerful that He sacrifices for us. Grace in the face of sin is one of the first ways that God exhibits his love, and because of God's grace our sins are forgiven and we are able to be in relationship with Him. But, God's love does not stop just with grace, for his love also exhibits mercy. God could punish us for our sins, but he is restrained. That's his first act of mercy. And at times God may also mercifully lift us out of the misery of life, and we again get to experience his love.

Mercy is a relational characteristic, and it is a characteristic that has to do with devotion to another person that is less fortunate and in need or helpless distress. Mercy strengthens a person and thus the relationship.

Mercy is one of the contagious attributes of God that, if genuinely received, will become part of our makeup (other attributes include love, forgiveness). If it becomes part of us, then we overcome one of the biggest barriers to the conditioning that we receive as 21st century Christians - that is, we overcome the negative nature of pride and privilege.

Truth is one of the core necessities of life, as vital to life as food, water, clothing, shelter, etc. Now, this is not "trivia" truth, but the truths of "life". Why is this truth important? Because truth provides the guidance that makes life succeed or fail. If we follow pathways of truth, life works smoothly and if we follow paths of falsehood then we experience much more pain, disappointment, relational trauma, and sometimes even death. That's why knowing the difference between truth and falsehood is so important.

But, we have lost our trust in sources of truth in the last few generations, and now we operate with individual relativism. That will hurt us, and we need to discover a healthy approach to regaining our foothold of truth.

James MacDonald wrote in his book "Lord, Change my Attitude" that faith grows in the soil of thankfulness. That's a pretty strong statement, implying that our relationship with God will advance if we have an attitude of thanksgiving, and conversely we will have lots of problems with God if we complain.

At first, such a statement might seem shocking. But I think he's on target. You see, when we receive a gift from God (something intended to benefit our own lives or that of someone else), then we can give genuine thanks by using that gift ... or we can complain of its inadequacy and effectively abandon it. How often do we do the latter? How often are we not satisfied with what God provides? How often do we complain that we want something more or something different?

This message explores the importance of thanksgiving in the life of a Christian who desires spiritual growth, and how we should be moving away from a life of grumbling, complaining, and sulking.

An Introduction to Change

A Comfortable Jesus?

God's Call for Christ-like Conformity

Commitment seems to be a lost value in America. The words we say, the loyalties we hold, and the relationships we enter into will last as long as our pleasures remain fulfilled. As soon as something does not please, then we are tempted to exercise the culture of choice - we switch and change, and start afresh. We imagine that this "new day" will bring fulfillment, but what really happens is that we fail to exercise the muscles of commitment when we live a life of constant recommitting, and the result is we become weak.

A life that cannot practice commitment will make an insignificant difference in the world. He will be like the man who begins building a house, but dissatisfied, he stops after the foundation is complete and begins building a second house. Similarly, he will not complete the second house and move to the third. Years later, he wonders why he is homeless.

But, if you know commitment, you become a strong life that can change the world for many!

When it comes to raising kids with a faith that lasts, our church wants to help. But moms and dads are on the front line. That's God's design.

It's easy to forget what matters most when we're changing diapers, struggling to pay tuition, and rescuing the hamster from the microwave. A real relationship with God is the greatest gift we can encourage our children to receive. When we get to heaven, let's not bring a briefcase full of stuff that used to seem so valuable -- but turned out not to be.

As God's people, He has delivered each of us from one form or another of bondage, and He has also blessed us and provided for us. These are all things God has done for us because He has chosen us.

Now, at whatever point we are in our journey of life, there have before us options. What will we choose? Will we choose to make God more essential in our lives to serve Him and follow the leadership that he provides, or will we follow something else? There is a wise decision.

What is genuinely valuable in our lives? What do we value?

Many value gadgets, new cars and other big ticket items, recreation, or vacations thinking that these will bring about satisfaction. And they may for a while. Godliness is also valuable, and even more so above all these other pursuits because it is the one thing of our lives that will produce true and lasting satisfaction.

Godliness - where we please God, trust God, obey God and worship Him through Jesus Christ - must be pursued. That is, we must make spiritual deposits in our spiritual bank accounts, and we must want God much more than we need our wants.

There is significant pressure in America - and acutely in Northern Virginia - to build a life that requires significant resources of time. As a result, most everyone develops the symptoms of Time Anxiety where we feel that one more activity in life will overwhelm us. God frequently addressed our limited resources of time, and simply said that when we invest time toward Him, then our Time Anxiety will disappear. How? Well, you see, on our journey with Christ, there are real benefits when we take steps toward the Kingdom.

A Challenge: Are you able to commit some of your time to God and His purposes this week in whatever way that the Holy Spirit guides. In addition, are you willing to allow God to introduce some margin in your life so that you can respond to His calls?