I did several Easter devotionals during Lent this year. I reflected upon Jesus’ resurrection, the reason Easter is such a big deal. And why a heavy spiritual weight seemed to wage mightily even as Jesus followers sensed the joy of Christ’s victory over death. It seems like the idea of the resurrection causes great offense in some, although we as humans are wired to long for the eternal. Perhaps that is why it can be triggering. Because of the dream seemingly deferred. Hearts afraid to believe in something for which they dare not hope— yet that is putting hope in their own understanding. That is where we fail at faith. Faith is not about my ability to believe. It is not about leaning upon my own understanding. It is faith in Jesus- what he did and who he still is… forevermore. Therein lies my hope... not solely for this life, but for eternity. My faith is not useless by any means, because solely upon that Rock (Jesus), my hope is built. May the resurrection hope of Easter continue in your heart all year long, through faith in the living Christ, our Lord. Pastor Esther But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? 13 For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. 15 And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. 16 And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. 18 In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! 19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. 20 But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. 21 So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. 22 Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. 23 But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back. 24 After that the end will come, when he will turn the Kingdom over to God the Father, having destroyed every ruler and authority and power.
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Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. -Ephesians 4:32 Check out this article on forgiveness! (Click on it for the PDF)
The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. He is the creator of everything that exists: time, space and matter. In our life group studying apologetics, we recently watched this video from William Lane Craig. It is a great reminder that there is overwhelming scientific evidence that a creator exists. May we be reminded of these truths and be drawn to worship Him! Therefore, there exists a Personal Creator of the universe, who, sans the universe, is timeless, spaceless, beginningless, changeless, necessary, uncaused, and enormously powerful. “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” -1 Peter 1:16
We are so glad to have Jenni Theis on the team! Jenni joined the Cold Springs staff team as Office Admin late 2023. Here is her bio:
My family (hubby Kevin and 5 year old son Hank) have been attending Cold Springs since 2021. I feel beyond blessed to be a part of this amazing church family. As the Office Admin, I’ll be helping everywhere I’m needed including answering phones and being one of the first faces you see when you come in the door. I’m so happy to be a part of this staff full of wonderful people and to continue to grow my faith alongside them.
Enjoy this short video from Lee Strobel, and may it encourage you this Christmas season that the birth of our savior is an historical event! While writing my Ministry Report and thinking about my job here, I thought about how It involves planting seeds in tiny hearts and minds. Little bits of spiritual knowledge mixed in with a lot of fun and play. God placed me here to sow, knowing it will be a few more seasons before some of the seeds are watered enough to take root and grow. More than likely, it will not be me that sees the finished work.
Isn’t that true about so many things in life? We sow seeds, and then we wait. And while we wait, we trust. Faith and works go together, and God works in the waiting, whether we see it or not. The Bible gives us many metaphors where we are likened to farmers sowing seeds, and it also tells us we will reap what we sow, but it doesn’t tell us when we will reap it! I think that is where faith comes in, we sometimes have to just take God at His word. Whatever our roles are in building God’s Kingdom. Wherever He’s placed us, He has given us seeds to sow, and we are all spiritual farmers; planting, watering, and harvesting for His Kingdom. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see the results you are hoping for right away. Seeds take time to grow! The hidden things belong to God, and He is working. Just keep going…keep sowing, and He will take care of the growing. Don’t give up! “Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9 Other references: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” Galatians 6:7 “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.” 1 Corinthians 9:6 “Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.” 2 Corinthians 9:10 Hello beautiful ladies of Cold Springs Church! It is with both sadness and excitement that our family finds ourselves in a season of transition! I’ve been so blessed to be your Women’s Director this last year, and interim Worship Director prior to that! This year working for Cold Springs and in ministry has been nothing short of a miraculous, blessing me and my family in big ways. It’s been my honor and pleasure to dream and pray about the future of Cold Springs, to gather women in different capacities and listen to what the Lord would bring for our community. I’ve had many great relationships develop over this year, and loved seeing people come together in the name of Jesus to be there for one another. That being said, my husband and I have been praying for a full-time position where I am better able to mirror my children’s schedule. I am blessed to say the Lord answered that prayer and I have the great honor of teaching 3rd grade this year on their school campus! This is a huge blessing for our family at this time and I know God will use it to bless others. To say I’m sad about stepping out of ministry at our church would be an understatement. However, our family is still anchored, very much invested and will be involved heavily at Cold Springs moving forward, just in a volunteer capacity! I’ll be officially stepping off staff this August, allowing for another amazing Godly woman to take the reins in this next chapter! It’s going to be wonderful! I’m available to answer any questions anyone may have. I have the utmost respect for our leaders at Cold Springs Church. They are God-fearing, God-loving servants, who want nothing more than to love like Jesus and further His kingdom. Thank you for investing in me, and allowing me to lead and learn with you this last year. See you soon! Kate Gilbert Hello, my name is Dana Bringolf and here’s a little about me. I have been a passionate follower of Jesus Christ for over 30 years and I love His Church! I am married to Walter (33 yrs) and mom to Isaac, Joel and his wife Alexis, and Abigail and her husband Shane. I love to teach, and have 12 years of teaching experience in elementary schools. One of my favorite parts of teaching has been collaborating with parents in their parenting journey. I especially love supporting moms! Currently, I am a full-time caregiver and advocate for Isaac, our son who has special needs.
While I have served churches in many different ministries over the past 30 years (children’s, missions, worship, prayer team…), the majority of my years of service has been in Women's Ministry, and I can truly say, I love it! My heart’s desire for all women (including myself), is that we would recognize our value as image-bearers of God and grow more and more into the likeness of Jesus Christ as we live out each day. I believe one way we can accomplish this is through gathering together to create an authentic, Jesus-centered community where we encourage one another in our faith and God-given gifts and callings. I am excited to join in the work God is already doing in our community and look forward to this new season of adventure in leadership. Dana dana@coldspringschurch.net In the video below, Frank Turek gives a 4-point summary of how we can know that Christianity is true:
You can find it on Amazon here. Interested in digging into apologetics with others from Cold Springs Church? Pastor Steve teaches an online course starting again this fall! Email Pastor Steve if you are interested. We don't have any of the original writings of any of the books of the New Testament (the original writings are called autographs). What do do have is many, many copies. Textual criticism is the science of determining the original words by looking at the numerous manuscripts. Here are few of the important facts: 1. We have about 5,600 Greek manuscripts. 2. There are over 400,000 textual variants in these Greek manuscripts. 3. 99% of these variants are either not meaningful or not viable… and therefore inconsequential. 4. The fewer than 1% of the variants that are meaningful and viable do not affect or call into question a single Biblical doctrine. If you want to learn more about textual criticism, here are some short videos below. |
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