Goodness, we serve a GOOD God.  As I worshipped in church on Sunday, tears flowed down my cheeks as my I cried out to the Creator of the universe….and the incredible part that is never lost on me is that He HEARS me.

Honestly, I don’t know how people stand still in worship. Let your praise loose!  He is AWESOME.  I can’t sing well and I have no rhythm, but what I do have is GRATITUDE.  Gratitude for my salvation, my freedom, and the power of Jesus running through my blood.  That gratitude keeps my feet from staying put! 😉

Over at Hazel Dell, I think that Matt is trying to kill me with all of my favorite songs.  I attached the Forever song we sang on Sunday so you can all have some time with Jesus today.  Mark said Alissa nailed it at Battle Ground, too!  We are a people created to praise Him!

P.S. Mark and I have nearly doubled our prayer time lately and let me tell you about the impact…our marriage is better than ever (it was always great!), we feel strong in ministry, we are watching God go before us in challenging situations, we have a depth of peace that we’ve never had before, and worship has taken off in our spirits.  I’m all for the “in the car on the way to work” prayers, but that’s not enough to connect to Christ.  Set time aside for His Word and praise.

Don’t let me paint the perfect picture though…there are still a mountain of struggles in our paths, but we know God is with us.  What a profound thought that is!

2 Chronicles 7:14 New International Version (NIV) -“¹⁴ if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”  Let’s do this, North Creek!  I want to see God move in our nation!!!

We have our Baptisms and Brunch coming up on July 26!  We already have almost a dozen people signed up to get dunked…want to get baptized along with them?  Sign up at www.coffeechurch.com or email me at stacy@coffeechurch.com.  The Assembly of God District Superintendent, Don Ross, is coming to celebrate with us that day, which we are very excited about!

Want to understand this culture and our response to it?  Spend some time reading Romans.  You’ll probably need to read it a dozen times to even begin to comprehend all that is crammed in there!

We are still looking to combine our campuses.  Why?  Well, there is no short answer, but when the other issues are wiped away, here is the bottom line: we feel like God needs us to be one body at this juncture in order to accomplish the next chapter in our story.  There is a litany of other issues that are relevant, such as the benefits of finances, volunteers, leadership…. those are all relevant, but the issues related to that list are also solvable by a myriad of other solutions.  We have appreciated your thoughts and prayers so much.  One of our board members said it best, “God is in control.  It’s a lot easier when God lets us know what His plan is, but it is much more exciting when we have no clue.”  Let’s walk through this step by step and see where God is leading with faith and excitement!  Our call to you is to pray.  Our best pray warriors have been on their knees and they are having visions and prophecies during that time that are fascinating.  We look forward to sharing the story with you as it is being written!

We have a BUNCH of exciting things coming up over the next two months.  To get involved and get to know some new friends, click HERE for all the information.

And more so than anything else…follow Jesus this week.

Be blessed!

***Reminder:  Hazel Dell and Battle Ground – ONE service on JULY 5 at 10:00 am! Deaf Church at 11:30 am***

What an interesting week to live in America….I am sure, like yourself, that you were neck deep in the comments that flooded our news and social media over the Supreme Court ruling.  And yet, one thing remained true for me this week:  I still got to go to my church, freely worship, and hear the Bible.  I don’t take that lightly and will take full use of that right as long as it is available to me.

And church never disappoints!  The worship was full of the Holy Spirit, the preaching was anointed by God, and I spoke with people near and far from God with a thousand stories to hear about each precious life.  We are still the light of the world!  I also find it ironic that our sermon series is “I Am New” and it’s all about our identity in Christ.  It is the perfect timing to talk about what God says about us…which doesn’t include being a slave to ANY sin!  We can find freedom from the things that do not honor Jesus!  Isn’t that the incredible message from Christ?  He doesn’t waiver on sin, but He does give us a path to repentance and freedom!

Speaking of that, we have our baptism day coming on July 26.  We ALREADY have 7 people signed up and we just got the info out, so jump on the bandwagon if you have accepted Christ and have not yet been baptized.  If you are ready to do it, you can sign up HERE.  If you have questions, email me at stacy@coffeechurch.com and I’ll point you to some Scriptures and talk you through it.

Are you reading your Bible?  More so than anything else this week, I was deeply grieved by the comments from Christians who gave their perspective of this week’s events without any Scriptures to back them up.  I fear that many Christians are too immature in their faith to go beyond the Sunday school rhetoric of “Jesus loves everybody”, so they create an entire doctrine from just that foundation.  We also need to weave into our theology about obedience, sacrifice, trust in God, and deliverance from sin.  And it’s OUR responsibility to daily be in His Word.

So, on the big picture, here’s a few resources to get you started:

1. www.youversion.com for a Bible reading plan
2. www.biblegateway.com for an online Bible study or a Word study
3. Start in Romans this week for a proper perspective of why our culture is the way it is at this juncture in history

Also, on an important side note, we have to stop making Scripture apply where it does not.  For instance: In Romans, when it says not to judge someone who can or cannot eat such things as meat according to their conscience in Christ, we would NOT be wise to apply that to believing that anybody can do anything they feel is right.  The Bible is quite clear that there is sin in this world and we need to repent of it.  We need to weigh out each Scripture within it’s context or I fear we will be lead astray.

One more note, if you have a question about a particular passage, you can easily google that passage with the word “commentary” included.  You will find a great deal of context quickly by reading very brief histories and applications to that passage.  Perhaps a good strategy for you would be to read one chapter each day and a good commentary along with it for context?

Here’s what I believe: We are all sinners.  That doesn’t make any sin acceptable to Jesus.  We must repent of our sins, turn from those behaviors, and walk with Christ as a new creation.  Anything short of that doesn’t honor Jesus.  We would all do well to walk in that Holy humility.

I am praying for you this week, North Creek!  Be blessed!