Family by Faith

The Cross

2010-02-03T19:48:00.000-08:00

Have you ever done something, that when you were finished you were completely and emotionally drained. This past week we began a series on "The Cross". We are going to go to the cross the last Sunday of every month. In preparing for this sermon, God convicted me of many personal things and gave me a bold word to share with Family by Faith. Our faith family accepted the word and I believe many laid open their hearts after confronting the cross. Please pray for our faith family as we continue to confront the crisis of the cross.

I was born in 1962. For as long as I can remember, people have talked about wars and natural disasters that occur and that these are signs of the last days. Of course, I know the urgency was around the things that were happening around the world. It is amazing how war and events make people get real serious about the possibility of the coming of Jesus.

Even though all of these things are pointing toward the end times. Could it be, even as we look at the signs, that we have taken our eyes off the road? In some places, we may even be in danger of running off the road.

I am more convinced than I ever have been that the thing we have to fear is something that might happen internally in the church or in our personal lives that would cause us to become less and less sensitized to the spiritual truth. You see, we don't wrestle with flesh and blood.

Ephesians 6:12 tells us that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of darkness.

The physical persecution and all the rest of the end times will happen only after a successful campaign has been waged to make the gospel of Christ null and void or unworkable in the lives of professed believers. The scripture tells us that there will be a deception that will deceive if possible the very elect.

At this point I have to make sure you are aware of something.

The enemy has the majority of this planet in his grasp.

Let's look at the cross and see if we have taken the cross out of the church. Are the churches that claim to preach the cross not really doing it.

Galatians 6:14, "But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Galatians 1:6-8 has Paul telling the church at Galatia that he cannot believe that the church has turned away so quickly from Christ. They have turned to a different gospel.

Do you see, what is missing in this other gospel is the cross. Today, there is salvation being preached without the cross. Most think that when we read about the false or other gospel we think of Buddha or New Age, or sex and dregs. What Paul is talking about is a gospel that is similar to what you know, but without the cross.

Now I know that in many places it seems that there is a great revival going on. We see churches with thousands of people, wonderful music, and amazing programs. But look out. It doesn't matter how successful a particular ministry may appear to be or a program or event. If the cross is not the door through which the people come, you can rest assured that the revival or the success of the ministry is not the work of God.

You see, in the 21st century, many say they preach the cross. But what they are not preaching is the crisis of the cross. The crisis of the cross is the part that has to do with right and wrong. It leads to a confrontation of the cross. It leads us to confront our sins head on.

We fail to preach a message that calls for repentance. When we fail to do that we are actually strengthening the cause of the evil in the world.

As God looked down on a sin sick world of people bound in the prison of sin, full of fear and despair, full of doubt, He saw a world without peace or hope. And to this kind of world He sent His only Begotten Son. So Jesus came to earth. He took on Himself the fragility of human flesh, and He told all who would listen:

Matthew 11:28, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest."

This is the invitation of the cross. It is a call to everyone who is sick of sin. Jesus was calling out to all who were tired of the binding chains of powerful evil habits and sin. Jesus was calling everyone who was tired of lying, the cheating, the adultery, and the depression of a selfish life. He was saying, I know you are weary from dragging your chains around; you are tired of sleepless nights.

Jesus died on the cross not only to forgive sin, but also to break its crushing power in our lives. Sin destroys bodies. Worst of all, sin shuts off al communion with God. Read Isaiah 59:2

Christ church is not a supper club or and entertainment building. It is a hospital for sin sick souls. But when sin sick people come in and are comforted in their sins, when they are not made to confront the cross. That is a betrayal to the Gospel.

You see, the cross is essentially a confrontation with our sinful lifestyle.

We must not forget that the door to heaven is not love, but the cross. A person that has not come by the way of the cross will manifest love that is not love at all but a self indulgence and selfishness which masquerades as love.

So what are we called to do?

Luke 9:23, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."

Luke 14:27, "And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."

When Jesus says that we must take up our cross, He is calling on us to die because that's what crosses are for. We must die to self so that when we follow Him our focus is not on our things but on Jesus Christ.

Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who lives, but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

These days, what is missing in many churches about the cross is that the sinner who comes to the cross of Christ must be prepared to die to sin. Christ did not die that we might continue to live our lives in sin. This is why the preaching of the cross must always be accompanied by a call to repentance and self denial. There are many that are deceiving themselves into thinking they have the real thing, when at best their lives are in spiritual gridlock.

But with that all said, I need to share something exciting. The wonderful truth is that if we die with Jesus, then we also come into glory of His resurrection and into newness of life. His cross is our cross, His death is our death, and His resurrection is our resurrection. This then is the true meaning of the cross.

Today, we are often asked, how then are we going to bring the unchurched into the church. Understand, you can bring the unchurched to the church and then can still be dead in trespasses and sin. The issue is not how are we going to bring people back to the church, but how shall we bring men and women, young and old, to the foot of the cross.

We cannot go on as we are. What we have is killing us.

Our only hope is to go to the cross-- not just to go to the cross and watch Jesus die there, but go there and die with Him.

"I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I that lives but Christ lives in me."

I pray that you go to the cross daily. If you are living in these binding chains of sin, I would love to pray with you and share the cross and what being on your knees daily for Him is about. If you are looking for a church that is focused on the cross and knows that our adoption into the family of God is only possible because of the cross, we would love for you to worship with us.

Your brother in Christ,
Randy
James 1:27

Forgiveness

2010-01-20T19:46:00.000-08:00

Family by Faith wants to thank you for your faithful prayers for all God is doing. God has brought unique people with unique talents and abilities to worship and fellowship with our faith family. God is preparing for us for His next move within His perfect timing. Please be in prayer for us as we listen to God and follow His direction. Many of you know me, but for those that don't, I am EXCITED. I know that is hard for you to believe. God is building up in me the passion necessary to know that we must follow Him completely. Once again, please pray for us as we begin to build what He has already ordained.

Also, be in prayer as we celebrate Sanctity of Life this Sunday. If you church in not celebrating this important Sunday, we would love for you to worship with us. Please be in prayer for birthmothers around the world who are having to make a decision about life and death. Pray that they understand that the life they are caring is God made and God loved.

This past week we talked about forgiveness. An easy word to say but a difficult word to understand and to accept. It is hard for us to forgive others that have slighted us or hurt us in some way. So it must be even harder for God to forgive us for the sins that we personally know about in our own lives. It is hard for us to accept.

If you had to give advice to someone that was falling back into old habits of sin. They tried to overcome the temptations but with little success. They no longer sensed the warmth of the relationship with Christ. The more they sin, the worse they felt and the more frustrated they become in their attempt to live the Christian life. What would that advice look like.

Let's try and understand what they are going through or what you or someone you know is going through. Let's understand God's forgiveness.

1. Define the problem.

Isaiah 53:6 "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, EVERY ONE, to his own way; and the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

Here it tells us that sin is where we turn away and go astray. It is interesting that this verse makes sure that everyone know that there is no one excluded.

Romans 14:23 tells us that whatever is not from faith is sin.

We are to live a life of faith, which is a life of dependence on God. When we do not live by faith in God, we are living independently of God and His power. We are relying on our own resources to live life. This is the opposite of faith, and therefore, the apostle Paul calls it sin.

So what is the source of sin?

Mark 7:20-23 tells us that what comes out of a man is what defiles a man. He gives us many examples and finishes with verse 23, "all these evil things come from within and defile a man."

2. What is the solution to the problem of sin?

Hebrews 10:10-18

This scripture shows us what Jesus accomplished at the cross. He was the One sacrifice for our sins, FOREVER. This is repeated in 4 of these verses. He was the ONE offering. What then is the basis for our forgiveness? Verse 14 said that by this one offering, He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. Sanctified tells us that we are prefect through His blood from the cross.
Christ died for the sins that you have committed and the sins you will commit. He has already paid the price.

Since we all sin, we need to know how we can daily experience God's love, forgiveness and fellowship.

3. The role of confession.
1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Many people have misconceptions and negative feelings about the idea of confession. However, God says confession is necessary to maintain our fellowship with Him.

Definition of confession: To agree with God that my specific attitude or action is displeasing to Him and therefore is sin.

Because He loves us unconditionally, we do not need to fear Him. We can approach Him with confidence to confess our sins, knowing He will not reject us. He has already forgiven us.
Once you have confessed all known sin to God, we are able to experience God's forgiveness and freedom from guilt. Feelings of guilt sometimes linger because Satan's desire to discourage us through such feelings.

1 Peter 5:8, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

The Bible teaches that Christ death, burial and resurrection is the basis for the forgiveness of all of our sins, even the ones we will commit in the future. Confession enables us to make real in our daily experience what God has already done for us through the cross. It enables us to experience His love instead of living under a cloud of guilt.

Romans 5:1, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Do have this peace? The only way to have this peace is to have Jesus Christ as Lord of your Life.
If you do not have this peace or are struggling with guilt, I would love to talk with you. I would love to pray with you and share that God remembers our sin no more. I hope you have that peace today.

Your brother in Christ,
Randy
James 1:27

Let the Peace of God Rule Your Hearts

2010-01-15T05:44:00.000-08:00

I am sorry I have not sent out anything over the last two weeks. Well…we have had so much going on as many of you have.

We had an incredible Christmas Eve service. Family by Faith has had a great start to 2010. God has given us a vision of the next steps for our faith family. We are so excited about God's amazing vision and His watch care over us.

The reason for delays in writing is that Teresa and I have adopted another child. Alexa Grace was born on Jan. 5th. Today is the 15th and we are still in Florida. We are waiting on the state of Georgia to approve for us to bring Alexa Grace into the state.

I had developed a frustration yesterday because we should have been home. But God gave us a peace and has allowed us to develop an incredible relationship with Lonzo and Caroline Douglas. They are the parents of some members of our church. They are godly parents and grandparents that I have loved getting to know. We have talked about scripture and the state of the church. We often get caught up into what we think the church needs to be and where we think it is going. Then, we talk to those that have such a peace with God and you can hear God speaking to you through them. They own a big farm and the peace and quite has been wonderful. Scripture tells us in Psalms 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God". We have had a chance to be still and hear God and meditate on His word.

It is funny how God works when you are not expecting God to work. That is what has happened this week. We have a wonderful new baby girl and God showed His magnificence through that birth. We have developed a relationship with some godly parents (and grandparents) and they have taught us so much in a few days. God had this planned all along. And God has given me a chance to "Be still and know that He is God".

So after being very frustrated, I sat back this morning and realized that God had this planned all along and that these are times I will NEVER forget.

Please be in prayer for our church and faith family as we move forward. We are celebrating "Sanctity of Life Sunday" on the 24th. Please pray for all mothers that are faced with a decision. We will have our first Lord's Supper on the 31st. Also, we are going to start up our men's and women's ministries in February.

God is amazing. Be patient and allow Him to work in ways that only He understand. And remember Colossians 3:15, "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful." Allow His peace to rule and in all things be thankful. I know it is easy to say that frustration is a natural human emotion, but if we allow that peace to rule in our lives, we will see His work and we will always be thankful.

If you do not have a place to worship this Sunday, we would love for you to worship with us at 10:30. Be a part of things that can only be explained as God. We love each of you and thank you for your prayers. www.familybyfaith.com
Your brother in Christ,

Randy
James 1:27

Who do you say I am?

2009-12-22T06:49:00.000-08:00

The holiday's are one us, whether we are ready or not. I hope that everyone has a joyous holiday that you can celebrate and worship with family and friends.

This past Sunday was so special. In the middle of the holiday rush, we had a chance to celebrate one of the most precious gifts that God gives, a baby. We had our first baby dedication. The night before, as I was thinking about this precious little one, I began to think about the baby Jesus. I thought about the needs and actions of the little girl that we dedicated. She cries when she is hungry or wants to be held. She needs a shoulder to lay her head on and someone to comfort her when she is scared or just needs love. It made me think about our Christ when He was that age. All of His needs were the same. And God placed Him with a mom and dad that would provide for these needs. God placed this precious little one in this family for the same reason. She needs THESE parents to take care of her needs.

Secondly, God did not need Joseph. Jesus was God on earth, so He didn't NEED Joseph. He is God. But if you look at the role Joseph played in Jesus life, taking Him to the temple, teaching Him what it is to be a man, and Joseph named Him, we see that God had a role for this father. With little ones we often over look the role of the father. The father was important enough that He sent an angel to talk with Joseph and to give clear instructions. Joseph was needed in Jesus life. I beg that ALL father's understand their role and the importance of their role. And I hope that all father's see the importance that God places on their role.

I don't know how many of you have seen the show, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire". There was one line that was made very famous that people quoted all the time.

"Is that your final answer?"

If you were asked today who you thought Jesus was, what would your answer be. The answer is critical.

If we want to get a glimpse of the question above, we can see it in Matthew 16:12-15.

Jesus is in Caesarea Philippi. A region know for it's idol worshipping. Jesus asks the disciples who people say that He is. They respond with John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. But then He asks the real question.

Matthew 15:15 says, "But who do you say I am?"

Are you willing to bank eternity on who you think Jesus is?

We can look in many directions to see who people say Jesus is. Let's look at three.

1. Let's ask humanity.
A. From the past
We read that people say that He is John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. But said many other things about Jesus.
They said He was:
A lowly carpenter- Mark 6:3
A sinner- John 9:24
A fool- John 10:20

Even Jesus half brothers had harsh things to say about Jesus- John 7:3-5

Think about this, if people said these things while Jesus was here on earth, imagine what people say when He is not here.

B. Present
Jehovah's Witness- Michael the Archangel is no other than the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ (New Heavens and New Earth)

Islam- Jesus is not more that a mortal whom Allah favored and made and example to Israelites. (Sura)

Mormons- that Lucifer the son of the morning is our elder brother and the brother of Jesus
Jesus was married at Cana of Galilee and had many wives (Journal of Discourses)

These are just a few. All around people have an opinion concerning Jesus Christ. Some think he is a good man. Others a good teacher. What is sad is that nothing I have shared so far is even close to the truth.

2. Let's ask heaven.
A. God the Father
Matthew 3:17 "This is my Beloved son, in whom I am well pleased."

B. The Angels
Matthew 1:23 - Immanuel (God with us)
Luke 1:32- Son of the Most High

C. Scripture
John 1:1, 14, Philippians 2:5-11, Acts 2:36, Acts 10:36
His is Lord, this implies His control
He is deity.
His is the One chosen by God to be the Messiah.

D. The Savior- What a person says about themselves is important
John 14:9- "He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father"
John 6:36- "I am the bread of life"
John 10:11- "I am the good shepherd"
John 10:36- "I am the Son of God"

C.S. Lewis said, Jesus is either a liar, lunatic or Lord. If you had to decide who He was, which would you chose?

3. Let's ask our own hearts.
You have read from man. We have seen that, among the human race, there are those who deny that Jesus is the Son of God, and the only way of salvation. We have testimony of people whose lives have been changed by Him.

You have read enough to be convinced that Jesus Christ is someone that we must make a decision about.

Here are a few questions.

1. Is He just a baby at Christmas, of is He the crucified and risen Lord of your life?
2. Is He a way to God, or THE way, THE truth and THE life?
3. is He a good man, a great teacher and a prophet, or is He the Son of God and you only hope for salvation?
4. Is He a liar or a lunatic? Or is He your Lord?
5. What is your testimony today? Has there ever been that moment in time when you trusted Jesus and Him alone for salvation of you soul?
6. Has there been a time when you saw yourself as a sinner and Him as your only hope?

After Jesus asked the disciples, in Matthew 16, who they thought He was, Peter stood answered.

Matthew 16:16 "You are the Christ, the son of the living God."

Who do you say He is?

What is your final answer?
Is your answer the right answer that will guarantee you a home in heaven when you leave this world?

Are you saved? Is that your final answer?

Do you want to be saved? Is that your final answer?

Will you come to Jesus today? Is that your final answer?

The questions are vital but the answers are critical.

I would love to share who Christ is and what He has already done for your life. If you need to talk, please contact me. You can email me or contact me through our website, www.familybyfaith.com

John 3:16 tells us that God loves you so much that He sent His Son to die for you so that you can come to Him TODAY.

I will be praying for you.

Your brother in Christ,
Randy
James 1:27

Where do you find your self worth?

2009-12-16T04:40:00.000-08:00

Where has this year gone. What an amazing year it has been in my personal life, my families life, and our faith family. Who would have thought at the beginning of the year I would be pastoring a church and that we would have our church open and worshipping and praising God every Sunday. God is amazing (I think I say that every week) in how He works in and through people. When we open our hearts to His calling and leading, the trip is incredible and we find His leading and timing are perfect.

As you think back on all that has occurred in your life over 2009, some good and some not so good, in family, job and life, where do you find your self worth? Do you find your self worth in your job, your financial situation, your friends? We sure for self worth in so many areas. It would be easy for each of us to read this and think that we don't try and find our self worth in earthly things, but the truth is many of us do.

Irving Berlin, the composer of "God Bless America" and "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas", was being interviewed by a journalist one day. The journalist asked him if there was a question that he had always wanted someone to ask him. His response was yes. Here is the question, "What do you think of the hundreds of songs you've written that didn't become hits? My reply would be I think they are all wonderful and precious to me."

God, too, has an unshakable delight in what and whom He has made. He thinks all of His children are wonderful, and whether they are a "hit" in the eyes of others or not, He will always think they are wonderful.

Our self worth will not be found in the things we won or positions we acquire. Our self worth will not be in the friends we keep or awards we win.

So, where do we find our self worth?
2 Corinthians 10:12-18 we find three principles that a child of God should consider in seeking their self worth.

1. Avoid human comparisons (humility)

Verse 12 tells us not to compare ourselves with others because those that do that are not wise.

People around us measure their own themselves against their own personal opinions and compare themselves to others around them. When we go in for the end of the year review, our temptation is to give our list of reasons we are better than other workers or give our brag list.

Let's see what Paul tells us to do in Philippians.
Philippians 2:3-4
3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his won interests, but also for the interests of others.

In this scripture the phrase "lowliness of mind" often confuses people. The Greek work that this comes from translates closer to "a deep sense of humility". What he is saying is that everything should be done by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is not natural for a human to put themselves last. This can only be done without His power.

2. Resist inaccurate exaggerations (honesty)

In verses 13-16 Paul boasted within the "sphere" of his ministry that God had given him.

Do you ever get frustrated when you work hard on something and others take credit. That is both lying and stealing. That is what was occurring here in scripture. Many of the religious people were taking credit for what others had done, including Paul, and then telling others how God worked through them.

Often we are tempted to exaggerate of take claim for something if it will help us get ahead.

Romans 15:20 tells us, "And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel not where Christ was named, lest should build on another man's foundation."

Paul would not build on another man's foundation.

Resist exaggerations so that people can see us living Christ like.

3. Seek only God's praise (Integrity)

Verse 17-18 tells us to ONLY glory in the Lord and that we should not commend (praise) ourselves but seek only God's praise.

Integrity is defined as a steadfast adherence to a strict moral and ethical code.

Paul began this section of scripture by saying that he was not going to place himself among the group that praised themselves. The reason he would not was that the Lord would commend him as a faithful worker.

1 Corinthians 4:5 tells us our praise will come from God.

All throughout this passage Paul has been very careful not to boast in himself but in the Lord and His works. He has shown great integrity because he follows God's calling for his life and follows the directions given. For us this is the Holy Bible.

Humility, honesty and integrity are spiritual essentials for Christian maturity.

It is about guidance of the Holy Spirit in your lives. It is about looking at the example that God gave us and that was His son, Jesus Christ.

My favorite scripture is Mark 10:45. "Christ came to serve and not be served."

If we are servants then we understand our place and will not boast, exaggerate or live in selfish ambition or conceit.

The only way you can do this is to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is not natural for sinful man to live a servants life. It is what we are called to do.

If you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, I would love to talk with you sometime or would love to help you find someone to talk to. Please email me or contact me through our website www.familybyfaith.com. Also, if you are looking for a place to worship, please join us on Sunday morning @ 10:30.

Please be in prayer for our Christmas Eve service. We are hoping to reach many that are not churched. God is dong amazing things in our faith family. Please be in prayer as we minister to the all those that he has brought and will bring into our faith family.

Thank you all for you many prayers during 2009.

Your brother in Christ,
Randy
James 1:27

Seeing with your eyes

2009-12-08T15:54:00.000-08:00

As we prepare for the holidays, where do your eyes go? Do they look at all the toys your children want? Do they look at the fine clothes or jewelry you always wish you had?

The problem is not always our desires, the problem is our eyes. What do we see? Do we see what we want or what HE wants for us.

John Piper says, "Five seconds of honey on the tongue will show you more sweetness than ten hours of lectures about the sweetness of honey."

Psalms 34:8 tells us, "Taste and SEE that the Lord is good."

Until God gives you a taste of His goodness all the theology in the world will not give you a knowledge of His goodness that changes your eyes and saves your soul.

What prevents us from seeing God? I want to discuss, HOW we can see God.

In the book of Job, we see the most righteous man on the earth. Job 1:8. He was so godly that the Lord took pleasure in pointing him out to Satan. Yet even though Job had a great love for God, he hadn't realized everything about God's character. There were characteristics that Job would come to realize only through adversity.

Let's start at Job 42:1-6
1 the Job answered the Lord and said:
2 I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.
3 You asked, "Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?" Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know,
4 Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, "I will question you and you shall answer me."

These verses show Job telling God that he understands that He is wiser and that His wisdom makes Job's wisdom look like ignorance. He confesses that God is absolutely sovereign. In other words, God is God.

So, before we can see God:
1. We must be humble and understand God's sovereignty.

2. To humble ourselves before God, we must become a broken and changed person.

Job 42:5-6
5 I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You.
6 Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

Job was a broken and changed man. Now I have to say that I learned this week that the word broken is used too often. I talked with those that said they have been told, the reason they are going through a season in their life is because God was breaking them.

I believe what this scripture shows is that the reason Job was broken and changed was because he had an intimate awareness of his own sin and his need for a personal relationship with God.

Isaiah 6:5, "I am a man of unclean lips."
Luke 5:8 shows Peter saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."

You see, if we don't feel grieved about our sin, and deeply unworthy of God's goodness, then we need to pray that God would show Himself. That He would not just be doctrine and scripture anymore, but instead would become an awesome, infinite holy, and wonderfully sovereign that we would TASTE and SEE Him.

3. Before we can see Him we must have our eyes checked by the Light.
Matthew 6:22-23 tells us that the lamp of the body is the eye. It asks us if we are full or light or darkness.

Of course what this is talking about is spiritual eyesight. The only way to safely navigate through times like these is by seeing life through God's eyes.

4. To see life through His eyes, we must intimately know Him.

Matthew 11:28, " Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

When you are hurting, when life treats you badly, crawl up as close as you can to the One who loves you unconditionally and get to know Him. See that He is awesome, holy and wonderfully sovereign.

5. The see God.

Job 42:5, " I have heard of You by hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You."

Job saw the characteristics of God that he had not seen before. Yes it was through tribulation unimaginable, but more so it was because he focused on God and not all that was around him.
While seeing God in things around you, see God in scripture. The 66 books of the bible are given to us so that we can see God; to know Him, to understand Him, to cooperate with Him, to trust Him, and to love Him.

John 17:3, "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."

I pray that you know this eternal life. If you have never experience God in this way or understand what eternal life means, I would love to talk with you. If you do not live near, find someone to discuss this most important experience with. You can contact me through our website, http://www.familybyfaith.com/

I am praying for you today.

Please be in prayer for our Christmas Eve service. If you are close and would like a place to worship, we would love to have you.

Your brother in Christ,
Randy
James 1:27

Spiritual Optimism

2009-11-30T19:57:00.000-08:00

Have you ever walked into a store to ask directions (most guys don't) and when the person responds you can tell by the look in their eye they are not sure, so you go to the next store to ask. How would you like it if your surgeon told you they were going to give it the good old college try. You would be looking for another surgeon. You want people that are sure and confident. You want to look in there eyes and see a YES and not a NO. We can sense that. How I am not sure but I know we can.

David was a true spiritual optimist. When he talked to Saul he had a YES on his face, but for different reasons than those above. Those people speak from optimism because of life experiences. David speaks because of his perspective.

We define a pessimist as someone who sees a problem and then concentrates on the reasons why something can not be done.
A spiritual optimist is one who sees the same problem, but they see it from the perspective of God's presence.

In 1 Samuel 17 we read the account of David and Goliath. We have heard this story many times. I just want to look at it a different way. Many read this story and see that you can accomplish anything as long as you put your mind to it. Some say that the story tells them that the bigger they are the harder they fall. Others have even said that it shows you don't need all the fancy garb to be successful, just the basics. Well, I am not sure that any of those is what God was showing us here.

Starting at verse 32, David knew that here was an opportunity for God to display His power. Have you ever gotten excited about the opportunity in your life for God to display His power?

In verses 34-37 David explains his past victories. He has killed a bear and a lion with his bear hands. What David wanted to show Saul was that these past victories did was give him faith to trust God for victory over Goliath. Have you ever stood in front of someone to explain your past victories? When they heard your victories, did they hear about you or did they understand you had enough faith to trust God for your victories?

The response Saul gives at the end of verse 37 was amazing, "Go, and the Lord be with you". After days of men moaning about victory being impossible and that they have no one to battle the giant, this is the first time Saul sees that God is central in this matter.

As we move on to verse 46-47 we see David standing in front of Goliath telling him what is about to happen. (maybe the first recorded version of trash talking)

Toward the end of verse 47 David put the contest into proper perspective, "for the battle is the Lord's". It is not man against man, but light versus darkness, good versus evil.

So we see that David is a spiritual optimist. He saw the same problem all the Israelite men saw, he just saw it from the perspective of God's presence. It was about what God can do through us not what we can do on our own.

The New Testament has this same theme. There is one modification. In the Old Testament, God acted in a great way so that men would know that He is the Lord. In the New Testament, God has acted in Christ in a great and mighty way (through His life, death and resurrection) so that all men might eventually acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father.

I look at many scriptures trying to show this and the one I wanted to share was Colossians 1:13-20. Please read all of this scripture when you have time. I would like to point our just a few highlights.

Verse 14- we have redemption through His blood
Verse 16- All things were created through Him and for Him
Verse 17- and in Him all things consist
Verse 18- He is the head of the body, the church
Verse 20- having made peace through the blood on His cross.

These verse show the lordship of Christ over creation, the church, and the individual Christian.
These verses show where our spiritual optimism should come from. As we lean on Jesus Christ, just as David leaned on God, we can walk into that tough situation as a little boy but know that we have a big God on our side.

As I was preparing for this message, a phrase continued to pop into my head. I have shared over the last several months all that God has done through our small church. God continues to show how amazing He is. So I think with that in mind the following may be appropriate for our church. Not because of the numbers but because of the perspective we should always have. Every church should have this perspective.

"little church, BIG God"

I will end this by making sure you understand that when I am talking about optimism I am not talking about how to feel good about yourself, or how to get ahead in life, or how to get that next promotion. What I am talking about is our dependence on the One that is the creator of all and is the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Philippians 4:13 tells us, "I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me". It is not about me about Him who strengthens me.

If you don't know Jesus Christ or know what He has done for you so that you can have this spiritual optimism in the face of any giant, please contact me or a pastor in your area.

Please continue to pray for us as we move forward into December and 2010. We have many things going on. Please be in prayer for our Christmas Eve service. If you are looking for a service to attend, we will be having our service from 6:00-7:00 on Christmas Eve. Please look at our website to find directions. www.familybyfaith.com

Also be in prayer as we move into January and observe Sanctity of Life Sunday. If you church does not observe this critical day, please encourage your pastor to research and plan on celebrating on this day.

Once again, if you do not have somewhere to worship, we would love for you to worship with us at Family by Faith. If you have children, we would love for you to check out our dynamic children's worship and study time.

Thanks to all of those that continually pray for us and are supporting us. We love you and please never hesitate to communicate with us anything we can do for you.

Your brother in Christ,
Randy
James 1:27

When life gets too busy

2009-11-23T04:15:00.000-08:00

Another amazing Sunday. God brought more people to the church but better than that we have had so many victories in our faith family. He has healed those through surgery, He has brought some families together, and He is moving and softening hearts of those we are praying for. It is a celebration every time we get together. Hopefully soon, we will begin our "Victory" book. This will show victories that God has blessed those in our faith family with. Often we think God is not working, but when you begin to talk to those around you, you realize He is the same God that parted the waters and healed the sick.

Often we don't see some of these victories because we are so busy. Even if it wasn't this time of year, you would still be busy. Now we are moving into the busiest time of the year. Are you prepared?

Dr. Charles Swindoll says the following:
Busyness rapes relationships. It substitutes shallow frenzy for deep friendships. It feeds the ego but starves the inner man. It fills a calendar but fractures a family. It cultivates a program that plows under priorities. Many a church boasts about its active program: "Something for every night of the week for everybody." What a shame. With good intentions even the local church assembly can crate the very atmosphere it was designed to curb.

So what do you do when life gets too busy?

If anyone understood the temptations to let busyness distract Him from the Father's activity, Jesus certainly could. He told a parable that clearly illustrated this danger. In Luke 10 He tells of a certain Jewish man that was on his way to Jericho when he was brutally attacked by thieves and left to die. First a Levite, then a priest, passed by. They were religious leaders; surely they would show compassion to a wounded person. But they had places to go and appointments to keep, so they passed him by. Surely someone would come by and help. The a Samaritan, despised by the Jews came along. Luke 10:33 tells us, "And when he saw him, he had compassion."

This is a parable that shows how Jesus expects those who believe and have been adopted into His family to respond and not to be so busy with their own schedules that we miss our opportunity to show God's love.

This is a parable, let's look and see how Jesus handled the pressure of busyness.

If you look at Mark 1:32-39, you will see how Jesus handles busyness.

In verses 32-34 you see Jesus inundated with swarms of people. You see, Jesus busyness here was not a bad thing. He healed people. Often our busyness is not a bad thing, The problem comes when we allow our busyness to dominate our lives. When busyness causes us to neglect ourselves and especially neglect our relationship with God and with other people.

For me, one of the things I have to watch out for is when I get busy. I have traveled often working my way up the corporate ladder. I have been busy as a football coach trying to get the next big job. The problem is when I get busy, I tend to rush through my bible reading and prayer, I treat them as routine. When I do this, the focus is on me.

What should I do?

Verses 35-37 gives us the answer.

First He went out and prayed. He didn't try to deal with the busyness on His own. He got up early and went to a private place. He prayed to His Father's input. He prayed for His Father's will.

I think the most important thing we see in these verse is that He allowed God to be the priority and not the demands of other people.

In verses 38-39 we see that He did not go by the demands of others. Simon has just come and told Jesus that there were a lot of people waiting on Him. They wanted Him to come out again. Instead, Jesus redirects people to the mission God has placed before them. It is easy to get distracted from God's mission. Prayer will help us focus on God's will.

So HOW do I get the time and how do I find the place?

What is interesting is whenever Jesus needed time alone with His Father, you always see Him going off alone in the morning. So what is the important ingredient?

Psalms 46:10 tells us, "Be still and know that I am God."

It is easy to become so busy that you are oblivious to those in need, even if it is your own family. Your schedule can become so full of accomplishing good things that you are not able to help the people around you. God is at work in the lives of your friends, your neighbors, and your family members. He may ask you to interrupt your busy day long enough to join Him as He ministers to them. Nothing on you agenda, no matter how pressing or the priority you have placed on it, is reason enough to ignore the voice of God when He tells you to stop and help.

Be still and know that HE is God.

Spend time with God before getting into the season. If you are already too busy, PRAY. If you feel are getting too busy, PRAY. If you need to hear God's will and not those around you, PRAY. Spend time with God in the morning and allow Him to set your priorities.

Thank you for your prayers for our faith family and our church. Once again, God is doing amazing things. The people that God is bringing truly understand the mission and vision and see how God is using our faith family. Please be in prayer as we begin our outreach for Christmas Eve. We feels as though God is calling us to reach many within a 3 mile radius of the school we meet. Please be in prayer of those that we will be reaching. God knows, now we just need to follow His will.

If you are looking for a church home or a place that is a family, please honor us by attending worship next Sunday at 10:30. All of the information you need is on our website. www.familybyfaith.com

We love each of you and continue to ask for your prayers.

Your brother in Christ,
Randy
James 1:27

"Orphan Sunday" What are YOU called to do?

2009-11-10T08:11:00.000-08:00

When planting a church there are a lot of firsts. This past Sunday was our first "Orphan Sunday". There were thousands of churches all over the United States that celebrated this important day. You can go on to the website, www.orphansunday.com, and find out more. In our area, next year we will be starting in May to push this important day not only in this part of North Georgia but all over the state. I am going to push for our state convention to promote it as well as local associations. We will have community activities next year that will bring awareness of the plight of the orphan.

The question is, "Why is this Sunday so important?"

There are over 145 million orphans in the world today.

In the US there are over 500,000 social orphans. These are the children in the foster system. Of these children, 120,000 are available for adoption.

In the state of Georgia, there are over 2,200 from the foster system that are available for adoption. To adopt these children is no cost to the adoptive family. If you would like to look at these children, you can go to www.myturnnow.com.

Let me put these numbers in perspective. There are over 3600 Baptist churches in the state of Georgia with over 1.4 million members. You do the math. Do this bother you like it bothers me?
But even with the tragedy of these numbers, let's look at the number 1. A member of our church said to me the other day, "While these numbers are tragic, what if there were only 1 child? This would be just as tragic". Please be in prayer to see what God would have you do to take care of or support these children in need. The ORPHAN.

As I have said many times, not everyone is called to have a hand in adoption but everyone is called to have a heart for adoption.

There are so many scriptures I would like to put into this message, but for the sake of space I will give them to you hoping and praying that you read them to see what God tells us.

Duet. 10:17-18
Deut. 24:19-20
Psalms 10:14
Psalms 10:18
Psalms 146:9
John 14:18

I would like to give you the scripture that God gave us years ago. Many have read it and talked about what they would like to do. I would like to share a few thoughts about this and would love to receive any feedback.

James 1:27, " Pure and undefiled religion before God our Father is this, to provide for orphans and widows in their time of need, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world."

God's heart for the fatherless is a consistent theme throughout the entire Bible. James says serving the fatherless is "pure" and "undefiled" religion. It is not just a concern of God's. IT IS A PRIORITY OF GOD'S!!!

God knows the names and location of every child on the face of the earth. He wants all of them, every last one of them, to experience an earthly family and to know the love of their heavenly Father.

Psalms 68:4-6 tells us that He is ," A Father to the fatherless" and that, "He sets the solitary in families".

God has commanded our involvement in the lives of orphaned and at risk youth. It is one of His stated priorities. This is why Family by Faith is so involved with orphans and orphanages all over the world. This is why we will begin to work with schools in our area that have at risk children.

So what do we need to do?

I think first we must follow the commands set forth in Ephesians 5:11-17

1. We must expose the darkness that is happening. So many in the United States never have a chance to understand who God is commanding us to provide for. We must expose this darkness to churches, pastors and those in the community so that they understand WHO God is talking about. We live so privileged in the United States that it is hard to see outside our walls. Please pray that God gives us the strength to expose and share what is happening to millions of children around the world and to thousands in each state.

2. We must show that this is shameful. Shameful for what is happening and shameful that little is being done. If this priority is that critical, if God talks about these all through the Gospel, and god shows that taking care of these is pure and undefiled religion, then we must understand the shamefulness of not doing anything.

3. We must change our walk to correspond to that of Christ. We must be light. That is the only way darkness can be exposed. We must watch how we live and make wise use of our time. That is simply, doing God's will.

The church must take off the blinders and begin to embrace this darkness and expose it.
I praise God that there are so many that have this heart. Those that are willing to sacrifice whatever is needed to provide for these orphans. Those that are willing to step out on faith, leave the life that they have always known and follow the command that God has given us.
Please pray for these children in their time of need. Please pray and ask God what He is calling YOU to do.

Please read the following blog to see how an 18 year old that had everything, and I mean everything, gave it all up to go to Africa and provide for the orphan. We pray for her ministry every day.
www.kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com

It is such a blessing to be able to share a word each week. It is so humbling to think there are this many people praying for our church and faith family each week. God brought another family to our church and many visitors this past week.

Please be in prayer for our Adoption Financing Seminar this weekend. There are over 50 people attending and we believe more than half of those are unchurched. Please pray that God uses us to reach those that are spiritual orphans and are fatherless.

Your brother in Christ,
Randy
James 1:27

2009-11-05T13:24:00.000-08:00

Wow! As we have spent the last 5 weeks looking at the mission and vision of our church, it has been incredible to watch God move not only in our church but in individuals. To see people LIVE the mission and vision of Family by Faith. God's call to us is very clear. The only questions is, are we willing to step out on faith and follow His call? He has special plans for special people in our faith family. He has plans for both men and women, young and old, single and married, and each one that is willing to answer His call. Not my call. HIS call!!! What an awesome thought to know that the King of kings and Lord of lords has a call for me.

This past week we looked at the final step in the wheel that is our vision.
Step 1- Seek the spiritual orphans
Step 2- Show God's love
Step 3- Share Christ
Step 4- Receive a new life in Christ
The final step is: Adoption into the family of God.

There is so much I wish I could share with you so I may put this in to separate blog post. The deepest and strongest foundation of adoption is located not in the act of humans adopting humans, but in God adopting humans. This act is the heart of the gospel. Please don’t miss that last statement. This act is the heart of the gospel.

As we ask others, "Why did Christ come", we get one answer usually. To die on a cross to save us from our sins. While that answer is not wrong, it is not the complete answer. Galatians 4:4-8 (Romans 8:14-17) answer this question for us. Verse 4 starts out with, "When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son." Sounds like we are getting ready to hear why He came. Please read the whole text but I am going to paraphrase the 4 reasons God sent His Son.

1. To redeem those under the law.
2. That we may be adopted into the family of God.
3. That we may have an Abba! Father!- and intimate relationship, a Dad
4. That we may be an heir of God. I am an heir of the Creator of everything. Now that is cool!!!

So if we understand that Christ is the cornerstone of the church, then this must be the undergirding. So this week we looked at the final step, our adoption into the family of God. As we understand out adoption we must understand the parts of adoption. What are the steps that were taken for us to have this personal relationship?

We use the understanding of physical adoption as a metaphor for our spiritual adoption.

Step 1- We were chosen (election)
Ephesians 1:4-6 tells us that before the foundation of the world was ever made, we were predestined for adoption. What this verse tells us is that adoption is not God's Plan B. Adoption all along was God's Plan A. Imagine if He looked at someone with money and prestige and wanted them first, but after thinking about it they chose not to accept this gift. After that, He would look at Randy Grimes and say, "I guess I will take him". Praise God that is not how it works. He chose me even though He know I would not be perfect and I would disappoint Him. He still chose me.

Step 2- Legal action (justification)
Justification is a legal term that came into being around 1300. Justification means that someone must stand on behalf of those that cannot stand for themselves. They must plead the case to show what is right. We are told to be that for those that cannot stand on their own behalf. Psalms 10:14 ,"You are the helper of the fatherless." Verse 18 says, "To do justice (stand on their behalf) to the fatherless and the oppressed." Just as we are called to stand on behalf of those that can't stand up for themselves, Christ stands on our behalf. Romans 5:18 tells us that even though there was sin in this world, on Man's righteous act gave us the free gift, resulting in the justification of life. So you if you think physically adopting a child has a lot of red tape, keep in mind that this red tape is not stained with YOUR blood. Jesus satisfied all legal demands by shedding His blood.

Step 3- Expenses must be paid
Galatians 4:5, "To redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption as sons." There sometimes are huge cost in adopting a child. Some are financial and some are emotional. I have always felt there was something deep and right about the embrace of this cost for the life of a child. 1 Corinthians 6:20 tells us, "for you were bought at a price". That price is the CROSS. We hear people complain about the cost of adoption. Why does it cost so much when these children need a home. I can only tell them to turn to the Bible. I ask them, "How much did your adoption cost?"

Step 4- Planning
My wife tells me this is the hardest part. I mean after you have done all of the steps before, now you wait.
Paul tells us in Romans 8:23, "but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body."

There are many benefits in being adopted into the family of God but I would like to point out 2 benefits of being adopted.

1. We have an Abba! Father! Romans 8:15-16, "You received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry, Abba! Father!. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God."
Why did Paul use this phrase Abba Father? Because this is the way Jesus spoke His Father. It is such an endearing, intimate term. This equates calling your father DAD. Some of my children have a birth father, but he will never be DAD. What a great benefit.

2. We are permanent heirs. Romans 8:17, "and if children, then heirs- heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together."
We are heirs of all that God has, namely everything.

Most will tell you that the mission of every church is to make disciples. I agree completely. The question is why would someone become a disciple and what will they do. We feel that once you become a part of a family, you intimately know your Father, understand all He desires for you and know His amazing love, your desire will be to spread the teachings of your Father. That is what a disciple is.

As people come into His family, we will disciple them and lead them to a greater understanding so that they will then begin to reach out to the spiritual orphans, which is the first step of our vision wheel.
I want to thank you for all of you prayers and asking how you can help. Once again, God is working in the life of our faith family. As with anything, there are growing pains, but nothing that God will not work out. He is doing that now. I must grow in the understanding that I must feed all the sheep of the flock. Please pray that I develop that greater understanding of all the needs of our faith family.

Nov. 14th is our Adoption Financing Seminar. It is from 10-12 on Saturday. Jason Kovacs of the Abba Fund with be our guest speaker. He will be discussing practical ways to finance adoptions as well as understanding the spiritual component of this financing. If you are interested and can attend, please go to our website, http://www.familybyfaith.com/ to register. If you cannot attend and would like the information, please let us know. We are going to record and get out to those that are not able to make it. Please also be in prayer, we are going to have a number of spiritual orphans there. Please pray that God show us how we need to minister to them in their place of need.
Also, we just sent $500 to a special needs orphanage that is being built in China. God is blessing us and it is a true blessing to know how He desires us to be stewards of His money. We sent this money in honor of Maggie Fogas. Maggie is a 7 year old that attend our church and she was adopted from China. She is going to be a blessing in so many peoples lives.
Your brother in Christ,
Randy
James 1:27

2009-10-28T10:41:00.000-07:00

God is growing our faith family, both numerically and spiritually. This past Sunday was an amazing day of worship. I wanted to share some from the message delivered. Please never hesitate to contact me of email me back. Thank for all of your prayers and support.

Don’t rewind the tape, get a new tape.

Have you ever said this, "If I could just go back in time, I would make a different decision"? Or. would you want to go back and treat others differently or make a different job decision if you had the chance? If the answer is yes, then you are in the 98% of people that are being honest. We all have made decisions we wish we could go back and change. We wish we could rewind the tape. (DVD for today's culture)

While we know we can't go back and change things, what if we could just get a new tape. What if we could change our lives? Even to the point to where others may not recognize the new you because it is so different than the old you. Before we can learn how to do this, we must first understand how God works so that we can see how He gives us this new life. Psalms 103:12 tells us that, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us."

Did you see it? As far as the east is from the west. Your sins have been removed. Why did He use this measurement? You can't measure east and west. You will never find the end. This not only describes His love for us, but how far he separates us from our sin. Satan will try hard to bring up the past. He will try and convince you that others may find out your skeletons. You can boldly look Satan in the eye and tell Him, God has removed that from me, as far as the east is from the west.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 tells us of those that will not inherit the kingdom of God. It is not the sins but from verse 9 He tells us that it is the unrighteous. That is those that do not have a right standing or know Christ personally as their Savior. Verse 11 starts with, " And such were some of you." Could you imagine if the scripture ended there? You would walk around constantly with guilt and fear. We would constantly be thinking about the consequences or the what ifs.

Thankfully, it doesn’t end there. Verse 11 tells us, "But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." Praise God that we have been washed. He has separated us from our sins as far as the east is from the west. We have been made perfect (sanctified) in Jesus Christ.

We could read Ephesians 2 or Colossians 1 or many other text that reminds us that we have messed up our lives and have ruined everything. But whether you have grown up on the right side or wrong side of the tracks. Whether you have made the right or wrong decisions, we all end up discovering the same thing. That without Christ, our lives are a mess. We are absolutely hopeless.

Please let me give you the good news. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says " If anyone is in Christ, he is a NEW creation; old things pass away and , Behold, all things become NEW." The word new here is not like buying a new car. You had a 2000 car and now you bought a 2006 car. That new means more recent. It is still a car, just more recent. The word in the scripture is the Greek word for metamorphosis. Think of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. It means RADICALLY different. When you look at the life of a Christian who has been transformed by the grace of God, this text comes to life. Behold, all things become new. That is remarkable.

Let me give a story example. A business man wanted to buy a warehouse from another business man. The warehouse was dirty and dusty, broken windows, the roof had holes and trash was everywhere. AS the prospective buyer looked at the property, the owner continued to tell him he would clean things up. He would repair all that needs repair. The buyer told him to forget about the repairs. He told him, "when I buy this place, I am going to build something completely different. I don't want the building, I want the building site."

Understand, God is not asking us to clean things up and make it pretty before He moves in. What He is asking for is not the building, but the building site. He was to bring a wrecking ball and knock it all down and build something new. When we are in Christ, the old life is over. The gift is free, Ephesians 2:8, and the gift has been paid for, Galatians 4:5.

Are you "in Christ"? Because, if you are, you're new and can walk around excited as you can be about life. But if you're not "in Christ", then I don't know what else to do but what the following text tells me to do. 2 Corinthians 5:20, "we implore (beg) you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God."

I beg you today, if you do not know Christ, TODAY, allow someone to talk to you about this new life. To talk with you to not rewind the tap but to completely replace it so it can be new. If you are looking for somewhere to find out about this NEW life, we would be honored if you visited us at Family by Faith Worship Center.

Sharing Christ - October 13th update

2009-10-13T12:32:00.000-07:00

I'm bbbaaaaccccckkkkk.

I am sorry if you have missed me over the last two weeks. I had shoulder surgery and sitting and typing for long periods of time was not very comfortable. God has answered prayers. I was not supposed to be back to work for 2-3 weeks. I returned after 8 days. God is amazing when we lean on Him and allow Him to work in us and through us.

Over the last couple of weeks we have begun to look at the mission and vision of Family by Faith. Our mission statement is: To unite all people into the family of God by the process of adoption through faith in Jesus Christ.

While most will tell you the mission of every church is to make disciples, we believe this to be the greatest disciple making process. A disciple is "anyone who spreads the teachings of another". You can only do this when you have become apart of a family so that you know that person intimately. Not at the 10,000 foot level but at the daily details. That is what happens when we become a part of the family of God when we are adopted into His family.

From there we have began to look at our vision, or how will we carry out our mission. There are 5 steps to our vision. We have a wheel that best illustrates our vision. Due to my technological ignorance, I don't know how to put it on here. The wheel should be never ending in the church.

Step 1: Seek the spiritual orphan.
If you have ever been to an orphanage or seen pictures of orphans there are a few characteristics that represent orphans. First they have no hope. Their parents are dead, they have abandoned them or they have been taken from their parents. Second they are alone. While there may be many other children to play with, when it comes time to get quiet, they each go off on their own. You see those others in the orphanage are not family. Third, they have lost their joy. They smile when you play with them or bring them toys. They laugh when someone does something silly. But often you see them and there is no smile.

Today, we know people just like these orphans. People in these economic times that have lost hope, they are alone and they have no joy. People whose marriages are not working out. People whose jobs are in jeopardy. They have put there hope in things that will let them down. We seek these spiritual orphans. They have not put their hope in Jesus Christ. As the old hymn says, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness."

Step 2: Show God's love.
Often when we encounter someone that is hurting and they this spiritual orphan, we worry what we need to say. Do I know enough bible? Two scriptures that are at the heart of what we do and at God's heart are James 1:27 and Matthew 25:40. Do you want to know what pure and undefiled religion looks like? Do you want to know how to do unto Christ? These scriptures answer that question. What we must do is love these people. They will see what we have. Ask yourself the question, do people want what you have? We must find practical ways to show God's love. Are you willing to step out of your comfort zone? Are you willing to help someone that doesn't look like you, sound like you, act like you? Are you willing to help someone that has just gotten out of prison? Are you willing to help someone that is homeless. Who have you opened you house up to? Who have you opened your wallet up to? "What you do unto the least of these you do unto Me." He doesn't ask us to do the impossible, He asks us to allow Him to do the impossible through us. Show God's love.

Step 3: Share Christ
This week we did not discuss the nuts and bolts about sharing Christ, we discussed things that we must be aware of before we can be prepared to share Christ. Please read Galatians 4:4-7 and Romans 8:14-17. I get asked often why am I so passionate about adoption. If you read these then you will understand why Christ came to this earth. Galatians 4: 4 starts with, "When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son." You can see the four reasons He sent His Son. But let me give you a few things that we must be aware of.
1. People are unfit naturally to fellowship with God. Romans 8:8
2. People are to be reached by other people.
3. Every believer is to share in winning souls. Matthew 28:19-20

A few conditions that we must have for success in sharing Christ;
1. Our own personal experience of salvation. John 15:4-5
2. A working knowledge of the Word. 2 Timothy 2:15
3. A love for souls. Romans 10:1

To be able to share Christ with that spiritual orphan, they must want what you have. Do people want what you have? Do you have a passionate desire for people to know who you know and have what you have?
Christ did. He did so much that he gave his life so that I can have what He has. I do I know this. Romans 8:17 tells me, " I am an heir of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ". What this means is I am an heir to the creator of everything and I am a joint heir with His son. I get everything Jesus Christ gets.

So I ask the question again, do people want what you have? I pray that today you open you heart to that that are different and hurting. I pray today that you share Christ not only through you words, but through you actions and the way you live.

Next week we will be talking about sharing Christ to people one on one. If you do not have anywhere to attend, I pray that you would visit us at Family by Faith Worship Center. God is doing amazing things.

Thanks for you many prayers over the last 5 months. God is performing miracles and showing His love.
Your brother in Christ,
Randy
James 1:27

Launch Sunday - September 20th

2009-09-15T15:26:00.000-07:00

You have heard me say WOW many times over the last several months as I have shared all the amazing things God has done for Family by Faith. Well, once again, WOW!!! God answered our prayers as we had our first, Family Fun Day. Our prayer was not that God deliver a large number of people but that He deliver the people that need to here our message. We had over 200 people come by and with many we had the opportunity to share the Gospel with them. Many were searching for a church to call home. And many were just searching. Some were not sure what they were searching for, but were very interested in the message of God's love and the benefits of being adopted into a family. God was amazing.

Friday night as I was praying for this event I read Jeremiah 29:11. The beginning of that verse says, "For I know the plans I have for you". He has plans for us. He has them individually for us and corporately for His family. He has many plans for Family by Faith. Our prayer is that we are still and hear His voice. Our prayer is that we don't make ourselves busy with activity and fail to hear His voice. He knows the plans He has for us. We are so excited to see what those plans are for our faith family and that we live in the middle of His will for our church.

This coming Sunday will be our official launch Sunday. Please be in prayer not only that day but more importantly for those that God will bring our way to share His message of faith, hope and love. That those that come understand the joy of being a part of God's family. To understand adoption at its most fundamental. We will be looking at the mission statement of our church. "To unite all people into the family of God, by the process of adoption, through faith in Jesus Christ". We know that the mission of every church is to make disciples. We will be looking at how this mission statement is the true heart of making disciples.

Also, we will look at Ephesians 1:4-6. I will make a big statement here, "the only thing greater than adoption is God". Ephesians tells us that before the world was created, we were predestined for adoption. Before God created anything else, He ordained adoption. He desires that we all are adopted into His family.

Once again, if you or anyone you know, seems to have lost hope, lost joy, or is alone, please come to our service this Sunday. We will begin to understand what our faith family is about and to understand what the Good News is. He loves us so much that He thought of us as part of His family before the foundation of the world was formed. Not just Good News but GREAT News.

Prayer requests
1. Launch Sunday- This Sunday
2. Those that attending Saturday and that we had a chance to share with.
3. The orphanages that we are partnering with
4. Workers- God has blessed us but we need to be ready for what God is going to do

Once again, thanks for the prayers over the last several months. God is preparing to do some amazing things. Please continue to lift our faith family up in prayer.
Your brother in Christ,
Randy
James 1:27

Sufficient Grace

2009-09-09T08:17:00.000-07:00

During the building of the Golden Gate Bridge over San Francisco Bay, construction fell badly behind schedule because several workers had accidentally fallen from the scaffolding to their deaths. Engineers and administrators could find no solution to the costly delays. Finally, someone suggested a gigantic net be hung under the bridge to catch any who fell. Finally in spite of the enormous cost, the engineers opted for the net. After it was installed, progress was hardly interrupted. A worker or two fell into the net but were saved. Ultimately, all the time lost to fear was regained by replacing fear with faith in the net.

As we paid nothing for God's eternal love and nothing for the Son of His love, and nothing for His Spirit and our grace and faith, and nothing for our eternal peace...What an astonishing thought it will be to think of the immeasurable difference between what we deserve and what we receive. O, how free was all this love, and how free is this enjoyed glory. GRACE!!!

2 Corinthians 12:9 gives us maybe the greatest spiritual truth in the Bible. "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. I seldom use The Message version but I would like to use to make it a little clearer. Verse 9.
My grace is enough, it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Paul says, once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift.

Paul quit focusing on his own problems. He quit focusing on what is not fair in this world, or the promotions someone got, or a cold that he might have, or any other pity party that might be going on at the time. He quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. I should hear an AMEN from somebody on that one.

You see, when we rely on our own strength, resources, and knowledge, we assume we can handle situations without help from God. Paul had a tenacious personality and an exceptionally strong will. He faced mobs, traveled in harsh conditions, spent time in prison, all to promote the cause of Christ. He had spent the first half of his life serving in his own strength. However, once God gained his attention, Paul had to learn to rely on God's strength and not his own.
Often our strength hinders us from totally trusting God. If you feel strong in an area of your life, BEWARE!!!
God will bring you to a point of weakness if that is what it takes to bring you to trust Him, do not despise your weakness, for it leads you to trust in God's strength.

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of your selves; it is the gift of God not of works, lest anyone should boast.

You see, we do not deserve God's love. We cannot earn God's love. As I stated before, the immeasuralbe difference betweenwhat we deserve and what we receive. He saved us (rescued us) by grace. But it is also through faith. The faith in knowing and believing that God sent His Son, who died on a cross for all my faults (sins), and rose again and is alive today.
If you have not experienced this incredible free gift, I would love to talk with you about it. If you have walked away from what God has given you and are not sure if He still wants you, please know He is waiting because He loves you. If you would like to be a part of a family that desires to reach outside itself to share this gift with those that are hurting today and those that are alone, we would love for you to be a part of our family.

We are officially launching Family by Faith Worship Center on Sunday, September 20th. We start at 10:00 with "The Bridge", a time to connect and pray. Worship will start at 10:30. Please go to our website at www.familybyfaith.com to learn more. God bless and thanks to many of you for your continues prayers over these last 5 months.

Prayer Request
1. Family Fun Day- Sept. 12th
2. Forsyth Family Fest- Sept. 13th
3. Launch Sunday- Sept. 20th
4. Those that God is leading to our faith family
Your brother in Christ,
Randy
James 1:27

Family by Faith Update

2009-08-31T17:30:00.000-07:00

I normally give you an idea of what I preached on the Sunday before and then add a few thoughts. Today I would like to share with you what is going to be happening and how God is in the plans for our church. I know that we could never do all that has been done and all that will be done without God's guidance and His strength.

Next Sunday will be our last as a smaller core group. God has blessed us over the last 6 weeks as we have been meeting as a church. He has grown our family even when we were not trying.

I think back to January when God gave me the vision for this church. Our church started out as Teresa and I. Over the next 2 months God grew us from 2 to 8. We began meeting as a leadership team on March 5th. We prayed for those that God would bring to us for leadership position and those with abilities that we were lacking. God answered our prayers. We have grown from that original 8 to over 35 counting the children. What a blessing. Most churches would be thrilled to launch with 35, but we have only just begun to live God's plan.

We have begun to live out our missions by sponsoring orphanages around the world. We take 10% out of every dollar given so that we can "provide for orphans in their time of need" (James 1:27). We also take 10% out of every dollar given to provide adoption grants. We believe adoption is the basis of the gospel and that these orphans are "the least of these" (Matt. 25:40). We will begin to give out adoption grants to our members after our first year but we have begun to put that money back. God has met every need so that we do not have to touch that money that we have made a commitment to. We also give 10% to our cooperative missionary program along with 3% to our local missions association. What a blessing that God has taken care of our needs so that we can do the work God has called this church to do.

On Sunday, Sept. 6th, we are going to have fellowship time as a core group. God has blessed us and we want to worship through fellowship. Often, we get so busy doing church that we forget that Act 2 tells us that the church did not forsake fellowship. We never want to forget that.
On Saturday, Sept. 12th, we will be have a community outreach that we believe could reach as many as 500. We will be having a block party from 11-2. Please be in prayer for this exciting event. We will have the opportunity not only to share about our church but to share Christ with those spiritual orphans.

We have had a website campaign going for about two weeks. Please visit www.wannabeadopted.com. We have had an average of 60 hits a day on this website. It takes those to that go to it directly to our website. We have had questions about it. If you are in sales, you know that engaging people is the hardest part. This has allowed to engage many people that want to know what it is.

We will officially launch the church on Sunday, Sept. 20th. We are going to start at 10:00 with "The Bridge". A time to connect and pray. We will have worship at 10:30. God has already begun to bless this Sunday and we are still three weeks away.

We will be starting "Adoption Education" classes on Sept. 24th. We are going to have a large seminar in November for all of greater Atlanta.

God is working. Please be in prayer for us as we move to the next level that God is showing us. We thank you for all of your prayers to this date. Please pray as we near our launch.

I was told in June by a friend, Rev. Galen Jones, that planting a church will be the hardest thing I have ever done. Not only from time and fatigue, but from Satan hating what is going on and how he will try to derail our efforts. What an amazing God we have that we can lean on Him when we know we are not able. I don't know if I have ever leaned on God more than I have since January. Galen, thanks for the warning but also thanks for preparing me with the answer.

Once again, thanks for all of your prayers over the last 5 months but more importantly please continue to pray over these next few weeks.
Your brother in Christ,
Randy
James 1:27

God's Word: All or Nothing

2009-08-24T08:20:00.000-07:00

First of all, what a beautiful day it was Sunday to wake up and worship. Psalms 118:24 says, "This is the day the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it". It is always our choice of how we wake up, how we approach the day and how we will show God's love toward others. When people ask how I am always so happy or so positive, all I ask them is have they ever been to an orphanage. With what God has blessed us with, we should always rejoice and be glad in it.

Our worship Sunday was powerful. To feel the presence of the Holy Spirit is overpowering. To sit back and let Him move and lean on Him is such a comfortable place for me to be. God is amazing!!!

This past Sunday we talked about God's Word, His Holy Scripture. We said that it was all or nothing. We can't claim parts that fit our lifestyles, jobs, choices, wallets or relationships. We must claim all or nothing at all.
We started looking at 2 Timothy 3:1-5. If there was ever a text to scare you about where we are heading, it might be this verse. The only problem is we already see so much of this going on. Some examples are: men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, proud, unthankful, unholy, unforgiving, without self control, headstrong, lovers of pleasure, etc. Does any of this sound familiar in our day and age?

I believe there is a direct link between moral decline and the authority of God's Word in our lives. If we had a chance to talk with men that have been forced to leave the ministry, and asked them what happened. I believe that 100% would say that there was a time when God's Word had a place of high authority in their lives. As time went along, they began to listen to others, lean on their own understanding, and believe in their own importance. In other words, God's Word became of low authority in their lives. That is what we see in these verses.

Paul gives us the cure for the moral decline. 2 Timothy 3:12-17 tell us that the cure is adherence to God's Word. In fact, the only defense that Paul mentions for a follower of Jesus Christ to be able to stand up and not get sucked into the decline that is taking place, is to continue in an understanding and obedience to the written Word of God.
In other words, get into God's Word slowly, often and prayerfully. A great quote I once heard said this, "A Bible falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn't".

But many will say, "That is all good and well, but why try to understand something that is written by man".
Once again, look at verse 16. "ALL Scripture is given by inspiration of God." There is nothing in the Scripture about inspired men. When we talk about the bible being inspired, we aren't talking about men with a high level of ability. The world is full of people that are geniuses in music, poetry, and great thinkers. Only God gave them what He wanted said or written. They could only communicate this under the work of the Holy Spirit. So as a church, we believe the Bible is infallible, absolutely trustworthy, and inerrant, free from error.

2 Peter 1:19-21 gives us further understanding. We are only going to look at verse 21 for this blog. Verse 21 says, "No prophesy (not a prediction but a message) of Scripture is of any private interpretation". This is not saying that you can never interpret God's Word. The Greek translation for this passage would read that Scripture did not come from any personal disclosure. Man did not come up with this stuff on his own. Man is not capable.

Hebrews 4:12-13 gives even more about the nature of God's Word. Please read this in its entirety, but I am going to give the short version. God's Word is living, powerful, sharp and penetrating. He does not look at the merit of your actions but reveals your motivations. "Things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account."
So if God's Word is infallible, inerrant, authoritative, living, powerful, sharp and penetrating, how should I accept that Word? How should I apply God's Word?

Psalms 119:140 says "Your Word is very pure; therefore Your servant loves it." We must LOVE His word. We must claim His words, we must live His words and we must share His words. Psalms 119:11 says "I must hide His words in my heart so that I will not sin against You." I want to repeat the quote from earlier, "A bible falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn't."

Thanks for each of you that are praying for our faith family. If you are close, please come visit us. We want to show you God's love.
Prayer request
1. Launch Sunday, Sept. 20th
2. Family Fun Day Sept. 12th- reaching the community
3. Workers
4. Those that God is bringing to our church
Your brother in Christ,
Randy
James 1:27

What is the Bible to you?

2009-08-21T18:53:00.000-07:00

An unknown writer said, "This Book is the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding; its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler's map, the pilgrim's staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword, and the Christian's character. Here paradise is restored, heaven opened, and the gates of hell disclosed. Christ is its grand subject, our good its design, and the glory of God its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently, prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure. Follow its precepts and it will lead you to Calvary, to the empty tomb, to a resurrected life in Christ; yes, to glory itself, for eternity. "

This Sunday we will look at the bible and ask, "Is it absolutely trustworthy?" Many ask that question. Or they try and pick it apart. Or they try and find one part that is incorrect to show that the bible is a nice book, but that is all.
Is the bible God's Word? If it is we must believe EVERY word. If it isn't, then we must not claim any of it. We will be looking at 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Psalms 119:105 and 140, and 2 Peter 1:19-21. As most of you already know, we will look at others, these will be the main text I use.

For those of you who were at my ordination, you will recognize a familiar verse that was preached and one that I use often, 2 Peter 4:2 "Preach the word!" Not my thoughts but God's word. That is why we use so much scripture.
If you are questioning scripture or asking what the bible is to you, then please join us this Sunday. We meet for worship at 10:30 a.m. at Midway Elementary School, 4805 Atlanta Highway in Alpharetta, GA.
Your brother in Christ,
Randy

Where has the church gone?

2009-08-18T13:03:00.000-07:00

It is wonderful when you are faithful to the calling God has given and then see His faithfulness. As most of you know we were blessed to have Liberty Baptist Fellowship partner with our church. They will give us $1000 per month for the next twelve months. It was a true blessing to be around so many people that are focused on the growth of the church.

Secondly, we sent our first money to an orphanage in India. As most know, we take 10% of every dollar tithed and set it aside for mission work at orphanages. We also tithe 10% to our cooperative program that helps fund missionaries. Then we take another 10% out to help families fund adoptions. It is very clear what kingdom work God has ordained our church to do.

As most of you know my true passion is one on one evangelism. Sunday night I had a chance to talk with a lady named Jackie. As we talked I noticed an accent. Without me saying anything she began to tell me she was an orphan from Kenya. She and her siblings we orphaned when her parents died at a young age. She and her husband moved to the Atates a few years ago. They have two small children. They are wanting to adopt now. I asked her where she was attending church and she told me but it did not feel right. I asked her what she was looking for. She was looking for a church that focused on orphans and adoption. I told I thought I might know of one that had that focus. As we discussed Sunday during the service, we must be a dwelling place for God's spirit. Then we must be willing. When He lives in you, you can't help but want to let it out. She and her family along with her sister in law and her children will be joining us this week. There is even more to this story but I will save it for another time.

So this week we asked the question, "Where has the church gone?" We answered the question, "Who is the builder of the church?". Matthew 16:18 tells us that Jesus built the church. But I think we miss the second part of this verse. He tells us, "Even the gates of hell will not prevail." He will defend the church against those that want to destroy her. This is beyond comfort for the church. This should make us more passionate about the church. He will love the church, protect the church and die for the church. How much more passionate should I get about the church? We cannot take church lightly. We can't make excuses of why I can't make it or why I can't help. Look at what He was willing to do for the church. What are we willing to do?

Next we answered, "Who is the head of the church?" We looked at Ephesians 1:21-23. We see here that Jesus is the head of the church. Not a pastor, or a deacon board, or any group that exists in the church. Not only do we see here that He is head of the church but the church is His body. If Christ is beautiful, what does the church portray? If you were seeking, would you want to come?

We concluded that so far it looks simple, but why then does it seems so hard? We have made church very complicated. We have so many programs to choose from. We could be at church all day, every day if we wanted. How do I decide what to do and where to serve? What does scripture tells us church should look like?

Acts 2:42-45 gives us 5 things that we should see in church. If we will just do these things, then it isn't complicated or intricate. It really is that simple. It doesn't require a cathedral or a monument. You can see these if you are meeting in an elementary school.
1. Continue in the apostles doctrine- As Galen Jones told me, PREACH THE WORD!!! What we need to teach and meditate on has not changed.
2. Fellowship- This is one area that you will see is a priority for our faith family. If you visited our church, the problem will be who do you go to lunch with. Not wondering if anyone noticed you.
3. Prayer- This should be like breathing in your day to day life. 4. Unity- Satan will work to bring divisions. Our unity is not built on earthly and fleshly things we have in common, but one the singular focus we have on Jesus Christ.
5. Take care of those in our family- As you can see above, that is what we intend to do with the money God has blessed us with. We need to be able to take are of those that need help.

At Family by Faith we strive to be a biblical church. Not one that is just fun and cool or one that has the latest gadgets. Not that there is anything wrong with having those things, but that can't be the attraction. The attraction has to be Jesus Christ and the people that make up His body.

So is building this type of church easy? Can you do it quickly? 1 Corinthians 3:11-14 tells us that we have two choices. We can build with the easiest and most convenient materials. We can follow the common route and build with the most ordinary of things. These would be the wood, hay and straw talked about in the scripture. These were the materials that everyone was using. It allowed for quick building. But would it last? Would it withstand the test of fire? Or we can build with the rare, sometimes more difficult, precious materials. Materials that are less common, not as glamorous, but as scripture tells us, the parts that will last. If you were an orphan, which would you choose? I believe if you have never had protection and security in your life, you would choose the one that would allow you to live your life knowing it was secure. Knowing it would provide a life you desired but never thought you could find.

I pray that if you are looking for a family that is building that type of church, you allow us to bring you in and share about the builder and head of this house, Jesus Christ. The King of kings and Lord of lords. Please do not hesitate to contact us from our website if you any questions.
Prayer request
1. Preparations for launch Sunday, September 20th
2. Workers for launch block party
3. Stewardship that is pleasing to God
4. Complete dependence on God
Your brother in Christ,
Randy
James 1:27

Benefits of Knowing God

2009-08-11T08:06:00.000-07:00

God is amazing. With this being the last week before school starts, we had many out seeing family for the last time, or illness, or preparing for the kids to go back. Even under these circumstances, God sent someone to our faith family with a true heart and passion for children. God adds to our family each week. This is even with us not trying to reach out at this point. God knows out hearts and our passions and He is growing our family as He sees fit.

Last week we asked, "If you were going to be adopted into a family, what would you want to know"? I think you would want to know who they are and what are they like. So we answered that as we are adopted into the family of God, we must understand that He is our "Abba! Father!" and to understand what He is like we looked at Isaiah 40:25-31. We concluded that He has no equal, He is the Creator, He is unmatched, He understands all, and He is a giver.

Once you have been adopted then most would ask, "What's in it for me"? What are the benefits I will receive by becoming a part of a family. As I look at my own children that have been adopted I see so many benefits. They have received love that they would never have gotten. They have never missed a meal. They have a safe warm place to call home. So what are the benefits from being adopted into the family of God?

We must first understand why we are here. We are here because "God made me to love me". The same God that is so incredible from Isaiah 40 is the same God that wants to love me. So often when you adopt a child it takes them a little while before they open up and let you hold them and they love you back. While you love them from the moment you know you will be getting them, the child may not show that same love. So it is with our "Abba! Father!". He loves us dearly yet so often we don't understand and we don't accept Him completely. Please know, "God made me to love me".

Second, we need to understand that what our purpose is. God created us for the purpose of Knowing Him! The more your adopted child gets to know you, the more they desire to be like you. The more we know God, the more we desire to be like Him. We can only get to know Him through talking with Him daily and reading His word. You find out that God is amazing and he loves you regardless of your circumstances.
S
o what are the benefits for me as I am adopted into the family of God? He takes care of my needs!!! My daughter went off to college this week. As her Dad, I wanted to make sure all of her needs were taken care of. Can you imagine if I try that hard and I am so imperfect, how much more does our Heavenly Father do to take care of our needs?

There are four major needs God fulfills in our lives:
1. Provision- Matthew 6:25-33
It would be simple to say God provides food, clothes and drink. He tells us not to worry. He can take away our anxiety. What this scripture truly tells us is that with singleness of devotion, the child of God can enjoy complete confidence in God's care and guidance, which will free us from anxiety.
2. Peace- Matthew 11:28-29
He simply tells us to trust in Him. He wants us to lean on Him and learn from Him. That is what He means when He tells us to take His yoke.
3. Power- Philippians 4:11-13
Have you ever placed yourself in situations that you needed to experience God's power? We often say we are in up to our neck or in over our head. We have put ourselves in these situations and then we are in need of God's power. We are looking for a miracle. What this scripture tells us is, first, be content in all situations. Second, I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me. It may not be the miracle I was looking for but it will be God's way. Lean on Him.
4. Purpose- Ephesians 2:10
The first thing we must see from this scripture is that we were CREATED. Anything created has a purpose. We are not here by accident or chance. Also, we were created in His image. The scripture tells us we were created in Christ. His image. Ask yourself, what image do you portray? What do people see and what would they say?

As I looked over this powerful message, I made me think of my friend Ryan Bomberger. Ryan has an amazing story. Ryan knows he was created, that he is not here by chance or accident. If you want to understand this please go to Ryan's website, www.thisisryan.com. On this is a link at the bottom that is very powerful. Please spend time there and read. He and his wife Bethany are fellowshipping with our faith family and working in ministry with us.

Please ask yourself these question. Do you feel you feel you have no purpose? Do you lack peace in your life? Do you feel you are all by yourself? Do you never feel content? Is this you? Do you sit at home or at your place of work and cry or struggle with doing life alone? Please let me tell you about my adoption and the benefits. Let me tell you of a love that exceeds anything you could ever imagine. Please make sure you contact me at randy.grimes@familybyfaith.com. I would love to talk with you. Also, please visit our church and begin to feel the love of a family.

Prayer request
1. Those that God will be bringing into our family.
2. That we reach out to a hurting world that does not feel these needs being met.
3. Workers! We are preparing for our launch. We have so many incredible opportunities to reach a hurting world.
4. Financial stewardship and wisdom. As we prepare to launch, human nature tells us to want the best. What we need is what God gives us and prepares us for.
Your brother in Christ,
Randy
James 1:27

Knowing God Brings Fulfillment

2009-08-06T16:41:00.000-07:00

Why am I here and what is my purpose?

Have you asked these questions before? I am sure everyone asks at some time in their life. Maybe as you are going to college you ask what career you will follow and what should I major in. After you graduate and get a job you ask "Is this what I am going to do for the rest of my life?" Some people just say that their life has no purpose.

Scripture answers these questions clearly. The answer is found in knowing God.
1. God made me to love me!
2. God created us for the purpose of knowing Him!
Please read Jeremiah 31:3 and Ephesians 1:4-6. There is an everlasting love that he has for us. It is so great he thought about us before the world was ever made.
We are going to look at the needs God fulfills in our lives as we are adopted into His family and begin to truly know Him.

1. Provision- Matthew 6:25-33
2. Peace- Mathew 11:28-29
3. Power- Philippians 4:11-13
4. Purpose- Ephesians 2:10

I want to repeat that we were created for the purpose of KNOWING HIM!!! It is through this relationship that the deepest longings of our heart are satisfied, and we experience true life. This doesn't mean that all our perceived needs will be met the way we think. God provides for you according to His perfect understanding of your real needs.

Please be in prayer for our service on Sunday. If you are looking for a family to be a part of, looking for your purpose, or to experience God's love, please come meet with us on Sunday at 10:30.
Your brother in Christ,
Randy
James 1:27

What is God like? - Part 2

2009-08-04T04:25:00.000-07:00

I told a story Sunday during our worship service about my 4 year old Noah. One day I was standing on the landing of the stairs in our house. I was talking with my wife and all of the sudden I hear, "DAD!!!" I spin around and I see Noah flying through the air. I barely catch him. I set him down and ask him," Why in the world would you do that? Do you have a good reason?" He looked straight into my eyes and said very calmly, "Because you're my Dad." You see, his whole assurance was based on the fact that his father was trustworthy and was there for him. He knows me and believes in me. That is what knowing God is like.

One of the doctrinal statements for our church is the doctrine of God. Part of that statement says, "We believe there is only one true and living God. He is the Creator and Ruler of the universe." As I thought about that statement and thought about God and our adoption into His family, I had to ask the question, what would someone want to know that was being adopted into a family?

I felt like there were two questions that I would want to know if I was being adopted by parents. I would want to know who they were and what they were like. Are they strict and mean? Are they easy going? Do they discipline? Are they fun? If I were a child, I would want to know the answer to these questions. I believe as we share to the spiritual orphans, they want to know the answer to these questions about this Father we talk about.
1. Who is God?
Romans 8:15-16 "For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba! Father!". The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God".
Who is God? He is our Abba! Father!. It is a personal relationship. This is equal to calling our father's DADDY. It is intimate. These are the words Jesus used when he cried out to His Father. Please read Matthew 7:9-11. This scripture shows us that God is loving in all circumstances, caring beyond reasonable, protecting at His own expense and giving with love attached to everything.

2. What is God like?
Have you ever thought what it would be like not to know God? You would go through like trying your best with inadequate information to make sense out of a very confusing world. So where do we get our ideas about God? Just from what we hear on Sunday's or the stories told to us as children.

I would love for you to read Isaiah 40:25-31. I am not going to write the scripture out but I would like to make a couple of observations. Also, I don't use The Message version to preach from very often, but if you get a chance read these scriptures from that version.
Verse 26 tells us that we need to simply look up if we want to know what he is like. He placed every star in the sky and He knows them by name. Not one is missing.
Verse 28 tells us He never gets tired. A true Dad. I get exhausted chasing after mine, I can't even imagine that energy level to chase after children like me.
Verse 31 tells us to wait. Not a passive wait but an active wait. This shows confident expectations.

What the body of this scripture tells us is that He has no equal, he is the Creator, He is great, His strength is unmatched, He understands all, he gives power and strength, and He is a giver.
That is what our Father is like.

So what does he want from us? Jeremiah 9:23-24 simply tells us the He desires us to love Him, to glorify Him, and to be intimate with Him. We can only do this by being a part of His family, the family of God What you need to know is that you were created specifically for that purpose. Ephesians 1:4-6 tells us before the world was ever created we were predestined for adoption. We were created to be a part of His family.

If you have never been a part of His family or if you are unsure if your walk is still a part of His family, please contact us because I would love to talk with you about your adoption. I would love for you to know who God is and what God is like.

I want to thank everyone who is continually praying for us. This week we had a chance to partner with another orphanage. Pastor Ashir came to us from India. He has an orphanage that houses almost 100 children. They are in need of beds, bathrooms, and clean running water. He spoke to us and showed a very humbling video. We take 10% out of every dollar tithed and set it back to partner with orphanages. God is blessing us and we look forward to this relationship and many more God has already ordained.

Please continue your prayers so that we can do God's will. We love each of you so much.
Prayer request
1. Workers
2. Those that will be coming
3. That I can hide behind the cross and the people do not hear my words but God's.
Your brother in Christ,
Randy
James 1:27

What is God like?

2009-07-30T12:41:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered what God is like? Have you ever thought what it is like to be the Creator of all things and Ruler of the universe. I just wanted to be batman growing up and have that cool tool belt. I never dreamed what it would be like to be God. The reason was, is I never thought there would be a way to grasp that concept.

This week we are going to get a peek of what God is like. Read Isaiah 40:25-31. See if you can get a glimpse of God through that passage. Try to come up with as many adjectives (descriptive words) as possible from this passage.

Romans 8:15-16 will describe how Family by Faith sees God and wants others to experience God. I will give away the end of the story. He desires us to love Him, to glorify Him, and to be intimate with Him. That is the kind of Father I desire to be around. How about you?

If you have wondered what God is like and who He is, then join us this Sunday at 10:30 for incredible worship and being filled with His word. This is our first Sunday. Please be in prayer for us if you are not able to attend.
Your brother in Christ,
Randy
James 1:27

Why Children? - July 28 Update

2009-07-28T05:26:00.000-07:00

Each worship service at Family by Faith has brought new and powerful worship experiences. God continues to bless us in these beginning stages. First, while we had a number of our members gone for one final summer vacation or work schedules that conflicted, but God blessed us with 10 visitors. Second, David Glenn, our worship leader, had his whole band there and they were incredible. What a blessing to see men of God worship to an audience of One. After these blessings, the preaching was probably anit-climactic. God gave me a clear word to share and then Shannon Meuleman, our children's pastor, shared from his heart about his ministry and where God is leading him.

Eight months ago we did not even know Shannon and his beautiful wife Audrey. God placed them in our lives during a class Teresa was teaching. We connected and immediately knew that God had placed them in our lives to work in this ministry. It has been a relationship that was and is God ordained. I tell you this because often when churches plant, the last position they pay is someone to lead the children and youth ministry. They hope to find enough volunteers and people to step up and lead. This was the FIRST position for our church that was a paid staff member. This ministry is that critical to our faith family.

Matthew 19:13-15 gives a beautiful picture that explains why children's ministry is critical to the life of not only Family by Faith but to every church family. The disciples are sitting around having deep a theological conversation with Jesus. They finally have Him to themselves. After watching Jesus be around crowds, they had Him to get answers to many questions. These were important conversations. So important that a child should be not bother them. So important that a child should probably be kept in a nursery or a room with crayons and coloring books. But someone brought these children to Jesus. The preacher, oh, I'm sorry, the deacons and elders, no that's not right, the disciples, rebuked them. "You need to leave because this is grown up business" they must have said. But our Jesus said in verse 14, "Let the children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven". We see Jesus again in Matthew 18:3-5 telling the disciples about humility by using children. Verse 3 tells us, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."

While those verses are clear and God's word is not complicated, let's look at another discovery to find out how important children are to God and the church. I preach from the NKJV, so I looked up how many times certain words were used in the bible.
1. Worship- 112 times in 105 verses
2. Hope- 143 times in 134 verses
3. Faith- 245 times in 229 verses
4. Love- 362 times 323 verses
5. Sin- 446 times 393 verses
6. Children- 1366 times in 1192 verses

If children and childlike qualities are that important to God, how important should it be to us, the church? At Family by Faith, it is a crucial ministry that we have invested in. Not just financial investments but spiritual investments.

At Family by Faith, we are going to join hands with parents in this church and the community in bringing children to Christ. We desire to be instruments in bringing children to Christ. We desire to bring them to His care, His grace and His mercy. We desire to teach the gospel and model God's love. In doing this we will watch them bear fruit!

But what we need to realize, is that not only are these children dependent, but we must be dependent on our Father. We need someone to stand up on our behalf. We are sinners and weak. While we think we may be strong adults, we are actually just like weak and helpless children. We need someone to stand up for us when we fail and are weak and sin. 1 John 2:1 is one of the most exciting scriptures for those of us that are weak sinners. Verse 1 says, "My little children (I love when He calls me that), these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an ADVOCATE with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous". Jesus stands up for us when we are not able to stand up for ourselves.
Prayer requests
1. Launch Sept. 20th
2. Children's workers
3. Listening to God's direction, not our own
4. Those spiritual orphans (the lost) that God is going to bring to our faith family

Your prayers are felt weekly. Please continue to pray. And if you are in the neighborhood, we start our Sunday services this week. Bible study at 9:30 and worship at 10:30. Once again, we love you and thank you for your prayers.
Your brother in Christ,
Randy
James 1:27

Remembering what it is like to be a child - July 25 Preview

2009-07-23T09:51:00.000-07:00

Harry Truman one said, "I have found the best way to give advice to your child, is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it".

Have you ever thought about how draining children are? Have you ever become tired, preoccupied without enough time in the day for children? That is where the disciples are in Matthew 19:13-15. The disciples wanted all of His attention. "We don't have time for these little kids," they must have thought. Please read this passage and see what it says to you. This will be one my main text this Saturday night.

You see, one of the unique things about the Christian faith is the emphasis on children. This was demonstrated by Jesus love, compassion and attention toward children. At Family by Faith we want to join hands with parents in showing love and compassion to the children but more importantly work with parents and our community in bringing these children to Christ.

As we are adopted into the family of God we become His children. This same love that he commands us to show these children, He shows us 100 fold. Read 1 John 2:1. Once we are His children, our Abba! Father! (Dad) stands up for us when we can't stand up for ourselves. Come prepared to worship in spirit and truth. The truth of knowing He is on our side. If God (my Father) is for me, who can be against me.

What is Worship? - July 21 Update

2009-07-21T04:47:00.000-07:00

Have you truly ever sat back and thought that you get to talk to the King of kings and the Lord of lords. The One who created everything above us and under us. The One who has placed every star in the sky. The who gives us grace, mercy, the Bible, salvation, the Church and His Son. HE IS WORTHY TO RECEIVE OUR WORSHIP!!!!

This week we asked ourselves, what is worship? At Family by Faith, we define worship as: Expressing our love to God. But how should we worship? John 4 starts with Jesus ministering to a Samaritan woman. He is explaining the Living Water. As He talks with her, she is convicted to seek forgiveness of her sins and then she realizes she needs worship time in her life. She asks Jesus how and where she should do that. His answer is one that has led to much discussion over time.

Verse 24- “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth”.
You see, she is like millions of people that think worship has to take place at a certain time or a certain place. Jesus explains to her that genuine worship cannot be isolated or contained to a single place or to a process.

Jesus gave two critical components to worship.
1. We are to worship in spirit - God is Spirit. As a result, any worship that is to reach God must therefore be spiritual in nature. The rituals and practices of the flesh will not suffice to produce spiritual worship that is acceptable in the sight of the Lord
Authentic worship can only be found in a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. We must know that true worship must be practiced in truth - What this means is that our worship must be built upon the knowledge of Jesus Christ. The truth about Him builds inside and what follows is worship. Truth is the catalyst for all genuine worship.

One other scripture that few use to explain worship is Revelations 15:2-4. In this scripture it tells us that we must be God focused and worship after VICTORIES. As a church, we are going to intentionally celebrate victories in our faith family. We will celebrate not only big victories, but intentionally celebrate small victories. Often in church, we take up prayer request, we pray and then there is no follow up to see how God has answered. We will do this so that our community and the world can see that God is faithful and answers prayers. Our celebration is WORSHIP!!!

Other types of worship:
Prayer - Hebrews 13:15
Song - Ephesians 5:18-20
Lord's Supper - 1 Corinthians 11:26
Tithing - 2 Corinthians 9:7
Giving of Time - 1 Corinthians 12:14
Bodies as a sacrifice - Romans 12:1-2

As you stand before Jesus, the only way you can have authentic worship is when you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Our worship leader is David Glenn. He is a man of God and incredibly talented. If you get a chance, go to his website (www.davidglenn.com) and see what our worship is like at Family by Faith.

Prayer requests:
Children workers
Financial wisdom- Prioritization
For those that are coming to be a part of our faith family
For those that God has planned to minister within and outside our church

Your brother in Christ,
Randy
James 1:27

Preparing for July 18th services

2009-07-16T05:50:00.000-07:00

God has moved this week as we prepare for our service, Saturday July 18th, at 6:00PM. We have had a chance to talk with people and see their hearts. God has brought more to our family whose hearts about adoption are evident and about serving Christ and building the Kingdom.

As we prepare for this week I just wanted to give a few thoughts for you to think about and help you to prepare yourself.
Worship: When do you worship? (times during the day or night)
What situations cause you to worship?
Who do you worship?

Read John 4:23-26
Verse 24 tells us to worship in, "spirit and in truth". What does that mean to you?
If you get a chance, go online and read how William Temple defines worship. It is beautiful but a little long for our discussion Saturday night.

So what do you think authentic worship looks like and what is needed for authentic worship?
Please be in prayer that we focus on the living Savior as we prepare for worship Saturday. Pray that there is only genuine, authentic worship at Family by Faith. Pray that no one ever puts themselves above worship or try to be in front and try and upstage worship.
Prepare yourselves as you enter into the presence of the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
Your brother in Christ,
Randy
James 1:27

Our First Services - July 11, 2009

2009-07-13T20:20:00.000-07:00

WOW!!! God answers prayers. We held our first services on Saturday, July 11 and God showed up! God has listened to our prayers that we worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. He heard our prayers that we want to reach out to those who need to hear the Word. He heard our prayers for Him to bring others into our family who can do many of the details that need to be accomplished. He answered with our incredible group, and then added to that group. We had a tremendous night of praise and worship and then getting into His word.

We will meet on Saturday nights for the remainder of July and then begin Sunday morning worship in August. I hope if you are close you can come by and visit. I could keep writing about God's blessings but I think you get it.

We looked at what ministry should be about. We defined ministry as: Meeting needs with love. We know people are hurting and they will look at how we respond to those needs. John 13:35 says, "by this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another". People will watch if we respond in love, or out of obligation or with an unkind heart. 2 Corinthians 3:2-3 tells us that people outside the church or those who are testing the waters will read us more than they will read the bible.

2 Corinthians 3:2-3 2- You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3- clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written no with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

We must minister to the needs of those around us and in our faith family. As a faith family we will be reaching to orphans around the world and meeting those needs with love, but even more so we will be taking care of thee need in our faith family and in our community. If you see someone in need, don't respond only if it is convenient, or if it fits into your schedule, or only if you feel safe. Respond to their needs with love. Meet them through ministry.

I want to give you some thoughts from Warren and David Wiersbe. They wrote a book in 1983 titled, "Making Sense of Ministry". Here are 10 important points that we need to put into practice if we want to truly minister to those in need and meet their needs with love.
1. The foundation of ministry is character- not professional skill
2. The nature of ministry is service- not being served
3. The motive for ministry is love- not money or power
4. The measure of ministry is sacrifice- not success
5. The authority of ministry is submission- not pulling rank
6. The purpose of ministry is to glorify God- not glorify ourselves
7. The tools of ministry are prayer and scripture- not a marketing handbook and an ingratiating manner
8. The privilege of ministry is growth- which may be in depth rather than numbers
9. The powers of ministry is the Holy Spirit- not programs
10. The model for ministry is Jesus Christ- not a corporation or man

Please continue to pray for Family by Faith. Satan hated what happened last Saturday night. Satan will attack us from every angle. Pray for a hedge of protection around our faith family and all that He has planned for us.

Prayer requests:
1. Children worker's
2. Stay focused on the vision that God has given
3. That we reach those that have not been reached
4. Strength- only that He gives 2 Cor. 12:9, "My grace is sufficient, for My strength is made perfect in weakness"

Your brother in Christ,
Randy
James 1:27

Blinded by the god of this age - June 29 Update

2009-06-29T05:43:00.000-07:00

Do you know anyone who is blind? Have you ever lost part of you eyesight for a short period of time? What do those people fear? How would you know when there are dangers?

In 2 Corinthians Paul is writing to the church of Corinth because they have been invaded by false teachers. These people were eloquent, charming and impressive. Does that sound familiar? These teachers were challenging Paul's teachings. Paul told the people of Corinth what to be aware of. He wanted them to know where the dangers are.

In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul describes his ministry. It was a ministry of the Spirit, of life and of righteousness. After describing his ministry, Paul begins to tell them in Chapter 4 what to be aware of.

2 Corinthians 4:1-6
1- Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart.

He is telling them that even though there are those that are trying to tear down his ministry he will not lose heart. In other words he will never become weary or tire, no matter how great the task or the opposition.

2- But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestations of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in sight of God.

The words in bold characterize the devils activity. If Satan convinces you to doubt that Christ can do what He promises, he will have blinded you to what your life is really like and what it could become.
3- But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those that are perishing, 4- whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

The god of this age, Satan, tries to blind us from truth. John 14:6 tells us that, "I (Christ) am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man shall come to the Father but by Me". If Satan can blind us from the way, truth and life, then we will believe the lies.

5- For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus sake.

If he was not telling the truth then why would he be a bondservant (slave) to the people? It would be easier to tell the lie and then leave. This is what Satan does. He gets us believing the lie and then leaves us wallowing in the middle of our sin.

6- For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Praise God that it doesn't take a tremendous amount of light to overcome darkness. He has given us all the light to overcome. But this light can only come from that knowledge and understanding of the glory of God.

In Acts 26 Paul tells King Agrippa what his ministry will be. Verse 18 - to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God. With eyes open we do not have the same fears as those that are blind.

My prayer is that you ask Christ to illuminate your life and let you clearly see your spiritual condition so that you can help others open their eyes to see the power of God.

Thank you for your prayers and all of your support. God is doing amazing things.
Prayer request
1. Children's workers
2. Those that God is leading to our church
3. Wisdom on financial decisions that need to be made prior to launch
4. Many in our faith family are going through family struggles

Thanks for all of your prayers. Please bathe us is prayer as we draw nearer to our first service, Saturday, July 11th.
Your brother in Christ,
Randy
James 1:27

We were meant to live for so much more! - June 23rd update

2009-06-23T15:05:00.000-07:00

Have you ever asked the question, "Am I doing all that God has planned for me"? Many of us at some time question ourselves because we get caught in all the WORLD has to offer us. We fail to see all that God has to offer us. We fail to ask if that is the direction God has planned for our lives. We fail to see those around us in need. We fail to see those children that have little or nothing. We fail to look at our lives and see the over indulgences. We fail to reach out not only when it is comfortable and safe, but also when if is not comfortable or safe. Many of us truly want to dive deep into real and genuine religion, the problem is we often don't know what that looks like.

We have often used James 1:27 as clear direction for us. "Pure and undefiled religion before God our Father is this, provide for orphans and widows in their time of need". This is a clear command for us to follow and very practical. Yet when we look at both parts of this verse, we have to be honest and say we often do not practice pure and undefiled religion.

While that verse is very clear in giving us direction, we must also look at others to get this clear direction. We have to continue to answer the question, "Am I doing all God has planned for me"? James 2:14-17 gives us a clear understanding of what real, practical and realistic religion looks like.
14- What does if profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15- If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16- and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled", but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?
17- Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead.
Once again, a beautiful picture of what real, practical and realistic religion looks like. What this describes is genuine faith. When we have a genuine faith in Christ, we will live like Christ. We will do things as He would do them. We look at life through different lenses. When we look through those lenses we see those in need and not those that are dirty, or of a different color, or of a different religion, or those that have committed what we would consider really bad sins.
What this makes us ask is, "Are we living the life of Jesus"?

As we consider James 2 we must also look at Ephesians 2:8-10. 8- For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, 9- not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10- For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians is telling us that we are not saved by good works but for good works. James 2 tells us that we will see those works as we live the pure and genuine faith. We can only see this as we live the life of Jesus.

One more just to drive the point home. 1 Corinthians 13:2 says, "and though I have all faith, so that I could move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing". Once again, that genuine faith, the one that makes me live like Jesus, will supply all the love, power, strength, wisdom and resources I will ever need.

So I come back and ask, "Are you doing all that God has planned for you"? Not from the worlds perspective but from God's.
Prayer request
1. Stay focused God's will and not mine. (James 1:5)
2. Children's workers
3. Logistics fall into place as we draw closer
4. Those people that God is going to bring to our faith family. That we may be able to minister to them.
Thanks for all each of you are doing for the Kingdom of Christ and thanks for all of your continued prayers.
Your brother in Christ,
Randy

The Source of our Hope - June 13 Update

2009-06-13T17:48:00.000-07:00

"Our hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus blood and righteousness…. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand"

How wonderful are the words to this old hymn that was written in 1834 by a poor laborer from London. He was raised in a godless home and was never allowed to look at a bible. He developed his relationship with Jesus later in life and realized that he would never have money or fame, but his hope was built on the rock, Jesus Christ.

As many of you know I was ordained as a pastor last week. During my ordination questioning, we talked about hope. 1 Peter 3:15 says, "always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear". Since then I have spent much time asking my self how I would answer some of the questions differently. This week this old hymn came to me. I would have answered, MY hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness. This is THE solid rock. Righteousness speaks of the state of being right with God. We can only receive this through Jesus Christ. I have heard it stated before that this is being in right standing with God. God lives in me and His word lives in my heart.

Back to hope. Unbelievers are without hope. Ephesians 2:12 tells us that, "at that time you were without Christ…having no hope and without God in the world". I hate when preachers use those three dots, but for the sake of getting to the point in a blog post I will use them. Without Christ equals no hope. In our world today we see so many people that have lost hope. Some because of the loss of jobs, money, family, title, homes, or friends and prestige. There are only two ways to lose hope. First, you have never had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, or second, you have become the prodigal son. All of your hopes have been placed in the things that we see many people going through today.

Family by Faith seeks to reach those that have never found hope or have become that prodigal son. We desire to show them God's love and that they experience this love and find this hope. Our desire is that they experience God's love and know that His words from Jeremiah 29:11 apply to them, "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future".

They need to know that the things of this world will disappoint and let them down. Those that have no hope need to see and understand Romans 5:5, "Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us". We want to see the excitement in their faces as the realize the promise found in Romans 15:13, "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit".

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteous. Christ is my solid rock. Family by Faith is excited about those that are seeking hope because we have desire for them to see this hope in our Father in whose family they will be adopted into and receive this hope that no one can take away.

We are already praying for those that He will send our way. Please pray for those spiritual orphans (the lost) that God will place in our paths. Please pray that we will be ready to share what we are commanded to in 1 Peter 3:15. We MUST share the reason for the hope that we have. That hope is found in Jesus Christ.

Prayer requests for this week
1. Those spiritual orphans God is putting in our paths.
2. Children's workers
3. Being good stewards of the blessings that God has given
4. Humility in knowing that everything is by God and is His. John 15:5, "Apart from You I can do NOTHING"
Thanks for all of your prayers and thanks for all each of you do for the Kingdom of God.
Your brother in Christ,
Randy
James 1:27

Unconditional Love - June 8th Update

2009-06-09T05:36:00.000-07:00

Webster's' Dictionary
1. a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.
2. a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend.

Above is how Webster defines love. When we add the word unconditional we add, limitless or absolute. I still think this is so inadequate to define the love that God expects us to have toward one another. Last Wednesday night I had two fathers that had just adopted little girls talk about the love the thought they would have for these little girls before the came home and how does that compare to the love they feel now. They both talked about being willing to do anything for them, sacrifice, and not realizing they had this much love inside themselves. What was funny, I did not hear many of the words because all I could see is their faces light up when they talked about these precious little girls. They both got the biggest smiles, they sat up straighter, and you cold see their chest swell as they talked about these little girls. I think this is how He wants us to be when we talk about our love for Him and His love for us. We should se these same physical changes.

1 Corinthians 13 is what many call the love chapter of the bible. Verses 4-7 give the descriptions of God's love and how he expects to love one another. vs. 4- Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; vs. 5- does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; vs. 6- does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in truth; vs. 7- bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

As you read these, ask what descriptions are most meaningful to me. What areas do I struggle with in loving others? Family by Faith is truly about loving others. Loving those that are not lovely. But as we claim this we still need to understand God's love for us. Romans 6:8 tells us, "God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us".

I did nothing for that love. How many people have you loved even though they have done nothing to deserve and can do nothing in return? That is what He is talking about.
But we have to ask one question. What must be true in our lives for us to be able to demonstrate God's love? We must KNOW Him personally. 1 John 4:8- "He who does not know love does not know God, for God is love".

Last week God showed again that He is God and He is in control. As a new church plant finances are not abundant, yet it is ALL His. It is to be used for His glory and not our personal needs. There was a need with a parent. They were in need on money to help with food and housing. We first prayed for guidance and God provided money from many resources. They were still short and need $450. As a faith family we knew this was the first of many times God will challenge us to step out and provide as He is instructing. So often we look and say, this is not in our budget or we need that in other places. God expects to answer in LOVE. Our church wrote the check and a few days later God answered again. A family that is not a part of our church, heard about what our church was about and wanted to help. We received a check in the mail for $4,700. While God does not always answer with money He definitely answered that we were faithful and open to what His will is for our church. All He expects from us is to live in the middle of His will. He will direct our paths. God is incredible!!!

Thank you for all of your prayers. We love each of you so much. Please never hesitate to email us back and let us know how we can lift you up in prayer.

Prayer request
1. Children's ministry workers
2. More and More paperwork (I hate it)
3. Begin to prepare hearts of those that God is going to direct to our faith family
4. Preparing for July 11th. Our first service on Saturday

Thanks for your prayers.
Your brother in Christ,
Randy
James 1:27

Weaving Families Magazine

2009-06-03T07:13:00.000-07:00

Family by Faith Worship Center and our personal story is featured in a new online adoption magazine called Weaving Families Magazine. The magazine is a project of Weaving Families Adoption Ministry. RJ and Rebecca Caswell of Weaving Families have been a tremendous support to our family and our ministry. The article about our family begins on page 22, but you will enjoy reading the entire magazine. The focus is adoption and people serving vulnerable children and families worldwide with a Christian perspective. Weaving Families Magazine is a free online publication so spread the word to your friends, family and others who are interested in adoption.

May 30th - Church Update

2009-05-31T17:00:00.000-07:00

Dear Prayer Partners,
I believe it is fair to say we are at the stage where there are not enough hours in the day. God is blessing us with so many that have heard about our church by word of mouth and they want to hear more. Teresa and I love doing supper table evangelism.

Our church received the approval of the Georgia Baptist Convention for us to join in ministry with them. This also includes us partnering with North American Mission Board to support missionaries all over the country. With that brings more paperwork. GBC gives start up funds for a church plant. As most of you know, paperwork is not one of my favorite things to do.

We are close to having our start up budget completed along with our monthly budget that will begin in August. We will have our website up and going by the end of June at the latest. All of our leadership team will have church emails by that time. We will be purchasing our liability insurance this week so that we can begin our move into the school that we will be holding worship services in.

God has blessed us with an incredible lady who specializes in public relations. She is developing a plan so that we can get the Family by Faith name out all over metro Atlanta and beyond. What a blessing she has been to me and our faith family. God has blessed us with a gentleman who is incredible at developing websites, flyers, powerpoints, etc.. We have developed an incredible flyer that we will begin to mail and hand out as the time draws closer. We have a couple whose passion is medical ministries. They have many ideas of how to tie Christ and the church to this passion. We have many families whose passion is the children. Their hearts want to see these children to know and grow in Christ. These children will one day know they are part of the family of God because of their adoption in Christ.

One answer to prayer from the last few weeks is that God has brought and INCREDIBLE worship leader. He is an wonderful godly man that has already blessed me in our meetings and time together. As we move forward I will give you more information and let you know his website so you can hear some of his music. Continue to pray for him and our faith family as we move forward doing God's will.

Jeremiah 15:16: "Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by Your name.

In tough times God's word is always sweet. As we move forward and get farther into His word and doing His will in our lives, He wants us to be bold and of great courage. This week as things piled higher and higher God encouraged me with the following scripture.

1 Corinthians 15:57-58 57- But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Prayer requests:
1. Finish GBC paperwork
2. Starting children's worker training in June
3. That God will being the right people to work in our children's ministry
4. Many in our faith family were sick or traveling this week.
5. My ordination this Sunday. God is incredible that at this age he can use someone like me.

We love each of you and want to thank you for all of your prayers.
Your brother in Christ,
Randy

A blog re-do

2009-05-29T10:18:00.000-07:00

I'm in the process of giving this blog site a re-do and it will become the blog for our church, Family by Faith Worship Center. If you'd like to continue to following our personal journey, you can visit our family blog at www.journeytojeremiah.blogspot.com.

Blessings,
Teresa

Trip postponed...for now

2009-05-19T06:41:00.000-07:00

We have returned from a great time of rest, relaxation, and reflection. Randy almost had to pull me kicking and screaming away from the beach, as I love the coast and the soothing rhythym of the ocean and seeing the beauty of God's creation.

I wanted to let you all know that we have made the decision to delay my trip to Uganda to begin the guardianship/adoption process. In the past few weeks, we have felt increasingly that this was not the time to undertake such a all-consuming emotional, physical and financial journey. And, God has graciously shown us that He has provided for the immediate need we were being called to respond to in other ways. We have been blessed by the responsiveness of other families who have stepped forward to love and parent these children.

God has challenged us as this time in our lives with giving birth to Family by Faith Worship Center. We feel that, in addition to caring for our current family, this is our most important responsibility right now. When we completed our assessment with the Georgia Baptist Convention they were concerned about us having too many balls in the air; and that we couldn't really comprehend how demanding this church plant was going to be. We've been prayerfully considering all of this, and feel led to the decision we have made.

I'm particularly struggling as there has been so much work involved in preparing for this trip. There is a bit of grief too, after thinking that there is a child waiting there that is supposed to be "ours". We are certainly not closing the door on adopting from Uganda, and we will continue to try to be responsive and obedient to where God leads.

We are at Emory University Medical Center today and the trip took us almost two hours in the height of rush hour traffic this morning. I may not have shared before on this blog that our youngest child, Jeremiah, has a rare genetic condition called Fabry Disease. He is the youngest child in the world to begin enzyme replacement therapy for the treatment of this disease. We are truly living in the realm of "experimental medicine". It is a unique place to be in when even the leading experts and physicians are doing some guesswork about the long term effects and benefits of treatment. Jeremiah is having his seventh treatment today. We had previously been told that if he was going to have a reaction it would be between the fifth and seventh treatments. We thought we were almost out of the woods. Then, this morning, they told me that the reaction would occur between the seventh and ninth treatments. So, praying for several more weeks that the treatments continue to go smoothly.

A bit of this and that

2009-04-27T18:53:00.000-07:00

What a week this is going to be! Lots going on and lots to share.

I don't think I have mentioned before that Randy and I are currently taking classes through our local county DFACS office to become licensed foster/adoptive parents in the state of Georgia. The classes amount to 20 hours of training and this is the first step in the process. Tonight, we attended the fifth of seven classes. Two more to go! We have been trying to do this for YEARS and it has never worked out and we just made a commitment that we needed to get this done now. In part, because of the church start-up and the fact that we hope to encourage others to consider the possibility of becoming foster and adoptive parents for children in state custody. The state's website for children who are legally free for adoption is www.myturnnow.com. This is certainly not every child who is available in Georgia, but those who are considered harder to place and more recruitment efforts are needed to match the child/children with potential adoptive parents. Most families do not realize that there is little or no cost involved in this type of adoption.

It is an exciting week for us as our oldest son, Chris, will be graduating from college this Saturday. Chris got married almost two years ago and at that point he had 10 classes to go to finish his degree, so for the last two years he has been a husband, full-time employee, and student. We are so proud of him for his hard work and his commitment. We will have a big celebration this weekend with lots of family coming from out of town. Be watching for the photos! Our second son, Derek, has just finished his second year of college and our daughter will finish up her freshman year next Friday.

Our little guys have been loving the unseasonably warm weather. We had temperatures in the mid to upper 80s all weekend and again today. They love being outside! Being outside and playing so hard sure makes it easy to get then in to bed. Our littlest, Jeremiah, has an important medical procedure on Thursday.

I leave for Uganda four weeks from today! I spent a lot of time this weekend really reading about and researching Uganda. It occured to me last week that this has all happened so quickly and that I haven't had the time to really learn about the culture and history of this country that already holds such a special place in our hearts.

We are continuing to make great progress on the planting of our new church. Several new families will be joining our leadership team this week. So exciting! We also approved a logo for the church last week and we will be sharing that and other developments soon.

During Jeremiah's adoption, I kept a journal of scripture verses that were particularly meaningful to me and I found myself reading back through that journal today. One verse really stood out to me..."The Lord of hosts has sworn saying, surely just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand." (Isaiah 14:24) Thank you, Lord, that you are in control of all things great and small.

News bit...

2009-04-20T05:19:00.001-07:00

Here's a little bit of what we've been up to over the past few days...

Friday night, we celebrated with our good friends Kelly and Nathan who finalized the adoption of their beautiful baby girl Sasha earlier in the day. We are blessed to have been a part of Sasha's adoption and to see the joy she has brought to Kelly and Nathan. Our Noah LOVES baby Sasha. If you ask Noah if he wants a baby brother or baby sister, he will say "sister". Then, if you ask him what he wants to name her he will say "Sasha" in the sweetest little voice. She has made quite an impression on all of us to say the least.
Jeremiah had his fifth enzyme replacement therapy treatment for his Fabry Disease on Thursday and it went very smoothly. This was critical because if he is going to have a reaction to the treatment it will occur between the fifth and the seventh treatments. Please keep praying that the next two treatments go just as smoothly.

My sweet baby boy said the words that will melt any momma's heart a few days ago. I was going from one room to the next and I said "I love you" to Jeremiah and he said "I love you" back. I was stunned! I walked back into the room and said it again, and then he said it again! Wow! Absolutely PRICELESS!!!

I have just finished reading "Love in the Driest Season" by Neely Tucker. It is an autobiographical story of one family's extraordinary efforts to adopt a little girl from Zimbabwe. It was a wonderful book! It was written several years ago but I still think it is a "must read" for anyone who is considering adopting from Africa.

Scripture I've been dwelling on over the past few days: "Long before He laid down earth's foundations, He had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of is love." (Ephesians 1:4 from The Message)

The offer of a free subscription to Family Fun magazine for a donation of $10 or more to our Ugandan adoption fund has been EXTENDED! Don't miss out! Thanks in advance for your support. Leaving five weeks from today for Uganda!

A journey of a thousand (or 16,000) miles begins...

2009-04-13T07:03:00.000-07:00

Last week, I shared that we are planting a new church in the north Atlanta area called Family by Faith Worship Center. This is a major part of our life right now. For the past two years, God has been doing an amazing work in our lives and in developing our personal ministry. He has grown and stretched both Randy and I more than we could ever have dreamed. Today, it’s time to share something else that we have been working on for several months.

Six weeks from today, I will board a plane bound for Uganda with the intention of beginning the process to add another child to our family.

Why Uganda?

Good question. First, we are not trying to build our own little United Nations. Our intent is only to go where God leads. Our goal is to live a life of submission and obedience to the will of God. Why? Because we have received the ultimate gift of eternal life by the sacrificial death of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:15 says, “And He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again”.

For over a year, God has given both Randy and I a vision of an African or African-American child joining our family. We could both see a “mental picture” of this becoming a reality. Last summer we hosted two young boys who were part of a traveling choir group from Uganda and that really introduced us to this East African country. Both Randy and were deeply impacted by a Steven Curtis Chapman song called “Yours” that refers to the “dirt roads of Uganda” and it had an emotional impact on us that we couldn’t explain. It became one of the anthems of our adoption and orphan care ministry.

War, poverty, and AIDS have left an estimated two million orphans in Uganda. While we knew the number of children in need was great, we did not believe it was possible to adopt from here. No U.S. adoption agencies were working in Uganda at the time. Then, in December, we connected with another family who had just brought two toddlers home from Uganda and we discovered that yes, indeed, it was possible to adopt by gaining guardianship of the child in Uganda and then completing the adoption here through the U.S. court system. It is a very new process that only a few U.S. families have successfully completed, and we truly believe that God is calling us to pioneer this program. We are hopeful that if we can help pave the way, hundreds of other children can be united with loving families.

We began working on our homestudy update in early January with the clear intention of Uganda. During the process we became a little bit discouraged and thought that maybe a domestic adoption would be easier. Through a series of events, God reminded us that He doesn’t call us to do what is easy or most convenient. He calls us to be obedient! IT’S NOT ABOUT US; it’s about what He wants to accomplish through us. We got the clear impression that to do anything other than Uganda at this time would be an act of disobedience.

We believe that if God has planted the seed in our hearts for this journey, there is a specific child that He is calling out from this area for a special plan and purpose. Our prayer is that we will nurture the child to see and realize God's plan for their life. I will be visiting and working in the orphanage for a week in hopes of identifying this child. I am praying I will have wisdom, discernment and a “God’s eye” vision of His divine plan being set into motion.

Yes, our lives have taken a much different turn than we could have ever imagined 10 years ago. We acknowledge daily now that His plans are greater than our plans. We are so grateful for that! We are blessed by the way that God, in his wisdom, has chosen to weave the tapestry of our family. We look forward to embracing this new thread! Boy? Girl? Age? It’s all in His hands! Come join us on this God-sized adventure.

And, by the way, I’ll earn over 16,000 frequent flyer miles for this first trip.

Why did Jesus come?

2009-04-05T19:26:00.000-07:00

Galatians 4:4-8 (New King James Version)
4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Have you ever really considered all of the reasons God sent his son, Jesus? If you asked most Christians the short and sweet answer would probably be “to save us from our sins”. While that is true, I love the detailed account that Paul provides in Galatians as to exactly why God sent Jesus to earth in human form. There are four specific reasons that are outlined in this scripture. First, God sent Jesus to redeem those under the law (verse 5). The second reason (also in verse 5) is that we might receive ADOPTION. This is the true definition of a forever family; becoming a part of God’s family by faith in Jesus Christ! The third reason is that we might have an “Abba! Father!. This is the most intimate term Jesus ever used in calling out to God. It is the equivalent of us crying out “Daddy!” And, in verse 7, Paul presents the fourth reason which is providing for us to become heirs. In Romans 8:17, Paul even uses the term “permanent heirs”.

Why did Paul use the term adoption? He is the only writer in the New Testament to use this term and he does so five different times. Paul was an expert on the law. At the time of his writings, under Roman/Syrian a man could disown a biological child at any time for any reason. But, if a man adopted a child, he could never disinherit that child. The adopted child was a permanent heir!

If someone asked you to summarize the entire Gospel or the Bible in its simplest terms, you could do it this way—Creation, The Fall, Redemption, Adoption. Our adoption into the family of God offers the same thing that earthly adoption does…the opportunity for a new life. Simple and straight forward? Yes! And, sometimes, matters of faith just shouldn’t be so complicated.

Time to let you in on a little "project"

2009-04-03T11:12:00.000-07:00

Most of you know by now that we have an adoption ministry called Jochebed's Hope. (www.jochebedshope.org) Well, it's time to let you all in on another little project we've been working on.

In late 2008, God began to reveal "the rest of the story" to us and He began sharing a vision of a church that would focus on adoption and orphan care as its primary ministries from a physical, but more importantly, from a spiritual perspective. We are right now in the midst of planting a new church in the north Atlanta area called "Family by Faith Worship Center". The mission statement of the church is "To unite all people into the family of God through the process of adoption by faith in Jesus Christ". While most of the time, churches are birthing ministries, but this is a case of a ministry birthing a church. Family by Faith will be affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

As a church, we will unapologetically promote physical orphan care and adoption. We believe that James 1:27 and Matthew 25:40 command us to care for those who cannot care for themselves. Psalms tell us to be a helper to the fatherless. 100% of our mission work will be to orphanages and we will financially support and provide for those within the church who wish to adopt. Even more importantly we will seek the spiritual orphans and those in need of spiritual adoption. The true "orphans in their distress" are those without a relationship with Christ. And, while it is terrible to be an orphan in this lifetime, it is even more disturbing to think of being an orphan for all eternity. We are going to use the metaphor of adoption as a powerful evangelism message. We will focus on the fact that our adoption into the family of God through faith in Jesus Christ is the foundation of the Gospel.

Our timeline is to begin holding Saturday night services during the summer, and we will move to Sunday morning services in August when school starts back. If you, or someone you know, would like to learn more about Family by Faith, you can reach me by e-mail at teresa_g64@yahoo.com.

Powerful food for thought!

2009-02-23T05:24:00.000-08:00

Someone sent me this quote last week and I love it! I thought I would share:

"The effects of sin include abandonment. The purpose of the gospel is adoption. The kingdom of darkness works feverishly to create "fatherless generations." The church must commit itself to a parenting culture, both spiritually and physically."~Glenn Burris

Nothing great in life ever happens without passion

2009-02-08T19:48:00.000-08:00

That was the message truth for a new series we began at church today entitled, "What would you do if you only had one month to live?" It is definetly a thought-provoking message series. The overall theme for today's message was "Live Passionately" and the scripture reference was Mark 12:30..."so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy". How does one live passionately:

1. Do something OUT OF THE ORDINARY!

2. Expect someting AMAZING!

3. Create some space for GOD.

4. Set something apart as a constant REMINDER.

Over the new few weeks and months, we will begin to share how this message applies to our lives and to where God is calling us and leading us. For now, I'll share this, "Immediately, he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God." (Luke 5:25). That verse is a call to action. It means when God presents us with a plan and calls us to do something, He expects us to respond in obedience. That is our prayer...that we will see His plan clearly and we will have the courage, energy, and passion to respond to His commands.