You are either accepted or rejected. And you are accepted in Christ. You are either loved or not loved. And you are loved in Christ. You are loved and accepted by God no matter who you are.
There is something built into every person and that is the deep desire to be loved and accepted.
When you really believe that your Father in heaven loves you, and you respond to that love and acceptance with a grateful heart that is willing to follow and obey God, then most of your negative emotional baggage gets healed and left behind.
When you know you are loved and accepted, you can move into great neighborhoods that few people could ever live in. It is an exclusive place of royalty, richness, and tranquility. The neighborhood association sees people through the eyes of Jesus and loves people with his heart.
I am not ashamed to tell you that I moved there some time ago. I moved into the neighborhood of I could care less what other people think about me neighborhood.
I used to live in the courtyard of codependency; before that, a high-rise of rejection; before that the luxury homes of loneliness. Now I live in Castaic CA!
But in Christ I am loved and accepted! I could care less what other people think about me because I don’t live for the approval of other people.
I live because I am an approved workman of God who is not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I am loved and accepted by my daddy in heaven and at the end of the day that is all that counts!
I am so excited about Anchor #4 that we are changing up the schedule and teaching on our Identity in Christ this Friday. Just like all the other Anchors of Hope, we have a new teaching lined up on who we are in Christ. I hope you will make plans to be with us for this amazing night of worship and discovering who we really are in Christ!
Our good friend and Encounter Worship Director Mandi Pinto-Czarnecki will be back leading us in worship. We are so grateful for Mandi and the many ways that she blesses all of us at Encounter.
I look forward to seeing you all this Friday night!
Be Blessed and Encouraged
Bill Rieser
Encounter Pastor