White Pine Community Church

What would it look like if another Great Awakening swept through Southern Maine in the 21st century as it did in the 18th century? What would change in your own life if you experienced personal revival? Find out as we learn from Matthew 3 about a first-century Great Awakening. The post Thin Places first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

Jesus entered our world more than 2,000 years ago, but there is also a point in time when He makes His entrance into our personal world. And what we do with the realization that He is Someone we have to reckon with reveals whether or not we are true seekers of God. The post The Unavoidable One first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

It's natural for us to ask, “How do I know if Jesus is worthy of my trust?” But an equally important question is, “How does He know I am worthy of His trust?” This study of Matthew 1:18-25 and 2:13-23 will answer both questions. The post Who's Vetting Whom? first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

What can we learn about Jesus by strolling through his family graveyard? In this study of Matthew 1:1-17, you will see encouraging things in the genealogy of Jesus that you never have seen before. The post The Story the Cemetery Tells first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

We know how important it is for us to move toward God, but what does it mean when God moves toward us? The post Wanna Hold the Baby? first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

Christmas may be the hap-hap-happiest season of all for some, but others need help to beat the holiday blues. In this message we search the Scriptures for practical tips on maintaining and restoring our mental health. The post Blue Christmas first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

You will never again take God's grace for granted after you understand the history of mankind's quest for forgiveness, and how it was finally obtained. The post You Have Been Forgiven first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

“By his wounds you have been healed.” When Peter wrote that, quoting Isaiah 53:5, he applied it to our spiritual lives, telling us that the death of Jesus healed us from our addiction to sin (1 Peter 2:24). That's wonderful, but what about physical healing? Is that part of salvation as well? The post You Will Be Healed first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

It's one thing to believe that God is in control of world events, but does His sovereignty extend to every detail of your life? And if it does, how does that change the way you think about the dead ends and detours that have landed you on a path you never expected to travel? The post You're Still on Plan A first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

Who decides the winners on election day? Ultimately, it's not who you think. The good news is that whoever is President, God is King. And no matter how chaotic things feel down here, everything is under control up there! In this message you will see American politics from a new perspective that will give you peace and hope regardless of the headlines. The post Whoever Is President, God Is King first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

You know what you should believe about prayer. But do you? The seeming disconnect between what Jesus taught and what we experience can make us doubt that prayer makes any difference. How do we overcome our unbelief and resulting prayerlessness? The post Your Prayers Will Be Answered first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

Psalm 91 is the most fear-dispelling chapter in the Bible … but can it be trusted? The post You Have Nothing to Fear first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

If you use words like “faith”, “gospel” or “Christianity” in today's culture, who knows what kind of response you'll get? Words like these are wrought with misunderstandings, misgivings, and even outright disdain. The word “gospel” means good news, and in this message you'll learn how Mark explained the gospel to Christians in Rome who, like us, lived in a culturally difficult time. The post A Gospel That Is Good News first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

If there's one thing that right-leaning and left-leaning Americans have in common, it's our desire for our community and our country to flourish. That's one reason why the upcoming election is so important to us. But what if politics is not where the power is? The post A Power Greater Than Politics first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

If you were on a committee tasked with making your political party's platform more consistent with the teachings of Jesus, what changes would you suggest? In Part 2 of Jesus for President, we look at both the Republican and Democratic platforms through the grid of Scripture in an effort to identify strengths and weaknesses in each. The post What the Other Political Party Gets Right first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

Republicans and Democrats have a party platform, so why can't we? In this message you will learn how to be more like Jesus in your political behavior. The post The Jesus Party Platform first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

There is nothing more attractive than the love of God, but how do we know we can count on His love when we need it most? The post God Is More Loving Than You Think first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

If God is gracious and compassionate and abounding in love, does that mean He never gets mad? Or does “slow to anger” mean that His patience, long-suffering as it is, has its limits? The post God Is More Patient Than You Think first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

“Grace” is a beautiful word that awakens the hope of a fresh start regardless of our past. We would love to think that there are no limits to God's grace, but what does the Bible say? The post God Is More Gracious Than You Think first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

A TIME Magazine poll revealed that when Americans think about God, 77% of us see Him as either distant or angry. If that's how you view Him, God is more compassionate than you think! The post God Is More Compassionate Than You Think first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

If someone were to ask you, “Can Jesus accomplish big things with small resources?” you would probably say “Yes!” But pain, disappointment and obstacles often cause us to forget this truth. In this message, you'll watch Jesus perform a miracle that reminds us of His ability to defy the odds and save the day. The post True Abundance first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

Most of us are better at seeing God as our Father who art in heaven than we are at hallowing His name. The word “hallowed” means holy, but just how holy is God, and what are the implications for us? The post God's Awesome Holiness first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

It's one thing to be smart, but something else altogether to be wise. Thankfully, God is both. He not only knows everything, He knows how use that knowledge to make things work—things like your life. In this message, you will learn how to access God's wisdom and apply it to the complexities of real life. The post God's Awesome Wisdom first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

The only thing that obscures the nearness of God is His invisibility. In this message you'll discover the difference God's omnipresence can make in the most challenging moments of your life. The post God's Awesome Presence first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

When was the last time the truth about God's power set your heart on fire or turned your legs to jelly? In this message, you will learn how His omnipotence can be transfused into the areas of your life in which you feel the weakest. The post God's Awesome Power first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

What do you do when God lays something on your heart, and you frankly don't want to do it? Just as importantly, what does God do? This study of the prophet Jonah will answer these important questions. The post The Call of God to a Reluctant Heart first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

“Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life.” That's Proverbs 4:23 in the New Century Version, and it was as true for Jesus as it is for us. In this study you will learn how to think (and thus live) more like Jesus. The post The Mind of Christ first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

Whatever images of Jesus you have seen—whether on canvas or on film—are nowhere near as good at depicting His emotions as the Gospels are. You may not have been taught to think of Jesus as a passionate person, but He was—and His emotions tell us, not only what we should care most deeply about, but also what He feels when He thinks of us. The post The Heart of Christ first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

Where would Jesus go if He came to the State of Maine? How would His mission, His values and His character impact His travels? As the 21st-century Body of Christ, we who represent Jesus are called to use our feet to go where Jesus would go if He were here. In this message, we'll trace His steps and learn how to follow His lead. The post The Feet of Christ first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

You know it's half of one the Ten Commandments—to honor your father—but how do you do that for someone so far from perfect? It starts with thinking about what is noble, admirable and praiseworthy in him, and out of the overflow of such thoughts come spoken words of gratitude. The post Honor Your Father first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

What is your favorite kind of preacher? And does Jesus fit the profile? Yes. And no. He was far too unpredictable to be typecast. But why? How did He decide what to say and how to say it on different occassions to different audiences? The post The Tongue of Christ first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

Are you like Jesus in the way you listen? That may sound like a simple question until you study Christ's listening habits—and the results of His ability to hear what wasn't being said out loud. Can you listen like that? Yes, you can, and when you do, the changes you see will amaze you. The post The Ears of Christ first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

“Oh, the power of our hands. Leave them unmanaged and they become weapons. But manage them and our hands become God's very hands.” So says Max Lucado in his book Just Like Jesus. But what did God do with His hands when He became a man? The post The Hands of Christ first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

What if Jesus lived in Maine? As far-fetched as that sounds, are we not the Body of Christ? Do we not have the potential to reveal Jesus to those with whom we live, work and play? We do—but only if we do with the parts of our body what He did with the parts of His body. The post The Eyes of Christ first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

Whether you see yourself accurately depends, to a large degree, on the mirrors you choose. Do you see your reflection in the funhouse mirrors of comparison, culture and critics, or in the reliable mirror of the word of God? The post Seeing Yourself as God Sees You first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

The grace of God. There is nothing sweeter, nothing more powerful, nothing more life-changing. But how do you tap into it? The post Tapping Into the Grace of God first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

On the eve his death, Jesus taught His disciples some of the most important truths He wanted them understand. One of those teachings used the metaphor of a vine and branches. In this message, we will see how the metaphor impacts our lives today. The post Two Choices first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

Throughout history those who care about helping people change have echoed the advice given in Proverbs 4:23 (NCV): “Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life.” But how do we get control of something as wild as our thought life? The post You Are What You Think first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

What has shaped you as a person more than anything else? Odds are your answer is not a what, but a who. Most of us, for better or worse, are more deeply influenced by other people than by anything else. That's why healthy mentoring relationships are encouraged and modeled for us in the Bible. In this message you will learn how to benefit from mentoring as you pursue your God-given potential. The post As Iron Sharpens Iron first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

If there's one thing faith in Jesus should do for us, it is to change us—to make us more like Him. But how do people change? The post How People Change first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

Two-thirds of Americans believe in the miracle of Christ's resurrection. So why don't 2/3 of us follow Jesus? The post Risen first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

Have you ever asked God for wisdom? If so, how do you know whether or not He gave it to you? Fortunately, you don't have to guess. James 3:13-18 gives us a description of what God's wisdom looks like—and what it makes us look like when we embrace it. The post What Wisdom Looks Like first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

If there is one question we all want to know the answer to, it is this one: What must we do to gain God's approval of us on the Day of Judgment? Two apostles answered that question directly. In Romans 3:28, Paul said: “…One is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” But almost a decade earlier, James wrote: “…A person is justified by works and not by faith alone” (James 2:24).  Who was right? Too much is The post Life's Most Important Question first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

Have you ever had a déjà vu moment – the illusion of having previously experienced a situation that is happening again? The end of John's Gospel in chapter 21 seems to have such a déjà vu moment.  It looks like he repeats a story that appears at the very beginning of Luke's gospel in chapter 5.  It makes you wonder why and how they are connected, if at all.  It turns out the connection between the two may provide the key to all The post Déjà Vu first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

In Matthew 6:1-18, Jesus teaches how we should express our relationship with God. He addresses three fundamental practices: giving to the poor, prayer, and fasting, along with much more. This rich teaching provides a key to enhancing our relationship with God and other people. The post What Is Done in Secret first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

You may know what markers to keep tabs on when it comes to your physical health, but what is the most accurate indicator of your spiritual health? The Book of James not only identifies it for us; it also gives us nitty-gritty advice on how to eradicate evil and do more good in that area of our life. The post Taming Your Tongue first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

In Luke 7:36-50, Jesus took a man to where he didn't want to go. It's a place He takes all of us, but whether we do or don't want to go there says more about us than it does about Him. The post When Jesus Takes You Where You Don't Want to Go first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

If you are someone in whom the Spirit of God lives, you know that His influence on you does not remove the inner conflict between your holiest desires and the impulses of your sinful human nature. If anything, the battle is more intense now that you are a follower of Jesus.  Over time, that never-ending war can wear you out and tempt you to either live in two worlds or, worse, surrender to your flesh. After all, you know God The post How Serious Is Sin? first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

“What people value highly is detestable in God's sight.” Maybe you know Jesus said that (Luke 16:15), but do you know what He was talking about when He said it? Money. As uncomfortable as that might make you and me, James would say, “Amen!” In fact, he devotes much of the letter that we call the Book of James to hammering home unpopular truths about money that can change our lives (and maybe our destiny) if we let them land with The post What's Wrong with Being Rich? first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

In a world like ours, wouldn't it be nice if God intervened more often? Clear direction when we don't know which way to go, a fresh start when we've made a mess of things, divine healing when medical science fails! If only! But here we are in a seemingly closed system, doing the best we can on our own. “No!” the Book of James insists. “God is more eager to answer your prayers than you can imagine!” If that is The post When All Else Fails first appeared on White Pine Community Church.

If God is so good, why is life so hard? That's not an abstract question. It's a nitty gritty one that all of us have asked at times—because, let's face it, following Jesus has not been as fun as we hoped it would be. What's up with all these trials? The book of James does not dodge this issue. It gives us perspective and inspiration to run the hardest miles of our marathon. In this message you will be reminded The post Why Life Is Hard first appeared on White Pine Community Church.