The Audacity of True Worship

Daniel 3:18
But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

Worship is a freeing thing. It frees us up from the call of false gods and the idolatry of the world. Perhaps why the world can't stand our worship is because of our freedom from the the things of this world.

Worship takes my eyes off of me.
Worship frees me to live for Christ.
Worship helps me to see things in Christ's perspective.
Worship liberates me to love people the way Christ loves me.
Worship keeps me humble before a Holy God.

Who can make a graven image of God? Who on earth even knows what He looks like? What kind of artist could even capture the awesome unattainable power of His Holiness? It is the height of pride to think that we ever could. All of our thoughts fall short of capturing His all encompassing love for us.

Wouldn't you want to give up all of the pleasures of this world just to have one brief moment in His presence? Daniel and his friends understood exactly what was being asked of them. They knew that bowing before anything else would be the ultimate insult against the God that they knew to be true. They would prefer death rather than dishonor his name. They were willing to enduring a moment of pain rather than suffer an eternity in shame. This kind of commitment only comes from understanding the God whom they worshiped.

I hope that you are pursuing knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection today. There is no greater feeling than escaping the orbit of this world and following the One True God whom we worship.

Go for it!

Pastor Vince Gonzales

Saturday Night Service

Tonight we will be talking about praying for fruitfulness. Real prayer produces real fruit. And we have seen the Gospel change the landscape of communities, families and churches. In the same way, prayer not only changes other peoples lives for the better, it changes ours for the better. Come join us every Saturday night at 6:00 pm in the theatre of Northwest Bible Church and see how God can change your prayer life for the better.

God bless you!

Pastor Vince

Looking forward and not looking back

It is a great blessing to live the Christian life. One of the best things about being a Christian is to know that the best is yet to come. There are many great wonders, joys and blessings in going through life. To get married, have kids, watch them grow and serve the Lord is awesome. However, we know that the best is yet to come. Even in Church, for as awesome as our worship can be, I know that it pales in comparison to the glories, joys and blessing that await us in heaven. This should encourage us as we struggle in our day to day activities.

Paul writes in Philipians 3:13-14: "Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

The challenge for us today is not be content with our accomplishments, or lament that we are getting older and weaker, but to know that THE BEST IS YET TO COME! Hallelujah!

An unexpected blessing!

I received a call from a friend asking me if I would perform his grand daughters quincenera. I said sure, when and where? He said that it would be on a cruise ship and that he would like for my wife and I to preside over the ceremony. I thought "cool" but I am not into cruise ships. We had never done such a thing and were a little skeptical. But being a good friend we agreed. Our friend blessed us with the cost of the trip but also other friends having heard about the trip blessed us with some spending money. The Lord provided everything we needed. It was our first vacation without our kids and the Lord spoke to us deeply over the trip.
We attended Lakewood church in Houston the Sunday before our cruise, and also their Spanish service. An old friend of ours sang a solo in the choir, how cool is that? Then we spent the night in a Bed and Breakfast a few blocks from the beach in Galveston and took long walks with my wife. We had a lot to talk about, the entire trip was extremely theuraputic. The cruise itself was very worldly. There was a lot of promotion of drinking and gambling, but we managed to ignore that and spend some quality time with our Christian friends, sharing what the Lord is doing in our lives. My wife and I had an awesome time of prayer and sharing and together we cast all of our cares into the deep blue ocean. Knowing that God is even greater and He holds us in the palm of His hand.
I realized that I was carrying a lot of stress and found a great way to get rid of it. Both on the sea and also making some mental, physical and spiritual changes as well. I had no idea that I needed a vacation, but the Lord had everything worked out. Now I am back and refreshed and ready to face what the Lord is bringing our way. Halleluya! Thank you Jesus and thanks to all of our special friends who heard from the Lord to send us on that trip!