a2f newsletter.

welcome back from break. thankful i got to see a lot of you this past week at service. it’s felt like a long time.

this past week was a festive and packed week for a2f.

special talk. problem of pain and suffering. thankful for brandon’s unique perspective through his days of being a buddhist to talk about how the christian worldview presents such a compelling response. afterwards, we went roller-blading and that was quite the experience.

we had our noblemen info session this past saturday. closest thing to in-n-out burgers. sharing the vision of noblemen. past noblemen gifting words of wisdom through the antiquated but awesome form-factor of a personal letter. and then we watched the iu v. osu game.

sunday service. really getting into the christmas season and the christmas passages through the perspective of joseph. remember - to incarnate jesus into someone’s life someone had to suffer and embrace the cringe. and if conviction of sin and belief is something you’re grappling with. simple bible reading might be a good next step.

we also had our staff christmas party. high calorie potluck. amazing desserts. a lot of kids. charlie brown christmas special. singing some christmas songs. ending with revealing secret santas and giving gifts. a lot of laughter and a lot of fun. thankful for our community and how we get to do life together and create memories like this for ourselves and for our kids.

we’re going to end the year in a big and festive way.

this friday, 12/12. 6:30p at corec. we’re going to have an end-of-the-year christmas party with dinner, a christmas bible study, christmas games and a white elephant. please bring a $5 - $10 gift! afterwards, the girls will head over to 1205 hayes for late night snacks, christmas cookie decoration, silly games and a christmas movie. for the guys, you’ll be heading to our church building on cumberland for food, fun and a movie as well.

sunday, 12/14. 12p at walc 1018. we’ll be having a baptism service and celebrating the baptism of sue choi. we’re going to have the opportunity to hear her story of how she came to faith followed by worship, a christmas message, her baptism and wrapping up with lunch. all are invited.

cheers.

dj.

jan 2-4. elgin, il.

the highlight of our ministry. students across our network gathering for fun, fellowship, worship and a time to hear from god’s word. special treat: jd greear and cliffe knechtle. still time. don’t miss out on this opportunity.

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we went through 1 timothy 1 recently for devotions and i was moved by the soaring description of the gospel.

“the power of god, who saved us and called us to a holy calling… which now has been manifested through the appearing of our savior christ jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

in the gospel, what we find is the answer to the greatest issue every mortal human being faces, sin and death. death that inevitably comes that we find so alien. and our sins before a holy god. but in the gospel, there is an invitation to receive mercy, grace and life and immortality.

i thought about how choosing to make my salvation decision to receive this gospel was such drama as an undergrad, struggling to make this decision. and the main drama was the implications of this decision. in other words, the “holy calling” part of the verse and all that those two words implied about how i ought to live my life and i couldn’t get myself to make my decision and surrender my life even though i knew and learned so much already.

but then, pascal’s wager and encouragement from a friend helped address this conflict. pascal’s wager, by blaise pascal himself, argues that it’s actually a rational and good bet to bet on god’s existence.

the argument goes like this. if god exists, believing leads to infinite gain and not believing leads to infinite loss. if god doesn’t exist, believing means finite loss (small sacrifices in life) and not believing means finite gain (some semblance of comfort and pleasure). the rational choice since infinite gain outweighs finite loss is believing. believing is your best bet.

the encouragement i received from my friend was along the lines of this. god is offering you life and immortality and all it takes is simple words of belief and saying i want to make my salvation decision because i know death and sin are a problem. why don’t you just take that free gift? the rest of the stuff about implications, christian life, holy calling, that will come after and fit into its place later and really all of that stuff is just an extension of god’s invitation to give you more and more life. but that all will come in its own timing and sequence. so just accept this absolutely free gift now and don’t complicate it.

i’m so thankful that i did that summer of 2008. and he was right. all that stuff about holy calling and all those implications that paralyzed me? it did end working itself out in its own sequence and timing.

but the gospel? it’s so simple. don’t overcomplicate it. if you know sin and death is a problem in your life, that’s all it takes. god is offering a free gift that abolishes death, forgives sin, and brings life and immortality to light. why not just receive it?

until next time.

dj.