Category Archives: Pastors Corner

Inland Empire: “All You Need Is Love…”

By Pastor Tim Eaton

The Beatles made the words famous but the sentiment has been around since the dawning of romance. The trouble is that life seldom follows this sentiment. In fact, just about every heartbreaking story begins with love.

What begins as love can fade quickly. It seems like most everything around us is designed to drain the last drop of love and romance out of our lives. Long hours of work (or worries about lack of work), busing the kids all over town, trying to keep the house clean, paying the bills; all of this leaves us exhausted and frustrated, making love the last thing we feel for anyone.

It’s true. We need love. Love is what we seek from the most important relationships in our lives. Still, it’s not enough to make those relationships work. What we need is a love with faithful endurance. But what does that look like? Time, attention and action. That’s what love looks like to those who feel it from us, and what it looks like on our calendar. Without these things, love quickly fades into a distant memory leaving only heartbreak behind.

The Beatles may have written one of the greatest songs about love of all time, but the greatest love of all time is seen in Jesus: “God is love”. This is how God showed his love to us. He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him,” (1 John 4:8-9). He didn’t just begin to love, he continues to love: “The Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does,” (Psalm 33:4). What we need is His love; an unending, consistent love.

Reconnect with the one who will always love you, Sundays at 10am.

Pastor Tim Eaton
Edgewater Lutheran Church
Sundays at 10am
Harada Elementary
12884 Oakdale Street
Eastvale, CA 92880
http://www.EdgewaterLutheran.org

Eastvale: Love in Action

Pastor Dennis Morales Calvary Chapel CrossBridge

Pastor Dennis Morales

By Pastor Dennis Morales

My son, Noah, has a very unique ability to make friends easily; a character trait from my wife, Michelle, for sure. When Noah enters his preschool classroom, I can’t help but notice all his friends coming to greet him enthusiastically. As his Dad, I get a glimpse into his heart every day. It’s an amazing joy to see him grow.

We were at a park one day and Noah overheard someone crying. He ran over and found a little girl had fallen off her tricycle, so he helped her up, put his arm around her, and told her simply “It’s ok, it’s ok.” This little girl was his new buddy for the rest of their time at the park.

I believe friendship is the launching pad for love. Proverbs says that, “A friend loves at all times,” (Proverbs 17:17). Friendship has such an effect on other important relationships in life. Research points out that friendly people live longer than the general population. Jesus spoke highly of both love and friendship. Jesus said loving one another is a mark of knowing Him. “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another,” (John 13:35).

As you read the famous 1 Corinthians 13 love chapter, we see words in our language that qualify as descriptors or adjectives. In the original Greek language, these words are action words. John 15:13 says “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” God, with love in action, sent His Son. His Son actively loved by sacrificing His life for all mankind (John 3:16), so that we can have the hope of Heaven.

Calvary Crossbridge Eastvale meets Sundays, 11:30 a.m., at Clara Barton Elementary, 7437 Corona Valley Avenue, Eastvale; http://www.CalvaryEastvale.org.

Eastvale: A Fresh Start

Pastor Robert Jewett Word of Truth Community ChurchBY PASTOR ROBERT JEWETT

With the New Year now underway, many people have made New Year’s Resolutions. Each has desired a fresh start in various areas of life. Many make a new resolution to get in shape after over indulging from Thanksgiving through New Year’s. Some have made a commitment to better manage their finances after over spending at Christmas. Yet others may go to a much deeper level and decide it is time for a fresh start with God.
Is there even such a thing as a fresh start with God? If so, how does one pursue it? The good news is that a fresh start is possible. Paul the apostle shared with everyone who would listen that “they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance” (Acts 26:20b).
A fresh start with God is possible when you actively choose to turn from your sinful ways and begin walking obediently to God’s ways. At the time of genuine repentance, God gives you his Holy Spirit to empower you (Acts 5:32, Phil. 2:13).
Thus, he will take you from start to finish! May today be your fresh start!
For more information, visit Word of Truth Community Church online at http://www.wordoftruthcc.com.

One Impossible Possibility

Pastor Rob Norris

Pastor Rob Norris (image courtesy of Google Images)

 

By Pastor Rob Norris

Bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.
Colossians 3:13

Are there things that someone has done to you that you think you could never forgive?

You are not alone. Ron Luce, president of Teen Mania Ministries, shares a story that many can identify with.

Ron came to faith in Christ as a teenager after enduring an abusive home life. Not long after his conversion, God began to convict him of his need to forgive his mom for the evil things she had done and said to him as a boy. Things like hitting him in the face, crushing a cigarette butt out on his back, telling him when he was 13 years old, “Why don’t you do me a favor and kill yourself?”

Initially, Ron reacted with typical human disbelief. How could he forgive his mom? She didn’t deserve it. But in time, God broke through, and Ron decided he needed to forgive his mother.

So Ron started carrying around Scriptures on little cards–verses about forgiveness he could meditate on and memorize. He began desperately praying that God would give him the ability to give up his right to punish her. It wasn’t easy, and it didn’t happen overnight. But one day as a senior in high school, he remembers praying, “Lord, You need to reach my mom and touch her, because I love her.”

He couldn’t believe what he’d just said. “I love her?” He had never spoken those three words before in his entire life! “But I do love her. I do love my mom, and You’re the One who put it there, Lord. You must have done it.”

We can forgive, because He forgave us. He shows us a better way. A way of freedom from bitterness and punishment. Christ does it through us, and He can do it through you.

Live It:

What impossible injustices–things you’ve grown weary of dealing with on your own–do you need to hand over to Christ? Make a list and ask Him to lead you to full forgiveness.

Pray

Pray for whatever He must do in you to free you to forgive. Meeting at River Heights Intermediate School. Sundays @10:00 7227 Scholar Way, Eastvale, CA 92880 951-847-6836 http://www.atthecrossings.com.  Trusting and Believing with you!

Pastor Rob

Pastor Rob Norris

Pastor Rob Norris (image courtesy of Google Images)

Have a Messy Christmas

Pastor Mark Lee Vantage Point ChurchBy Pastor Mark Lee

Christmas really is the happiest time of the year. When you’re a kid, you go to bed at night, dreaming of sugarplums, and for the most part, you woke up and got whatever you wanted! All you really had to do was get a catalog, circle whatever you wanted, and there it was. Your brand new Malibu Barbie.

Then, you grew up. And somewhere along the way, Christmas lost its snap. No wonder! In three weeks, we try and fit in 10 Christmas parties, buy presents for everyone we’ve ever met, bake every cookie we’ve ever heard of and consume 12 times the normal number of calories.  It’s easy to get distracted during Christmas.

Instead of being a time where everything magically comes together, sometimes Christmas just brings out the worst in us. And all of a sudden, I become more like the Grinch and suddenly I’m treating people the way they treat me. And so the question that we want to ask is this – is it possible to have a merry Christmas? Is it possible to have a merry Christmas time even when the turkey doesn’t come out perfect? Is it possible to have a happy holidays even if she shows up or even if he’s in a bad mood? It is possible if we go back 2000 years to the original meaning of Christmas.

Luke 14:8-11- 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

Good news…of great joy. The good news of Christmas is that God decided to surprise you and I with a gift, and not one that you’d want to regift either. Even though we’re always looking to fill our emptiness with stuff, God decided He’d give us the one thing that would never leave us empty…the gift of Himself.

Come celebrate the greatest gift of all at VantagePoint Church. 5 Christmas Services –  Dec 22nd @ 5pm, Dec 23rd @ 5pm & Dec 24th @1, 3 & 5pm. http://www.VantagePointChurch.org.

 

Christmas Nightmares

 

Pastor Tim Eaton Edgewater LutherenBy Pastor Tim Eaton

 

The Christmas season can be full of nightmares:  loved ones are too far away, loneliness, dealing with extended family, choosing the right gift (or receiving the wrong gift with gratitude and a smile), stressing over the holiday dinner, splitting time between multiple families, and spending way too much on all of it.

 

All of these things can create stress because we have lost sight of who Christmas is all about:  Jesus.

 

“Nightmares Without Christmas?”  Everyone can have one, but will they also get the true gift of Christmas?  From these nightmares we can wake up to lasting hope and joy when we discover the real miracle of Christmas.

 

The Christmas account from Matthew 1:22-23 includes these words, “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means “God with us”.  What an amazing gift, that God would enter our world to let us know that we are not alone.  We don’t have to overcome our nightmares or create the perfect Christmas by ourselves.  He has come to bring light into our darkness.

 

Come discover the hope of Jesus for your Christmas Nightmares, Sundays at 10:00 a.m., with a special Candlelight Christmas Eve service on December 24 at 6:00 p.m.  This is a Christmas Eve service that families and friends will love.

 

Edgewater Lutheran Church, worshipping at Harada Elementary, is located at 12884 Oakdale Street, Eastvale, CA, 92880.  Contact them at (951) 479-5575, or visit their website at www.EdgewaterLutheran.org.

 

 

Pastor Tim Eaton Edgewater Lutheren