Eternal Light

Eternal Light is out there somewhere, but it’s a hard concept to grasp.

It's hard to understand or describe something we haven’t experienced.

But we can look forward to Eternal Light. Peter writes in 2 Peter 3:11 that “because we are looking forward to this eternal light or eternal glory that we should make our lifestyle focused on living Godly and right”

CS Lewis said, “It is because Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this one.”

We have an obligation to live our lives with an eternal perspective.

There are some things we probably wouldn't do or say if we lived today in LIGHT of eternity.

Know that the promise of eternal light is for you. Make it personal!

Be effective in this life and walk in love today.

When we walk in love, we show the Light of Jesus.

Right thinking,

Pastor Steve

Fading Light

Do you ever feel like you're running on empty?

When we feel like we are on running "E" it’s a good sign we need revival in our lives. Revival shouldn't be a designated week every year in which we seek God for a fresh touch.

Revival should always be an event that is followed by a process.
The process for revival should be a series of choices we make everyday to seek fresh light from God in his presence.

Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4). It's rare that we miss a meal, but often some Christians will go days, weeks or even longer without prayer and scripture reading. Is it any wonder so many of us are empty?

Living life, serving others, and using our gifts takes fuel that can only be found in God's presence. This week let's seek more of God's light and wake up every morning with an expectation of revival in our hearts.

Revival is a matter of choice. Be intentional. Don’t let your light fade.

Right thinking,

Pastor Steve

Parable of the Two Sons

Jesus always gives us an opportunity to repent and be restored. I’m so thankful for his grace.

In the Parable of the Two Sons, the Father gave his sons an opportunity to honor him through obedience. We read that one son openly rebelled against his father, later repented and went to work. The other son gave his word he would help but later broke his promise to his father.

When Jesus asked the Pharisees and Sadducees which of the two sons had completed the request of the father ... Jesus asked us to search our hearts through the mirror of the Word. Are we instantly obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit?

How often do you feel the move of the Spirit but fail to step-out to do what your heart is telling you to do? The Spirit of God instructs us throughout the day--not just at church. Hurting people in your life may be depending upon our instant obedience to the spirit.

Let us be known as a people who value actions over words.

This week, make a decision to be instantly obedient to our Heavenly Father in every aspect of His leadership. While we are busy DOING the work of the Lord, young lives will be impacted as we preach a sermon by our actions.

Generations to follow will be impacted by what we do today. Our sons and daughters hear what we say and watch what we DO.

Let’s not let our good intentions be trumped by a failure to do.

Right Thinking,

Pastor Steve

Parable of the Banquet Table

Do you struggle with Kingdom Living? Is it hard to think right and live in peace and joy?

We all know that there are only two kingdoms. So, if I manage to yank myself out of the Kingdom of God with stinkin’ thinkin’...there’s only one other kingdom available for me. And I don’t want to spend one minute in the Kingdom of Darkness.

The Parable the Great Banquet is a parable of Kingdom Living. This parable suggests it is possible to have a feast at the banquet table in this life. Don't wait to celebrate and live a joy-filled life once you get to heaven, live a life of joy today! Jesus said, “I come that you might have life and that you may have it more abundantly.”

Are you living an abundant life? Really think about it. Abundant???

This parable should remind us that Christianity is not about what happens to you when you die, it is about the quality of your life on Earth. Better Outcomes!!!

We all need to LOSE THE EXCUSES we have for not living in the kingdom of God here on earth. Excuses are a condition of the heart, ask God to remove excuses of any kind from your vocabulary.

Enter His presence and understand who He is, what He says about you, and what He wants for you.

Let's think right and connect with one another at the banquet table of abundant living.

The Kingdom of God is within you!

Right thinking,

Pastor Steve

Parable of Humility

Have you ever suffered from the disease of I-itis?

It’s an easy disease to get. The main symptom is a preoccupation with yourself and a self absorbed attitude in your heart of what you want and desire.

If you look through the Bible, you’ll see story after story that features the theme. The only cure for it is humility and a holy commitment to honor others above yourself.

Jesus knew this when he gave a parable of humility to those at a dinner party he was attending. What caught his eyes were those who gravitated toward the places of honor at the table, instead of selecting lesser seats.

It wasn’t that Jesus didn’t believe in receiving honor, he knew that honor from man was as temporary as the summer wind. True honor means having humility and with humility comes honor from God.

Humility even means replacing your self confidence with God’s holy confidence. It means thinking more highly of others than yourself and living life with the goal of serving others.

That’s what Jesus was trying to drive home to the people at this gathering. He was giving a call to humility and taking us to a higher calling in Him.

This week, seek God and ask Him to help you to walk in mature humility in your daily life. Begin to honor others above yourself and see what happens.

I believe you’ll experience blessings like never before. You’ll find the freedom that comes with serving others and humbling yourself in your heart.

Just imagine what would happen in Bixby if everyone gave honor.

Seek humility and watch how God begins to honor you.

Love,

Pastor Steve

Life Made Whole

In the last few weeks, I’ve been speaking about the ways we scramble our lives and how we can make things better in a right relationship with God.

It’s my belief, there’s no habit, sin, or lack in our lives we can’t overcome if we correct our wrong thinking, now. We all need to seek the Lord for a fresh and re-newed way of thinking.

I believe it’s His ultimate desire to see us transformed. But it has to come through a process of learning to be in His presence and to love people.

As a church, our goal is to take people through that process every day to help them find significant living in Him.

It all starts with a commitment to Connect. The leaders at Bixby Community Church are committed to helping you connect with God and encounter Him in a real and meaningful way. By connecting we learn to love.

When we connect with God we will be lead by Him to connect with His people. We encourage you to connect with other people who are connected to God.

The next step in the process is to help you Grow. Through our Wednesday and Sunday services, Business Fellowship, leadership training, children’s classes, adult Sunday school classes, youth gatherings, prayer meetings, social media and Daily Bible Reading, we want to help you grow in your relationship with the Lord Jesus. Growing in Him helps us to be renewed in our minds and hearts.

How do we develop right thinking and better beliefs? By training! Through classes and Bible study, more light will appear in your life to help your beliefs line-up with what is true.

The final step in our process is to Serve. In fact, that’s the reason we connect and grow …to serve God and to serve the needs of others. By serving God and serving others we will have the greatest opportunity to impact the fourth generation.

Life is made whole by connecting, growing and serving.

I’m very blessed to connect with you as your Pastor, to grow together, so that we can serve and impact Gen 4.

Don’t miss our July 4, Sunday morning service. I will be preaching a powerful lesson on freedom. We are all in a form of bondage to ourselves. Let’s make this 4th of July Celebration, a life changing weekend as we learn to celebrate freedom from our limiting beliefs.

Please help us Feed Families on the Fourth. Visit our website if you would like more information. BCC will bless 100 families with a great basket of food on this holiday weekend. Be a part of the giving!

Love,

Pastor Steve

Learning Made Whole Blog

Are you closer to God today than you were last year at this time? Are you healthier, wealthier today versus last year? Are you happier?

If your answers to these questions are no, then maybe you're not learning from the lessons in your life. Learning impacts our beliefs at the point where we make our daily decisions. If our beliefs don’t change according to what we learn in life, then how will our decisions produce a positive outcome?

The reality is if you don’t make changes based on your learning…then the quality of your decisions will show it…and so will the outcomes in your life. We all need to learn that there is a vast difference between knowledge and learning. "Knowledge puffeth up." Learning causes change to occur in our life.

Consider King David in the Old Testament. David knew God and understood His precepts. Sadly, David, a man after God's own heart, struggled to learn. After David sinned with Bathsheba, he prayed in Psalm 51:10, "create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." David asked God to show him how to learn because his sinful nature was clearly getting in the way of his spiritual growth. He cried out to God with a strong heart seeking change.

Maybe you're like David and need a fresh touch from God to help you to learn and create true change in your life. Maybe you need a breakthrough that will help you apply your understanding to know God in a new and intimate way.

Whatever the case, I want you to know, your learning can be made whole through God’s fresh anointing today. Walk in the light of His Word and seek His face.

Flee from darkness and seek FRESH anointing from God today. "Here a little, there a little, precept upon precept, line upon line.

Stay out of the shade!

Love,

Pastor Steve

Multiplication or Division…

It sounds funny, but every time I've ever heard a message on Corinthians, my immediate thought has always been “Oh no, someone must be fighting in the Church… here comes a another message on unity.”

But that's not what inspired our latest series at Bixby Community Church. Our purpose in looking at the books of First and Second Corinthians isn't to focus on what we’re doing wrong, but to focus on what we’re doing right. Our aim is to get better, so we can come up higher and learn how to respond to life. The six week goal is to understand the connection between Corinth and Bixby.

This last week, we looked at the spiritual concepts of multiplication and division. It’s curious how anytime we multiply in numbers as a church or grow in maturity, there’s always a test of division put before you.

In the beginning, when Paul first went to Corinth, Paul faced that same test. But, the Lord had a Word for him and I believe it’s the same Word He has for us today: "Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city” (Acts 18).

Saints, there are countless people in Bixby who need to hear this message...and it is our call to keep on speaking to these people and compelling them to come into this Sanctuary to be restored!

Paul wasn’t afraid to speak out against the church. In fact when he was writing to them in Corinth he wrote about the good, bad and ugly. Take a look at his first comments in 1 Corinthians 3. He wastes no time in chastising them for becoming too worldly. Sounds like the Church today, doesn’t it? People who confess the Lord Jesus as Savior and who claim to live in the kingdom of God, conforming to the ways of the world.

The bad and the ugly in Corinth were found in the hearts of a stubborn people. They didn't need God, and they certainly did not care about His vision for their lives. All they could focus on were trivial issues and preferences. These people became corrupt and started to manipulate others only to benefit themselves and divide the church.

How could they help people when all their focus was on themselves? The simple answer is, they couldn’t! That's why Paul reprimanded them and reminded them of who they were in God…His temple, created to do good works of service.

By building others up, we multiply… by building ourselves up, we divide. It’s that simple. Division ultimately leads to destruction. Multiplication leads to the fulfillment of the vision God has for our community: The vision of marriages being restored, teenagers obeying their parents and making Godly decisions for their life, the vision of helping single mothers, and teaching people how to have an abundant life!

It's really not that hard to multiply and fulfill this vision. If we just multiply love at home, at work, and at church ...things will change.

There’s no simpler rule than that to multiply love across this community.

The secret is to get our eyes off ourselves and onto Jesus. We need to ask God to help us think right so we can be a witness of His life-saving grace in Bixby and in our own home.

Above all else, we must learn to multiply our love,

Pastor Steve