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Article 10: Call and Response - Our Eternal Destiny
We believe that God commands everyone everywhere to believe the gospel by turning to Him in repentance and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that God will raise the dead bodily and judge the world, assigning unbelievers to eternal separation from Him, and believers to eternal peace in His presence with restored relationships to God, renewed creation, and one another in the new heaven and the new earth, to the praise of His glorious grace.

Family Devotional for the Week
John 12:44-46 (Read as a Family)

My cell phone has a little green light that blinks when a text message is waiting to be read. Silently, persistently, it blinks. It won't stop until its job is done. Sooner or later, I notice the light and check my messages.

I live in Southern California. This is not a dark place. It is sunny for most of the days and most of the places I go. Sometimes, in the brightness and busyness of my SoCal life, that green light can blink and blink, and I won't notice it. Later, when I am indoors or in a shady place, I'll see the light, check my messages, and often find a text from someone I love!

Guess when my blinky green light works the best? In the middle of the night! Some nights I've woken up, stared at the ceiling of my bedroom, and seen a Very Bright Light blinking on and off. It is green. I wonder loudly in my brain, "WHERE IS THIS BRIGHT LIGHT COMING FROM?" My eyes follow the blinks down, down, down...to the source. There on the nightstand lays my little cell phone, its tiny green light blinking mightily. When it is darkest, it shines brightest.

Jesus came into our world to bring light, to show us the way. He rescues us from a life of total darkness. During the brightness and busyness of our SoCal days, we can miss his light. We think we've got everything figured out. But when times are dark, we know that we don't know. And in that darkness, we can see a light. We follow it to its source: Jesus Christ. If we stay in his light, we see the Father, whose glory shines in Him. Jesus calls us to believe in Him—which means believing in the One who sent Him. He alone can rescue us.

Talk about as a family:

• When have you tried to make it on your own, when you knew it you were powerless to do so?
• What difference does it make to trust Jesus at His word; to trust in Him?

Pray together: Jesus, show us the Father! Keep us close to you, depending on you to save us.

Family Activity:

Find the Light!
Using a phone with a flashlight app, or a tiny flashlight, take turns hiding it (turned on) somewhere in a designated room. Once it's hidden, the rest of the family looks for it. Try this with the lights on in the room. Play again, with the lights off!

~Carol Kenyon

Monday
Mark 1:15

"The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!"

My wife and I recently were blessed to become new homeowners. But each time that we tell people about "our" house, I chuckle a little inside because, in actual fact, we do not really "own" our home. We have a mortgage and while our names are on the title, the bank owns more than half of our home. Yet while the bank has a hold on the home, we still get to live in this home and enjoy the benefits of being a homeowner. Better still, if we continue to make payments on this home, after several years (MANY years), we will own the home outright.

That's a little like what Jesus was talking about in this passage regarding God's kingdom. As Christians we often forget that the central message of Jesus' ministry was the ushering in of "the kingdom of heaven". Jesus proclaimed that the kingdom of heaven had arrived on earth through Him. If we would only repent and believe in Jesus, the kingdom would come and live within us! We would then begin to experience the benefits of the kingdom like peace and reconciliation with God, the acceptance of a unique, loving community and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

But at the same time, the kingdom of heaven has not yet arrived in all its fullness. There is an "already" and "not yet" aspect of the kingdom of heaven that is referred to in Article 10 of our Statement of Faith. Jesus already came to bring us into His kingdom but the full manifestation of His kingdom has not yet arrived.

One day, God will renew all of creation and there will be a new heaven and new earth. But today, we live in the period where we get to live in the house that the Lord built, and that is a very good thing indeed, but we only get to enjoy the fullness of a home with a reigning Christ when the kingdom comes in all its glory. At times, this is painful and we groan for the kingdom to come quickly, but we take courage in the fact that the Bible says that the kingdom of heaven has the smallest of beginnings (like a mustard seed or yeast), but it will expand until it fills the entire earth. (Hab 2:14)

Do you believe that the kingdom of heaven is within you? As the distractions of this life mount, we often forget that the kingdom is here on earth within us. I challenge you to ask the Lord how you can help make His kingdom manifest through you each day.

~Walter Alexander

Tuesday
Romans 10:9-13

Let's consider two parts of this passage that could encourage us today. The first has to do with not being disappointed if we put our complete trust in Christ. This is quite a promise as we continue to live in a world that is filled with promises that aren't kept. Material things we buy lose their appeal after a short time and we are disappointed because they didn't meet our expectations. The promise that something would bring us great happiness is often less than satisfying and we look to the next item to replace this, something that will really make us happy this time.

We will simply never be let down by a God who loves us like he does, who has our best interests in mind. He "generously gives his riches to all who ask for them.". God's riches include knowing what is best for us in every turn of our lives.

The second has to do with a different translation of this same verse. "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame". I love this because it is so easy to feel the pain that shame gives as we go through life. Shame is literally, "a cause for regret, disappointment, and the feeling of having done something improper or dishonorable". Most of us have experienced this at some level in our lives, and living long term with shame can be disabling, discouraging, and detrimental to our well-being.

Christ calls us to an experience that will free us from ultimate disappointment and shame as we allow Him to work in our lives, to transform us into His image, and to follow His ways.

Steps to Take:
Consider disappointments that have come your way lately. As you think of them, ask God to reveal to you the many promises He has made to be present through every part of your walk with Him.

What are you regretful for? What in your life makes you feel shameful? Ask God to cover those shameful thoughts with His power of reconciliation. Talk to God today about areas in your life that continually make you feel inadequate, things you regret doing. Believe that God will help you to feel forgiven and ready to move forward, away from these shameful regrets.

Remember, God's power can remove disappointment and shame from our lives. We can live a life free from shame as followers of Christ. Ask God to reveal the truth to you that you can live a life free of shame, putting it in the past and replacing shame with the hope and promise that God has removed it and replaced it with his great power and hope.

~Duane Funderburk

Wednesday
Acts 2:38

After hearing and understanding how "good" the Good News of the Gospel really was, many people asked the Disciples, "...what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37) In other words, they were asking how they could receive the gift of forgiveness of sin and inherit the promised eternal life in Christ? NOW! "Tell us," they almost demanded! Their hearts had been prepared, the Holy Spirit had spoken to them clearly the message of the Gospel and now the only thing left for the Disciples to do was to tell them what steps they needed to take to become Christians. And, they did tell them: "repent and be baptized," was their answer, and over 3,000 did just that! What an amazing and powerful and joyful celebration that must have been!

The Disciples were simply exercising the wonderful privilege Jesus had called them to, of being "witnesses in the power of the Holy Spirit" of the Gospel to those, who did not have a relationship with Christ (Acts 1:8). "Witnesses" simply share with others what they have seen, heard, and experienced about an event. They are not "defense attorneys," who must convince others through logical arguments and evidences about the validity of a certain event. As God brings us into contact with friends, neighbors, colleagues, family members (his "divine appointments" for us!) he wants us, too, to be His witnesses of this same Good News, to share with others our personal experience of how Jesus has changed and transformed our lives.

What has been your experience of being a "witness" to others, who don't know Christ? What challenges do you see that might make you hesitant to be a "witness?" Who do you know in your "circle of influence" that you could be a "witness" to? How would you go about doing that? When?

Lord, thank you for using others to bring me into a personal relationship with Jesus. Thank you for your love and forgiveness and for turning my life inside out and giving me new direction and purpose. Show me, please, where I can be a witness to my friends and share with them what you mean to me. Amen.

~Roger Bosch

Thursday
John 12:44-46

We drove my son back to college on a night that was rainier than any I had ever driven. The freeways were treacherous and as we passed accident after accident my grip on the steering wheel tightened. We arrived safely at his school and said good-bye to our student. I turned the car around, swallowed my apprehension, and faced the return trip.

With 11 miles to go, we approached the interchange to connect us to the homestretch on the 210 freeway. Ahead was a pool of water spanning the 6 lanes of the road, and looming like the Red Sea. We had no choice but to proceed, and our car bravely splashed through the giant puddle, streams of water spraying high on both sides.

Victory! So we thought. One by one, our flooded electrical systems shut down—first the dashboard lights, then the radio, and the windshield wipers. When the headlights dimmed and darkened, we exited the freeway and pulled over to call a friend for help. He drove in front of us the rest of the way home, as we rode in eerie silence behind his car, depending on the light from his vehicle to lead us. Peering between raindrops and ears on alert for any more problems, we crept home. Our engine was losing power. Slower and slower, we closed in on our street, which was uphill. Would we make it? Our car came to rest at the curb in front of our house. We were safe.

But what if we hadn't called?

Jesus came into our world to bring light, to show us the way. He rescues us from a treacherous journey in total darkness. We would have no hope of making it home without him. If we stay in his light, we see the Father, whose glory shines in Him. Jesus calls us to believe in Him—thus believing in the One who sent Him. He alone can rescue us. Left on our own, we'd drown in our sin, powerless to save ourselves.

What if we don't call on Jesus?

Think about this:
When have you tried to make it on your own, when you knew it you were powerless to do so?
What difference does it make to trust Jesus at His word; to trust in Him?

Jesus, show us the Father! Keep us close to you, depending on you to save us.

~Carol Kenyon

Friday
Acts 16:29-34

I remember when I first starting working in youth ministry, I was pretty scared. The kids are pretty intimidating when you first interact with them. After a few weeks though I began to realize that I knew more than them so it wouldn't be a big deal. A year went by with great growth for the kids I was working with. Then, something strange began to happen. I began to realize that the students I was working with were teaching me and growing me more and more. The longer I worked with them, the clearer it became that this teaching thing had been going both ways. The students I worked with were challenging me and creating in me the ability to be a more dynamic leader. The irony was that they had no idea of was that I was growing because of them. The students for a time were the real teachers.

In this passage we see a great instance of irony, the very man who is charged to keep Paul and Silas in prison is given the ultimate freedom in Christ. This is something we as believers are charged with by God, to bring the gospel even to our enemies. Paul and Silas cared enough for this man, who was responsible for them in prison so as to tell him to not harm himself; they were not going to run away. The jailer had probably heard of Paul and Silas and their teachings because they had been in the marketplace for a few days before being thrown into prison. Paul and Silas, instead of running away at the slightest chance of freedom, take this opportunity to bring to gospel to this man. They tell him the good news of Christ and he is overjoyed! So much so that the jailer brings them over for dinner. The man who was charged with keeping them in prison is now washing their wounds and bringing them home with him. He does this because Paul and Silas had the courage to bring the gospel to him. To stand up for their fellow human being, and tell him that true freedom comes from following Christ.

Today be thinking of ways you have experience a similar kind of irony. How have you grown or been challenged by those you were supposed to know more than? How can you love those who the ways of the world tell us to disregard?

~Blake Riboli

Saturday
1 Corinthians 15:56-57

We live in a world inundated with fear. Our newscasts fill us with fear and anxiety about our schools, our food, our kids, our neighborhoods, our neighbors, etc., etc. Our conversations with friends and family are often full of our worries that almost never come to fruition. And we spend hours and hours and hours stewing in our own fears while trying to go to sleep.

Fear is everywhere...including the church.

We're scared too. We're scared to share our faith. We're fearful of trusting in God because it means letting go of control. We're scared exercising our gifts of the Spirit for the common good. And we're scared, at the core, of death.

What will happen when we die? Will our faith prove to be true? What if it doesn't?

There's nothing wrong with having these doubts. And there's nothing wrong with us owning up to them either!
But here's the truth as Paul spells it out for us: There really is nothing to fear! Death will not win because Jesus has already won that victory through the cross and resurrection!

So what do we do instead of fretting and worrying? Let's follow Paul's advice. He says to stand firm so that nothing can move us.

On what? And how?

We are to stand firm on the truths of the good news of Jesus and his kingdom. We are to stand firm on the fact that God has had a rescue plan in place from the very beginning. We are to stand firm on the certain hope that Jesus is coming again to make all things new.

And we have to do this together. And we have to do this with grace and patience toward ourselves and one another because we're all human. And we have to be motivated by our shared faith to speak and embody the good news of Jesus and his kingdom where we work, live, and play.

We are sent ones!

~Matt Barnes