Monthly Newsletter

March 2025—

Well, here we are, already in the third month of 2025. It has come upon us fast—at least for me. I want to talk to you this month about Grace. What is grace? Grace is unmerited favor, meaning that it is God’s gift to us that we do not deserve.

Have you ever heard someone ask the question, "Why, God? Why did this happen to me? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why?" Or maybe you have been the one to ask this question. I have to admit, I have asked the question myself more than once. Isn’t it interesting that we often ask the question "why" to God? Why is that? It is because we get so used to living in God’s unmerited favor.

You see, we live in a fallen world full of sin. In fact, we are sinful creatures. What is the penalty of sin? It is death and hell. But we live in a world of life, light, goodness, and favor. But that is not what we deserve. We deserve death, destruction, and pain. Did you know that? It’s true. But because God is good, He pours out His grace on us every day, even though we don’t deserve it. We laugh, we love, we have friends, food, and so many other amazing and wonderful things that we don’t deserve.

We become so used to God’s grace that when bad things happen, we raise our hands to heaven and cry out, "Why?" In reality, we should be crying out in praise and thankfulness every day, "Why not? Why, God, have You not given us what we deserve? Why, God, is the world still turning?" It is only because of the grace of God that we get what we don’t deserve.

I have been trying to make this adjustment in my thinking lately. It has led me to be more thankful for what I have because I don’t deserve what I have. Yet, God has given me so much to be thankful for. As I write this, it has been two days since I was able to practice being thankful for the grace of God in light of disaster. Some of you may know that two trees fell onto our house. These were two massive trees, and during the wind and rain storm on Monday, they crashed down, smashing into our house and putting holes in our roof. I found myself thinking, "Why, Lord? Why this? Why now?" as I raced home to check on the damage.

As we were dealing with the problem of the fallen trees, Jessie and I started thinking about how blessed we were that everyone was okay. Even though there were two trees on our house and holes in our roof, we could still live in the house. We reflected on how blessed the timing was, because about 10 minutes before, Jessie was standing on the porch right where the tree hit, visiting with a mom and her baby.

Through the chaos of the last two days, we have had to take moments to remember that God is good and that He protected us from how bad it could have been. It is still difficult, stressful, and overwhelming, but God’s goodness and grace are there to see. In fact, it is all around us every day. So, let us thank God for not giving us what we deserve and be especially thankful for giving us what we don’t deserve. God is good.

I pray that the realization of God’s grace washes over you this month and throughout the rest of the year.

I will see you Sunday.

Pastor Aaron

Book Recommendation

The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul.

There is a quote from another pastor in the beginning of the book that sums up the importance of this writing by Sproul.

 “In a culture saturated with self, Christians desperately need to recover a biblical vision of the greatness and glory of God. God used this book to focus that vision in my life. Buy it, read it, and He will do the same for you.” Pastor Colin Smith. 

The Holiness of God is a fantastic book to help us rediscover or discover for the first time the central characteristic of God. God is Holy. It is a book that will help us realize how great a God we serve. 

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February 2025—

- February is a month of love. Stores are filled with hearts, candies, cards, and all kinds of gifts for loved ones. Commercials are on TV, podcasts, radio, and a host of other places, talking about buying gifts to show your love for someone else. I walked through Walmart the other day and saw four aisles dedicated to Valentine’s Day and the idea of love. This led me to a question: How do you know someone loves you? Is it because they give you chocolates, candy, a stuffed animal, or some other gift they bought? Or is it more than that? If someone gave you a gift but didn’t spend any time with you, would that gift still make a difference and show their love? Or are gifts just a small part of what it means to love something or someone?

Our culture seems to have an obsession with love. From songs to gifts, movies, and commercials, we are bombarded with different descriptions of love. Attractional, physical, romantic, and sexual love surround us everywhere, especially this time of year. But is that love true? Is it lasting? Is it destructive? Does our modern view of love cause harm?

The Bible gives us many descriptions of love—from familial love to romantic love, to brotherly love. Each type of love provides insight into what love truly is. The Bible even tells us that God is love in 1 John 4:8 and 1 John 4:16. God Himself is the fullest expression of love, showing us the truth of what love really means.

So, what is love? Or perhaps a better question is, what is true love? True love has a distinction of its own. Familial love is based on who is in your family. You are tied to them through life, blood, and commitment. We may not always like our family, but they are family, so we try to love them. Attractional love is based on an attractional response. We are drawn to someone in some way that leads us to love them, whether it’s based on chemistry, desire, or fondness. This kind of love can be fleeting and change often. But true love is different. It’s based on choice and sacrifice.

John 3:16 is probably the most well-known verse in the Bible: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” John gives us a description of how amazing God’s love is for His creation. He loved us so much that Jesus Christ stepped down from heaven, put on flesh and blood, lived a perfect life, conquered all temptation, died a criminal’s death on the cross though He was not guilty, and was raised from the dead. What an act of love that is! Why would God do that for us?

If you think, "Maybe we deserved it," take a look at Romans 5:8: “But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The word "sinners" in 5:8 reveals that we do not deserve or earn any love. We are not just sinners; we are enemies of God. We have nothing good in us that would make God love us. That may sound harsh, but it is the truth. Yet, God loved us. Why? Because He chose to love us. It wasn’t because we were attractive, wealthy, strong, or appealing in any way—it was simply because God decided to love us.

In contrast, God is beautiful, wonderful, kind, lovely, and deserving of all love and more. Do we show our love to God? Do we live a life of appreciation, thankfulness, and wonder because we are loved? Do we choose to follow God even when we don’t fully understand His ways?

In January, we started our journey in the book of Romans. This book shows us the depth and wonder of God’s love. As we seek to love God more, let us pour out our love to our Creator and Redeemer. Let us be overwhelmed by the depth of God’s love for us. I pray that you make the decision to follow the Lord and make Him the center of your life, showing Him the love He deserves.

In Christ’s love,
Pastor Aaron

Book Review:
I read an interesting book that could spark some deep conversations, and I would love to hear what others think about it. It's called End of Woman: How Smashing the Patriarchy Has Destroyed Us by Carrie Gress. The book explores the history and effects of feminism in our Western culture. I won’t tell you too much because I hope you’ll read it for yourself. If you do, let me know what you think about it!

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