Each One Reach One!

Join us on our COV Outreach Saturday this Saturday, Nov. 7^th!

Love from Jesus is active in helping and caring for each other. If we have a heartbeat because we have received God's love, than our hearts must beat as God's does. We must love God, each other and our neighbors with Christ's love. We can't be the Church of the Valley unless we have God's heart for our valley. That is why we go out and share the love of Christ on "Outreach Saturdays". It reminds us of what we can do every Saturday or any other day of the week as followers of Jesus Christ. It shows us how easy it is to make a difference in the lives of those who live around us. We don't have to do anything special, just do the things that care. These are simple things like handing out lunch, thanking police and fire officers, cleaning up streets, encouraging those in the hospital, nursing home or care facility, generously tipping waitresses and waiters, saying nice things to tellers, looking out for ways to get to know and help our neighbors - taking them a loaf of bread or a dozen cookies; mowing the lawn of a senior citizen, bringing groceries to a sick friend, helping a neighbor pick up a car from the service center – the list of everyday actions of caring goes on and on. Treat others the way you want to be treated is all Jesus is saying. Love in the way you have been loved by the Lord. The best neighbor is the one who helps his neighbor. The best employer is the one who helps her employees. The best friend is the one who lays down his life for his friend. Jesus did that for us, so let's pass it on.

Grace and peace, Pastor Mike

The Value of Humility in Today’s World

Humility involves submitting to that which is greater than you no matter how powerful you think you are. The lighthouse wins over any ship any time no matter who captains the ship. This principle of humility applies to many situations in life for us. Some are common sense such as not fighting against the principles of gravity by jumping of a tall building or fighting the laws of physics by driving our car into a tree. Yet there are many people with inflated views of themselves that set them up for disaster; like Don Quixote they attempt to joust with windmills. It is much better to have a realistic view of ourselves; to know and work in our areas of strength rather than our areas of weakness, to become effective in our expertise rather than our ignorance. Humility certainly means that we should not think too highly of ourselves; but it also means not to think too lowly of ourselves.

Romans 12:3, gives us this very accurate definition of humility,
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. This verse agrees that humility means not thinking too highly nor too lowly of ourselves, but to think honestly of ourselves. This is hard to accomplish. Some of us think too highly of ourselves. Most of us think too lowly of ourselves. We don't know how to evaluate our standing with others. However this verse gives us something more – a way to measure our humility accurately; a standard by which we may evaluate our importance. We are to think of ourselves according to the measure of the faith God gave each of us. By valuing our contribution according to the standard of Jesus working through us, we end up thinking more highly of ourselves than we would think of ourselves by our own estimation. Our value to each other depends upon discovering how to work out in the church family the unique faith God has worked into each of us.

Do you know that in the Lord's Prayer there is not a single occurrence of I, me or myself. Here at COV in this part of God's Family, we are learning to replace me with we. We are finding that there is a greater joy and harmony when we learn to truly love each other through effective and active behaviors of serving each other in ministry. Humility is knowing our place of value in service in the Body of Christ. Ministry is using our spiritual gifts in accordance to the way God designed us to serve each other. And this leads to fervency, the passion that motivates us to sincerely, successfully and actively love each other in the Family of God. What is your function in this church? How will you serve each other in the Lord? What is the measure of faith God has given you so that you may be lifted up?

Grace and Peace, Pastor Mike

Why We Can Trust the Bible

We can take God's wisdom found in the Bible and work it out in our daily lives for our greater life. We can't just read the Bible as mere literature. We must discover its truths through study and then apply them to our daily situations. We do this in the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul tells Timothy (2 Timothy 3:16) that "All Scripture is God-breathed…" God breathed is the literal translation of the Greek word. We would call it inspired, which also literally means 'in Spirited'. When God created Adam from the earth, He breathed spirit into him to make him come alive. This same life giving power comes to us through the Bible by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit made sure all the Bible is God's Word of truth for life for us. There are 66 books in the Bible written by some 40 different human hands who came from many different backgrounds, situations and times written over a 1500 year span mostly in three different languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek. Yet the Holy Spirit brought them all together in unanimous harmony as He dictated through their writing.

The Bible is in complete agreement within itself about the Truth of God. This separates the Bible from any other book because its source is from God not humans. We call the books of the Bible, the High Canon of Holy Scripture. Canon means 'standard' or measuring rod. They are the best of the best writings of God's Truth. Other books were written, you might have heard of some of them. Some today say they have discovered new books of the Bible. No, we have known about those books for a long time, but they do not have the same high level of authority and perfect truth found in the 66 books of the Bible. They don't make the high standard so they are not included. The Canon books are the best, definitely reliable teaching of what the Lord tells us to do and how to live. The truths in these books have passed every tests of historical and archeological trustworthiness many times over. In fact, the Bible has corrected history and archeology many times while they have never corrected it. There are far more evidences of the truth of the Bible than any other ancient text by the thousand fold. We can be sure we are dealing with God's Truth when we read the Bible today.

Grace & Peace, Pastor Mike

Why should we pray?

There are many good reasons to pray. We pray because Jesus prayed. We pray because Jesus taught us how to pray. Study Matthew 6 and Luke 11 for clear teaching from Jesus on how to pray. We pray because we can get God's help, guidance, wisdom and strength. We pray not just to talk to God but also to listen to God. Prayer is a two way dialogue with God. It takes a while to learn how to hear God, but He is speaking all the time. Right now there are voices filling your room. Television, radio, cell conversations fill your room but you don't have the right reception instruments to hear them. We need to learn how to hear God, focus on His voice and listen to what He says to us for our daily lives. Prayer is communication with God.

Most importantly, we pray because we are in a relationship with God. I talk to my wife a lot because we love each other. I enjoy talking to my children, my family and my close friends. We like to talk together about our lives and situations. We like to seek each other's advice. We like to tell each other stories of our experiences. We talk because we enjoy our relationships. We pray because God loves us and we love Him in relationship. Really, all the other reasons to pray lead us to this greatest reason to pray. We want to love and be loved by our Savior, Healer, Comforter, Creator, Good Shepherd, Truth, Justice, all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present, Light, Life, Wisdom personified God. Prayer opens our daily situations so that we can always be with God in every time and every place.

Grace and peace, Pastor Mike

Integrity for a Balanced Life

In seeking to find balance in our lifestyles, we seek an integrity of our character. I am reading the wonderful book Integrity by Dr. Henry Cloud. He lists "6 Aspects of Character" on page 35 that, if we possess them, will tell us if we will succeed at business or for that matter in any relationships and most of life. They are:

1. The ability to connect authentically (which leads to trust)
   
2. The ability to be oriented toward the truth (which leads to finding and operation in reality)
   
3. The ability to work in a way that gets results and finishes well (which leads to reaching goals, profits, or the mission)
   
4. The ability to embrace, engage and deal with the negative (which leads to ending problems, resolving them, or transforming them)
   
5. The ability to be oriented toward growth (which leads to increase)
   
6. The ability to be transcendent (which leads to enlargement of the bigger picture and oneself)
   

As I process these 6 aspects of character, I automatically associate them with these spiritual truths that I think underlie these aspects:

1. The ability to love others as we love ourselves.
   
2. The ability to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength by following His truth for our lives.
   
3. The ability to know God's will and follow His purpose for our lives that result in His glory and our joy.
   
4. The ability to speak the truth in love that restores relationships to health.
   
5. The ability to mature into the person God designed us to become.
   
6. The ability to be transformed into the very likeness of Christ.
   

Real integrity starts with a life centered on Jesus that then flows out into every situation and aspect of our lives resulting in balanced and abundant life. None of us are there yet, but we can be on the way there as we open our lifestyles to the Lord and the work of the Holy Spirit.

Grace and peace, Pastor Mike

Find Your Balance in Life!

I see it and hear it all the time – people frustrated, exasperated, confused, defeated, exhausted and discouraged because they have too many needs and not enough resources, too many demands and not enough time, and too many concerns and not enough strength to meet them all. We all feel that way at times. Everyone wants a piece of our time, money and energy, but we don't have enough of any of those precious items to share with them all. Or do we?

The Bible teaches us how to balance our lives and find harmony and peace. God's truth shows us how to learn to say 'yes' at the right times and 'no' at the wrong times to wisely use our time and resources. We find balance in life when we let the Lord show us how to allocate the right resources at the right time in the right way. We begin by centering our lives on Christ so He can establish His strength in the midst of our daily situations. Then we start using spiritual tools to get the strength of Christ out into each area of our lives. These tools do not add more stress to our lives, they release it. They don't demand more of our time, they organize it. These tools, also known as spiritual disciplines, have been used by followers of Christ since Jesus taught them to the first disciples to find health and wholeness in life. You know many of them, but did not realize that they were for finding your balance in life.

This Fall at COV we will help you find your balance in life by centering your life on Christ, and using these spiritual tools to get the Lord's wisdom, love, energy and resources flowing into every area of your life. Learn to talk to the Lord directly in prayer for guidance in making decisions. Understand how to study and apply God's manual for life (the Bible) instructing us on how to relate to God and each other. Discover how to speak the truth in love so that you can resolve conflicts in healthy ways. Open your life to more of God's blessings as you learn to share the blessings He has already given you. Receive the rest God wants you to have from your daily responsibilities. Manage your resources in ways that bring a more satisfying life for both you and those around you.

These truths about a balanced life will be shared on Sunday mornings in our worship services, during the week in our small groups and through special seminars and events. Join us in all these ways to find your balance in life!

Grace and peace, Pastor Mike Clark

Stressed and Burned Out?

I am concerned about you. You have a hard time relaxing and being still. You have to always be in motion. How do you get recharged? Where do you keep finding all of this energy? Many of you are suffering from stress symptoms, such as headaches, stomach cramps, sleep disorders and pain in the shoulders and neck. I am not just talking about a few. I think the majority of you have some manifestation of this stress. Living a stress filled lifestyle takes a toll.

I pray for you, but I am also concerned for you. We have lost the understanding of rest in the Lord. We don't take advantage of our 'Sabbath' times that should occur daily, weekly and yearly. This has relationship implications. Impatience and ill-temper flair up in our homes when we are stressed. We make rash decisions and react without considering the consequences. This has spiritual consequences too. How do you hear the direction and comfort of the Lord for your life if you are too busy to be still and listen? How do you experience the renewal that comes from times of quiet confession and cleansing in the presence of the Holy Spirit?

There are clear directions in the Bible for how to deal with your stress. If you need help in finding them or implementing them, talk to me. But the deeper concern may lie in our lifestyle choices. What is leading you to be so busy, so achievement oriented and/or so intent on working hard? Where are you off balance that your life does not flow smoothly? Are you off-center by not seeking your priorities from the Lord? Are you misaligned by over emphasizing some areas of your life at the expense of others?

Don't keep going in this fashion or you will burn out. The Lord does not want burned out disciples. He intends us to have all the power we need to meet His objectives for our lives, and for that to be meaningful and enjoyable. That is the ideal, now let's encourage each other to start discovering how to do that in Christ. With Christ at the center of our lives and priorities, everything finds its harmonious place – balanced and healthy. Let Him order your life!

Grace and peace, Pasto Mike