Posts by Valerie Austin

Dear Brothers and Sisters, A year ago we launched our Called to Flourish three year vision. The primary aim of this vision is to put into practice in a very concrete way our church’s purpose statement. Over these last twelve months I’ve seen the Lord transforming our congregation and causing us to flourish in multiple areas. In fact, many of you have shared with me how…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, This week I had a conversation with our son, Charlie, about what the word “church” means. In the Bible, the word “church” doesn’t refer to a building, but rather the people of God; the people God has called out of the world to be members of his family. The church includes all believers everywhere, from the era of the Old Testament and all those…

Dear Faith Community Church Family, Hebrews chapter 11 is sometimes called the “Hall of Faith,” and for good reason. It includes many godly examples of faithful believers from the Old Testament; people like Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Joseph–and the list goes on. These persevering believers were anything but perfect; however, through difficulties, disappointments, and…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, God never intended that we would live the Christian life alone. We need one another for support and encouragement in our spiritual journey. This is why the author of Hebrews says in last Sunday’s passage, “let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24). In fact, the author of Hebrews immediately “practices…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, On Sunday we heard about the great things Jesus has accomplished on our behalf through his death and resurrection. Hebrews 9:11-22 tells us that the blood of Jesus has opened the way to the heavenly sanctuary, purchased eternal life, purified our conscience, inaugurated the New Covenant, and provided for us an eternal inheritance. In our passage…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, On Sunday, I shared this quote with you from Charles Spurgeon, the 19th century English preacher: “When God writes His law in our hearts, He writes that which will never be blotted out. Once let Him take the pen in His hand, and begin to write, ‘Holy to Yahweh’ (Zech 14:20), right across a man’s heart, and the devil himself can never remove that…

Dear Faith Community Church Family, Do you ever sense that there are multiple versions of “reality” in our culture? Let me explain what I mean. News outlets, the media, the places we shop, the restaurants where we eat, and even our friends and colleagues will bombard us with messages that say things like, “Follow your truth,” or, “We all know that the only viable view of…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Our God is holy and perfect and all-powerful. He is the God who created the sun, moon, and stars, and who owns “the cattle on a thousand hills” (Psalm 50:10); and yet, he is the God who invites us to draw near. This Sunday we turn our attention to Hebrews 7:11-22, where we are told that Jesus alone is the perfect sacrifice. What the priests of…

Dear Faith Community Church Family, There are many characters in the Bible that stand out to us: Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, Peter, and Paul (to name a few). One character that probably doesn’t spring to the forefront of your mind is Melchizedek, though Melchizedek is obviously important to the author of Hebrews. This mysterious man was simultaneously a king and…

Rev Don Johnson led us in a study of 2 Peter 1:3-15 this past Sunday. Peter was nearing the end of his life as he wrote these words, and he was motivated to teach and encourage the believers. Pastor Don encouraged us to live a life of intimacy with God through faith in Jesus, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. Let us…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, If we want to live a life of freedom in Jesus Christ, we must recognize with the Apostle Paul that “[t]here is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Christians are no longer bound by the power of sin but have been set free to live a life in step with the Holy Spirit. True freedom in the Christian life…

Dear Faith Community Family, When God calls us to himself, he calls us to a life of continual growth in the faith. This Sunday we come to Hebrews 6:1-10. In this passage, once again, we are exhorted to “go on to maturity” and warned against falling away in the faith (Hebrews 6:1,6). Though we have been cleansed of sin and justified in the sight of God by the blood of…

Brothers and Sisters, This Friday evening at 6:30pm we have the excellent opportunity to meet with Haitian pastor Dony St. Germain. Dony has served many years in gospel ministry in his home country of Haiti and serves as the president of El Shaddai Ministries International. We will have dessert and hear from Dony as he shares about the work God is doing in Haiti, in…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, On Sunday, we reflected on how the ongoing priestly ministry of Jesus allows us to draw near to God’s throne with confidence and boldness in prayer. This Sunday, we continue with learning more about Jesus’ priestly ministry on our behalf as we reflect on the uniqueness of his priesthood, according to “the order of…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, It was a joy to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior with you on Sunday. Because of the resurrection of Jesus, we have been freed from our sins and have been given an unfailing hope. We serve a living Savior, who is “the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth” (Revelation 1:5). This Sunday we return to…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are the most important events in all of history. In the last week of his earthly life, our Savior entered Jerusalem as Israel’s King and was crucified for the sins of the world. In his death, Jesus bore the wrath of God for our sin, and in his resurrection, he defeated death as our conquering King.…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, In Romans 8 the Apostle Paul writes, “[T]he Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (v. 26). After the horrific and depraved shooting incident on Monday at Covenant School in Nashville, a ministry of Covenant Church PCA, I…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, This Sunday, we have the privilege of welcoming Ted Powers back to the Faith Community Church pulpit. Ted is the director of the Midwest Alliance, a movement dedicated to planting churches throughout the Midwest. He is also the director of Chicago Friends of Haiti, which connects our denomination and local churches to God’s work in Haiti.…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, How important is prayer really for the Christian life and the life of the church? In his book A Praying Church, Paul Miller says this: “[P]rayer is not one more activity of the church–it lies at the heart of all the church’s ministry . . .. Prayer is not an option; it’s the engine.” Oftentimes we treat prayer as something supplementary to the…

Dear Faith Community Church Family, In Hebrews 4:9-10, we are given a beautiful summary of the gospel message: “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.” The gospel message calls us to stop trying to impress God with our “good works”, and to rest instead in the…