Waterbrooke Church Lisa Washington

As we go into Missions Week, I want to start out by challenging us to pray that we might see the call to missions as the greatest and most beautiful reality and hope that this world could ever imagine. The news constantly bombards us with story after story of heartache, evil, violence, and war. The hopelessness of the world around us can only be countered by the truest and greatest news in the world – The King has returned to reclaim his world.Yet, here is an interesting thought that we ought to consider on Missions Week: Maybe, it isn’t just the world that needs missions. Maybe, it’s the church that needs missions. Maybe, there are things in our hearts and lives that cannot change until we find ourselves in the position of being Christ’s ambassadors and experience not simply how desperate the world is for Christ but how desperate we are for Him as well. Missions aren't simply the place where God changes the world. Missions are the place where God changes me. The sermon this week is called “A Heart for Missions.” I am praying not simply that we will have a heart of missions at Waterbrooke. I am praying that we also might have a heart from missions – the heart of Christ for broken sinners like you and like me. Christ loves to minister to His people as He ministers through His people. He meets our deepest needs as we seek to minister to the deepest needs of others. Let’s pray for that. Looking forward to seeking a real work of God in and through us all as we consider and pray over His mission in this world. See you Sunday, Lord willing!
In Christ, Kevin Dibbley, Senior Pastor

This Sunday, on Easter Sunday, we celebrated and talked about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In particular, we looked at Jesus’ encounter with Thomas, at least a week and a half after the crucifixion. Thomas is struggling. When the disciples tell Thomas that they have seen Jesus, Thomas’ response is very strong. He says, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe!”
Thomas’ reaction is not purely intellectual. It is highly emotional. Thomas is often called “Doubting Thomas.” Thomas might more accurately be called, “Devastated Thomas.” There is more going on here than a need for rational evidence. Thomas is a Jew. He believes in God. He is a disciple.
He had high hopes for Jesus. But suddenly, his hopes and his expectations were dashed at the cross. Thomas is wounded, weary, and done. That describes a lot of people that I have known and even know today. Maybe some of you are wounded, weary, and just plain done. In John 20:24-31, the risen Jesus encounters the deeply disappointed Thomas and the encounter is life-changing for Thomas.
Jesus comes to Thomas and Thomas is forever transformed. If you are wounded and weary, we want to invite you to come and meet with Jesus. Let Jesus’ encounter with one of his most discouraged disciples, minister to your heart.
Our prayer is that this Easter Sunday would be truly life-giving to you and to all our church family as we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus from the dead… the greatest news in all of history!

God created us in his image to resemble him and center our lives around him. But when we rebelled against God, we decentered our lives from him and marred God’s image with our disobedience. As a result, we all are children of wrath and without hope in and of ourselves (Eph 2:1–3). But Jesus came to reverse our spiritual predicament. As the image of the invisible God and the firstborn of all creation (Col 1:15), Jesus is the new and better Adam we desperately need. He came to recreate us after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (Eph 4:23). In Christ, we have a new identity as children of God. But with this new identity, the gospel calls us to live differently, not how we once lived––alienated from God and in the darkness (Eph 4:18). Paul describes our new identity in Christ as a Father-son relationship.
As beloved children, the gospel calls us to walk in love and light as imitators of God our Father (Eph 5:1–2, 8). But how can we walk in love and light as obedient children? And how do we imitate God in a time when the days are evil and in a twisted culture that constantly vies for our undivided attention? According to the apostle Paul, we must walk in wisdom and be filled with the Holy Spirit! If we are to attain mature manhood (Eph 4:13) and no longer be children tossed to and fro by everything that the flesh, the world, and Satan throw at us, we must not be foolish but wise (cf. Eph 4:14). And if we are to bear with one another in love and maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph 4:2, 3), and no longer grieve the Holy Spirit, we must be filled with the Spirit as worshipers who speak and sing the gospel, give thanks, and submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (Eph 5:18–21).
The time is urgent because the days are evil. But God is a good Father who gives his children what he requires. He gives wisdom. He promises the Spirit himself. He is recreating a new community of worshipers who are wise beyond their years and overflowing with the power and joy of the Spirit to walk with Jesus.
So, as we gather this Sunday to celebrate Jesus through worship and communion, come in humility and receive wisdom. Come empty and be filled.
 
We welcome you to join us for Good Friday Service at the Chaska Event Center and for Easter Services at 9 & 11.

This Sunday’s sermon is called “Walk In Love.” In the city of Ephesus, the idea of love had been severely distorted by the worship that was happening at the Temple of Artemis. The temple was considered to be one of the seven great wonders of the world. It was twice the size of the Parthenon in Athens. Emperors and travelers came to behold this incredible architectural masterpiece. As Acts 19 revealed, the worship of Artemis was the major economic engine for the city of Ephesus. Artemis was the goddess of fertility so sexual idolatry and promiscuity was promoted and celebrated. It is no wonder that Paul’s instructions on walking in love in Ephesians 5 is set in direct contrast to the sexual immorality that plagued their culture and continues to plague ours. We know that sexual promiscuity has become the sign of one’s freedom today and the clearest marker of one’s identity in our culture. Loving yourself and being yourself is often tied to being open about your personal sexuality. In Ephesians 5, we are called to understand that God’s design in the gospel produces a very different approach to “love”. Love is not giving yourself over to sexual sin. Love is giving yourself to Christ for the purpose of the gospel. Our identity is found in Christ. Love radically transforms how Christians live in a sexually perverse society with the hope that people might be set free not only from sexual sin but from life without Christ. Our sermon this week is called “Walk In Love.” Pray that God might use Ephesians 5:1-18 to bring many people into both the love and the light of Jesus. 
In Christ, Kevin Dibbley, Senior Pastor
 
Join us for our Good Friday Service ay the Chaska Event Center, 6pm March 29th
 

This Sunday’s message was called “Learning Jesus.” It is taken from Ephesians 4:17-24 where the apostle Paul is encouraging the Christians at Ephesus to “no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.” The Ephesian Christians were once Gentiles walking in “the futility of their minds.” Futility really describes that downward spiral that the unbelieving world is in towards spiritual and moral catastrophe. The individual believes that he or she is completely fine and in control. They think that they know the way to life, to joy, to peace. In aviation, there is an error called a “graveyard spiral”. It happens when the pilot thinks he is flying with his wings level, but he or she is actually flying in a wide downward circle. Their altimeter and vertical speed indicator tell them that they are getting lower so they simply pull back on their control yoke. They grab the controls. What that does is actually tighten the circle of their descent towards a crash. It’s like water going down the drain. 
Sin does that. It leads us in an ever rapidly descent towards death and calamity. Our tendency sometimes is to grab the controls back from the Lord. This isn’t what we expected to happen and so we try to fix things in the flesh. The truth is that there is only one way out. It isn’t grabbing the controls back. It is giving up our control to Christ. It is looking to the One who alone leads us out of death and into life.One of the spiritual disciplines of the Christian is learning how to fix our eyes on Jesus who can lead us out of sin and death and towards that eternal rest for which our souls long. Do you feel like you are in a downward spiral in your personal life? Are you moving away from Christ? Are you seeing or sensing that you need to grab the control yoke and fix this yourself? Have you been handling difficulties in the flesh? 
Lets study this passage and understand what Paul means when he talks about Christians having “learned Jesus.” Even as Christians, especially as Christians, we need to understand the wisdom and the way of “Learning Jesus.” This is absolutely vital so pray that we might learn and live God’s wisdom together. See you Sunday. Oh, by the way, the snow is beautiful.
In Christ, Kevin Dibbley, Senior Pastor

Dear Waterbrooke Friends,
This week, we studied Ephesians 4:1-16. Our sermon is called How to Pray for Waterbrooke. In Ephesians 4, the apostle Paul “urges” the church at Ephesus to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” We will see that in this letter, this exhortation can be summed up in two ways: unity (4:1-16) and purity (4:17-5:20). In Christ, we have been made a special people. Our calling is to be a distinct community of very different people deeply devoted to Christ, to each other, and to the mission of taking the gospel to the nations. Becoming a disciple is kind of like being put on a sports team or being chosen for a music performance. Joining the team is different from becoming a team. God in Christ has chosen us by His grace to be His people. As we pray over what that means for Waterbrooke Church, Ephesians 4 gives us clear guidelines on how to pray that we might become the people that Christ died and rose to make us. Will you pray over this passage for yourself and our church family? We have such a privileged opportunity to bring glory to God through our lives together as we look to the Lord as one people. 
 
In Christ, Kevin Dibbley, Senior Pastor
 
Join us in the month of February as we pray together.  Do you need prayer?  Please connect with us at www.waterbrooke.church