"Got Fruit?"  Much like the "Got Milk?" ads, this question or "fruit" or "faithfulness" comes to my mind as I finish my preaching series on Hosea.  In Hosea 14:8, the prophet says of wayward Israel (and wayward us), "your fruitfulness comes from me", ("me" meaning God).  

I want to encourage you, as God has encouraged me, that if there is any semblance of God-honoring faithfulness or fruit in my life, God Himself gets the credit, not me. I know that apart from Him, I would forever wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Thank you Jesus, for continually drawing me to yourself!  I also wanted to give an invite to you, my web-friend, to check out the podcast messages, or, better yet, come worship with us on Sunday. On June 14, I begin a four-week series on "Forgiveness."  Face it, we've all struggled with letting go of our desire to see the one(s) who has hurt us, punished. Better yet, we'd like to see them suffer a bit (or a lot) for the pain they've caused us. I will be looking at what is forgiveness, why should we forgive, How do we forgive and last, the Promise of forgiveness. 

After that, on July 19th, I will begin a seven-week series on the story of what we commonly call "The Prodigal Son", taken from Luke chapter 15. My stress though, will be on two lost brothers, and, how God Himself is truly the "Prodigal" (i.e. "wasteful" and "extravagant"). So, the series will be called "The Prodigal God."  I steal the title from a wonderful little book by Timothy Keller. If you're looking for a provocative summer-read, I'd highly encourage you to get it.  That's about it for now, but if I could stir you to the opening question again: "Got fruit?" If you do, friend, be in wonder of God, for His good work in you! This also takes the stress off of you, of "trying" real hard to be faithful. Apart from His work in and through you, trying read hard to be good just doesn't work and is a terribly oppressive way to live. You and I were meant to experience His life in us, not ourselves doing our best religious imitation to duplicate His life. May you experience the Good Life of Christ today!