Chuck Foreman – Teaching Pastor

There are two ways for Christians to invest in the restoration and transformation of our present world:

1. By their generosity in giving to the church so it can do the work of God as the people of God in our world, and
2. By doing the good works we were created to do in our world.

By giving God’s way and living God’s way, we ready ourselves for what is called the coming age  in the scriptures (Luke 18:30; Ephesians 2:7; 1 Timothy 6:19). We also prepare our world for what the scriptures call the restoration of all things (Acts 3:21; Revelation 21:5; 22:3).  God is not a money monger or a good deed monitor and neither should his church be. He’s simply concerned that we as his people have a quality, purposeful life personally engaging in all the wonderful things he is doing in our world.

The Apostle Paul put it this way in his first letter to Timothy, his young apprentice:  (more…)

Chuck Foreman – Teaching Pastor

God is not only the great provider, he’s the great encourager. When you survey the human story as it shows up in the Bible, you get the sense that our Creator intends to provide us with everything we need and even more if we will just serve him and follow his ways. Once we get into the rhythm of life walking with him, he gives us the capacity to pass on his generosity to us with our own generosity to others. In this way people hearts are moved in a way like no other.  As they experience their needs being met by the generosity of God’s People, their hearts are drawn not only to those who have helped them, but also to God as they express their gratitude to him.  (See 2 Corinthians 9:6-15)

When we put God first and honor him with our lives and money, he delights in providing for us and gives us the capacity to encourage others with our own generosity. How cool is that?!

Chuck Foreman – Teaching Pastor

I am becoming increasingly convinced that God’s design for us and our world is that He has always intended to be king of His creation and set up His kingdom in it— “on earth as it is in heaven.” It is by faith in Jesus that we enter into “eternal life” or better translated, “the life of the eternal age.” This does not refer to a deathless spirit existence that begins when we die physically and go to heaven. Our deathless life begins when we begin keeping his word and become His followers by faith demonstrated in deed. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” (John 8:51) If you have become a follower of Jesus Christ, you have already entered into the life of the eternal age. We are already in the age on earth where Christ is King and in the process of restoring life on earth to the goodness God pronounced upon it at creation. Right now He is doing this through his People on earth, who do good eagerly, realizing that a life of good deeds and generosity is exactly what everyone of us was designed for (Titus 2:14; Ephesians 2:10).

This foundational understanding is important if we are ever to comprehend why we are here and what we are to be up to in this life—which mergers into eternity in heaven or when Jesus returns to restore all things (whichever comes first for us) and literally bring heaven to earth, having destroyed completely the devil’s work and having undone the curse, liberating even Creation itself from its bondage to decay (Acts 3:21; Revelation 21:1-5; 22:3; 1 John 3:8; Romans 8:19-23).  (more…)