God Wants you to Grow Up

Your heavenly Father’s goal is for you to mature and develop the characteristics of Jesus Christ.  Sadly, millions of Christians grow older but never grow up.  They are stuck in perpetual spiritual infancy, remaining in diapers and booties.  The reason is that they never intended to grow.

Spiritual growth is not automatic.  It takes an intentional commitment.  You must want to grow, decide to grow, make an effort to grow, and persist in growing.  Discipleship – the process of becoming like Christ – always begins with a decision.  Jesus calls us, and we respond:  “‘Come, be my disciple,’ Jesus said to him.  So Matthew got up and followed him.”

- Rick Warren

The Purpose Driven Church

You need to be part of a church…

In many religions, the people considered to be the most spiritually mature and holy are those who isolate themselves from others in mountaintop monasteries, uninfected by contact with other people.  But this is a gross misunderstanding.  Spiritual maturity is not a solitary, individual pursuit!  You cannot grow to Christlikeness in isolation.  You must be around other people and interact with them.  You need to be a part of a church and community.  Why?  Because true spiritual maturity is all about learning to love like Jesus, and you can’t practice being like Jesus without being in relationship with other people.  Remember, it’s all about love – loving God and loving others.

- Rick Warren

The Purpose Driven Church

What makes God smile?

We've been looking at the Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, both in our Sunday messages, and in a Tuesday Book Study.  It's been going very well, and I wanted to share some things from the book over the next couple of days.

The first purpose we have is that we are planned for God's pleasure.  Our purpose is to make God happy, and essentially, since God made us to love us, then loving Him back makes Him happy.  Rick Warren looked at the life of Noah to see what Noah did that made God happy, after all, Genesis 6:8 says, "But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord."

What was it that Noah did that caused God to find favor with him?  What was it that Noah did that made God smile?  Rick Warren suggests five things, five acts of worship that make God smile.


God smiles when we love him supremely.  Noah loved God more than anything else in the world, even when no one else did!  The Bible tells us that for his entire life, "Noah consistently followed God's will and enjoyed a close relationship with Him" (Genesis 6:9).

God smiles when we trust him completely.  The second reason Noah pleased God was that he trusted God, even when it didn't make sense.  The Bible says, "It was faith that Noah built an ark to save his family from the flood.  He obeyed God, who warned him about something that had never happened before.  By his faith... he was made right in God's sight." (Hebrews 11:7)

God smiles when we obey him wholeheartedly.  Saving the animal population from a worldwide flood required great attention to logistics and details.  Everything had to be done just as God had prescribed it.  God didn't say, "Build any old boat you'd like, Noah."  He gave very detailed instructions as to the size, shape, and materials of the ark as well as the different numbers of animals to be brought on board.  The Bible tells us Noah's response:  "So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him" (Genesis 6:22).

God smiles when we praise and thank him continually.  Few things feel better than receiving heartfelt praise and appreciation from someone else.  God loves it, too.  He smiles when we express our adoration and gratitude to him. 

God smiles when we use our abilities.  After the flood, God gave Noah these three simple instructions:  "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth...  Everything that lives and moves will be food for you.  Just as I gave you the green plants, I know give you everything" (Genesis 9:1,3).  God enjoys watching every detail of your life, whether you are working playing, resting, or eating.  You don't bring glory or pleasure to God by hiding your abilities or trying to be someone else. 

So how about you?  Are you making God smile?  It's one of your primary purposes for being alive.

From The Purpose Driven Life,

by Rick Warren

Created to Be Like Christ

This past Sunday we looked at the 3^rd purpose of our life from Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life – You were Created to Become Like Christ. God’s plan has always been to make you like Jesus Christ. Once you are in God’s family He wants you to take on the family likeness. He wants you to become like His Son – like Father, like son. You’ll never be a god. But God does want you to become godly.

The process of becoming like Christ is called discipleship.  It's a life long process in the life of a believer.  And it's an important process.  This life is just a preparation for the next life, in heaven, with God.  God's purpose is to prepare us for that life.  He does that by slowly changing us to become more and more like Jesus.  We even talk about some of the ways God builds us and grows us into the image of Christ.  

If you want to see the message now,  click here.  There's even an audio link if you would rather listen to it!

Planned for God's Pleasure

You were planned for God’s pleasure. God enjoys watching you and being with you. You give Him pleasure! There is a word for giving God pleasure: It’s worship. Sometimes we have a pretty narrow definition of worship. But really, anything that gives God pleasure is worship! This message explores ways that we can worship continually.

This was the topic of this week's sermon message, part 3 of our "What on Earth Am I Here For?" series.  To check out the message, click here.

God is Big Enough to Remove My Doubt

Last Sunday at Almond Union, we continued our new Teaching Series by looking at doubt.  Doubt can be a serious issue in the life of a Christian. Doubt can leave us feeling empty. Doubt can paralyze us, the fear that comes up as a result of our doubts can keep us from moving forward, keep us from seeking help, keep us from going out at all, and keep us from finding the healing we might need.

Jesus appeared to the disciples after His resurrection.  He spoke to them, he let them see the nail holes in His hands and feet, He let them touch Him to see that He was real.  He even ate with them to prove that He wasn’t a ghost or a vision.  He was real.  And in seeing Him in the flesh, they no longer doubted. 

But we still doubt, don’t we.  We haven’t seen Him in the flesh.  We haven’t touched Him, we haven’t seen the nail holes, we haven’t had a meal with Him.  And when so much of society is trying to explain the world without God, we might be tempted to believe them, and might begin to doubt God, too. 

But here are some ways to deal with our doubt, to put ourselves in a place where God can begin the work of removing our doubt, so we will know that God is big enough to deal with our doubt.  

To read the message and know that God help remove your doubt, click here...

Why the Resurrection...

When Jesus first appeared to the disciples after the resurrection, he found them hiding int he upper room.  They were afraid of the Jews, afraid that since they killed Jesus, they may kill them, too.  If they really wanted to stop His teaching, they couldn't leave the witnesses, could they?  So they were hiding, afraid for their lives.  

But I wonder if it wasn't something more, too.  I wonder if they were beginning to think that everything Jesus had said was a lie.  They thought He was the Son of Man.  He said He was the Son of Man.  The promised Messiah.  But He died.  That wasn’t supposed to happen.  So when it happened, I wonder if they doubted.  They didn’t understand what He had been trying to tell them in the weeks leading up to His death.  They didn’t think that could happen to the Messiah.  When the mockers said let God send his angles to rescue him, I wonder if the disciples were looking around, too.  God wouldn’t let him die!  And when God did let Him die, they felt let down.  And they began to doubt everything.

That’s why Jesus appeared to them after His death.  He needed to help them deal with their doubt so they could move and do the work of spreading the Good News to everyone.  Christians were never meant to stay in an upper room.  They were never meant to stay in churches.  The work of Christ is out there.  It’s in the streets.  It’s where the sinners are.  It’s where the unsaved are.  We come together in churches   That’s where the work is. 

to get recharged to back out there.