The Love of God - An absolute total unconditional love.
The Gospel - It speaks rather about life, not living by the principles of right and wrong, good and evil.
Paradox - It is His strength in me, not me.
Weakness - Receiving the kingdom with His life and all its freshness.
Communion and Worship - A demonstration of receiving God because of our weakness.
Joy - My joy will remain in you and your joy will be full.
Freedom - It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.
The Father - The God who looks just like Jesus.
Each Other - We are free to love and be loved, to know and be known.

As we discuss what we celebrate in our church, first and foremost we celebrate...

The Love of God
We celebrate the absolute total unconditional love of God. That is because God in essence is love (1 John 4:8). Everyone believes that God is love and love is unconditional. So what makes us different? When we say that the essence of God is love we rejoice in that He is only love and can be nothing else. Jesus said when you see me you see the Father (John 14:9).

In Paul's letter to the Galatians he told them that when they move out of receiving and believing this love and fall back into the ritual of trying to achieve good works to help God be pleased with them, they had fallen from grace (Galatians 5:4). It was impossible for them to fall out of grace because God who is love is full of grace. But because they quit living by receiving this love and grace where their sin has abounded God's grace won't let them fall from him. What a glorious comfort and freedom this proclamation brings our church.

The purpose of this wonderful love of God is to take away our fear (1 John 4:18). Fear has to do with punishment or feeling that because we haven't measured up to be the Christian we should be, God is going to take some vengeance against us until we do better. But that doesn't take away our fear; that strengthens our fear. God's heart is to keep showing, declaring, ministering this pure or perfect extract of love because it says those who fear have not been perfected in love. It is impossible to worship a God who you are afraid of. Love and fear do not mix. They are like oil and water. God is love. He wants to take away our fear.

The Bible tells us that all the commandments are summed up in one statement: love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself. This statement is really incredible when you think about it. All the Bible, everything God came to say and will say and impart, is summed up in this one declaration. What must I know to see this one imperative happen in my life? First, it starts with knowing not only that I love God but knowing that he first loves me (1 John 4:19). As I hear, believe, and receive that he loves me then I love him, then I love myself, and I then love my neighbor as I love myself. Now I know I will then be in the process of seeing fear leave my life because more and more I am being perfected in this life. I rest in enjoying this unconditional love and God is pleased because he gets to receive my love and watch me give it to others.

For years I thought I believed all this about God but when I would look at the Old Testament it seemed like the God of the Old was sometimes in a bad mood and got angry quickly. The God of the New, which was Jesus, was there to appease the God of the Old and satisfy some of his anger. Several years ago God told me not to preach the Old Testament until it looked like Jesus. Now for the first time I feel that we do declare that God who looks like Jesus. The God of the Old Testament is no different in heart and essence than the God of the New. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not Jesus trying to reconcile the world for God (2 Corinthians 5:18). Jesus did not die on the cross to appease some angry God but God was in Christ ransoming the world back to himself.
What about his wrath? God's wrath is called a jealous love. In other words he is never mad at us. He is passionately mad for you. He is jealous with a passion to have his own world ransomed and brought back to him because his love burns that deeply and surely what he desires will happen.

An excellent example of the wrath of God's love is shown in Ezekiel 16 which is a lengthy allegory of unfaithful Israel where God takes Jerusalem through the story of how when she was born no one took care of her, no one cut her chord, washed her or took care of her. She was thrown into an open field on the day she was born. She was despised. God said when I passed by I covered your nakedness, washed the blood from you with water and entered into a covenant with you. When you became of age you trusted in your beauty and you became a prostitute, took some of your garments and made gaudy high places and carried on your prostitution with the Assyrians and many others. Your prostitution was so insatiable you still were not satisfied so you included Babylon. Then God says in verse 38, "I was filled with wrath and jealous anger. I will destroy your prostitution and burn down your whore houses and then you will no longer pay your lovers, then my wrath against you will subside and my jealous anger will turn away from you and I will be calm and no longer angry." Why? Because he loves her. She is his and he will not let go of her because his love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8).

Another portion of scripture that has meant so much to me is the story in the book of Hosea. There we have another picture story of God's love for his people. He says to his prophet Hosea, go to the auction block where prostitutes are sold and buy back your wife who has been loved by another and is an adulteress. Why? Because God is showing Hosea this is what my people have done to me and my heart is to pay what it takes to buy them back and you will know the passion and pain of my jealousy and love no matter the situation and know that no matter the sin or the degradation of the pain of the sin my heart for the people is not changed. It is not what she has done, it is what I must do to get her back because my heart can settle for nothing less.

What about the rest of humanity? God says through this nation all the people of the world will be blessed in the same way. The passage goes on to say, "I will say to those who were not my people, 'you are my people!' and they will say 'you are my God.'" (Hosea 2:23). For God so loved this world that he gave his one and only son to pay the ransom to buy it back. He does not come in any way to condemn this world. It is already condemned because of the fall of Adam. He is come in this passionate, determined love to save it.

What about his justice? For years I thought that justice would be served by people getting handed over to punitive punishment for things they have done wrong, especially to God, and that punitive punishment would somehow cause God to have justice. That can't be true. If you steal my car you could go to prison till you die but there would be no real justice for me unless my car was returned to me. Satan came and killed, stole, and destroyed the world. There will be no justice until God wins his creation back, which he certainly will because he is just, he is love, and his love never fails.
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We celebrate the gospel
One summer about 11 years ago my view of the gospel began to be totally changed. Through the story about my daughter which I shared in "Our Journey", God made it clear to me bringing my attention to the fact that I was preaching a gospel which was really no gospel at all (Galatians 1:7). Concern gripped my heart as well as some disbelief and I remember saying, "God, I'm not sure I know what the gospel is." Over the years God has made it more clear what it is and what it is not. Gospel means good news. Simply put the gospel means that because Jesus died on the cross for our sin and that by believing and becoming one with the crucifixion we die with him and it is no longer we that live but that he lives in us (Galatians 2:20).

The Apostle Paul goes on to say that because we are dead to sin, we cannot sin ever again (Romans 6:1-2). He is not saying here that it is a matter of choice. He is saying it is a matter of possibility. He says that you who have died with Christ cannot sin again. How can this be if we all sin everyday? The good news is that it is not you that sins, but rather it is your sinful nature that sins (Romans 7:20). So when Satan comes and accuses and condemns us, our answer is that "you cannot condemn me because it was not me that sinned. It was my crucified nature that sinned". (Romans 8:1) Now my life is Christ and for me to sin, Christ would have to sin. But since we know that is impossible I rejoice in my own life which is Christ and in this new law which is called the law of life in Christ Jesus. I keep receiving the truth of who I am and let that truth have more and more rule over my flesh. We agree with God that our flesh is dead and we don't ever have to do anything to make it better or improved. So this law of life has now set me free from this law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).

Another way to describe the difference between the law of life and the law of sin and death is to go back to the fall of humanity in the Garden of Eden. In the Garden there were two trees: the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. We were told by God to not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. We ate of it any way and thereby sinned. This sin brought death. The problem today with so many Christians is that we still try to live by trying to do right and not doing evil.

However, this whole system is of the flesh and, therefore, death. When I think I have done good, I am full of pride. When I sense that I have done evil, I feel condemnation. Christianity is not living by the principles of right and wrong, good and evil. It speaks rather about life. Watchman Nee, in his book The Finest of the Wheat, Volume I (pp 220-221) said "What is Christianity? Christianity is life. It does not ask whether a thing is right or wrong. It asks instead what your inner life says: it is a matter of how the new life which God has given us addresses the situation."

How does this work practically? Recently, I visited with a couple having some marital issues. I told them both of you are gold. I look at you and see gold bars. I look at the wife and see nothing but beautiful gold bars. The problem is because you have not known that, because you have not heard who you are all your life and you've heard lies, you've got this huge vault of reinforced concrete all around your gold bars. They were having communication problems. I said the problem is you are a gold bar but by the time you speak through your concrete, which would be your pain and where you've been hurt all your life, been put under the law, been told you should be better and felt like if I would do better I would be loved, you have entered into self-hatred and God-hatred and then you hate your neighbor. It's a direct opposite of the great commission. These walls of concrete get thicker and thicker. You are gold but by the time you work through all your pain, work through your spouse's pain to get to their gold bars, and then they respond to what they think they heard, you've got war. You've got war and pain and destruction and everything that could be a part of death happening in this marriage relationship. But as you begin to receive the truth of I am a gold bar, that is who I am and breathe that and rest in that and affirm that, that gold becomes more affirmed and it begins to melt the walls around it of that concrete. If both of you do it, these walls of both of you get less and less because the shame is being destroyed. The condemnation is being destroyed. The conditions of being loved are being destroyed. All the wounds that have caused that are destroyed because you let God come in and receive the truth that you are the beloved. You are loved. That begins like ointment to heal those wounded places and marinate those places where the holy spirit can come and that wall melts away. As your walls melt away more and more, you've got gold speaking to gold. That is how you walk in a Christian marriage. But it starts with receiving the truth that I am who I am and God adores that and anything that comes against that is a lie and is not the truth. I am loved unconditionally and I receive that. Therefore, I begin to believe that I am loved, then I love myself, then I begin to love my husband and he begins to love you.
As we hear this our walls begin to melt because the gospel heals and makes us whole. We love God back because he has loved us so much and just as importantly we begin maybe for the first time to love ourselves then we love our neighbor because we see they are as gold as ourselves. Indian Hills is a community that is truly learning to celebrate and enjoy this wonderful gospel.
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We celebrate paradox
The New Testament is full of paradox. The last shall be first; the dead will live; wisdom is foolishness; you find your life by losing it; only the dead live; only the weak are strong; only those that know they are sick can get well; those that mourn are comforted; those that are bankrupt get the kingdom; those that are hungry and thirsty are filled. No wonder Jesus said this gospel is hidden from the wise and intelligent but is made known to the babes.

The Apostle Paul says that the cross is foolishness to those that are perishing but to those that are being saved it is the power of God. There is a way that seems right to man but the end thereof is destruction. The ultimate paradox is why did the God of the universe become a curse and die. It has to be a paradox because no one can figure that out. Now we have to be at the mercy of God to reveal it which lets us come like children. So Jesus said let the children come to me for such is the kingdom of God. A central paradox is John 12:24. If a grain of wheat dies it will bring much fruit but if it does not die it will remain by itself. So if you want the life of a wheatfield, the grain has to die. However, one of the most practical paradoxes for the Christian life is coming to the realization that weakness is strength.

Years ago I was a student at Southwestern Seminary. All I knew was that I was called to be a preacher and surely with God's help I could do it. That is all I knew. That is all I had ever been told. Soon after I got there I began to realize that emotionally, mentally, as well as spiritually, I could not do what it took to pull off what was required of me. The harder I tried the more desperate I became till one day I felt like a hamster that had been running on a wheel and fell flat on my stomach on the wheel and could not go any further.

To paraphrase my prayer, it was something like this, "I don't have a clue what to do nor am I even sure you are listening but all I know is I can't do this any more." A friend that very day, not knowing any of what I was going through, gave me a book called The Release of the Spirit by Watchman Nee. It is a real short paperback book that simply makes the statement that unless the strength of a man is broken to the place he knows he can't use it any more, he can never really be used by God. God never wanted me to use my strength but wanted me to continually give up my strength and be weak so that he could be strong in me.

Paul the Apostle said as much in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. Paraphrased, Paul said, "God I don't have the strength to deal with the weaknesses of my life. I don't have the strength to deal with the issues of my life. I have asked you three times to give me strength but three times you have said 'no, but your grace would be sufficient.'" It was like a light dawned in Paul's head for he realized the truth. It is His strength in me, not me. That is the way this life is supposed to work. The Apostle so caught it he said, therefore, I boast about my weakness so that God's power may rest upon me.
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We celebrate weakness
We take to heart and are encouraged by Jesus when he said blessed are the bankrupt in spirit for theirs is the kingdom. So every Sunday we come as needy "beggars" freed from having to do anything to please God from our own self effort. We also come convinced that we can't do it anyway. We celebrate receiving the kingdom with his life and all of its freshness because we come admitting that we are empty vessels. This gives God the freedom and the joy of filling us with himself.

One day Jesus was out beside the lake. A large crowd came around him. As he went along he met a man named Levi, who was a tax collector, and told him to follow him. Jesus went with Levi to have dinner with Levi and his fraudulent friends. Tax collectors were noted for being criminal, much like we would call the Mafia today. They made their money by skimming off the top of what they over collected, plus they worked for the Roman government and in a way betrayed their own people. They were quite a crooked and desperate lot. The religious church leaders criticized Jesus and said he was terrible because he ate with sinners and tax collectors. When Jesus heard them, he made this incredible statement, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick…"

The bottom line is this, if you can be good and do good (i.e. if you are healthy) then you don't need me because a physician can only come to and help sick people. At Indian Hills we certainly want Jesus to come so we freely acknowledge and celebrate that we are weak. The irony is that those that keep admitting they are sick can keep being made well -- another paradox. The sick are well and those that say they are well are sick. Crazy, but it's glorious freedom and life. It brings us great joy.
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We celebrate communion and worship
Most Sundays, we take communion together as a demonstration of receiving God because of our weakness. As we go and receive the bread of his broken body and the cup of his spilled blood we thank God for this gift. The root word for communion would be "thanksgiving." Thanksgiving means we are accepting something that we did not earn nor could achieve. It is a gift. We receive communion around this symbolic act acknowledge God who loved me so much that he went to the cross for me. I receive his broken body and blood I agree that I have died with him but also symbolically his body and blood are more in me. I will leave church this morning with a fresh agreement that God will be even more the reality of my life than when I came.

This is such a special time for our church. It is a time to marinate and reflect and let God's Holy Spirit have time to affirm and reason with us about his love and what that love causes us to do and to be. We thank God for this wonderful love and in our weakness we receive afresh his glorious grace and presence in our lives. We take Jesus at his word when he said come unto me if you are weary and burdened down with the cares of this life and I will take them from you and give you rest. My yoke is easy and I am gentle and humble in heart and I will give rest to your souls because you will freshly agree that you are the saved and I am your savior. Your life is my responsibility, not yours.

This causes us to celebrate. Around the time of communion we sing and enter into worship. Our praise and worship is built around the heart of all these things that we celebrate. Our songs are about affirmation of God's love and all the ways they have meaning in our lives. We have a chance to acknowledge weakness and sing about receiving this wonderful love. The following is one of the many choruses we sing. This particular chorus was written by our praise leader.

I Will Receive

I will receive,
The blessing of my King.
And I will glory in the mercies of my God
For His love has set me free;
Created life in me,
I will give thanks,
Because the Lord my God is Good
(Bridge)
I was naked in the face of my accuser.
Angry hands that bore the stones,
Were all that I could see.
Then Jesus wrote upon the sand,
That the Lord, the great I Am,
Has paid the price, and now this child
Belongs to Me!"

2002 Indian Hills Praise
Mike Grundy

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We celebrate joy
Many times we think joy is determined by our circumstances. If things are going well I can have joy. If not, I am sad. David in the Psalms said in His presence there is fullness of joy. So at Indian Hills we have come to better understand and celebrate this joy that is unspeakable and full of glory. How does that happen? When Jesus came to the very last night of his life, they had seen him do many miracles, tell hundreds of parables, demonstrate his kingdom in so many ways and his disciples watched him and tried to learn from him. On the last night he brought them all together and summarized what they were to learn from his life. He summed this up in John 15:1-11.

Jesus was trying to say to them you can't live the Christian life. God never said you could but he has and always said he would. He described this picture through these eleven verses as he told the story of the relationship of the vine and the branch. Jesus said my father is the gardener. I am the vine and you have watched him live his life through me for apart from him I can do nothing. Now I am going back to the father and I will send my spirit and he will be in you and I will be in you, the branch, the same way my father was in me, the vine. Just like I rested in my father and watched him do the work through me, you will rest in me and I will do the work through you. You will bear fruit: love, joy, patience… You notice Jesus never told them they were to produce fruit. That is a heavy yoke and a hard burden. He said you will bear it. It is my sap flowing through you that makes the fruit. You are not in charge. If you live in this rest and simply be at one in my presence, cooperate with my life and don't grieve or quench me, your joy will be full. In fact, he says the reason I have told you this is that my joy will remain in you and your joy will be full.

A word we use in terms of abide or be at home that is more real is the word "breathe." To breathe means to live. So breathe in me and your joy will be full. What happens when you don't breathe? When the air is quenched and you are suffocating, there is no joy. Jesus said simply be at one with my love. Don't make it any harder than that. So at Indian Hills we celebrate this simple joy of breathing and encouraging each other to remain there.

How do I know if I am breathing or not? The Apostle Paul gives another great verse in Colossians 3:15. Let the peace of Christ rule (or umpire) in your heart. Since perfect love casts out fear and in that fear there is no condemnation God is saying to us be free to live your life and my peace will lead you and guide you. There are no rules to follow nor human effort to churn up but my gentle peace like the wind blowing a leaf will guide you and that will referee in your heart and I am in charge of the rest. This kind of joy is truly full of glory and we are excited about that at Indian Hills.
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We celebrate our freedom
Paul said it is for freedom Christ has set us free. (Galatians 5:1) Paul admonishes the Galatians church to stand firm and don't be enslaved by a yoke around your neck. What are these yokes of slavery? They are all those religious rules and laws, oughts, shoulds, could's, that choke and chain us like slaves to a prison cell.

Brennan Manning is a wonderful theologian and author. He tells the story in one of his books that one day a woman in his parish came and brought him a sign that now hangs in his office. It says, "Today I will not should on myself." We declare that we have been freed from this whole demonic system which Paul earlier calls witchcraft and death.

In the truth of the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ we walk through the doors of the prison cell and like calves we are free to leap and run in fresh pasture. We take Jesus at his word when he said I came that you might have life and have it abundantly. There is no room for slavery in that kind of freedom. At Indian Hills we celebrate this freedom and continually receive the authority to expose anything false that would bring slavery to us. "'Christianity hasn't been tried and found wanting,' wrote Gilbert Chesterson, 'it has been found difficult and left untried.' Mahatma Gandhi once said 'I like your Christ but I don't like your Christians.' He gave us the reason. 'They are so unlike your Christ.'" (Lion and Lamb, Brennan Manning, page 49) We desire that our church will look like Christ.

As we celebrate our freedom, we must be careful to heed the words of the Apostle Paul when he said, "We were called to freedom: only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh but through love serve one another." A friend in our church recently shared how for a long time he thought that this "freedom" gave him a right to control his household and make all the decisions because, after all, he was in charge and this freedom gave him the right to rule as he pleased. A situation came up in his household about whether to get a dog or not. His wife wanted the dog and he did not. He realized that as he gave up his right to rule and in honor prefer, or "serve", his wife it brought great joy. Her joy brought him great life. As he became aware of this, with great excitement he called his wife to say "we are getting the dog." Later that night while at dinner, she asked why he had decided to get the dog. He said, "It is time I gave up my rights and control and enjoy what will bring you life. Freedom has brought them both life. Theirs is a fresh joy.
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We enjoy celebrating God as Father
The people of our church come from varied backgrounds of denominations. One thing that most of us had in common was that though we believed that Jesus and God were one, somehow we felt, for a lack of a different word, that they had different dispositions. Because of bad teaching our concept was that the God of the Old Testament was austere, demanding, hard to please, and was actually someone that we needed to be careful how we acted around. Jesus, on the other hand, was nice, sweet, kind and very approachable. There was a need for the God of the New Testament, which was Jesus, to save us from the God of the Old.

Needless to say not only is this theologically incorrect, but this type of schizophrenia has caused great confusion in the church. The Bible in describing Jesus in Isaiah 9:6 says, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given and the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called wonderful counselor, might God, everlasting Father, prince of peace." God is saying that Jesus will be called the everlasting father. That is why when the night before Jesus died, Phillip said to Jesus, "if you show us the father that will be enough for us", Jesus answered him by saying, "How can you say show us the father. Anyone who has seen me has seen the father." (John 14:8-9)

At Indian Hills we feel it is critical and absolutely essential to preach a God who looks just like Jesus. The myth that has caused great confusion that Jesus somehow came to save us from God is a lie of our tradition. Even though we have covered this in another section, it warrants repeating in the context of God as father that the truth is God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself (11 Corinthians 5:19). Years ago as I was studying for a sermon, God spoke to my heart very clearly and said do not ever preach the Old Testament again until the God of the Old Testament looks like Jesus. Through the journey of several years I am excited about entering into that declaration. Though not perfect the challenge is exciting and brings hope to our people. God as father means that though he is broken hearted and like the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15, many times he will release his children to have what they think they want in order for them to come to their senses and realize that there is no life that is as good as being in the loving fellowship of the father in his house. Though the parable in Luke 15 shows the son leaving in arrogance, confidently believing he would find joy on his own, the father waited patiently every day for his return and when the son returned the father ran out to meet him, covered his sin and shame with his kingly robe, brought him back to his house, killed the fatted calf and had a party for this son which was dead but was not alive. This is the heart of the God of the Bible.

One of the most important concepts about God as father is that he will discipline us. This is discussed in Hebrews 12. God the father as disciplinarian is called the act or word of encouragement (Hebrews 12:5). Therefore God disciplines us so that we may live and share in his holiness. "No discipline seems pleasant at the time but painful later on. However, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." (Hebrews 12:11) I have a son named Luke. When he was three years old and began to play in the front yard with his ball and plastic bat, I told him that if he went into the street for any reason that I would have to punish him. Sure enough, he went into the street. I saw him and came out and spanked him on his bottom. He cried and said I will never do that again. The reason I punished him was for no other purpose than to protect him and save his life. My punishment was an act of encouragement for him. I was jealous for him to live and not die. Because he was three and did not understand, to him the discipline was very unpleasant and even painful. The purpose of the punishment was to perfect him in love. This is the heart of God as he deals with us.

We preach Jesus is full of grace and truth and so is the father. It was said about Jesus that he was full of grace and truth. Jesus said when you see me you see the father so the father was full of grace and truth also. Many times people think that preaching grace means that God is like a sweet Santa Claus who is soft on sin. We preach the total picture of the father to show that it is because he is grace that he is not soft on sin. God will work in grace to free us from it so we can live. God's heart for us is that he came that we might have life and have it abundantly.

One of the most important benefits of sharing God as father is the fact that it brings security. 1 Timothy 2:3-4 says "This is good and pleases God our savior who wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. The word wants is a very interesting one in the original language. When you read that in our English translation the word wants seems to say that God would like for everybody to be saved but it's beyond his ability to do that much about it. That is sad because in the original language the word wants is thelo and it means definiteness, assurance, determinate purpose, resolve of spirit. It is the same word used in John 3:8 where Jesus said the wind blows where it wills. Certainly we know the wind doesn't sit over in a corner and want to blow somewhere but it can't. When the Bible says it is good and pleases God our savior who wants thelo, i.e. is determined in his purpose that all men be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth, the security is that it is God the father's heart that is so broken for his creation that he is determined to have it reconciled. This brings great security. This word is also used in Matthew 18:14 where in the parable of the lost sheep the Bible says "in the same way your father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost." In other words, God our father will not allow anything to stop his determined purpose of finding all sheep, even the one that is lost. This father's heart of God makes us secure and we declare this God at Indian Hills.

Finally, the most important fact that gives us security in the father's heart is that the Bible says God has sworn by his own life and every word from his mouth that he utters will be integrity and a word that cannot be revoked. What is this glorious promise and authority that God's heart has sworn with such integrity? God goes on to say that before me every knee will bow and every tongue will worship and praise me and recognize that I am the God who saves. (Isaiah 45:22-23) What a glorious declaration. Eugene Peterson in the The Message Bible captures the thought. I leave you here with his quote on this.
"So turn to me and be helped-saved!-everyone, whoever and wherever you are. I am God, the only God there is, the one and only. I promise in my own name: Every word out of my mouth does what it says. I never take back what I say. Everyone is going to end up kneeling before me. Everyone is going to end up saying of me, 'Yes! Salavation and strength are in God!'"

How could we not help but preach this glorious good news.
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We celebrate each other
Because of the communion of the oneness of our goals and purpose and desperate need, God has bonded us together with a growing atmosphere of safety where we are free to love and be loved, to know and be known. Because we are growing in the understanding of who we are and as we accept that love we are giving it more and more to each other.

We laugh with those that laugh and cry with those that cry because Christ is in us bearing each other's burdens. We don't carry these burdens like there is some heavy responsibility upon us to fix each other. We do, however, bear each other's burdens and participate in each other's journey as we live, share, and encourage each other with our own journey.

A good example is one night in a small group a person spoke while fighting back tears. He said God is working in my life but I don't like what He is doing. He said God spoke to him and said, "Do you not yet understand?" and then showed him a picture. The picture was of an old-fashioned schooner. All the oars were broken and there was no wind nor current. The ship was helplessly still. There were no cannon balls to be found for the cannons. There was an enemy schooner circling the ship and the men on the helpless ship began to play cards. He said what he came to realize was God has waited for me to get so totally helpless that I had to give up and turn my life situations over to him. I had to rest and play cards.

Obviously, God did not mean for him to be idle but he did mean for him to give God the responsibility of being the savior of his life. In other words, God wants us to be the saved, not the savior. The young man said this makes me angry. Another person began to encourage him with their own story and said the reason you are angry is the same reason I have gotten angry so many times. It is because deep down I don't know for sure that God is good and that he will follow through with being a savior I can trust. He agreed.

Several shared similar stories. His comment at the end was I thank this group so much. I feel so much better that I have been able to share this and know that I am okay. Our desire is that this type of spirit permeates everything this church does and everything we are at Indian Hills. Whatever activity we may be involved in, this is the spirit, the spirit of rest, love, safety, and unconditional acceptance, which makes us a special place. If this is a need that you have, we would love for you to come join this family.
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