Woohoo! It’s hard to believe it’s finally here – Grand Opening Weekend! Can you believe it? I’m not sure I can! I don’t use the word “surreal” very often, because I think it’s way over used. But it feels appropriate for this moment. We’re having an Open House Party, TONIGHT, 6-8pm, and YOU ARE INVITED! There will be food, balloons, music, pictures of the past year, and you’ll be able to walk through all the classrooms, playgrounds, and office space! Don’t miss it! Come and celebrate with us! It’s a drop by, so even if you’ve got other plans, drop by and celebrate with us!
And then, THISSunday, October 31st will be our Grand Opening Sunday!! Our Coastal Kidz Children’s Ministry will be meeting in their new facility! It’s going to be a great day! Invite and bring your friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors! If you serve in Coastal Kidz, Cafe, 1st Impressions, or Security, contact your LIFE Team Leaders and let them know you’re willing to jump in wherever needed. It’s going to be an “all hands on deck” kind of day! And if you’re interested in serving, there IS a place for you! Respond to this email, and we’ll get you connected. I hope to see you over the weekend!
On Sunday, please park as far away as possible to make room for our guests. If you have kids, please come early to help check-in go as smoothly as possible. While the new drive/road around the back of our building will be open, parking in the very back of our property will not be available yet. We need to wait on the grass to grow. You WILL be able to park immediately down the first drive and next to the old auditorium. Please try to come to the Open House. That’s really the time to walk around the entire new facility and check everything out. On Sunday morning, during services, Coastal Kidz will be a secure space and only parents, volunteers, and children going to class will be able to enter. Tonight you can park over at Orange Grove Middle School if our parking lot is full. If you have any questions, please reach out.
And one more thing, I don’t do this very often, but I’m asking everyone to give something above and beyond this weekend as a way to simply give thanks to God for everything He has done and provided for us through this new building. I don’t care about the amount, that’s between you and God, but let it serve as a tangible way to recognize your excitement, gratitude, and desire to leverage everything we have (including this new facility) for the Kingdom of God.
I love you Coastal, and I love being your Pastor! And I can’t wait to see you and your friends over the weekend! Together, let’s mark this moment in time and celebrate everything God has done in our midst!
This Sunday we’ll be in week 6 of our series on the Fruit of the Spirit, which means I’ll be talking about goodness. “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness. . .” One of the main points that we’ve made in this series is that the fruit of the Spirit is a gift. In other words, it is received by grace at salvation. That gift must then be developed. But God isn’t going to force you. And it doesn’t happen automatically. We have to work at it. We have to cooperate with God in the process – not out of fear or obligation. Heaven is already ours if Jesus is in our life. But we strive for goodness out of love and appreciation for what God has already done for us – out of a desire that God puts in our hearts to be truly good.
Philippians 1:6, “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work (Notice that it is God’s work. We are dependent on Him. We can’t do it ourselves.) until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”What does that mean? You see, even though when you become a follower of Jesus you are saved instantly and your eternity in heaven is secured instantly, it doesn’t mean you become “good” instantly.
You begin a process (the theological word is “sanctification”) where you gradually become more and more like Jesus every day. This continues the rest of your life – you cooperating with God to become good and develop all of the fruit of the Spirit in your life. But you never completely finish that process on this side of eternity – not until the day you stand before Jesus at the end of your life and He makes you perfect in every way!
Coastal, don’t miss this Sunday AND please invite and bring a friend with you! Invite your “ONE”, the person you’re praying for to receive Christ and come to faith. I am specifically going to be talking about how we are made good in God’s eyes through faith in Christ. I will be clearly sharing the good news of the Gospel, and I truly believe that people are going to be saved. Will you join me in praying for that? I love you Coastal and I love being your Pastor! And I can’t wait to see you and your friends on Sunday!
BEING & DOING GOOD BECAUSE OF JESUS!
Pastor Chris
A good friend of mine pastors a church in New York City. He says that he hears people say all the time, “New Yorkers are rude!” His response, “No, we’re just in a hurry.” Haha – I’m not sure if either statement is completely accurate, but I do know this – rudeness and meanness are definitely on the rise today. You see examples of that everywhere – people losing it on airplanes, cursing outbursts in grocery stores, fights at school board meetings, and the utter nastiness all over social media. I mean people are more abusive of each other, physically and verbally, than at any other time before. It just seems like people are on edge, ready to go off at any moment. What we used to know as common courtesy is just not so common anymore. Obviously, people are in a hurry today, but I think it’s more than that. I think being self-absorbed is probably the #1 reason we aren’t kind anymore. We are thinking about ourselves so much that we just don’t notice the opportunities we have all around us to show God’s love through kindness.
But we can’t let that happen. And here’s why. Because God gives us divine moments every day. Moments where God orchestrates encounters between us and another person so that we can show them kindness in a way that might change their life, that might show them God’s love! Kindness is so much more than just being nice or agreeable. It’s not just NOT hurting someone else. It’s love in action! Kindness looks for a way to improve somebody’s life. Kindness builds people up. Again it’s LOVE IN ACTION.
And that’s what we’ll be talking about on Sunday as we continue our series on the Fruit of the Spirit. “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness. . .” Out of all of the fruit listed in Galatians 5, kindness may be one of the most underrated fruits on the stand and yet the most needed today. The famous Quaker missionary, Stephen Grellet, once said, “I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.” He’s right. We only have one life to live. I pray that God would open our eyes and our hearts to see all the opportunities for kindness around us and that we would actually DO them – love in action. I love you Coastal and I love being your Pastor! And I can’t wait to see you and your friends on Sunday!
BE KIND!
Pastor Chris
This Sunday we’re in week 4 of our series on the Fruit of the Spirit, and I’ll be preaching on PATIENCE!! “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience. . .” Of all the fruit of the Spirit, I bet this is the one that most people would say is the one they need to work on the most. So what is it? Other translations use the word forebearance, long suffering. That’s the idea here. Being long tempered, the ability to be inconvenienced or even taken advantage of, and yet it doesn’t blow up, fly off the handle, or respond in kind.
Proverbs 14:29 says, “A patient man has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man displays folly.” That’s a great description of this word. It conveys the idea of being slow to get angry, of having a long fuse and a short memory. Unfortunately, we get that turned around, some of us have a short fuse and a long memory. The word literally means “wrath that is put far away.” If we are being controlled by the Spirit, then fits of rage will be put far away. Patient people are hard to provoke. Their temper can absorb a lot before they “lose it.”
In Colossians 3:12 patience is one of the character traits that Paul mentions that we’re to literally clothe ourselves with, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clotheyourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” So patience is part of our new wardrobe in Christ. It’s interesting, when Paul describes life outside of Christ, he often describes an angry life. In fact, right before he lists the fruit of the Spirit, he gives us another list, remember? And among the works of the flesh or the acts of the sinful nature that are listed earlier in Galatians 5, Paul mentions “hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, and factions.” What do they all have in common? They’re all rooted in irritation and anger. We need a change of clothes! We’re to put off those things, and in their place, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. The point is that these new clothes are a gift, but every day we have to choose to put them on. Make the decision today to put on patience. Come this Sunday and discover how! I love you Coastal and I love being your Pastor! And I can’t wait to see you and your friends on Sunday!
LIFE & LOVE!
Pastor Chris
Probably the most asked question I get lately is, “When are we moving in to our new facility?” Typically, my answer is, “As soon as I know, you will know. And right now. . . I just don’t know.” Several weeks ago, I mentioned that this weekend, October 3rd, was a possibility. Well, that possibility has come and gone. However, we are making big strides every day and we are getting very, very close. Every Thursday afternoon I have an OAC Meeting (Owner, Architect, Contractor) and after this week’s meeting, there is a very strong possibility that we’ll have a temporary CO (Certificate of Occupancy) sometime at the end of next week. Now, there are still several things that have to fall into place, but as I said, we are very, very close. I really think our first Sunday fully occupying our new space will either be October 17th or 24th. Once we get our CO, we still need about a week to move in all of “our stuff” and make sure all of our rooms and technology are ready and prepared for operation. So once all that takes place, we’ll announce our Open House Party and Grand Opening Sunday Celebration!
I actually think it will be quite funny and fitting if we do get our CO sometime next weekend. Why you ask? Well because we’ll be in week 4 of our series on the Fruit of the Spirit, and I’ll be preaching on PATIENCE!! Does God have a sense of humor or what? This whole process has definitely been a lesson in patience. But before we get to patience, this Sunday I’ll be talking about peace. “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace. . .” The Bible refers to God as the “God of peace.” Jesus is called the “Prince of Peace.”
The last year and a half has been anything but peaceful. Just the opposite. Turn on the news, and what do you see? Terrorist bombings, school shootings, racial tension, and political hatred and division. In fact, you honestly find yourself asking this question: “Well, if Jesus is the Prince of Peace, did He fail?” At the conclusion of Jesus’ ministry, before He goes back to Heaven, Jesus said this, John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” And then in John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Jesus came to bring peace. He said it Himself. So, again, did Jesus fail?
Well, I think it all depends on how do you define peace? The world defines peace as the absence of conflict, the absence of trouble. But obviously, Jesus had something else in mind. In fact, back in those verses in John, He said, “And the peace I give isn’t like the peace the world gives. In this world you will have trouble.” So that can’t be the kind of peace He’s talking about.
I meet and talk to a lot of people. You could say that comes with my job. It’s really rare to find people who are at peace. I talk to people all the time. I meet people who are busy. I meet people who are stressed out. I meet people who are tired, who are beat down, relationally, financially, and emotionally. I rarely meet people who are totally at peace, at peace with themselves, at peace with the world, and at peace with God. What about you? That really is the question of the day, are you at peace? How would you answer that question? Think it through. Are you at peace in the different areas of your life? Are you at peace relationally, financially, emotionally, physically? Are you at peace with yourself? Are you at peace with the other people in your life – your family, your friends, your co-workers? And most importantly, are you at peace with God? Don’t miss this Sunday as we continue this discussion. I love you Coastal and I love being your Pastor! See you Sunday!
PEACE!
Pastor Chris