Ministries — Blaine | Chain of Lakes Church

Chain of Lakes Videos

Select a link below to view recent past videos of worship services. For all past worship services go to https://vimeo.com/chainoflakes/videos Don’t forget to also check out Pastor Paul’s blog2025

November 30, 2025
Advent Series – “Four Words that Never Grow Old” – Part 1 – Peace or Shalom

November 23, 2025
Walking in the Light – 1 John, Part Two

November 16, 2025
Walking in the Light – 1 John

November 9, 2025
Grateful Hearts, Generous Lives – part 3

November 2, 2025
Grateful Hearts, Generous Lives – part 2

October 26, 2025
Grateful Hearts, Generous Lives

October 19, 2025
Colby Martin, Guest Preacher

October 12, 2025
Randy Dean, Guest Preacher

September 21, 2025
“Unlocking the Bible” Part 3

September 14, 2025
“Unlocking the Bible” Part 2

September 7, 2025
“Unlocking the Bible”

August 31, 2025
“The Skeptical Prophet” Jonah – part three, and a special prayer in response to the shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church

August 24, 2025
“The Skeptical Prophet” Jonah – part two

August 17, 2025
Guest speaker Dr. Janice Aanenson
Sound starts at 33:54

August 10, 2025
“The Skeptical Prophet” Jonah – part one

Daily Devotions

Comments about the devotion can be emailed to pastor@colpres.org

Daily Devotions December 8 -13

Monday, December 8
Psalm 42:1-6a
As a deer longs for flowing streams,
    so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
    for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
    the face of God?
My tears have been my food
    day and night,
while people say to me continually,
    “Where is your God?”
These things I remember,
    as I pour out my soul:
how I went with the throng
    and led them in procession to the house of God,
with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,
    a multitude keeping festival.
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.

Yesterday, Pastor Paul continued a series called “four words that never get old.” Yesterday the word that he focused on was hope.
In this season of light and singing and family, we need hope. For many people this is a hard season. People remember those who are not here anymore. Perhaps a person’s situation is not as strong as it was in the past.
The Scriptures have many descriptions of hope. In the Bible, the word hope is used 149 times.
Often the word is used in the Psalms. Today we read a Psalm where the writer of the Psalm was going through a very difficult time.
“My tears have been my food day and night,
While people say to me continually, ‘Where is your God?’”
Oftentimes when people go through difficult times, they blame God for their troubles. “Why has God caused this painful event to happen to me?” is a question that many people have.
The writer of this Psalm experienced this question. Others asked him the question as he went through a difficult time.
An answer to this question is shared. He shared it.
“Why are you cast down, O my soul,
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise [God],
My help and my God.”
Psalm 42:5-6a
Have you had a hard time when you wondered about God, but instead turned closer to God? Please share.

Tuesday, December 9
Psalm 62:5-8
For God alone my soul waits in silence,
    for my hope is from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
    my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my deliverance and my honor;
    my mighty rock, my refuge is in God.
Trust in him at all times, O people;
    pour out your heart before him;
    God is a refuge for us. Selah

These verses are a powerful description of God. You might consider memorizing them. Or write them down and carry them with you.
The writer of this Psalm continued to pour out his concerns to God. Even through hard times, the person did not give up on God and the importance of a relationship with God.
These verses are significant. The last verse ties everything together.
“Trust in him at all times, O people;
Pour out your heart before [God];
God is a refuge for us.”
Psalm 62:8
Have you had moments when you had the experience of this verse? Please share.

Wednesday, December 10
Psalm 130:1-8
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.
Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
    to the voice of my supplications!
If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
    Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with you,
    so that you may be revered.
I wait for the Lord; my soul waits,
    and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
    more than those who watch for the morning,
    more than those who watch for the morning.
O Israel, hope in the Lord!
    For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
    and with him is great power to redeem.
It is he who will redeem Israel
    from all its iniquities.

Hope is a perspective on the world that starts in a relationship with God. The writer of the Psalm illustrated this relationship and hope.
The person waited frequently for God and for God to act.
Many have had this experience. We want something and we pour out our desires to God. And then nothing happens. We wonder why God hasn’t acted. Aren’t we supposed to share our requests with God when we need something important? You’ve seemed to follow the direction of prayer, but you hear or experience nothing back.
Sometimes waiting and hope are the same. We never give up that God is going to act, but we continue to wait. Some wait for a long time with expectations that God will do something.
It’s like waiting for the morning to come.
The writer of this Psalm knew this type of waiting so much that he repeated the verse that waiting is like “those who watch for the morning.” Psalm 130:6
Have you had experience of waiting and waiting? Did you keep hope or lose hope? Please share

Thursday, December 11
Romans 5:1-5
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

Even though Jesus represented hope, the gospels only share the word, “hope” three times. The Apostle Paul wrote about “hope” often. This reading from Romans 5 is one that is well-known. Many people would put this chapter in Romans as one of their favorite chapters in the Bible.
In this chapter we learn that each of us is given access to God through Jesus. We can have a relationship with God. The opportunity for this relationship gives us hope. It’s an expectation that something that will go very well for us. Hope is the expectation of the relationship.
And hope does not disappoint us. Why? Because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through Jesus. God initiates this relationship with us. Our expectations about the relationship represent our hope.
What are your thoughts about these verses? Please share.

Friday, December 12
Romans 8:21-25
that the creation itself will be set free from its enslavement to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning together as it suffers together the pains of labor, and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what one already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

The Apostle Paul continues to write about hope. The words are worth looking at again.
“For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” Romans 8:24-25
Hope is the attitude or expectation of something happened. It’s not what we eventually experience. It’s the perspective on what could happen.
Hope is not something we can see. It’s invisible. We carry this hope through the expectations that God do something for us. Even if our hope is not for something on earth, but extends to live after our life on earth, this is still helpful to us. Having something to look forward to is the foundation of hope.
What are your thoughts about this passage? Please share.

Saturday, December 13
Hebrews 6:13-20
When God made a promise to Abraham, because he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and multiply you.” And thus Abraham, having patiently endured, obtained the promise. Humans, of course, swear by someone greater than themselves, and an oath given as confirmation puts an end to all disputes among them. In the same way, when God desired to show even more clearly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it by an oath, so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God would prove false, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to seize the hope set before us. We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

The last two verses of this reading capture what we’ve been reading about hope this week.
“We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus a forerunner on our behalf, has entered, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 6:19-20)
What are your thoughts about these verses? Please share.

Daily Devotions December 1 - 6

Monday, December 1
Matthew 25:31-46
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You who are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life.”
Yesterday Pastor Paul started a new sermon series called, “Four words that never get old.” On Sunday he looked at the word “peace” or “shalom”.
This week we’re going to have the opportunity to look at what it means to be a peacemaker.
One way we carry peace is regarding our attitude towards the poor and those who are suffering. It’s too easy to blame people who are poor for their own poverty. We might think that someone who lives below the poverty line had made choices that have caused them to be poor. We might think that a person living in poverty is lazy or isn’t interested in working.
Jesus was very clear that these attitudes to the poor stand against the attitude he wants his followers to have.
He wanted people to see him in the face of those who live in poverty. In these verses he wanted his followers to help those who are hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked. In helping and serving we were helping him.
Instead of seeing a person who is poor as lazy or deserving of their fate, Jesus wanted each of us to see his face in a person living in poverty.
How are you doing at judging the poor? What gets in the way for you in seeing the face of Jesus in someone who is in poverty? Please share.
Tuesday, December 2
Matthew 5:9
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Peacemakers seem to be a bit different. A person who identifies as a peacemaker often looks at situations differently than others. When a war breaks out, a peacemaker thinks about how he or she can help end the war. When people are hungry, a peacemaker wants to know how he or she can help. When people are suffering from abuse, a peacemaker wants to enter into the situation and not leave it.
These behaviors are not common among many people. It’s easier to play it safe and stay on the sidelines instead of entering into the pain of a situation as a peacemaker.
Jesus is a marvelous example of a peacemaker. When he saw people were hurting, he didn’t ignore them. He always wanted to help them. He didn’t judge people for their situation; he asked questions about how people could leave their situation; he didn’t criticize people who were suffering; instead he had compassion for them.
In this one verse from Matthew Jesus displayed his love for peacemakers. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
It’s not always easy to be a peacemaker. But Jesus encourages us to follow his call to be peacemakers.
How well do you identify yourself as a peacemaker? What are the obstacles you encounter to being a peacemaker? What are some obstacles that prevent you from being a peacemaker. Consider sharing your responses to these questions.
Wednesday, December 3
Isaiah 11:1-9
A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
    and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
    the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
    the spirit of counsel and might,
    the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see
    or decide by what his ears hear,
but with righteousness he shall judge for the poor
    and decide with equity for the oppressed of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
    and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist
    and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
The wolf shall live with the lamb;
    the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
the calf and the lion will feed together,
    and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
    their young shall lie down together;
    and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
    and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
They will not hurt or destroy
    on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.
These verses share a marvelous vision of peace. In the first five verses Isaiah shared a vision for a person who would help lead Israel out of suffering and into peace. This person would have a spirit of wisdom and understanding and counsel and might. This person would have the spirit of knowledge and the fear or respect for the Lord. The person would be committed to righteousness. In fact righteousness was the way this person would view the poor.
In the last four verses Isaiah shared a vision of peace or shalom. In this vision traditional enemies in the natural world would be able to live together. A wolf and a lamb would be able to live together. A cow and a bear would graze in the same field without threatening each other. A baby could put his or her hand over a spider’s nest and not be afraid.
Many see these words and have shared that Isaiah was predicting the future Messiah. He was sharing that a man (who we know as Jesus) would be coming.
But just to see this Scripture as a prediction would be to miss the power of the story.
Thursday, December 4
Genesis 26:26-33
Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army. Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?” They said, “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you, so we say, let there be an oath between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you so that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.” So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths, and Isaac set them on their way, and they departed from him in peace. That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, “We have found water!” He called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba to this day.
Isaac and Abimelech were not friends. If you have some extra time, read the entire 26^th chapter of Genesis to learn the story.
Abimelech came to the conclusion that Isaac was not an enemy. In fact Isaac was blessed by God. Abimelech desired to have an oath between him and Isaac. It’s worth reading again the words that Abimelech said to Isaac. “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you; so we say, let there be an oath between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you so that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing bu good and have sent you away in peace.” Genesis 26:28-29
The word peace comes from the Hebrew word, “shalom.” Pastor Paul talked about shalom in his sermon on Sunday. Shalom is more than an absence of war. It is a state of peace and comfort and security and wholeness. When people experience shalom in relationships they want to keep it.
In the past Pastor Paul has encouraged people to say “shalom” to someone instead of saying, “goodbye.” Try doing this during this coming week. How do you think this would work? Please share.
Friday, December 5
Micah 6:6-8
“With what shall I come before the Lord
    and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
He has told you, O mortal, what is good,
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice and to love kindness
    and to walk humbly with your God?
To be a peacemaker means we are going to advocate or justice. These three verses from Micah are three of the clearest verses in the Bible about what it means to advocate for justice. The Lord requires that peacemakers will:
Do justice,
Love kindness
Walk humbly with God.
That seems simple, right?
In the past Pastor Paul has shared one way to think of justice as asking three questions. Is the poverty rate going down? Are more people accessing food shelves? Are more people homeless?
Doing justice is not easy. It means we have to ask questions that might seem threatening. It might mean we enter into messy situations.
Who do you know who is a role model for justice for you? Please share.
Saturday, December 6
Romans 5:1-5
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

Through Christ we have personal peace with God. This peace is a type of serenity that we carry with us in our spirits. This peace is different than the peacemaking that we’ve read in other devotional readings this week. However this peace is still significant.
How have you experienced peace because of your relationship with God. Has your relationship with God given you more peace?
Please share.

Daily Devotions November 24-29

Monday, November 24
1 John 3:11-24
For this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We must not be like Cain, who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not be astonished, brothers and sisters, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brothers and sisters. Whoever does not love abides in death. All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them. We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?
Little children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us, for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God, and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.
And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.
In these verses the writer of 1 John came back to the second theme of the letter—God is love. The first theme is “God is light.” God loves us and asks followers or disciples to love God back and then to love our neighbor.
We might think of the entire book of 1 John as an expression of the Great Commandment. We learn more about loving God with all of our heart, soul, and mind, and loving our neighbor as we love ourselves.
In these words we read about how love is helping our neighbor who needs help. Look at verse 17, “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?”
The point is that helping our neighbor is a natural expression of the love that exists within our spirit. We don’t have to be told to help someone else. We do it naturally because the love of God that is within our spirit compels us to help.
When we help another person we are helping our neighbor, but the person who is truly helped is ourselves. We follow the love of God that exists in our hearts
Do you have stories of naturally helping someone because of the love you experienced in your heart? Please share.

Tuesday, November 25
1 John 4:1-6
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. Little children, you are from God and have conquered them, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and whoever is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
When we make decisions we are called to test the spirits to see whether the decision we are making is from God.
This doesn’t mean that God has already made the decisions we are supposed to make. But what it does mean is that God will help us discern the direction to go.
Think of all the decisions you make during the day—hundreds, maybe even thousands. It wouldn’t be practical to converse with God about every single decision.
The point that the author of 1 John was sharing is God gives us a framework to make decisions. When we understand this framework it’s easy to come to a conclusion.
If you are wrestling with a decision right now, these words can be a source of comfort to us. God is greater than the spirits that are from the world. God is willing to share the divine direction.
Have you ever had a moment when you were unsure about how to go forward, but God ultimately gave you the path forward? Your testing of the spirits shared the direction? If so, please share.

Wednesday, November 26
1 John 4:7-21
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.
By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.
God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because he first loved us. Those who say, “I love God,” and hate a brother or sister are liars, for those who do not love a brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.
These words are the most in depth description of the love of God that we will find in the Bible.
In these verses we come across the idea of abiding in God. The English word “abide” comes from the Greek word, “meno.” We abide or meno in God.
Pastor Paul talked about how abiding in God or abiding in God’s love is like taking residence in God. God and God’s love become our spiritual residence. Our thoughts, our attitudes of the heart, our actions are a reflection of love.
An important part of these verses is this: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear…” 1 John 4:18
This is more than being afraid of something happening. This is a perspective on the world that is based on fear. This perspective leads to pessimism and even cynicism.
Agape love is quite different. In living with agape love we realize all that we have. We don’t have fear because the love inside of us crowds it out.
What are your thoughts on this passage? Please share.
Thursday, November 27
1 John 5:1-5
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
In the first section of the final chapter of 1 John we read about how love compels us to follow the commandments. Following the commandments starts with experiencing the love that God has given to us. Because of this love we see how the commandments are an expression of it. We “want” to follow them instead of “having” to follow them because we have love.
Some people might think that following commandments is burdensome. The author of 1 John refutes this. These commandments are not burdensome because of the love we have.
Have you had a moment when you saw commandments as burdensome? Please share.
Friday, November 28
1 John 5:6-12
This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son. Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
It’s not surprising that the author of 1 John closes by talking about eternal life. In the final chapter of the High Priestly prayer we learn more about eternal life. In his prayer, Jesus said this, “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” John 17:3
In 1 John we read that knowing God is living out his life. So though we might think of eternal life as something that happens after we die, it really doesn’t. We can receive a glimpse of heaven right now. When we love others we connect to and experience God. This is eternal life.
We might remember times when we felt a close connection to God. Undoubtedly we were full of love.
How have you experienced this eternal life recently? Please share.
Saturday, November 29
1 John 5:13-21
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him. If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a deadly sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one—to those whose sin is not deadly. There is sin that is deadly; I do not say that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly.
We know that those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them.We know that we are God’s children and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
Our Bible Study of 1 John ends with the writer of John talking about boldness that we have. When we love and know God we have boldness because we feel a connection to God. We know and are confident that God hears us when we talk to God.
This is one of the highest expressions of the spiritual life. We walk around with a deep sense of security because of God’s love and light. As we reside in God we see that living out love gives us security even when things in our own life go bad.
Have you had moments in your journey, when you’ve experienced this spiritual security? Please share.

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Please note that the Google calendar is not showing up on iPhones, but will show up on Android devices and all desktop computers (including iMac). Your patience is appreciated while we troubleshoot this issue!

Community Gardens

Chain of Lakes Church is excited to offer a Community Garden Ministry next to the new church building at 2650 125th Ave NE, Blaine, MN 55449. It’s just east of Malmborg’s Garden Center on 125th Ave NE in Blaine or .8 miles east of Radisson Rd on 125th Ave NE, Blaine.