Encouragement from Saginaw 6-24-08

This is the latest Encouragement from Saginaw e-letter.

Dear Brothers and Sisters through Christ,

Greetings from Saginaw where it appears that summer has finally arrived (though our April showers have come here in early June). As a result, the grass is green and the Michigan State Bird (the mosquito) is in full force.

Since my last letter, Pastor Mark has completed the Romans series and embarked on a summer look of people in Scripture who had Encounters with Christ, and what we can learn from those Encounters. (by the way, shameless plug alert: all sermons are available on line at http://podcast.immanuelbiblechurch.com/).

The two so far brought home some very solid, and simple, reminders about who He is and who we are (or aren’t, as the case may be).

It is so easy while we are in this world to be distracted and pulled off course. Sometimes it can be big, life changing events like a marriage, a death, a divorce, a birth. Sometimes the littler things like a change in job duties or a rough (or good) phase of a relationship. It seems we have poor spiritual attention spans.

Earlier this year, Pastor preached on the need to encourage new believers to seek to know Christ more and to seek to fall in love deeper with Him – that we did not exchange one set of rules, the Law, for another set: the 35 things every Christian must do. No, we exchanged the rules for the relationship, and just like any relationship, it takes both parties effort to make it better, to have it grow stronger, to have it achieve a depth of meaningfulness. Christ is already there with us, but we are not there with Him, I would assert, until the day we go before Him and truly experience the joy and pleasure and sensation of His love in His presence.

What we are living now is just a plodding along as we struggle with our sinful flesh, but it is a trek worth taking and one that we are not walking alone as The Spirit is with us and Christ is interceding for us.

If I remember just one thing from the list of conclusions that Pastor culled from the encounters of others, is that this is not a journey to Him but with Him, for I have already gained through Christ.

My hope is that you are remembering what you gained from Christ and that your journey is with Him in all that will come your way. His is our goal, He is our aim, He is who we now are.

For His Glory,

Tom