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Grow & Go - June 2024

Two of the Sweetest Words in Scripture . . . “But God”.                                    

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:4–5)”.

As a follower of Christ, is there anything more pleasing to the ear than the richness of these words . . . “But God”? Our God gazed upon us, His sinful and rebellious Creation, and not because of anything good in us (Rom 7:18), but completely by His own sovereign and divine power, “made us alive together with Christ” (Eph 2:5). We were literally “dead in our trespasses” (Eph 2:4) when God intervened bringing those in Christ from death to life.

In my own life, there have been many “But God” moments that have occurred. When God in His infinite wisdom recognized that I needed a wife and gave me “an excellent wife” (Prov 31:10). “But God” also knew that a hobby would become an idol that consumed my life, and then use that idol to bring me to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ alone. “But God” gave my wife and I both a season to experience being foster parents and removed any fears we might have had of caring for children. In each of these “But God” moments of my life, our Creator had a plan to reveal my utter dependence on His providence, provision, and care. Countless Christians I have heard say – I have experienced this hardship, this great loss, or suffered greatly, “But God”.

In approximately 45 instances the phrase “But God” shows itself in the infallible Word of God. In Matthew 19:26, “Jesus looked at them and said, with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” In the passage leading up to this text, Jesus instructed the rich man about the difficulties and problems for Him to enter the kingdom of God and then to say, ‘But God can’. In many of these “But God” passages, you see a pattern. A pattern or moment where those “created in the image of God” (Gen 1:26-28) were in deep despair or turmoil, “But God” entered time and space to alter the situation. These two loving and kind words exhorted from the living Word explain to us how immeasurable the gift that Christ has paid a ransom for those who were once children of wrath.

The apostle Paul declared our lost state before Christ and then how much God loves us exclaiming “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rm 5:8). This does not mean that since we have been “born again” (Jn 3:3), our performance now must be perfect to see Heaven. This means that with all my imperfections, and our mess of sin, Christ demonstrates how much He loves us by paying the penalty we deserve on the cross. I hope that we can find rest in the finished work of Christ and recognize those “But God” moments that are conforming us, transforming us, more and more, day by day, into the image of Jesus Christ our Lord. This song below from The Worship Initiative (Shane and Shane) titled Oh But God  helps us see how God changed and is writing our story of redemption and I hope it encourages you to be reminded of your own “But God” testimony and praise Him.

“I was buried beneath my rebellion
Lost without hope of redemption
Blind in my need for a Savior
Oh but God
Crushed by the weight of my failure
Living the lie I created
Digging my grave without knowing
Oh but God
Rich in mercy how You loved me
Too much to let me stay lost
My salvation sent from heaven
Nailing my sin to a cross
Oh but God”.

Student Life - June 2024

Well, since my last article, our youth ministry has had a lot going on. We have concluded our Wednesday and Sunday night gatherings, went on a retreat to Crossings, had an end of the year party, celebrated seniors graduating and will soon be going to Crossings again for student camp. And now, I honestly share with you all that I believe the students really had a good time with these past events.

To start off, I'll share some of the cool things I noticed in the lives of our students from this past semester. Of course, I have only been in my position as Student Ministry Director for a little over six months, but I have already seen so much growth in these students. One thing that I loved and would look forward to would be the questions some students would ask about God. This could be theological questions, church history questions, or questions concerning Christ. But I loved all of these questions because they were genuine and you could see the gears turning inside their heads and for some of them inside their hearts. I would look forward after every Sunday night Student Gathering to sit in our lounge area in the student room and answer some of the older student's wild questions. "What happens if someone sees the face of God?" or "How could Jesus willingly give up His life if He is completely God?". Man, such rich questions from these young students. I'm happy to report to you all that our youth ministry is blessed to have some amazing leaders/teachers. They have done an awesome job working with these students and answering these questions as well. And then, this past week we had an end of the year party on Wednesday night to celebrate the end of the semester. The good news is some students brought their friends and we packed out the house! The bad news is I didn't buy enough hamburgers for dinner. But it was just awesome to see all of these students gathered together to play games outside, talk with each other, and for some specifically, laugh a little too much. It truly was a great way to end the semester.

I'm also happy to report that our retreat in the middle of April was a success! I had a good friend of mine from college be our speaker for the weekend and preach on how the students can have a correct focus of what to pursue in their lives. The speaker's name is Matt, but we called him either Tall Matt or Speaker Matt. One of those titles is obvious and the other is obvious when you meet him, he's just over 6'7". I knew Matt would be a great fit for the weekend, but he truly knocked it out of the park serving our students. Not only did he deliver great messages to the students, but he also sought them out during our time together and intentionally had conversations or hung out with them. Quickly and easily our students gravitated to him and apparently still text him. Oh how dangerous that might turn out, think before you give students your phone number, Matt.

Then, our church had the joy of celebrating and congratulating our graduates this past Sunday. In case you weren't there for one of the services, I'll share with you who our graduates were. We celebrated Tristan Kinsey, Savannah Koberstein, Sarah Lisembee, Brock Butler, Sydney Gotcher, Moriah Ingram, Jordan Mercer, Eli Schmitt, and Taliah VanDeWege. We said it at church and I'll say it here again, congratulations to all the graduates! Your hard work paid off and we are excited to see what the Lord has in store for you next!

Finally, our student ministry now has the summer to look forward to. The first trip will be a day trip to Holiday World in three weeks. Then in the month of June, we will be taking a huge group of students to camp. Currently, we have 48 students signed up and seven brave leaders. To my knowledge, this will be the biggest group we have ever taken. And apparently the students are excited for camp. All of our spots were taken within two weeks of registration opening. So, camp will be very
exciting and very busy, please pray for us.

 His Glory Alone