As you all know by now, Haiti was hit last year on January 12, 2010 by a devastating 7.0 earthquake. It’s been slightly over a year now, but the needs of this country are still great and they are just as much in need today as they were a year ago when the tragedy occurred. Even prior to the earthquake, Haiti ranked as one of the least developed countries in the world, and has an approximate population of 10 million, with most citizens living below $2 per day.  Our Ministry would like to give our community another opportunity to respond in prayer and giving as many of you did so last year.

We partnered with an amazing organization last year called One Days Wages, and we are grateful for the opportunity to be able to join with them again this time as well. What we appreciate most about ODW is their honesty and transparency. 100% of the over $5000 we received (minus c.c. transaction costs) went directly to the relief and rebuilding efforts in Haiti, and we want to extend our sincere gratitude to those who contributed to this need.

We showed a video this past Sunday (January 16th) from Eugene Cho, founder and director of One Days Wages, in which he shared where and how the donated fund were used and about the current state of need in Haiti. There is still much that needs to be done, and we want to ask you again to renew your commitment to Haiti through your prayers and financial support.

If you would like to give online, please visit our Haiti contribution page at www.onedayswages.org/binnerri.

*All donations are tax-deductible.

Click here to view the embedded video.

And Paul goes on and ends this passage in verse 10 with this amazing truth, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV) In other words, we are God’smasterpiece in the making. We are all works in progress, and He’s not done chiseling us into the beautiful work of art that He’s envisioned for us from the very beginning. And like a seasoned Master sculpter, He knows every nuance, every crack, every crevice, and every blemish, but He also knows what the finished product will look like in the end. And He will continue to do a work on us until His work is finished in us. So my friends, be patient, but also take comfort in knowing that the Master sculpter doesn’t create junk; He only produces masterpiecesof which you are one.

I came across this video entitled, “God’s Chisel” that I wanted to share with you. And my sincere prayer is that you would be encouraged as you watch this, and that it would be a reminder of the work that He is doing in your life every single day. Remember, you are God’s Masterpiece in the making.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This was such an incredible reminder for me, not only of my personally calling to love and care for the broken through the power of the Gospel, but my need for the Gospel as one who is broken himself. The reality is I am that broken and mishandled rose and so are you, but Jesus wants the rose, He loves the rose, and He gave His very life to redeem the rose.

1 Corinthians 5:21 states, “God made Him (Jesus Christ) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.“ And as I thought about this amazing truth, I words to the chorus of the song, “Above All,” came to mind:

Crucified, laid behind a stone
You lived to die, rejected and alone
Like a rose, trampled on the ground
You took the fall and thought of me
Above all

May this amazing truth, the Gospel, give us the strength and encouragement to live this day.

“I have come that they might have life, and have it with abundance.” This is one of Jesus’ most famous sayings. It is what we would think of today as a mission statement. But when he says he’s come to give abundant life, what exactly is he promising? Life turns out to be one of those words that everybody knows but is surprisingly tricky to define. (You might give it a try yourself.) Here’s the best definition I know: life is the inner power to make something happen.

Put a rock in the ground and it just lies there. Put a seed in the ground–something happens. It takes in nourishment and begins to grow. It receives from and gives back to the world. Something happens because the seed has life in it that would not otherwise happen. To be alive is to change the world.

Jesus came to give you power far beyond your own to make wonderful things happen. This life begins as our own thoughts and desires become rooted in him, just as a seed becomes rooted in the ground. Then out of the abundance of confidence and joy in this inner life flows creativity and strength to make good things happen around us. So today, be a ‘make something happen’ person. Invite Jesus to do this with you. No passivity today. When you’re in a meeting, and an idea comes to you–say it. When you’re with someone who’s discouraged–encourage him or her. Write a note, say a prayer, tell someone thanks, call a friend, notice beauty, challenge your mind, solve a problem, give a gift to someone who needs it, take someone to lunch, sow a seed, plant a garden. Be abundantly alive. Make something happen.

God has given you and I the incredible opportunity to do something today! Let’s seize this day for it truly is the day that He has made. And let us rejoice and be glad in Him for He has given us another day to grow as we encourage, pray, and sow in the lives of the people He has placed in our lives.

We wanted to share a letter we received this past week from our Singles retreat speaker, Pastor Sam Park.

Greetings Binnerri EM from Los Angeles!

It’s been almost two months since my visit to your wonderful community, and yet, so many aspects of that weekend are still vivid in my mind.  Thanks to you, I have been watching more “Minute to Win It” clips on Hulu!  I can’t stop thinking about the BBQ restaurants that Pastor Kye took me to.  Yet, I am most grateful for the individuals whom I met, both at the Refuel retreat and at the Sunday worship services, and the conversations that took place at both venues.  I was overjoyed to hear that the feedback from the retreat was, in general, quite positive.  I was so happy when I was asked to write an article for your website to, perhaps, refresh your memory of that weekend.

The first evening got off to a bit of a late start (but isn’t that the case with most retreats?).  Yet, despite the fact that most of you were so tired from the drive over to the retreat site, you all hung in there and I really appreciated that.  The message that night dealt with redefining our common notion of “passion.”  In reality, we were reacquainting ourselves with the original meaning of the word.  We discussed the fact that passion is not just an intense feeling.  Instead, passion comes from the word meaning “to suffer.”  As Christ has passion for us, and indeed suffered for us, we too, in order to be passionate followers of Christ, must suffer for His sake.  Discipleship has a cost.

Saturday morning’s worship focused on the sacrificial path of the cross.  We meditated on the cross, and in particular, through reflection on the hymn of Christ found in Philippians 2.  We saw that the paradoxical truth in Christ is that life can only be truly full, if we empty ourselves in obedience to God.  Moreover, the practical way in which that self-emptying is displayed is in service to others.  Discipleship has a way.

The final message for the retreat spoke about the relative ease with which people who make even strong commitments to Christ can “go back” to their life before Christ.  At the end of the Gospel of John (this is after the resurrection!), we find Peter and some of the other disciples pretty much in the same place as when they were first called to “follow” Jesus.  We learned that our love of Christ is best demonstrated in our love of others.  Despite our failures, and our backsliding, Jesus calls us to follow him, and become his agents and ambassadors in the world.  He commissions us to ministry to a hurting and broken world with his love, and only as we minister to the world, as Jesus did, can we ever hope to know Jesus intimately; become more like Jesus.  Discipleship has a purpose.

It is my sincerest prayer that these messages have taken deep root in your hearts., and that it will bear much fruit in His time.  I once again thank you all for being such gracious hosts, and I pray that God would abundantly bless your community!

In Christ’s service,

Pastor Sam
Community Church at Holliston

These verses have been constant reminder for me, because I’m the type of person that likes to have the newest and latest toys and gadgets. And so Jesus’ words have been a daily, humbling gut check for me. And just today I came across a blog post from pastor and author John Ortberg on the importance of leveraging our desires for good. Here’s an excerpt from his post:

So my task is not to get rid of desire. Its to learn how my desires can lead me toward the person God made me to be. So here are the three laws of desire:

1. Acknowledge my desire. There’s no use pretending to God that I don’t really want that gi-normous house; he already knows. A desire named has less power than a desire hidden.

2. Reflect on my desire. Desires are so powerful that I am apt to think I am my desire. There is actually great freedom in stepping back from it and realizing that I am not identical to any of my desires, and none of them get to have veto power over my life. Very often–just like birds desire to fly and fish desire to swim, my desires are important guides about what God made me to love and to do.

3.Surrender my desire. This doesn’t mean renounce it. It means to place it in the context of my greatest desire. I can do this only because what I want more than any particular outcome is life; and the life I want can only finally be found in God.

My hope and prayer is that we would feast our eyes on good things, and saturate our hearts with the Light of Jesus Christ, so that we may be able to shine forth His love and character in our lives.

“He (Satan) was a killer from the very start. He couldn’t stand the truth because there wasn’t a shred of truth in him. When the Liar speaks, he makes it up out of his lying nature and fills the world with lies.”  – John 8:44 (The Message)

Jesus calls him a killer and a liar, and his ultimate goal is to prevent us from ever experiencing the FULLNESS of being in a relationship with God our Heavenly Father. He wants to place as much distance as he can between us and God, because he knows that the closer we draw to our Heavenly Father, the more we start to look and act like Him. And there’s nothing he hates more than to see us emulating and imitating the character of God.

One of Satan’s tactics is to get us to a place, an environment, or a moment where he can entice and tempt us. And once we start buying into the lies he feeds us, we get dragged away by our sinful desires as it says in James 1:14, and soon afterward the deception clouds the reality of who God has called us to be. It even comes to a point where we often justify our behaviors, even though we know they are dishonoring to God. And this is why James exhorts the believers, “Do not be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.” (James 1:16)

In other words, don’t let Satan steal that relationship away from you. Don’t give the enemy the opportunity to leverage his lies, but hold fast to the truth and what God has so say about you. Don’t believe the lies of a killer, rather, place your trust in the Life-Giver.

And as the final episode came to a close there was one scene, and specifically one conversation, that really caught my attention (don’t worry I’m not going to spoil it if you haven’t seen it already). One of the characters reminds Jack Shepherd of the importance of the people he was surrounded with during his time on the island, and he says to him:

“The most important part of your life was the time you spent with these people. That’s why all of you are here. Nobody does it alone, Jack. You needed all of them and they needed you.”

And as I listened to those words, I was reminded of the importance of community in my own life. God never intended for us to journey through this Christian life alone. His desire and design from the very beginning has been for us to live in community with others. We need to surround ourselves with a person or a group of people we can trust to share our joys and our struggles, and all of us need a place where we can pray for and be prayed over.

Because you see, nobody does it alone. We need the encouragement and prayers of others, and they need ours as well. And who knows, the most important part of your life in this Christian journey may be the times you spend in community with others. So, I want to encourage you to give it a shot and to take that next step in your desire to grow as a follower of Jesus. Maybe that’s why all of us are here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I admit, when I watched this video for the first time I got goosebumps as well, but then, I decided to take some time to actually read the words. And as I read and meditated on these words, I couldn’t help but be encouraged knowing that the Almighty God of the universe desires to know me and love me as my heavenly Father. It’s so easy to forget this truth, especially when we fall down and mess up, but that’s the amazing thing about God’s upside down love for us; it’s unconditional, and this is the Truth. Below are the words to the video when they are read upside down. I pray that these words would encourage you this day:

God is Holy, we are not
This is “the Truth”
But there is so much more you don’t know
We have lost the connection to God but
Because of our dependency on Christ
We could be loved by God right now
I refuse to believe under any circumstance that
We are forever separated from God
And I am convinced of this because I know the heart of man
You do not deserve any of this
But you must know that you can be loved
That you are wanted; that He wants to know you
That God has a plan for your life
The Almighty wants to be your Father
I would be lying to you if I said that
You can’t know God and feel His presence
If we just turn things upside down
This is the Truth

Many people today are pouring their lives out and working for Jesus Christ, but are not really walking with Him. One thing God constantly requires of us is a oneness with Jesus Christ. After being set apart through sanctification, we should discipline our lives spiritually to maintain this intimate oneness. When God gives you a clear determination of His will for you, all your striving to maintain that relationship by some particular method is completely unnecessary. All that is required is to live a natural life of absolute dependence on Jesus Christ. Never try to live your life with God in any other way than His way. And His way means absolute devotion to Him. Showing no concern for the uncertainties that lie ahead is the secret of walking with Jesus.

It’s not about squeezing Jesus-moments into the business of our schedules, nor is it about consuming ourselves for His work. It’s allowing the light of Jesus Christ to permeate and penetrate every area of our lives. It’s about aligning our lives with His, and it’s a choice we make every single day. This is what it means to be a full-time follower of Jesus Christ. And I pray that we would make that choice to follow Him today and in the days to come.