In this week's email update, we are encouraged toward faithful, regular church attendance.

And this week, the chickens are modeling the importance of a steady diet:

lettuce,

frozen corn on a hot day,

granola,

and watermelon.

Turns out, these growing chickens need regular nourishment.

So do growing Christians.

As we begin Walking in the Word this summer, lets make gathering with our FBC family a steady rhythm and not an occasional snack.

See you Sunday, FBC family!

I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. 

Ps 37:25

The story of David’s life was full of highs and lows.

We first see David as a teenager shepherding his father’s flock. But this young, untested boy was God’s anointed. 

Soon his resume blossomed: 

• Giant killer 
• Musician to the king
• Celebrated general 

But then things took a turn for the worse. 

Suddenly, David was a man on the run, hiding in caves and living hand to mouth. 

Even after he was finally crowned king, there were sins, missteps, and terrible family tragedies.

But looking back on his life, David wasn’t troubled by the lows he had gone through. 

In every moment of his life—good or bad, high or law—God was present. 

Even in the loneliest of times, David was never truly alone. 

God was faithfully by his side 

• protecting him from harm
• providing for his needs

The same is true for every follower of Jesus. 

God is faithful. Even when our circumstances look dark and gloomy, we know that our Savior is with us. 

He is always there! 

He is always working! 

He never forsakes those he loves!

Are you willing to walk in the truth of that promise today?        

One moment of doubt, one season of weakness, and it could all unravel.

Scripture, however, paints a very different picture—one of a salvation secured not by human resolve, but by God’s sovereign, unbreakable work. 

Romans 8:29-30 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Romans 8:29–30 is often referred to by theologians as the golden chain of salvation for three major reasons.

• First, it describes an unbreakable, sequential series of God’s saving actions that assures believers of their eternal security.
• Second, it shows God’s complete and certain work from eternity past to eternity future. Every action in these two verses is rooted in God’s sovereign work, reinforcing God’s sovereign control over the entire process of salvation, and bringing immense comfort to those who know and understand these wonderful doctrines.
• Finally, God’s divine work forms a precious and unbreakable bond from the first link “foreknowledge” to the last “glorification.”

These three truths emphasize that salvation is entirely God’s gracious work, not dependent upon human effort. If our salvation were up to us, the chain of verses 29–30 would break, leaving us to our own devices. The saving chain of the gospel only holds because of God’s sovereign actions. 

As John Stott helpfully states, “if God predestines people because they are going to believe, then the ground of their salvation is in themselves and their merit, instead of in him and his mercy, whereas Paul’s whole emphasis is on God’s free initiative of grace.”

Take time to consider where you would be if it weren't for God’s sovereign intervention in your life.

I’m going to include it here just in case you missed it or in case you might need reminding here in the middle of the week.

It has been such a powerful truth to ponder:

“Nobody can produce new evidence of your depravity that will make God change his mind. God justified you (so to speak) with his eyes open. He knew the worst about you at the time when he accepted you for Jesus’s sake; and the verdict which he passed then was, and is, final.”  Knowing God, p. 273.

What a mercy.

I’m sure that just like me, you have been surprised at times by decisions or actions that your children, or your parents, or your relatives, or your friends, or even you, yourself have made.

In our humanness, our thinking about that person is undoubtedly affected.

But that is not the case with our God.

Even in the face of our terrible choices, or our shoddy devotion, or our utter sinfulness, He remains stalwart, faithful, and certain about His action on our behalf.

God will never love us less.

Imagine that each...has a ladder standing upright before [them]. ...Each ladder is the same height and has the same amount of rungs that represent life's milestones--graduations, careers, boyfriends, fiances, husbands, children, pay raises, home ownership, and the list goes on. 

Next, imagine that they are all side by side...with their ladders in front of them....As each year of her life passes by, she believes she should be on the exact same rung as all the other women her age. She should be in the same stage of life, having achieved all the same milestones as the women who've clocked in the same amount of years as she has.

If we're not careful, we will listen to the destructive voices of Satan, our culture, our peers, even our own selves about how we just aren't attaining the stages we should have achieved at this stage in our lives. The more we hear this distructive logic, the more we forget that God's plan is unique for each one of us. 

The more we succomb to the faulty thinking of comparing our timeline with others, the more we are pulled into loving what the world loves, and paying attention to what the world says is important, not what our Creator tells us again and again is important. 

The more we get swept up in looking at our neighbor for approval and esteem, the more we chase after meaningless markers in our lives...like our young chickens here...who have followed one another to the heater that was deemed important...even though it is turned off. 

Even though there is no heat coming from it, one chicken deemed it the place to be and so the rest climbed the ladder and joined. 

The moral of our chicken chat today is a reminder for all of us, men and women alike, to look up toward our Maker and not sideways to our brothers and sisters to assess our progress. 

Stoneheart lets us in on the truth at the end of the chapter:

There is no ladder. It's all a facade–-but terribly effective nonetheless.

God has never asked us to keep pace with everyone else. He has simply called us to walk faithfully with Him.

* Book referenced above: Sincerely Stoneheart by Emily Wilson Hussem

Progress Report:

Our chickens are 10 weeks old today and help us understand the phrase "spring chicken." These spring chickens are still weeks away from the egg-laying stage and remain energetic and awkward while continuing to grow rapidly. Stay tuned for more progress notes to come and in the meantime...

What do you call a chicken who tells jokes?

A comedi-hen!

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.  Genesis 12:1

Most of us are sticklers when it comes to vacation planning.  We book the hotel in advance.  We investigate all the sights, shows, and places of interest.  We carefully map out our route so we know exactly where we can eat, rest, and gas up along the way.

Now consider Abram.

Here’s a man living comfortably in Haran with his loved ones and all his earthly possessions.  Then comes the call of God:  “Go… to the land that I will show you.”

A Call Without A Map

That’s a tall order!  Pack up everyone in your house and everything you own.  Leave behind everything that’s familiar to you and get going!

What Abraham Didn't Know 

You might ask:  What’s the destination?  Good question.  God doesn’t say.  What route should he take?  Good question.  God doesn’t say.

Can you imagine stepping out into the unknown without the slightest idea where you’re going?  No map.  No compass.  No inkling of what tomorrow might bring. 

What Abraham Did Know 

The only thing Abram has to get him to his destination is faith!

The writer of Hebrews reminds us that faith is “being…certain of what we do not know.”  Abram couldn’t see beyond the next hill.  But he trusted God and His promise that a land of plenty was waiting for him.  Then he stepped out

God did not reveal the destination, 

Abram obeyed anyway.

That’s faith!

The heater is still in happy use. It has remained the same size...

... though our chicks have decidedly NOT.

Remember when? 

And NOW look!

That's pretty remarkable growth for nine weeks. It's a fun treat to be able to go back and get a side by side comparison:

It's so easy to see their growth.

Don't you sometimes wish you could look at our own spiritual growth in the same way?

On one hand, it's a sobering thought. Yet there are times when I'd like to have some proof that I'm making some progress in this Christian life.

Am I growing...or not?

Do I look more like Jesus this spring than I did last spring? 

We don't have spiritual side-by-side pictures to review, but we can do an assessment of sorts. 

In the book How People Change, Tim Lane and Paul Tripp introduce 4 pictures that can help answer the question:

Am I growing in my maturity as a believer?

HEAT — The Situations We Face

 HEAT represents the difficult situations we face in our lives. We all face heat at some point. Heat isn't the problem, it's the setting where growth can be revealed (or not).

THORNS — Our Natural Responses

THORNS are "the foolish responses that come all too naturally to us when hard things (heat) happen.

Someone speaks unkindly and bitterness grows.

Negative things come our way and we allow ourselves to doubt God, and we let our participation in worship and ministry cool and slow.

We didn't get the raise we thought we deserved, so we work halfheartedly."

Our situations do not dictate that we respond in a thorn-filled fashion but our natural responses do come from the thoughts and motives of our hearts. 

THE CROSS — God’s Provision for Change

The CROSS reminds us that God is our "ever present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1).

We are indwelt with the Holy Spirit who gives us everything we need to respond to life in godly ways.

If we are believers, we are in process.

We have the ability to make the progress we want to see.

We can be confident that our Lord is using every circumstance in our lives to grow us.

FRUIT — Evidence of Growth

FRUIT is a result of the progress we are making because of God's work in us.

It is the "after" picture we wish we could see side-by-side with our "before."

Our life now vs. our life before Christ.

Our response now when the heat is on vs. our response as a baby Christian when things went sideways.

Fruit is the opposite response from the thorn-filled one.

When blessed, we look for ways to bless others.

When discouraged, we run toward God and not away from him.

"We don't seek to avoid life, but move toward it with courage and faith....This is the life the presence of God and the grace of Christ make possible. "

So while we cannot see exact proof of spiritual growth with our eyes, we can assess it by:

• Examining our heart responses
• Inspecting our fruit production
• Observing the impact of our fruit on the lives of those around us.

Lord, reveal my heart and my behavior. Give me courage to take an honest look at the fruit my life is producing.

Show me where I have sown rotting, fetid fruit and help me to live life through your Son and not through my own foolish ways.

Show me too Father, where You are producing good fruit in my life. Help me to walk in your ways and to sow fruit that remains

so that next week, next month, next year,

I am able to look back at my life and see baskets of fruit produced for YOUR glory. 

Notes: How People Change by Tim Lane and Paul Tripp

Keywords: How do I know if I am growing as a Christian, signs of spiritual maturity in the Bible, how to respond to trials as a Christian, why do Christians struggle with sin, how to beear spiritual fruit, what does the Bible say about growth in faith, Christian response to suffering and hardship, biblical framework for change (heat, thorns, cross, fruit)

God our Father hands us all we need and then some, but we are still turning our necks, and sticking them through the fence to see what ELSE might be available to us that He has NOT given.

Not too long ago I read* about 5 ways to encourage contentment in my life. They were so practical and made so much sense that I copied them down and keep them in the rotation of notes I keep posted on my fridge.

These young chicks have inspired me to revisit those 5 encouragements and I'll share them with you too.

1. Never allow yourself to complain about anything, not even the weather.
2. Never picture yourself in any other circumstance or someplace else.
3. Never compare you circumstances with another's.
4. Never allow yourself to wish this or that had been otherwise.
5. Never dwell on tomorrow, God is in charge of that, not us.

I know I have difficulty enough with the first one!

I don't think the author is striving to keep us from dreaming, but rather from ...well this:

Let's say with Paul in Philippians 4:11-12,

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

*Book referenced above, Calm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow