I know with all my heart that His blood has paid my ransom.

I am thankful that Deer Creek Campers church is a place to find hope and joy even in the midst of life and circumstance.

We are not a perfect church or a perfect people no, but we are on this journey to follow Jesus and find a place to find love through this body.

Value the Simple Things!

Change is happening in such a rapid pace that we just can even keep up with it. We may be suffering from technology fatigue. Perhaps we have made an idol of technology. What is an idol. anytime that we value something above God and his will we are engaging in idolatry.

We do need technology.  We would never get around without our GPS. But lets not forget to value the simple things; a hug, a cup of coffee with a friend, a note, a smile.  Perhaps we have even lost sight of the Simple Gospel?

“For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”John 3:16

The Simple Gospel

It begins with a God design. He created the world.  “Wow” Look at the beauty, the purpose, the design, the evidence of his fingerprint is all around us. Psalm 19 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God . . ”

All creation points to the designer who has a purpose and a plan.

The orginal world was perfect. It worked in harmony. He created man in His image. It means that we can create, we have value and we are loved by our creator and are designed to be in relationship with God. God made us with His purpose to walk with him and have a relationship with Him. To know Him and to be known by Him.

But something happened . . .

In Genesis, God saw all that He made and it was very good. God’s story was good, but something happened.

Being created in God’s image was not good enough. They wanted to be God and to have control. So Adam and Eve rebelled against their creator.

When we selfishly insist on going our own way, the Bible calls this sin.  We all have sinned and we distort God’s original design. What are the consequences of that?  We miss the mark!  Sin is separation from God. Paul writes in Romans “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God”.

No matter how good or bad we think we are, we have all missed the mark.  God had his original design how He wanted us to live in relation with Him and we have missed it.

The Wages of Sin

Paul goes on in Romans 6:23, “And the wages of sin is death”.  Sin leads us to a state of brokenness. If I was to talk to you about brokenness you and I could tell stories about brokenness.  Broken families, broken relationships, broken lives, broken society, broken educational systems, broken governments.  We could go on and on.  We see brokenness in our world.

Try to Fix Our Own Brokenness

Often when things are not working well for us we seek solutions and try to fix our own brokenness.  We turn to all kinds of things to fix it or fill this hole.  We could fill it up with work, relationships, drugs, or alcohol.  But it just does not work filling it up with these things.

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death”. Proverbs 14:12

We were not made to figure out life on our own. God made a way.  Our brokenness leads us to realize that we cannot fix it ourselves, we need a remedy.  We need some good news.

The Good News

That is what the Bible calls the gospel, good news.  Because of his great love he did not leave us in our brokenness, but Jesus came.  God in human form came to show us how to live this perfect life according to God’s design.  To show us the way home.  To show us the way back to God.  Jesus came to rescue us.  To do for us what we could not do for ourselves.  He took our sin and shame upon the cross.  He paid the penalty for our sin with his death.  And than Jesus was raised from the dead.

“For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “John 3:16

I am thinking sometimes those of us in the church have heard this story so often that it has lost its sense of awe.  For God, the one and only true God, the creator of heaven and earth loved you, loved us that he gave himself for us.

He gave his one and only son, that if you would believe, you would not perish but have everlasting life.

Admit, Turn and Trust . . . 

But simply hearing this good news is not enough.  What do we need to do?  Repent and believe.  What does repent mean?  It is a turning around.  It means my life was heading in this direction.  I was in control.  I was rebelling against God and I turned from something to someone.  I turned from my sin to Christ.  That is what it means to repent.  I cannot fix my brokenness.  I am not the captain of my own ship.  I am not the ruler of my own destiny.  So I begin to say I am turning from that of trusting in myself, or trusting in something else to turning to Christ.  To repent and believe that truth.  To admit our sinful brokenness and stop trusting ourselves.

We must ask God to forgive us.

Repent and believe the good news the writer of the Gospel of Mark says. (Mark 1:15)  When we restore our relationship with Him, we are being returned to that original design.  We were created to worship and walk with him.  To know him and be known by him.  To love him and be loved by him.  That is what happens when we experience this good news of the gospel.  We begin to rediscover God’s original design of why you were created and why you are here.

Even when we fail.  Once you have asked Christ to come into your life and establish that relationship the Bible says that he holds you in the palm of his hand and you are His forever.  What happens?  Well sometime along the way most of us mess up.  We think I have sinned, and therefore I must have lost the relationship.  You did not lose the relationship, you lost the fellowship.

Have you been mad at your husband?  You are still married but you are out of fellowship.  Sometimes when we are walking with God and living life and we sin.  You may think you have drifted.  You think I am not as close to God as I once was.  You have not lost the relationship, you have lost the fellowship.  That intimate communion that God made you for and wants you to experience.  So what do we do?  We go back to the gospel.  God forgive me.  I blew it.  Help me to walk in right relationship with you.

I invite and challenge you to begin a Gospel centered life.

The gospel is simple, but is not simplistic.

We live in a fallen world with extremely complex problems.  The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ.  He is the answer to those complex problems.  The gospel is simple, but it is not cheap.  It is extremely valuable.  It cost God’s son his own life.

The gospel is simple but it is powerful. It can bring transformation to you today if you would trust him.

He paid a debt he did not owe
I owed a debt I could not pay
I needed someone to wash my sins away
And now I sing a brand new song
Amazing Grace, the whole day long

What is Grace?   God’s riches at Christ expense.