The Asherah Poles

In the Old Testament, we read about Asherah poles. These were man-made idols that honored Asherah, a sea goddess and the mistress of Baal. She was the chief goddess of the Canaanites. Her worship glorified sex and war and was accompanied by male prostitution.

Throughout Jewish history, God's chosen people struggled with being distracted by idols. Throughout Israel and Judah, the Jews erected these Asherah poles for worshiping a false god. In fact, an Asherah pole was established in the temple by the evil King Manasseh (2 Kings 21:7). Can you imagine having an idol in God's house?

Well, the reality is that many of us struggle with idols in our own lives. Some of those idols can be found in our home, in our work and, yes, even in our church. If we're really honest, our idols could actually be our home, our work and our church (ie, our ministry).

It's not enough to stop our idolatry. We must follow the way of King Josiah. In 2 Kings 23, we read how he removed all of the remnants of idolatry from their culture. He tore down the Asherah poles and destroyed them.

You and I are called to do the same thing. We must identify the idols we have and not just stop recognizing them, but remove them and destroy them. That means it's time to clean house! It could mean it's time to change jobs. It could mean it's time to walk away from a ministry that has consumed you. It could mean it's time to leave a relationship that has become more important to you than the Lord.

Destroy the Asherah poles in your life today!

Three Things for City on a Hill Today

Hi City on a Hill Church! Here are three things I'd like to share with you today...

#1 - I had another family tell me this weekend how much of an impact you all have had on them, making them feel welcomed and at home in our church. I can't tell you how proud I am of you! There's no doubt that's one of our strengths as a church family. Let's keep it up!

#2 - You all did an incredible job with the renovations to our children's ministry rooms and office this weekend. Our kids are so blessed to have such an awesome ministry area where they will learn about Jesus in profound ways while having FUN!

The renovations on upstairs begin in just a couple of weeks. We'll need all hands on deck for the projects we have before us. I'll tell you, though. When we get it all done, you're going to love it! There will be more opportunities for ministry within COAHC and in our community. I can't wait!

#3 - As a culture, we love easy-step formulas that produce results. We just want to know what to do: 1-2-3. So, if you're looking for a sure-fire way to get closer to God, here's a three-step formula that comes straight from Scripture. We talked about this yesterday. Step 1 is understand your identity in Christ. Marinate on Ephesians 2:10, for example. Step 2 is allow your deeper understanding of your identity in Christ to grow your self-confidence and self-esteem. Step 3 is understand that Christ is our Shepherd. He is the One who protects us, provides for us and leads us where we need to be to experience the best life we could possibly imagine. Because we are His sheep, we must learn to rely on Him totally and without exception. It's when we stray from our Shepherd that we get lost and put ourselves in danger.

If we follow this three-step formula, there's no question that we can begin to experience a deeper relationship with Our Heavenly Father.

We Need to Rest

Three Things for City on a Hill Today

Dear City on a Hill Church,

I have three things I want to share with you on this Tuesday...

1) I'm so proud of you! So many of you showed up last night for our prayer gathering. This was a time that we spent praying specifically for other churches in our community. You get it! You get that when one part of the Body is hurting, it affects the entire Body. I praise God for your compassionate and gracious hearts! It was such pure joy to hear and see the passion in everyone last night. Let's keep this going!! The Body needs it.

2) Were those baptisms awesome or what? Even though the footing was slippery and unsteady (can anyone say, "mucky slime"?), we didn't have any premature baptisms. I already have some ideas percolating about the venue for our next baptism event, but if any of you have suggestions, send them my way. Stay tuned for a video montage of photos and music...

3) Your generosity astounds me! You must have really been listening when I preached on generosity several weeks ago!! Thank you for stepping out of the boat and helping to be part of the miracle that will be our facility renovations this summer. If any of you are still praying about giving towards this cause, we have about $2500 of expenses that needs to be covered. Keep praying! Meanwhile, we're gearing up for the actual work. We have a workday scheduled for Saturday, June 25 to tackle the downstairs work and most of July will be spent attacking all the upstairs renovations. We'll need all the help we can get!

Thank you for being an amazing church, City on a Hill. I love you all!

Pastor GW