Grace Christian Church

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09/06/2026

The Nature of God

Isaiah 59:17
He covered himself with goodness like armor. He put the helmet of salvation on his head. He put on his clothes for punishing and wrapped himself in the coat of his strong love.

One of the struggles we have as believers in the living God is understanding what our faith is all about. It is so easy to make our faith about religious practices because we can do those and then move on but our faith is so much more then a religion. At the same time if we get our faith right religious practices can help us in our worship and service of God. So I don’t want to reject religious acts, I just want them in the right place. Faith in God is also not centered on obedience. Don’t get me wrong God teaches us about the concepts and ideas of how the universe works and when we reject those things our faith will not be what it should be but obedience is a result of our faith not the thing that makes our faith. Our hope in Jesus flows from the nature of God and so if we want faith that works we need to know God and what He is all about. Faith at its basic level is trust in the God who saves us. That trust in not in what God does but in the very character of God. To have the faith God wants us to have we need to get to know God so we can build a relationship with God. We are not saved from the death and destruction our sin brings because we obey rules or do certain activities, we are saved from our sin because the nature of God is to love and restore people and that is what we count on, all the rest is just living our faith. This is why I don’t want people to know religious ideas I want people to know and trust in the God who loves us. Getting to know the God who saves us is the starting point of faith. If we do not know God we cannot trust God and so we will not have the faith God longs for us to have. Sin is not simply doing something wrong. It is changing our relationship with God. When we ignore God’s laws and principles about how the universe works we break our relationship with the God who is the source of life. The effects of breaking that relationship are just a normal result of rejecting the source of life. It is so important that we study what God has told us so we can get to know God and when we know God we will want to be what God calls us to be. Exploring who God is will take work but God has already given us all the material we need all we have to do is dive into the work God has provided. Learning who God is will be worth the work because we will find this God who loves us and just wants us to find hope, peace and joy in Him. Building a life of faith and trust in the living, God is not without work. Jesus, in Matthew seven as He is closing out the Sermon on the Mount, says that we will have to dig down to find bedrock to build our lives on but because of it our lives will be steady when the storms of life hit us. I want us to start exploring who God is so we can fall in love with God because when we love God we will live as God calls us to.
We raise turkeys each year to provide food for our family which has been a learning experience. Turkeys are really stupid and it takes special work to make sure they stay alive. This means we have had to learn how turkeys work because having turkeys die before we process them does not produce the food we need. Leaning about turkeys has help my faith grow because just like developing an understanding of how turkeys work developing an understanding of who God is and how God works makes my faith more effective. In our verse we find something that helps us understand who God is and how God thinks that can help us build a greater trust in God. First I want us to notice that there are four statements here and each one extends our grasp of the God we worship and serve. The depth of the nature of God is one of the things that should draw us to God. We do not trust in a simple God but our faith is in a God who is complex with all kinds of levels of things going on. Each one of the things God does all work to make this the God who is worthy of knowing. The four things we have in this verse help us appreciate how God thinks and teach us what we need to know about God. All the things in the verse build on each other and each step opens our eyes to who God is. Lastly we need to see that God is a God who is active and working. Trusting in God is all about trusting a God who is at work in the world and in us. The greatest proof that God works and works to make things better is Jesus. God became human and lives with us and died to save us and then walked out of the tomb telling us God offers life. This is the God we trust in and that we build our faith on.
The setting for this verse needs to be put in place to get the full picture of what God is doing. God is upset that no one is interested in justice so God decides to take it on Himself to set things right. Seeing how God thinks is a critical thing and knowing God seeks justice helps us understand God better. In the first phrase we are told God covers Himself in goodness like it was armor. What a wonderful vision this gives us. The first thing God does is not to seek punishment of people but He covers Himself in goodness. And the idea that it is like armor for God is so great. Let’s think about the idea that the first thing God does to prepare to fix things is to cover Himself in goodness. God does not cover Himself in justice or even truth but God starts by making sure He is a good God and that tells us God wants to do things right. We have a righteous God and that means God always does the right thing even if we cannot understand what God is doing. Counting on God to be good is such a great way of thinking about God. On top of the fact that it is the first thing God does. What is even better is that God’s goodness acts like an armor. To attack God you have to defeat the fact that God is righteous and good and getting around that is going to be hard. The proof that God is good is in Jesus. God comes to live with us not to destroy us but to save us from our sin. How can we not want to know this good God. Our faith should be moved by the idea that the first thing God does when He sets out to fix the injustice of the world is cover Himself in goodness. God could justify anger and God could punish without mercy and be right in what He does but that is not how God works. I want to world to see the heart God moves not in hate but in deep care for every human. This God we are learning about wants to build not destroy and that is such a wonderful thing.
Next we need to look at the next phrase in this verse and see it connected to the first one. Before God takes any action God equips Himself with the right kind of thinking. After goodness like armor God then puts on the helmet of salvation. This explains to us that God is acting to save people not to destroy them. We learn a lot from the helmet because it goes over God’s head and it directs God’s thinking. God comes to save us from ourselves which God does not have to do. If God wanted to He could let us be wrecked by our own sin but that is not how God works. Knowing this about God also allows us to know how hard it is to attack God because God’s very nature is so caring. Like armor a helmet is defensive and it lets us see who God is and it makes things harder to dismiss God. If you have some who wants to save us from our bad choices it makes it very to then hate that God. Knowing God wants to redeem us changes how we think about all the things God does. When we encounter the Ten Commandments we have to see it as more then some set of rules we have to obey. Even God sending the people of Israel away has to be set in the idea that God uses all things to bring us back to Him. Sin has broken us and God knows the cost of sin and that is why God longs for us to come to Him and find salvation. These first two phrases tell so much about God and help us understand God in the right way. Knowing who God is and how God thinks is an important part of finding salvation in God. Trusting God comes from knowing about God. Being people of effective faith starts with knowing this God we find in this verse.
Finally we get to the third thing God does and that is that He puts on the clothing of punishment. This sequence shows us the God who calls to us and invites us to know Him and to love Him. Before God punishes God makes sure He is doing the right thing for the right reason. This means that when God moves He does so to be good and to save people. Punishment does not mean anything unless it is to teach a lesson. God wants justice and if people will not produce justice on their own God will teach the price of injustice. Humans think they can ignore justice and get away with it and that is not how the universe works. Worst of all is when people remake evil to be justice. God hates the evil that arises from that kind of thinking because it only brings pain and suffering. It needs to be made clear that God does not punish just to punish but God wants us to learn how to be the kind of people that brings peace and hope to the world instead of the evil we as humans are so capable of. Punishment from God is a blessing and that should make our faith stronger.
The final thing God does is wrap Himself in strong love and this image is so powerful. Over the clothing of punishment is the wrapping of love for those who God is dealing with. Notice that three out of the for things in this verse are things that are positive and reflect who God is and so we have to reconsider the punishment part of the verse. Also, the words used here are not love but strong love. Our faith stands on a foundation of God’s love for us and this verse proves that. All that God does is because He cares deeply about every human soul which is such a wonderful thing. God loves us enough to tell us the truth and one of the truth’s God wants us to know is there is a cost for our sin. To be loved enough to tell us the truth and then to offer grace, mercy and forgiveness speaks to us about who our God is. Being able to trust in this God is what makes our faith so different the all other religions so let us draw close to the God who works like this.

08/30/2026

The State of Man

Isaiah 59:10
We are like the blind feeling our way along a wall. We feel our way as if we had no eyes. In the brightness of day we trip as if it were night. We are like dead men among the strong.

My five-year-old granddaughter has become horse crazy. For her birthday Debbie and I bought her horse toys and she loved it. Because of my hobby I have lots of horse models and this little one has discovered them. One day she and I went through every box of figures I own to look for any horses and we found dozens. She was so pleased to know I had all of these figures and now she comes down to play with my horse figures and she wants to build more and even paint some. I love that I get to spend time with her doing something we both enjoy but she does not know that I am also using this time with her to teach her. Of course we do math and we work on reading but I also speak to her about faith and what it means. It is important that she lean how to become a woman of quality which will shape her life far longer then her horse crazy phase will last. While working with my granddaughter, I began to understand something about how God works. We are told that God meets us where we are and works with us to move us to the faith and trust in God we need and that God wants us to have. This then does not surprise me that I am doing this same thing with my granddaughter. Our God does not demand that we come to Him but instead He comes to us at the place we are at and begins working in our lives. If we need proof of this all we have to do is look to Jesus. God becomes human and lives among us because we can not get to God. As we think about this simple idea it can really help us to understand God and then direct us to a deeper and more powerful faith. We have a God who gets involved because God knows how hard faith is which means God does everything He can to help us connect with Him. God is reaching out to us because we need God to do that and it just adds to the faith we have in God. There is more proof about God meeting us where we are in the fact that God hands out wisdom about how the universe works. God does not hide the basic moral laws and concepts we need to get through the world with. Here is the interesting thing, we already know most of what God has to say because we know what is fair and unfair which means we are looking to the truth of God. All of this tells us about a God who wants to be engaged in our lives. Faith in Jesus is all about a God who steps into our reality because we need God to do that and so a righteous God who always does what is right wants to be connected to us. I find such hope in knowing this and it tells me more about my God. The only question is not if God is willing to be part of our lives but are we willing to let God have a bigger part in our lives. Opening ourselves to God will never be a disappointment because that is not who God is or how God works.
There is a part in chapter eight of the book of Nehemiah that always grabs my attention. People are celebrating the wall around Jerusalem being completed so they gather together and part of the celebration is the reading of The Law. When people hear the Law and realize how outside of it they are they begin to cry and that should be the natural reaction when we find out how sinful we are. It is interesting that Nehemiah then steps in and tells them to stop crying because they are celebrating and it is to be a joyful time. Over and over when I come to this place I think how the purpose of God’s teaching is not to make us cry but to bring joy to us. Yes, we should be sad that we have not been what God calls us to be but we now have a chance to change that. I like how Jesus puts it in verse four of Matthew chapter five in the Beatitudes, “They are blessed who grieve, for God will comfort them.” The idea is that God’s teachings are there to help us become what God meant us to be and so we should find joy in it. God is not looking to harm us but to bring healing and wholeness into our lives. When God spoke to me years ago about being a rude person it was painful to know that I was not what I should be. Then God began to teach me how to change from a thoughtless person to being thoughtful and the more I practiced what God showed me the more joy that filled my life. Learning to listen to God and to then do as he teaches is not easy but nothing worth doing ever is. To get fit means we have to get up and being moving and that is going to cause us to sweat and be uncomfortable but it is worth the effort. It is that same with God’s teaching. Joy does not come from sitting around and being up set about our sin but it arises from living by what God’s teach us. Let us seek joy and the fullness thereof by being the people God calls us to be.
Every few decades utopian ideas spring up and they all offer the idea that humans can be made better. In the last few years a new round of these ideas have been made manifest spouting the same ideas. If we just changed a few things humans would be better or if we just taught the right ideas we would end all the evil in the world. One of the things that always seems to be a starting point is we have to get rid of religion specifically that means getting rid of the Jewish and Christian God. It seems that trusting in God gets in the way of perfecting man. The reality is not that God gets in the way but God sees things differently and that is what gets in the way. Our verse tells us a different way of thinking because God knows what is true. When you read scripture one of the things that you notice is that the same issue that people three thousand years ago dealt with is the same one we as humans are still struggling with. The verse talks about people who have rejected the wisdom of God and so are blind to the world and what is going on. God is making the point that without Him we don’t really know how the world works and we are blind to all the wonder and joy that God wants us to know. Instead of seeing the world as it is those who reject God wander in a world like they are blind. Let it be clear that God is making this point because He hates that we are blind and He wants to give people the joy that seeing things as God does gives us. Somehow people have come to believe that they are smarter then God and think that they have a better way but those ways always end up in the same place because without God we are a lost group of people. The good thing here is that God is telling us the truth so we can made a different choice. We do not have to live like blind people because God has offered for free the wisdom and knowledge we need to see things as they should be. God does not want us to be blind but wants us to find the joy that comes from seeing the world as it really is. The problem is that God makes it clear that we as humans are the problem. It is the evil in our hearts that causes so much pain and suffering in the world. This does not make us happy though because it puts the blame on us and there is no way to remove that guilt unless God does something and we don’t want to have to rely on God. This verse exposes the folly of ignoring the teaching that God gives and so instead of finding joy we stumbled about as blind people knowing nothing more then the wall we are touching. God hates this and wants us to know that He longs to give sight to us.
The central part of this verse tells us something really critical to know if we are to start to grasp the ideas and principles that God gives to explain the universe. It compares the brightness of day and the darkness of night. Even in the bright sunshine the people are blind because they reject God’s word and teachings. Think about that because it means that God’s teaching is the light we need to have to navigate the world. It also speaks to another idea that the most important things are moral laws and understanding the laws God gives is what gives us sight. The problem is that learning God’s moral laws are going to force us to face our sinfulness and most people want to avoid that at all cost. What troubles God is that God knows the joy and hope that flows from His truth and wisdom but people choose to reject God instead of seeking Him and the answers He gives. God gives us the material we need to know to live as people who see the world as it should be and who live as free people not blinded by sin. In chapter two of the book of Malachi God is describing how people got into the trouble they are in and ended up being blind to how the world really works and it is such a simple thing. In the chapter people turn their noses up in disgust at serving God. The things God teaches are not shiny and are hard and so no one wants to listen to God and they turn away from God for other things that sound better. The problem is all it does is leave them blind to the real problems of the world. Truth seems dull and boring until we see the peace, joy and hope that it creates so we need to engage in the teachings of God so we might learn to be the shiny people we want to be. God wants to fill our lives with joy but we have to learn to open our eyes to the truth that God gives us.
The blindness in this verse shows the state of humankind but it also tells us so much about God. Without God humans are lost and blind which should scare us as people. At the same time God is using this verse to tell us how blind we are so that we can choose a different course. God is offering the brightness of day to us and that idea is designed to bring joy and hope to us. We do not have a God who leaves us to die. Jesus tells us that God Himself will come and intervene because He loves us and wants us to know joy and peace not darkness and confusion. We need to tell the world that the answers they need are not in ourselves but in the God who brings healing to broken lives. God is at work even when we are blind and stupid and that is so exciting because we need that kind of God. The question is to us, do we seek the God who gives sight to the blind and live with joy or do we live lives just trying to know where the wall is? This verse points out that one is weak and the other is the strong way to live.

08/23/2026

God is Sad

Isaiah 59:8
They don’t know how to live in peace, and there is no fairness in their lives. They are dishonest. Anyone who lives as they live will never have peace.

The current book of the Bible that has caught my attention is the book of Jonah because it speaks to how God works in people’s lives to bring healing. It really frustrates me that people only think of this book because of the big fish and they do not grasp what a powerful and wonderful book it is. God tells Jonah to go and tell the city of Nineveh that God has decided to destroy the city because of how evil it is. We need to know that this judgement by God is right. Nineveh is the capital city of the Assyrian Empire and that empire has built its wealth and power by stealing other people riches and leaving people to starve and die. For some reason, we are not told Jonah holds a level of anger for Nineveh that is not healthy. Because of this anger God calls Jonah to go and to tell the judgement of God. You would think that this would make Johan happy because the people he hates have been judged by God to be evil and worthy of destruction. And yet, Jonah does not run to tell the people that God has judged the guilty and instead Jonah runs the other direction. In chapter four of the book we learn why Johan does what he does. You see Jonah is not just random guy but he knows God and how God works which means Jonah knows that God will choose to be merciful if God can. Jonah gets very angry with God when God spares the city because they repent. At this point we learn the whole point of the book. God wants to deal with Jonah’s anger. For some reason this anger Jonah feels has become a problem and God knows that it must be dealt with. We know this anger is a problem because Jonah puts other people in danger of death because Jonah will not do what God has called him to do. Only when confronted does Jonah admit that he is the problem which ends up with him in a big fish. From here we find the grace and mercy of God at work when Johan cries out as he is about to die and God intervenes. I like that God’s salvation of Jonah is not a comfortable place but a place for Johan to think. Only now does Johan do what God called him to do and instead of being joyful when the people of the city repent Johan is just angry. In chapter four we then see God dealing with Johan’s anger. We never know if Johan repents of his anger but we have God working to help Jonah know the impact of the anger Jonah feels. The whole point of the book becomes clear that God is trying to save Johan from the anger Jonah has. What a wonderful God we find here in this little book. God knows the broken parts of Jonah’s life and God will not let Jonah go on with the kind of anger he has inside of him. We worship and serve a God who wants to bring peace into our broken lives and in this book we learn how far God will go to make that happen. This is the God we should be telling the world about because it is the God who loves people enough to save them from their selves.
The concept I want us to understand from the book of Jonah is that we have an intervening God. That concept sounds so dry and uninteresting but it is the most exciting idea that we have of God. When we think of God, we often consider that God is the truth and how that affects our reality or we think about the righteousness of God because it shapes how we act but the fact that God intervenes in the universe He created is the most fundamental part of what makes our faith work. Frequently we celebrate the death burial and resurrection of Jesus because we find real hope for our lives but that whole process starts with the fact that God steps into our reality to fix our broken lives. Everything flows from the fact that we have a God who gets involved in His creation and that is our hope. Our faith is not based on us obeying rules or even doing good things it is based on us building a relationship with a God who wants to be part of our lives. From Adam and Eve to the book of Revelations and all the material in between speaks to a God who loves us enough to be engaged in our lives because God cares about the struggles we have as humans. We need to know that sin breaks God’s heart because is separates from God so God has chosen to reach out to us because we can not get to God. Think about the, the God who created the universe is calling out to us because He loves us and wants us to know how to live the way we were meant to live. The most important thing is that God wants to bring peace to our lives which is the greatest hope we can have. Our problem is that God will never force Himself on us so we must choose to let God work in our lives. Accepting the help God offers though is not easy as we can learn fro the book of Jonah. Overcoming the broken things in our lives takes real work but we have a God who wants to teach us and train us to live with real hope and peace. Are we willing to trust in the God who comes to save us from ourselves?
I don’t know if you have to be a parent to fully appreciate the nature of God but for me I learned a lot about God while I was rasing children. As parents our desire to keep our kids safe drives so much of what we do. When our kids put themselves at risk we get mad at them not because we hate them but because we love them. It seems that God feels a similar feeling about us when we reject God for death and destruction. Our sin makes God angry not because God hates us but because God loves us and wants us to be safe. I have often thought how me must make God sad like our children have on occasion. God longs for us to know lives filled with meaning and purpose. The verse we have speaks to this idea of God talking plainly about how He feels about us and you can sense the hurt God feels. In this verse we have God speaking about how people don’t know how to live in peace and the idea here is that God is struggling with the suffering that is caused by people because they have rejected God’s ideas and concepts so they can do their own thing. Listening to this verse I can hear God feeling sad because He wants people to live in peace and He gave the Israelite people the path to that peace but they have rejected God’s wisdom. Our verse tells us that God does not want what is happening but He cannot stop it all God can do is call out to people and tell them the truth of their situation. God wants people to know peace and God has done all He can to help people be people of peace but we have to be willing to learn what God teaches and that is not easy. I go back to the story of Jonah to see how much God wants to give peace to Jonah. All of the suffering Jonah experiences is because Jonah choose anger over the peace God offers. If we are looking for peace in our lives or in the world it starts with knowing God is the one we need to look to. I want us to feel the pain God feels because we have rejected the wisdom and salvation God wants to pour out because living by God ideas are not easy. In this verse God speaks about the hurt people have because they don’t know how to live in peace and we need to know this is upsetting to God. When we sin God feels the pain of that in our lives and wants to change that pain to peace.
In the next part of the verse God speaks about what is going on that is causing people to not know peace and it is such a stellar piece of diagnoses. God is so plain because the problem is so simple. The Israelite people have stopped being fair and honest which has cause them not to be able to find peace in their lives. These two things will go a long way to help us to live in peace with each other. Being fair is all about cutting the other guy a little slack and yes that will mean that we will have to give up a little bit but the cost is worth the effort. To be fair means we share with people instead of demanding everything be our way. One of the problems of fairness is it takes wisdom to know what is fair and what is not but God has given us a book filled with how to be fair. Look at what God says about the idea of dealing with the poor. In the law God clearly makes provisions for the poor and demands that those who have are to help those who do not. The owner of a field is not to sweep it twice and is to leave the corners. At the same time those who are in need must come and get the food for themselves. This is what God calls a fair system and it is very important that we are people who act in fair ways. Next in the verse is the idea of being honest. God is truth and to be fully human we need to be people who are truthful because it is the only way to build peace. Scripture makes it clear that the enemy is the source of lies so if we are dishonest we are moving in the wrong place. But it is the final phrase that tells us how troubled God is with all of this. God is not making a statement and He is not even condemning what is going on. The words that are found here are more a lament. It wounds God that these kinds of people will not know the peace God longs for us to have. I want us to feel the anguish God feels and the sadness God experiences because instead of listening to Him people have chosen a path that does not bring peace but death and destruction.
One of the things God does is make sure we know everything He says applies to everyone. It is so easy to “Other” someone but over and over God makes it clear we all need to learn from God. In the book of Jonah it is not the Ninevehvites that were the only problem but Jonah is a problem too. Or you have the book of Habakkuk where Habakkuk is complaining about how bad things are in Israel and so God answers by telling Habakkuk He is sending the Babylonians. All of the sudden Israel is too good for that. Every human has made God sad because of our sin and we have to own that or we will never get the peace God wants us to have. What is important is that we don’t need to be better people we need to trust in God more. When we trust in God we will strive to live as God calls us to. Faith is not about obeying it is learning to draw closer to God each day. The whole point of Jesus is not to save us from sin but to open the door to the God who saves us from sin. We have a God who is at work in our lives and we have to learn to listen to that God.

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70466 Norkwalk Road
Kimbolton, OH
43749

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+17402556996

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