A Time For Building

How long? That was the question that Daniel had when he enquired of the Lord about the captivity. How long was also the question as the people went into captivity. The answer was plant gardens, have children, make a life because you are going to be here for a while. That is indeed what they did, and generations went by. However, they never forgot who they were. They never forgot where they should have been. They never forgot Jerusalem.

Nehemiah was a man with a mission. Rebuild the walls. Return the city to a place of security and honor instead of a place of shame. Return God’s people to the city where he placed his name. Yet the circumstances were grave. The gates were torched. There were gapping holes in the wall. Yet Nehemiah was the man to build it back up.

There is much we can learn from Nehemiah and the challenge he faced. There is also much we as Wellspring Fellowship share with him. In the next few weeks we will be talking about what Nehemiah faced and what we face. We will talk about what moved him and how he approached his task. We will talk about what he accomplished and be inspired toward what it is God is calling us to do.

 It is a time for building.

See you at church

Pastor Chris



NEXT

Next….

 Happy new year! It is always amazing to start a new year and wonder what will come this year?   It is great to anticipate all the exciting things. It is awesome to have our new years resolutions and even more exciting to keep them!

Turning the corner on 2015 and heading into 2016 means we are one year closer to 2020. This week I want to remind us of what God is calling us to, specifically the second target:

By December 31, 2020 we will ………. be ready to launch our first daughter church, Wellspring Fellowship of __________.

It might seem funny or at least overly optimistic to think about planting a church when what we are doing currently is building up and growing the church we have, but it is vital! As we grow as a church we have to be prepared for reproduction, that is, the natural fruit that comes out of being who God is calling us to be! A tomato plant never achieves all of what God is calling it to be unless and until it produces tomatoes. We are called to be a church planting church which produces and plants other church planting churches!

This week at church we will talk about why it is and how it is that we are called to be a church planting church.

I hope you can come and be encouraged as we consider how we can live into what God is calling us to NEXT

God bless,

Pastor Chris



Amazed

“….and all who heard it were amazed”

Is Christmas still amazing to you? Not all the trappings and the family fun. Not the lights and sounds and food of the season, although all of these things continue to be amazing. But the historical reality of the incarnation. Jesus leaving his thrown in glory that He shared with the Father and the Sprit and coming to be found a human child. Carried in a womb for 9 months and born to a young woman and placed in a manger.

Does it still drop your jaw when you think about it? 

Isn’t even more amazing that He did all of this knowing that what he would be asked to do is die on a cross? He knew going in what the rescue plan would require of Him, and yet he was willing. You might be tempted to think even briefly, “Yeah well he knew he would be resurrected”, but the reality is we have no conception of death. We have no way of understanding what the death of Jesus even meant in terms of the spiritual world. To even think such a thought is foolish and we should run quickly from such speculations. The scripture tells us that the prospect was so terrifying that Jesus asked His father three times to avoid it. This is the same Jesus that knew he would be resurrected. 

We should never allow the miracle of Christmas to become ordinary. We should never let the trappings and wrappings distract us from the spectacular miracle and all that it meant.

We should never stop being amazed.

Have a blessed and merry Christmas.

Pastor Chris Henderson.



Proclamation!

Do you ever stop and think about the proclamation of Christmas? It is really kind of amazing to me during this time of year to go around in the stores and hear the worship music and to see the story of Jesus in nativity scenes all over the place. In a world that is so PC you can hardly say anything without it offending everyone, it is sometimes shocking to hear things like “Glory to God in the Highest” or songs proclaiming Jesus as Savior and Lord. Don’t get me wrong, I think it is great. I just think for a lot of people it is background music and doesn’t yet hold a lot of meaning.
That is where we come in.

For us, those who know Jesus and call on Him as Savior and Lord, these songs and these proclamations have great meaning! We can say amen to them. We can thank God for their expression and for us they are worship! But even more than that they and all the circumstances surrounding the birth of Christ provide us with opportunity. Opportunity while people are thinking of Jesus to explain why the birth of Christ is so important. Why it is that we celebrate Him. Why we worship Him. What Christ means, and what Lord means. It is an opportunity to explain that true love is demonstrated in Christ’s self sacrifice. It is to talk about sin and its solution.

Maybe you have been cautious in the past in your sharing. Maybe you have been embarrassed or afraid it might be awkward. Well here is your chance. At a time when everyone is talking about Him, yet few actually know what they are talking about, take the chance and proclaim Him.

Proclaim him like the shepherds did!

See you at church,

Pastor Chris


It’s Snowing!

 

It is not actually snowing where I am, and if we see some snow this year, (which is in no way guaranteed) we probably won’t see it for another month. However, isn’t amazing that when someone says it is snowing you just have to go and look! If you wanted to all the kids in an elementary classroom to drop their work, jump out of their desks and run to a window, all you would need to do is go to the window and excitedly exclaim; “It’s snowing!” Mission accomplished most would rush to the window.

Now I will make a disclaimer if they happen to live in an igloo they may not . It might be like exclaiming its raining to us. Not exactly earth shattering news, especially of late. But for us at least, when it begins to snow it is still and exciting moment!

When the angels came and proclaimed that the Messiah had been born, even though it was not snowing, the shepherds didn’t just sit there. They got up and went to go see. When you believe, you can’t just sit there. You have to act. When you reflect on Jesus being born, does it cause you to act like the shepherds did? Or is it like announcing it is raining?

Come be encouraged to believe and act, celebrate like the shepherds did!

See you at church,

Pastor Chris



Have you heard the good news?

We are entering into the beautiful time of year when we focus our attention on the first coming (advent) of Jesus Christ into the world. Amazingly, even though everything about His coming was predicted, it was still surprising in almost every way. One of the more surprising things was how the announcement of his arrival into this world was actually delivered.

When a big event happens, or when someone is going to make a dramatic entrance, you want to broadcast it to the world! Sometimes at grand openings they have spotlights, inflatable gorillas, bands, and fanfare. There certainly was a bit of excitement and drama concerning the initial events that surrounded the incarnation. But they are only truly dramatic from the eyes of faith, and from hindsight. All the goings on at the Temple with Zachariah (John the Baptists dad) and his barren wife were no doubt a considerable topic of conversation in certain circles. But I dare say, the emperor didn’t hear of it, and in reality probably not many people out side of the priestly caste did either. I am sure it was a conversation among his family, but ultimately it was just someone getting surprisingly pregnant, and dad had nothing to say about it until later. Not exactly a direct mailer to all the people of Jerusalem and I don’t think that Elizabeth even had a t-shirt printed, at least it is not mentioned.   Then you have Mary, a virgin who becomes pregnant by a miracle, an act of creation by the Holy Spirit. Thing is, that is tough to prove. Joseph believed her (after the angel in the dream), and no doubt Elizabeth did too. But others? That Joseph took her to be his wife, and thus adopted and legally made Jesus his son, probably did not really change the thoughts that no doubt went through many heads. So all things considered, there is barely a ripple in the everyday life of people alive at the time.

 9 months later, at the moment of His arrival into the world, you might think that this would be the time to let all of Israel know that Messiah had come! But curiously, (at least by our reckoning) the angel hosts did not appear over Jerusalem, Rome, and Alexandria, all proclaiming at once the Messiah was here. There were not peals of thunder and lightning, or trumpet blasts, turns out that those come with the next advent! Instead the angel host appeared and announced the savior being born to two shepherds in a field. These two shepherds were the first ones to know what had really taken place, and were given an incredible opportunity, the were the first ones to be able to say, “Have you heard the good news about Jesus?”

For the next 4 weeks we will look at Christmas from the eyes of these two shepherds.

Come be encouraged to hear the good news about Jesus!

See you at church.

 

Pastor Chris



Finishing Well!

You know how you approach and new project, one that you are truly passionate about? Like Dwayne for example, when he commits to one of his kayak projects. He is totally passionate about it and every detail is important, if not critical. Or how about any of the Henderson clan when they go duck hunting or fishing, say what you want but they are all about the end result. For others, fantasy football at Wellspring Fellowship seems to generate a lot of passion!!

Our walk with God should be no different; it too should reek of passion along with all the effort of a mighty warrior seeking victory in battle. In truth, isn’t our walk in this world parallel to a battlefield? We simply tend to comfortably call it the ‘mission field’ but the reality is we will always be in constant battle.

The key to any battle is to finish well (that means to win)!! In Philippians 3:14 Paul says, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Paul says that goal is to know Christ – to be like Christ – And to be all Christ has in mind for him. That’s the goal we are challenged with everyday. We all desire to achieve ultimate victory with God at the highest level, but will we commit?? Come and be encouraged as we discuss 3 basic principles that will help us to finish strong in Christ Jesus.

Elder Glen Ehrhardt



Through the Eyes of Thanksgiving

We are beginning a beautiful time of year. Affectionately known as the Holiday season, it appropriately starts off with Thanksgiving. It is our opportunity to give thanks to God for all that he has provided and done for us.   It is obvious that one day of feasting in celebration of His amazing provision, is inadequate to the task. But we make a go it, especially in the feasting department! One can not say enough about being thankful to God. The reasons are infinite in their diversity, with some being public and others being personal.   They are as numerous as every breath we take.

It is easy to get caught up in all the nonsense this world is dishing out right now. If one were to focus on it you could become despondent and want to find some kind of escape, and many do. But in Christ, we have a different set of eyes. Just as we are to be His hands and feet, I think it best if we also have his eyes. When we have his eyes and see the world through them, we will see what is possible, we will see people with compassion and love, and we will see our circumstances with gratitude for every blessing. This Sabbath we celebrate Thanksgiving as a church. We will have an extended praise and testimony time. I want to be sure that everyone has an opportunity to praise God for all of the blessings in your life. So put on the eyes of Christ and consider how will you give him praise as we come together.

See you at church!

Pastor Chris



When God Came Down

 

In Exodus 19 we have an amazing story. Moses came down and told the people to get ready because in three days they would encounter God.

10 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes 11 and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. (Exodus 19:10-11)

 Wow what an announcement! Can you imagine the excitement? God was going to come down on the mountain for all of them to see. Can you imagine the conversations that must of spread through the camp?! The excitement, the washing of the clothes, the preparations, because they as a people would see God coming down, and come down he did, curiously on the morning of the third day!

If you knew that God was coming down, in great power, wouldn’t you want to be ready? Wouldn’t you want to wash your clothes, and have everything in order? The anticipation, what would it be like? The fear, with warnings about not to breaking out and going up to see even closer. It is an incredible story of an incredible event. But what is even more amazing is that we too share that opportunity. God wants to be present in our life and in our church. God wants to come down in power and in a special way. Are we getting ready? Do we anticipate it with great excitement awe and wonder? What could happen if Holy Spirit were to come down with power in our church service this week? Are you ready for that?

Holy Spirit Rain Down!

Pastor Chris



Ready for the Big One?

Here in the Northwest we are constantly waiting for “The Big One”. By all accounts we are due for a very big earthquake.   They happen every so often, (or at least they have) and we are actually over due for the next installment. Because of this we get told to have on hand certain emergency supplies and what we should do just in case. Eventually the Big One will come and while we will all be surprised, no one will really be shocked. They have after all been telling us this was going to show up for years.

But I wonder if they were expecting an earthquake in Acts chapter 4? They had seen so many things, and were experiencing such an incredible movement of the Spirit, you might think that they would be ready for anything. But I think the shaking of the place still surprised them. Would it surprise us?

It would be amazing to be part of such an experience as they had. I think it would something that I would remember forever. I would no doubt tell my grand children about it, and fondly remember it. But the reality is, that the earthquake of Acts chapter 4 was the least important thing in the story. The important part is what happened afterwards. The important part was how they changed.

If the Lord moved in our church with power how would it impact you? Do you think you would come away unchanged? How would your life look different?

Are you ready for the Big One?

See you at church

Pastor Chris