???FREE???

Throughout my life there have been a few statements that I have heard over and over again. One of those statements is, "nothing in life is free." It is amazing how this statement has affected the world in which we live and serve.

Yesterday (Saturday, August 20, 2011) LifePoint Community Church
had its first outreach as a new church. All we did was simply give out popsicles (so named, "Project Popsicle"), for free.



It's amazing how many people don't know how to receive something for free. One man asked me three times if it was really free. We didn't even require that people learn about LifePoint, though when asked, we did share with them.

This outreach was about getting out into our community, meeting and serving the people.

We provided a cold refreshment on a warm summer evening. That was it, no strings attached. And as a result, we got to meet 100+ people right in our own community.

You may be wondering why we would chose to do our first outreach in a way that didn't draw everyones attention to our church. The reasons are simple. In the grand scheme of things, it isn't about our church. It is about God and His love as displayed through Christ Jesus. Jesus came into the world to give a free gift. He laid down His life that we may experience the blessing of a saving relationship with God the Father.

As we simply give out a cold treat...

...hearts will begin to be prepared to accept the greatest gift of all: eternal life through Jesus Christ.

In Ephesians 2:8-9 it says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." There is nothing we can do to draw closer to God. Our salvation is a free gift of grace through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. It is the work of the cross that sets us free from sins penalty.


May we learn to accept that the best thing in life is free, because it cost so much.

"I AM"

Sometimes in my quiet time with God I like to reflect on a passage that I think I understand and I will ask God to move me into a deeper understanding of that passage. The other morning I woke up thinking about Moses and the burning bush. I was really drawn to Exodus 3:14.

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

As I thought over this line again and again another verse came to mind. John 8:58 states, "“I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

With these two passages on mind I thought back to Bible college where I was taught that God's introduction of Himself as "I AM" was a simple statement of God's eternal nature. The name "I AM" means the existing one. The one that lives from everlasting to everlasting. In college I learned that this statement was what separated the infinite from the finite.

As I was meditating on these passages I asked God what it means for Him to be the "I Am" feeling in my spirit that the simplistic view I had been taught in school was just that: too simplistic. (Though how simplistic is the concept of eternal?) As I was driving to work I began to feel a stirring in my soul. It was then that the Holy Spirit began to speak.

"I Am"

I Am goes so much deeper that just supplying an attribute of God. I Am defines who God is, in contrast to who we are. God is: our everything. He is our creator, our life, our breath, the food we need to live (the bread of life), our hopes, our dreams, our aspirations. He is the source of light, and rest. He is our comfort, our joy, our love (agape), our patience, our endurance, our strength, and our peace. God is all of this and much more.

He is a doctor for the sick, a Father for the fatherless, peace for the troubled hearted, assurance for the scared, courage for the fearful, justice for the downtrodden.

As I began to ponder the extent of who God is. (Knowing that I will never come close to rapping my mind around the depths of who God is.) I found myself in awe!

Then the Spirit spoke again and said, "but who are you?"

The fact is that the beauty of the "I Am" is who we are and can be in Him.





The truth is separated from God through sin we are nothing. We are dead. We are wicked and evil. But through the sacrifice that Jesus made on that cross we can become the very children of God, "children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. John 1:13t us embrace all we can

Let us embrace all we can be in God!