SUNDAY SERVICES:

From the time I was a small child, I went to church with my family each week. 

I participated in Sunday School, VBS, and plenty of other church activities.  I learned about God the Father and Jesus His Son.

I dutifully memorized scripture, knew the books of the Bible, and I watched my mother spill tears every Easter as the choir sang the stately old hymn, “He arose! He arose! Hallelujah, Christ arose…”

Even with all that Christian formation, I never really “got it.”

I skated through my childhood years mostly without incident, riding high on my mother’s faith coattails until age 19 when things got ugly and my family fell apart.

A World I Didn't Recognize

Suddenly, I was launched into a world I did not recognize.

A world where financial pressures wrecked my parents’ marriage, my father left, and my mother fell into a deep, incapacitating depression.

A world where three siblings (me, the eldest) were left standing alone wondering what to do.

It was the dark pit of my young life. No longer was I the passenger in the back seat of the family car, I was the driver on unfamiliar roads.

A Turning Point

I look back on those painful years as my spiritual turning point.

A place of darkness where I turned to Jesus on my own. 

I needed Him and He responded by equipping me with everything I needed to walk through each day.

I soon realized how easy it was to open my eyes to a relationship that had been there the whole time. I just needed to acknowledge it.

God is my Father, Jesus is my Saving Grace, and the Holy Spirit was working within me, giving me courage and strength to help walk with my family through the storm.

Coming to Faith Should Not Be Complicated

My listening plan on Dwell, Easy as the ABC’s, is a topic near to my heart. 

Coming to faith should not be complicated.  It truly is as easy as learning a few letters of the alphabet, but the most rewarding decision of life.

The simple premise of Admitting that we all fall short of God’s righteousness is the first step.

We all do wrong, no matter how hard we may try otherwise.  Admitting we are weak and need Jesus’ saving grace everyday of our lives is the introduction to our own faith walk. 

The next step is to Believe in Jesus’ divinity, as the son of God, who bore our sins upon the cross, rose from death to life, and ascended into Heaven where he waits for us. 

Believing that Jesus is who he says he is. 

The last step would be to Call upon Jesus’ name in any need or trouble.  Whether in your heart or with a friend, saying his name and asking him to forgive, help, intercede. 

We seal the deal and begin our walk of faith when we accomplish the first 3 steps.  Romans 10:13 says, "All who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved."

Encourage One Another

Lastly, encouraging one another in faith is the continuation each of us are called to do every day of our lives.

We can help, serve, speak life with affirming words, and be a faithful witness setting examples of Godly behavior. 

Where are you in your faith walk?

How did you get there?

Wherever you are in life’s journey, remember there is help and getting it does not have to be complicated. It’s as easy as the ABC’s...Admit. Believe. Call.

Let me know if you are joining me in reading or listening to these Scriptures: tharper@new-covenant-church.com.  We can all meet together via Zoom when we're done.

To learn more about why we're listening together, read here. 

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