Waynesburg Christian Church

It's one thing to read about prayer....study prayer... or memorize some facts about prayer. It's another thing to show up honestly before God with all your doubts, dreams, disappointments and details...over and over again. What's the secret that keeps followers of Jesus showing up in prayer? This week we will continue looking at how to persevere in prayer.

What do John McClane, sports fans, and a story Jesus tells about a persistent widow have in common? Listen and find out!

Highlights of Jay's mission trip to Liberia.

Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do good things happen to bad people?

God's invitation to know him through prayer.

Some of you have questions... Is this God thing real? Is there an infinitely loving and good Author behind this grand story? If so, is God knowable? The answers to those questions can only be discovered... and you and I are invited to be found by God in the place he’s most faithfully been found throughout history - through prayer. Join us Sunday morning at 9:30 as we consider God’s invitation to know Him through prayer.

When does a boy become a man? This is a question that every boy wrestles with. There are all sorts of loud voices these days, but our Heavenly Father has some direction for every young man and every father.

Children long for the blessing of their fathers. That reality makes these words from Genesis 25:28 so haunting. “Isaac loved Esau... but Rebekah loved Jacob.” Esau grows up with the blessing and approval of his father while Jacob does not. Jacob goes to great lengths to fraudulently gain a positive declaration from his father. The aftermath is a mess... but somehow God transforms the mess into a message.

At the end of Genesis 21, life finally seemed to be settling down for Abraham... But in Genesis 22, God showed up asking for the unimaginable - to literally offer Abraham’s son, Isaac up to God. Abraham had to be experiencing anguish and agony as he and Isaac go on a father/son road trip. In the end, God steps in to provide a substitute. Hundreds of years later, another son of promise is placed on the wood and offered up, but this time it is God’s one and only Son. God spared Abraham and Isaac, but He did not spare himself to rescue us! As we begin our next sermon series titled, “Daddy Issues: God’s Amazing Grace for Fathers.” This series will help us to see how various fathers in the Bible were deeply flawed, but amazingly used, often in-spite of themselves.

Mary, the mother of Jesus. There may not be a better example of a mother in the Bible who personifies grit and grace. Unexpected twists and turns... promise and pain... God meets Mary in these things and can meet you too in the midst of your trials and in the midst of the moments that you treasure.

When we meet Hannah in the book of 1 Samuel, the first impression could simply be described as painful. She longs to have children, but she can’t. Her rival is constantly taunting her. Her pain is private and public, and the Bible tells us that this went on year after year (1 Samuel 1:7). But Hannah takes charge of her situation, and everything turns. Her face is no longer downcast (1 Samuel 1:18), and finally her dream of becoming a mother is realized (1 Samuel 1:20). What was Hannah’s secret? How did she take control of her life? The surprising answer is found in one word... surrender.

Imagine being in her shoes... There were no good options to choose from... Behind door number 1: Allow her newborn son to be put to death... Behind door number 2: Disobey the political superpower of the day and invite their wrath. Courage is rarely born of nice, neat, and tidy circumstances, but Jochebed (the mother of Moses) met this moment with courage, creativity, and faith - and God miraculously provided! Could God be calling you, in the midst of challenging circumstances, to respond in the same way?

I love how honest and raw the Bible is. If it were mere legend, the main characters would not be so rough around the edges. But the Bible gives us real people who encountered a real God in real life. In our next series, “Grit & Grace: A Biblical Look at Some Tough Mothers" we will look into the lives of some mothers and we will see some very high highs and some very low lows. We will also see how God met them in their circumstances and demonstrated His grace and love in powerful ways.

Stephen Spielberg, the acclaimed film producer, said in a television interview years ago that nearly all of his films deal with the underlying theme of homesickness because people are disconnected and pining for a place where they will feel safe and loved - like the extra-terrestrial in the film ET, we too long to go home. The Gospel of Luke concludes with the ascension of Jesus - but where does He go? In John 14, Jesus told His followers that He would go and prepare a place for them and come back to bring them to be with Him. The Bible talks about this home - in this place God “will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Revelation 21:4). We access this beautiful promise through faith in Jesus! He invites you and me into relationship with Him - where we can be fully known and fully loved. And when you get homesick, you can be reminded that Jesus can walk with you all the way... home.

Easter Sunday is in the rearview mirror. But the POWER or resurrection lives on. What did the resurrection of Jesus mean for Jesus’ earliest followers? What does it mean for us? How do we live in light of the resurrection?

In Luke 24 we meet two people walking down the road leaving Jerusalem heading to a town called Emmaus. They face real obstacles to continued belief in Jesus. For them the reality of Roman crucifixion meant the end of the hope that Jesus brought. They have heard some wild speculation about strange occurrences at His tomb, but how do they know what to believe? On the road they meet a stranger - He explains to them a different perspective - they had been hoping that God’s long story would redeem his people FROM suffering, but the stranger explained that God’s story was about how he would redeem his people THROUGH suffering! Eventually their eyes were opened, and their hearts were set ablaze - Jesus had risen from the dead and nothing would be the same again! Maybe you are on your own road to Emmaus - disappointed and disoriented - not really sure what to believe. Could it be that Jesus has been there all along and you haven’t recognized Him?