Every year, our family watches fireworks on the 4th of July.

It seems every year during that time as the fireworks are exploding; I find myself thanking God in prayer for the generations of men and women who have given their very lives to provide Americans with the freedom we have.

As we say, “Thank you” to those men and women; I am also reminded of the true freedom we have from God in Christ Jesus.  Jesus gave His very life for our freedom–freedom from sin and death.

Through the cross of Jesus Christ, and our faith in Him as Lord and Savior, we have true freedom from our sins; and true freedom from death.

Freedom from sin is forgiveness–not saying, “you’re ok, I’m ok, we’re all ok” and condoning the things we know from Scripture are not God’s will for our lives.  Sin is sin; and we’re all stuck in it.  True freedom comes from knowing that and understanding that the power of the cross is not condoning sin; but forgiving it.

Freedom from death is knowing that when our earthly life ends, we will enter heaven if we believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  Heaven is where all believers will be forever with God.

So, in this lifetime, I’m thankful for the freedom we have in this great country thanks to the generations of men and women who have provided us with this freedom by giving their very lives for it.  Also, in this lifetime, I’m thankful for the freedom that comes from faith in Jesus Christ–from sin and death.

Thank you, American soldiers.  Thank you, Jesus Christ.

Pastor Tim

I stood on the grass two days ago to say, “Good Morning” and “Welcome” to those coming from the parking lot to our first outdoor worship gathering this summer…and I kept seeing more people…and more people…and more people.

In fact, at a few times, there was a back-up on Hinton Avenue to turn into our parking lot!

My heart started racing as God’s people just kept coming - and when everyone had their lawn chairs settled under shade or in the beautiful sunshine; there were over 340 people on our lawn worshipping our Creator in His Creation!

God keeps amazing me!

He has stirred our hearts to be a people of worship - we had 150 more people worshipping this past summer weekend than we had three years ago during the program year months!

He has stirred our hearts to be a giving people - our giving is up in an economy that’s not.

He has stirred our hearts to be mission-minded people - our MISSION MIDWAY ministry is gearing up for life-changing ministry this summer.

He has stirred our hearts to be people seeking those outside of faith - each week, I meet someone at worship who’s friends invited them to join us!

THANK YOU, ST. LUKE!  God keeps amazing me through YOU!

Pastor Tim

A pastor/mentor of mine said this once at a conference he was speaking at, and it has stuck with me ever since.  The most beautiful sanctuaries ARE, indeed, outdoors.

Think of the beauty of God’s creation.  Think of the sanctuaries He has created for you and me:

-For some of you, it’s the lake early in the morning, and drifting out upon it in your boat.

-For some of you, it’s your garden or back yard.

-For some of you, it’s looking out over a beautifully designed golf hole.

-For some of you, it’s your favorite path to walk or ride your bike.

For ALL OF US, God calls us to gather outdoors this summer on the grass, amidst the trees, and worship Him.  Every Sunday at 10AM, we’ll worship in God’s sanctuary–outdoors, on the lawn.

Bring your lawn chairs, a neighbor/friend, and let’s enjoy God’s sanctuary for worship this summer.

…of faith.

The New Testament talks about our faith as a “race.” 

First, it’s a race that’s good.  God would never ask you to run a race that wasn’t good.  “Good” may not be what you think.  Good might be a challenge in your life.  Good might be a difficult time that creates a deeper faith for you, thus good.  Good might be pushing you out of your comfort zone.  Whatever the case may be, God would not invite you to run a race that’s “bad.”

Second, it’s a race that calls for endurance.  It’s a marathon, not a sprint.  It’s a call to pace yourself through the ups and downs of life - a pace that helps faith in Jesus persevere.  So many “fall away” from a Spirit-filled faith…many times it’s because they haven’t trained well for endurance; or perhaps they decided to stop the race would be “easier” or the “better way.”  Newsflash - it’s not either.

Third, it’s a race that has been mapped out for you.  OK, let’s think about that for a second…the Creator of the universe has mapped out a race for YOU.  A plan for your life!  That’s hard to wrap our brains around, but amazing to ponder! 

God invites you to run the race of faith…the race of life…they are meant to be the same race.

A garden?  Your lawn?  Baseball or softball?  A home project?  Getting the lake place or boat ready?

There’s something major missing on the list above…can you guess?

Answer:  Worship.

God wired you up to worship Him.  So, as you think about your spring priorities, think about worship.  Can I challenge you to put it on your “Spring Priorities List?”  Hope so, because God’s people continue to gather in the spring, as they do in all seasons of the year.

Psalm 100 says, “Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs…enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.”

That’s hard to do if you don’t show up.

Let’s keep worship as a priority throughout the spring!  God gathers with His worshippers every time we come together - His Holy Spirit stirs and moves throughout the assembly!

How could one have a priority that could top that?

See you in worship.

Thirsty souls line the streets

Shouts of, “Hosanna!” ring!

The River of Life rides through

To quench life’s need for a King

Thirsty souls in the Upper Room

“Do this in remembrance of me.”

The River of Life offers bread & wine

To quench sin’s need to be free

Thirsty souls follow the cross

To a cold & dark hill, his life to give

The River of Life suffers and dies

To quench mortality’s need to live

Thirsty souls make way to His tomb

To mourn, remember, and grieve

The River of Life flows out from the dead

To quench thirsty souls need to believe

                                    -Tim Housholder

…is up and running!

Eight people, covered in prayer by one another and our Building and Land Team (BLT) Prayer Team, are beginning the steps to determine God’s will for us with respect to building and land options.

I’ll come clean with you - I have no idea what God is about to do!  I do, however, know that His Holy Spirit will be leading us, and that the direction He takes us will be 100% His will, and not the will of individuals on the team.

Rest assured, as God leads us forward together, that the entire body of faith at St. Luke will be involved in the process.  The Council will be communicating with you, and the decisions about our future will ultimately be placed in the hands and hearts of the great people of St. Luke!

Meanwhile, I have a very strange peace about this whole process - when, in fact, I figured I’d be very anxious and wound up about it.  Why is that?  Might it be that the BLT has surrendered our process to our living and loving God who will be faithful?  Might it be that there are so many praying for this process?  I think “Yes” to both of those.

My guess is many of God’s people in the Bible weren’t sure of where God was taking them next, but they surrendered to His plans.  I think that’s called, “Faith.”

Will you join me in making this a faith-filled, and prayer-filled process?

Pastor Tim

We’ll welcome another 55 New Members to St. Luke this coming weekend at worship, and I wanted to share what one of them wrote on their information form to answer the question, “What led you here?”  Are you ready?  Here it is:

“Neighbors go here - brought us - we loved it!”

How cool is that?  That short statement is loaded and awesome!  Their neighbors “brought them.”  That’s what St. Luke is all about.  Friends inviting friends.  Neighbors inviting neighbors.  Being able to say three words to someone else, “Come and See.”  Let God do the rest.  When they came, they “loved it.”  That means God showed up and connected with them.  The neighbors who invited them simply made the invitation–God did the rest.

I share this to encourage you all to be prayerful and ask God to place on your hearts the name, or names, of someone who might be counting on you to invite them to connect with all that God is doing here at St. Luke.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to lead you in this, and give you the peace and calm that will come knowing He’s with you when you say those simple words, “Come and see!”

Keep it up, St. Luke!  Keep it up!

Pastor Tim

…because the Bible has a Word for that: “lukewarm.”  It’s a term the Lord used in the bookof Revelation used to describe one of the early churches.  He said they weren’t hot or cold, but rather lukewarm.

I pray St. Luke is never…ever…”lukewarm.” 

Lukewarm churches are comfortable with how many people are a part of their faith community.

Lukewarm churches stop inviting their friends, neighbors, and co-workers because they think they are big enough.

Lukewarm churches start to wrestle with apathy.

Lukewarm churches don’t go out of their way to introduce themselves to someone they don’t know at worship–because somebody else will.

Lukewarm churches stop hungering for the Word with a passion that stirs God’s people to go deeper with Him.

Lukewarm churches don’t attend Adult Learning opportunities or feel the need to be in a Small Group.

Lukewarm churches don’t volunteer for a ministry opportunity because they think someone else will do it.

Lukewarm churches don’t make worship a weekly priority.

The above list is certainly not exhaustive, but you get the idea.  The Lord says in Revelation that He is about to “spit them out,” because they are lukewarm.  I think of this like coffee: it’s great hot or iced, but not lukewarm. 

So, let’s stay on fire for God’s mission for us–to follow Jesus Christ and share His love with the world.  It’s why we exist.  It’s impossible for a community of faith to be lukewarm if we truly embrace our mission.

Pastor Tim 

I saw the 1475+ people gather on Christmas Eve at St. Luke ~ that gets a “Christmas Wow!”

I listened to the choir, bands, musicians, and soloists ~ they get a “Christmas Wow!”

I sensed the presence of the Holy Spirit: touched lives, changed hearts, faith awakenings ~ they get a “Christmas Wow!”

I watched the staff and volunteers step up to provide worshippers with a powerful and real Christmas Eve worship gathering ~ they all get a “Christmas Wow!”

Most of all, we embraced the humbling truth that God loves each of us so much, that he sent his Son into the world to save us from sin and death ~ and that gets the biggest “Christmas Wow!” of them all.

THANKS BE TO GOD!

Pastor Tim