TCF Update 11/22/25

Good afternoon church family,

Tomorrow is the Lord’s day! I look forward to gathering together as we mutually encourage one another to root our lives in Christ and His gospel. The Lord calls us to gather together because our coming together is good for us, good for our community, and brings him joy. It is good for us because by gathering we are built up together by our collected spiritual gifts which have been given to us by the Holy Spirit. It is good for our community because when the church gathers the government of the kingdom of Christ is in session. We are his ambassadors coming together to prepare for the declaration of his proclamations into a broken world which he desires to restore. Not only are we declaring these things, but we are preparing to execute Christ’s plan to redeem our community. It brings joy to God’s heart because it is a sign that our hearts are being redeemed and restored through the gospel of Jesus when we choose to gather as his church rather than using our Sunday for whatever else we might do. A Christian who chooses church weekly is seeking first His kingdom. There is no such thing as a common Sunday for a Christian. I hope you will make it a priority to join us tomorrow for the gathering.

Tomorrow we will continue our theme of exploring what it means for us to be the representatives of Jesus Christ in our world. Jesus tells us in Luke 10, that representing him looks like a good Samaritan who is willing to be a neighbor even to a man who likely despised him. How easy it is for us to think that we are only to be kind to those who are kind back to us, but the gospel does not allow for this line of thinking to be our line of thinking. We serve a God who sends rain upon the just and the unjust alike, and like him we are called to do good for all in Jesus’ name. In fact, we are told that when we live this way we are just like our Father in heaven (Matthew 5:43-48).

May we continue to pray for the hurting and broken who are within our church community. May we continue to think of the sick and the homebound. As the Lord brings a brother or sister in Christ to your mind, I encourage you to pray for them. The apostle James wrote to us reminding us that the prayer of a righteous person has a great impact in the world (James 5:16). Therefore I encourage us as saints in Christ to pray all the more, knowing that he listens and that our prayers are blowing holes in the defenses of the kingdom of darkness. Pray for our schools, pray for our civic leaders, pray over the Walmart as you walk through it. Pray over every place where you go, because you represent Jesus and his kingdom. Pray that you and each one of us will have boldness to open up our mouths and speak the truth of the gospel of Christ’s Kingdom. We have a glorious joy and privilege of participating with Christ and His work which he is doing in this world. As our Lord himself said, as long as He is in the world, He is the light of the world (John 9:5). He is in this world actively to this very day because he has placed his Holy Spirit in each and every one of us. How wonderful and exciting this is!

May the grace and peace of the Lord be with you on this beautiful Oklahoma Saturday. I pray that you will take time today to rest your mind and to reflect on all of the wonderful things Christ has done for you. As Dr. John Piper has said, God is doing thousands of things for you every single day and you may only be aware of two or three of them. Glory be unto our God who cares for us in ways that we don’t even know! See you in the morning!

In His steps,

Pastor Nick

Luke 10:36-37 CSB — “‘Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers? ’ ‘The one who showed mercy to him,’ he said.
Then Jesus told him, ‘Go and do the same.'”