So when Ed Boasso was the guest speaker at our church a couple weeks ago he was mentioning that in the last two years or so he found himself falling in love all over again with Christ Jesus. He was experiencing Jesus again through reading of Scripture and through fellowship and though praise and prayer. It made him both giggle and cry. I really liked that idea, that it’s ok for us to allow ourselves to be vulnerable emotionally. That we can experience Christ and reach a point of true authentic intimacy with Him, engaging Him in our heart and mind and relating to Him in our own way as the Holy Spirit leads us.
I think the challenge for us as Christians in spreading the Gospel to others is that there is an initial intellectual pursuit of God people have towards religion that can be a major hurdle to overcome in order to get them to experience Christ in a more personal intimate way. For example, I had a recent conversation with a client of mine. After a legal consultation about her court case the topic of conversation turned to religion. She was a non-Christian and proceeded to state, among other things, that she didn’t think the Bible was “fair” to everyone such as women. She believed in God but didn’t necessarily think any one particular religion completely articulated God as a higher power. This is a common occurrence, where people see the various religions in the world, such as Muslim, Buddhism, Christianity, and then conclude based upon their observations that they’re all talking about the same divine entity just in different aspects.
My response to her was that we have to be careful when we attempt to describe just who God is based upon the limitations of our human perceptions. It wouldn’t be a very awesome and powerful God if He’s reduced down to our worldly observations. In that sense God is unknowable to us as mere humans.
This is what I mean about how our minds create barriers in our attempts to draw closer to God. Non-Christians want the Bible to match up with what they see in the world according to what modern science and societal values have evolved into. They want the theology to make logical sense to them. They don’t see the Bible as a means to an ends of experiencing God but rather the end itself. They don’t see how God wants them to draw closer to Him through the Bible, not merely draw closer to the Bible. God wants us to draw closer to him through the fellowship, through praise and prayer.
I know that there are those in our congregation who initially struggled with the intellectual pursuit of Christ but eventually experienced incredible breakthroughs. Their initial intellectual understanding of God through Scripture was merely a gateway that opened up to a greater sense of God’s love for them. To see how they have been transformed and now have a genuine love and understanding of the Lord is a beautiful thing. That’s gotta come from God. amen to that.

From Pastor Mark’s Heart
February 23, 2014

We are coming out of a great conference weekend where we broached the topic of “Christ Centered Culture.”  The themes were consistent with what I believe we are going through as a community and the Lord certainly challenged us in what it means to be a community centered on Jesus.  The ability to love and care for one another comes not from human efforts and means but from a divine impartation and awareness of His love for us FIRST since “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).  However, though our intimacy with Christ precedes intimacy with one another in community, our relationships with the people around us do reflect our relationship with the Lord (1 John 4:7-21).  I’m convinced that everyday of my life I have to surrender to the rule and reign of God in my life, confess His great love displayed on the Cross of Jesus, and receive this love that was given to me by the Holy Spirit (though in human fair-ness standards, it’s difficult to accept since we deserve death due to our sin).  Then and only then as recipients of His love can we extend love to the people around us and to the world that desperately needs to see it. 
Henry Nouwen writes this about community:
“To care means first of all to empty our own cup and to allow the other to come close to us. It means to take away the many barriers which prevent us from entering into communion with the other. When we dare to care, then we discover that nothing human is foreign to us, but that all the hatred and love, cruelty and compassion, fear and joy can be found in our own hearts. When we dare to care, we have to confess that when others kill, I could have killed too. When others torture, I could have done the same. When others heal, I could have healed too. And when others give life, I could have done the same. Then we experience that we can be present to the soldier who kills, to the guard who pesters, to the young man who plays as if life has no end, and to the old man who stopped playing out of fear for death.

By the honest recognition and confession of our human sameness, we can participate in the care of God who came, not to the powerful but powerless, not to be different but the same, not to take our pain away but to share it. Through this participation we can open our hearts to each other and form a new community.” 
When I as a person realize I am as sinful as the next, I start to see that the grace and love extended to me is not more special or powerful than others.  Christ died and rose for all and His grace and love is sufficient for all.  Remind yourself of this truth everyday and be transformed by it and see how you begin to view the people and world around you by the renewed mindset which is transformed in the likeness of Christ.

From Pastor Keeyoung’s Heart
February 16, 2014