Little Flatrock Christian Church

Dear brothers and sisters,

The fall season is one of my favorite times of the year. I’m reminded of God’s beauty in thechanging colors, His provision in the abundant harvests, and His faithfulness as we approach the end of another year. There’s also something about the weather. I love taking walks in the brisk air, playing with my kids in the leaves, and staying warm inside with a hot glass of apple cider. This is why it is so fitting for us to devote this season to thanksgiving, for it is “God who provides for us all things richly to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17). Giving thanks to God for His abundant gifts in this season is a biblical theme as well, as we see in Psalm 65:9-11:

“You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it. You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops. You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.”

Some of my favorite hymns are fall themed as well. Consider, for example, the words of “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come”:

Come, ye thankful people, come, / Raise the song of harvest home! / All is safely gathered in / Ere the winter storms begin. / God, our Maker, doth provide / For our wants to be supplied. / Come to God’s own temple, come, / Raise the song of harvest home.

There is much to love about the fall. Unfortunately, there is also something about this season that should make us uncomfortable: Halloween. When I was young, my dad used to take us trick- or-treating. I remember a feeling of discomfort as I walked around our neighborhood—even at that young age—as I saw my peers dressed up like the grim reaper, witches, or serial killers. Let me be clear: the issue is not with Halloween itself, but with the way it is typically celebrated. There is nothing wrong with candy, costumes, and a little bit of spookiness. But Halloween in America is far past those things.

Two years ago, Yilina and I visited Boston and Salem, Massachusetts. I’m a church history nerd, and there’s a lot of interesting church history in those towns. On Sunday, we visited a historic Baptist church in Salem. After the service, I spoke to the pastor for a while about ministering in “The Witch City.” There was no laughter or jokes from him about such matters. He noted just how hardened the town has become toward the gospel and stated sadly that there are hundreds of real, practicing witches in the city. It is no wonder that Salem has become the Halloween capital of the world. And then, of course, there’s the interest in horror movies that always returns at this time of year. For some reason that I find hard to explain, many people (even Christians) have a fascination with watching serial killers on a very graphic rampage, sorcerers practicing their demonic arts, or children possessed by demons.

No, my brothers and sisters, no. These things should not be tolerated among us. Demonic activity is real. Serial killers are on the loose. But we should not let our minds dwell on these things, and God forbid that we should celebrate them. Instead, “have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them” (Ephesians 5:11).

Against this cultural love-affair with Halloween, I want to set the words of Paul from Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” The Christian truth is the most beautiful truth. It rights every wrong, brings light to the darkness, forgives sinners, and fills our minds with wonder. So, instead of meditating on evil this fall, why not meditate on all that the season reveals about God’s glory and beauty?

In Christ,

Pastor Lucas

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Have you ever heard someone say: “It’s not about what you believe, it’s about how you live”? I’ve heard this kind of statement repeated numerous times. And every time I hear it, I wince a little bit inside. Don’t get me wrong, the sentiment isn’t entirely false. It is, of course, important to live well. If we believe something to be true but don’t allow that truth to impact the way we live, then we are inconsistent at best and hypocritical at worst. 1 John 3:18 says: “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” In other words, don’t simply talk a good game—show it through your actions.

So that statement, “It’s not about what you believe, it’s about how you live,” has some truth to it. But it’s far from the whole story. Let me offer another statement from the Apostle Paul: “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law” (Romans 3:28). We are justified, that is, we are deemed to be righteous in God’s sight, not when we live right and obey His law perfectly. No—we are justified when we believe in Jesus, apart from anything we do.

If a man wants to become a Christian, the first thing he must understand is that there is nothing he can do to save himself. He cannot live a good enough life. He cannot do enough good deeds. On the contrary, he is a drowning man in need of rescue, a sick man in need of a doctor. He has sinned and has fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). Once he admits this, then he is ready to receive Jesus. Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17).

If you think you are doing just fine on your own, then Jesus is not for you. If you take pride in your accomplishments and your many good deeds, then Jesus will not save you. But if you do not do anything, but instead believe that Jesus is your only hope, then be assured—Jesus accepts you with open arms. In some sense, then, it is not about how you live, but about what you believe. Or rather, it is about who you believe in. Jesus is a sweet savior for all of us who know we are sinners.

“Well then,” someone may say, “it sounds like I can believe in Jesus and live however I please.” No! While Christ’s forgiveness certainly does not depend on living a good life, our faith in Jesus Christ should always result in good works. These good works are like fruit from a tree. Apple trees will bear apples, and banana trees will bear bananas. In the same way, when we believe in Jesus and are saved by him, we begin to bear the fruit of the Spirit. The good life we try to live as Christians is not because we have to in order to be saved but because we want to by the power of the Spirit. As Paul also teaches, when we were baptized into Christ, “we died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:2).

In Christ,

Pastor Lucas

A young graduate longed for a certain sports car and knew his dad could afford it. So on the big day, he was infuriated to receive instead a leather-bound, embossed Bible. He threw it down and left for good.

Years later, after his father died, the son entered his father’s study with sorrow and regret. Sorting through belongings, he found the gift and this highlighted verse: “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11, ESV). Suddenly something dropped from the back of the Bible: a key with a tag from the dealer of the car he’d wanted long ago. On the tag was his graduation date and the words “Paid in Full.”

How often we miss out on God’s generous gifts because they come “packaged” differently than we expect! At graduation — and throughout life — may we be open to every gift God bestows on us with a Father’s deep love.

Loren Eiseley, an anthropologist who died in 1977, requested this epitaph for his wife and himself: “We loved the earth but could not stay.” No one can stay, of course. We’re all moving toward that final day when “the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed and the fever of life is over, and our work is done” (The Book of Common Prayer).

On Memorial Day, we remember people who have perished in war, making the ultimate sacrifice to protect others. May God hasten the day when humans can solve disputes peacefully. We also remember loved ones whose stay on earth is over.

A memorial stone at Ohio’s College of Wooster, placed by a class years ago, reads: “United in time / Divided in time / To be reunited / When time shall be no more.” Christians believe that death does not end all. When our earthly life is over, we have the promise of eternal life — and joyful reunions — in heaven.

When Winston Churchill once dined at a prestigious London restaurant, he tasted his soup and promptly sent it back to the kitchen. “It has no theme,” he complained.

A good soup, he insisted, should have a theme. The same can be said of many things that matter: a good book, a meaningful concert, a memorable film, a powerful sermon, a beautiful work of art.

It is also true of a good life.

Joan of Arc, the French martyr, declared, “God must be served first.” That was her theme. St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that he desired to know nothing among them except Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 2:2). That was his theme. Again and again, we see that every truly devoted Christian lives with a central, guiding focus — an overriding theme.

That realization invites a personal question: What is ours?

Pastor and psychologist Dr. Curtis Nigh offers this challenge: “If the heart does not have a noble or goodly theme, then it develops an anti-theme.” In other words, if we do not intentionally shape our lives around what is good and holy, something lesser will quietly take its place.

To be a Christian is to embrace a compelling, Christ-centered theme. It shapes our priorities, our decisions, our relationships and our hope. It is not simply an idea we admire — it is the heartbeat of a life lived for God.

Friends, consider yourself invited to any and all of our Holy Week services and activities starting Sunday!

We kick off with Palm Sunday service at 10:15am on March 29.

The church will be open from 5-7pm on Thursday, April 2, to come in with your family or friends, and at your pace, take communion together to remember Jesus’ last supper.

On Friday, April 3, Mike Hedrick will lead a service at 7pm.

On Saturday, April 4, we invite all young children (up to junior high age) to hunt for eggs at 2pm.

On Sunday, April 5, New Salem UMC is hosting the Sunrise Service at 7am, followed by breakfast. Then we invite you over to LFCC for our Easter service at 10:15am.

During the Lenten season, which begins on Ash Wednesday (February 18 this year), Christians figuratively follow Jesus into the desert. Just as our Savior spent 40 days fasting and facing temptation, we focus on self-reflection and contrition.

In an 1873 hymn, Claudia Hernaman wrote, “O Lord, throughout these forty days, you prayed and kept the fast. Inspire repentance for our sin, and free us from our past.”

The desert experience of Lent serves a clear purpose, filling us up rather than depleting us. “This is what Lent is meant to be,” writes theologian Ron Rolheiser. “Time in the desert to courageously face the chaos and the demons within us and to let God do battle with them through us. The result is that we are purified, made ready, so the intoxicating joy of Easter might then bind us more closely to God and each other.”

God’s love is never meant to stop with us; it’s meant to flow through us. When we love others, we reflect his very heart. As 1 John 4:12 (NIV) reminds us, “If we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”

This is the true mark of a Christian — love that reaches beyond comfort zones, opinions and differences. Jesus said in John 13:35 (NIV), “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

The world is watching, not to see how loudly we profess our faith but how deeply we practice it. Every act of compassion, every gentle word and every moment of grace reveals something divine — God’s love at work in us. The more we give that love away, the more it grows within us, mirroring the heart of Christ, who gave Himself for all.

So ask yourself: Does the world recognize you as his disciple by the way you love?

Long before the manger in Bethlehem, the prophet Isaiah pointed God’s people to the promise of a Savior. In Isaiah 9:6 (NIV) we read: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Even before Jesus’ birth, His names revealed who He is and what He would bring. Each title carries a promise that still impacts our lives today.

• Wonderful Counselor. Jesus brings wisdom and guidance for every situation. In moments of confusion, we can lean on him to direct our steps with love and truth.
• Mighty God. He is strong enough to carry our burdens and powerful enough to overcome sin, fear and death itself.
• Everlasting Father. Jesus reflects the heart of God the Father, offering care that is constant and unchanging. His love doesn’t fade with time or circumstance.
• Prince of Peace. In a world filled with turmoil, Jesus offers a peace that goes deeper than circumstances, a peace that guards our hearts and minds.

These revelations about Jesus occurred long before He was born and remain true long after His birth and resurrection. We can, in the words of Scrooge, “honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year” as we head into 2026. The promises of Isaiah aren’t just to repeat at Christmas, but to carry with us all the year and to share with others as we go.