The Rock Church

A Servant’s Heart

When you’re asked to help someone move, serve at church, or take someone a meal, what is your first reaction? Is it, “I don’t want to do that, I serve enough already. Someone who doesn’t already serve can do it.”? Maybe it’s, “Well, if nobody else does, I will.”? For some, it might be, “I’d love to! I thought you’d never ask!”?
 
The Bible is clear, we need to adopt the heart of a servant. We need to humble ourselves and make a habit of considering others better than ourselves. Consider Philippians 2:3-4, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

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Come What May

“I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” — Psalm 18:1-2

It’s never easy to go through trials or see others go through them. The health scare Mac went through in Sweden recently, could have easily sent our hearts and minds down many paths. The reminder of life’s fragile state is always sobering. 

Posted in A Word from the Pastor by Caleb Yetton

We Are in a War

“We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.” — 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

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Eyes Locked

“I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken” — Psalm 16:8

Last November, The Rock pastors traveled to St. George for a multi-day conference. On our free day, a group of us went to Zion National Park; we’d decided to hike to Angels Landing. The hike is five miles long with 1,500 feet of elevation gain. That doesn’t sound too bad, but the challenging part of Angels Landing is the extreme exposure and huge cliffs. Sadly, people have died there.

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2020 Connection

Last month, Pastor Tony encouraged us to set goals in areas where we want to grow. My simple follow up question for you today – almost a month into our new year is – how are your goals going? Have you gotten a plan to read the Bible to connect with God, and are you working the plan? If not, let me give you some suggestions as we steam ahead into a new decade.

At The Rock, we use phrases like “daily devotions” or “quiet times” to describe the discipline of Bible reading and prayer. This is a great way to start your day! Your Bible reading can be what you want to make it — maybe a structured study using a devotional? possibly reading through certain passages? perhaps reading through the Bible in a year (One Year Plan)? You might even consider journaling some of the thoughts God gives you (Teaching on devotionals).

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Abraham’s Faith

When we read about Abraham’s faith in the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews (Chapter 11), it’s incredibly inspiring to think of the belief he displayed. He left the land of his people and followed the Lord’s calling on his life; he went to the land that God would give to his descendants, the nation of Israel. Abraham believed God to do unbelievably miraculous things. Genesis 15:6 says that “[Abraham] believed the Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness.” 

I often wonder what I would have done if I had been in his shoes. It can be easy to read Hebrews 11 and forget what Abraham’s faith looked like in a real-life. In a practically lived-out sense. I can wrongly think that Abraham’s faith was a flawless, unattainable faith with no doubts in it. However, when I was reading through Genesis recently, I was struck by something in Abraham’s interaction with the Lord. 

Posted in A Word from the Pastor by Caleb Yetton

A New Year’s Addendum

We are officially one week into 2020, so I’m going to go ahead and ask you, “How are you doing with your New Year’s resolutions so far?” By the time you read this, I’m sure I will have bailed on at least one of mine! But, that’s ok. There is one resolution, however, that I am not planning to let go of so easily; I want to invite you to add it to your list of goals as well.

This year, my resolution is to totally depend on the Lord to help me live out the Fruits of the Spirit in my life. Let me explain why I have chosen this as a New Year’s resolution.

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Make it a Habit

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” — Psalm 119:105

As the new year approaches, it’s natural to set goals — things we want to get better at or maybe stop doing. This verse really speaks to me in terms of that goal setting. Unless we have a planned path to walk, we won’t move in the right direction. If we can’t see where we are going, we’ll stumble around in the darkness.

Posted in A Word from the Pastor by Tony D'Amico

Christmas

Well, it’s that time of year and tomorrow we’ll celebrate Christmas! We’ll celebrate in our own ways and for me, it’ll be my 35th Christmas. Each one of them has been different. Some have been memorable and detailed in my mind, some have blended together and some of them I don’t remember
at all.

No matter how you celebrate (or how many you’ve celebrated), each Christmas is a reminder to us that Jesus came to this world and dwelt among us. It’s an opportunity for us to remember that He came to save us.

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Royal Family

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” – 1 Peter 2:9-10

Praise Jesus, that He has brought us into His Royal family! But, Christian, do you ever feel like you don’t belong? Do you feel alone? Do you feel like you’re unworthy? The Bible says you DO belong because God has shown you mercy. Not because of what you have been or what you’ve done but because of what Jesus did for you. 

Posted in A Word from the Pastor by Caleb Yetton