Walking in the Spirit expresses the character and conduct of Christ.

The Cambridge Dictionary defines Character as,

"The combination of moral, ethical, or personality traits that distinguish and individual."

Therefore, one's character encompasses their overall disposition.

The English word, "character" traces its roots to the Greek word, "kharakter".

Kharakter describes "an engraved mark" or "imprint on the soul", literally referring to an instrument for the marking.

Christian character is the character of Christ imprinted on our soul by the Holy Spirit.

Each January, people in the United States observe a tradition of making resolutions which will mark their life over the next year, calling them "New Year Resolutions."  These self-promises are, in fact, resolutions of character people anticipate expressing in their conduct throughout the year.

Ironically, the resolution themselves often focus on the behavior rather than the character, promising to "hit the gym", "save money", "attend church", or "get up earlier in the morning." Success is found in the early months as the promiser acts of their own volition to fulfill the resolution. Typically, by April, most people have returned to their old habits and the well-intended resolutions are forgotten.

The reason for the early success but ultimate failure is that conduct is a product of character. Conduct can be forced by our will, but we will eventually grow weary and dismiss the resolution to the pages of history as we return back to the fruit of our own nature. This is the lesson of the book of Galatians. If our conduct as Christians is to reflect the conduct of Christ, then we must act out of a character transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Faith is not empty. Faith is not abstract. Faith is effective and actualized in our conduct as Christians. Our faith is evidenced in our daily life as we walk by the Spirit and image our Savior to the watching world.

Allow me to encourage you as you begin 2026 to set your resolutions upon your character and not your behavior. Turn to the Savior, Jesus Christ, in faith. Submit to the Holy Spirit as He leads you into righteousness. Reject the world and all of its empty promises.

May the Lord bless you as you seek Him in all things.

Post tenbras lux,

Pastor Dan | Ps. 46

Now you can watch your favorite Grace Maricopa sermons at the touch of your fingertips.

The channel can be found by clicking the YouTube icon at the bottom of our website or by searching Youtube for, "@GraceMaricopaPulpit" now!

Church Discipleship: Sunday @ 5pm

Pastor Dan teaches through the Bible using The Gospel Project curriculum.

The Church Discipleship class will not be meeting on January 4th.

Men's Group: Tuesday @ 6pm 

Pastor Michael teaches the Men about Biblical Manhood.

Women's Group: Tuesday @ 6:30pm 

Linda Slusher leads a study over Elijah at her home. (Call church for address)

Fundamentals of the Faith: Wednesday at 7pm

Bob VonFleckinger leads a study of basic Christian doctrines.

Women's Daytime Group: Thursday @ 10am

Christie Rogers leads a Bible study designed for women. (Childcare provided)

The Women's Daytime Grace Group will begin again on February 5th, 2026. We will continue studying Ephesians using Susan Heck's book, With The Master: In Heavenly Places. We will pick up at chapter 13.

Socratic Study of Acts: Thursday @ 6pm

Tim Ihms leads an interactive Bible study over the book of Acts.

Grace Crafting

Lynn Jurgensen leads the group in a craft project. The group will meet at the church on:

January 12, 2026 at 10am

January 15, 2026 at 6:30pm

Please reach out to Lynn if you have any questions!

Sojourners is back on January 11th

This January we will be taking the first Sunday off, so enjoy the evening with your families! We will be back in full swing starting January 11th.  We also plan on having weekend events as outreach for Sojourners, so please be in prayer for those upcoming events which we will announce as they come.

New Curriculum! 

We will be starting a new curriculum designed by the staff to address students where they are in our day and age, using the truths of the gospel and Scripture to prayfully change lives.

6th - 12th Grade Students are Welcome

Continue to pray for our students, that the gospel would flourish and come to dwell in their hearts. Pray for our leaders, thanking God for their service and praying that they might grow to disciple the students. We look forward to what God will be doing in months and years to come!

And if you know of any youth students who would enjoy some community, invite them along, Sundays 5pm-7pm!

Children's Church this month

Can God be trusted?

Yes, God cannot lie or ever be wrong, so we can trust whatever He has said.

January Memory Verse:

"The person who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence indeed is the LORD, is blessed." 

Jeremiah 17:7

God’s time of disciplining His people had been completed, and true to His word, He returned them to the land of promise. Once there, they began to rebuild the temple—the important reminder that God was with them, that He is faithful, and that He can always be trusted.

The Christmas season is often a taxing and busy season, and so we were glad to give our usual worship leaders a much needed hiatus. Be sure to thank your worship leaders for all the behind the scenes work that gets done to make our communal worship every Sunday to be excellent and worthy of our Lord!

We exhort and encourage anyone who has a talent in music, audio/visual, or singing to reach out to the worship team and volunteer to serve. The more hands we have for this flowering ministry the better, and it is an incredible way to serve Christ's church on a regular basis.

Please be in prayer as the worship ministry undergoes adaption and constant flux, as we try to organize and structure our systems unto the glory of God. Pray that volunteers would step up unto what God may be calling them.

Pastor Zachary has been in contact with the Central Arizona College campus in Maricopa to open doors for ministry.

Please be in prayer that the process continues to go smoothly. And if you have a desire to serve college students and join this ministry in its infancy, please reach out to Pastor Zachary at his office email, Zachary@GraceMaricopa.org

Our Deacon Ministry has been hard at work around the campus over the last month making repairs and improvements.

The Overflow Area

Our Deacon Ministry has established an overlow area under the front, outside, canopy. This area has comfortable seating and a large screen television to facilitate full participation in our morning worship service.

As our Sunday morning worship gathering grows, feel free to use this area to spread out and worship the Lord, together, as one unified church while we wait for our new building to be completed.

Make sure you let our Deacon Team know how thankful we are for their service to our church.

The Engineering diagrams for the construction of our new parking lot and worship building have been reviewed by the City of Maricopa. The redline review comments are being discussed and resolved by our engineering experts.

Please continue to pray that God will guide us in this procjess and lead us to a construction company and contractors for this project.

If you would like to be a member of the Construction Management Team for these projects, please email the church office (Office@GraceMaricopa.org). Participants will be invited to an orientation meeting in March.

Biblical Marriage Workbook

Pastor Dan is developing a workbook that will supplement the 5 part sermon series on Biblical Marriage.

Easter Devotional Book

Pastor Dan is writing a 7 day devotional guide: Honoring Easter: The Weight of Sin

Falling Into the Habit

Pastor Dan is writing a 27-day devotional guide to help those who have fallen away from the fellowship to return.

Please pray for him as he works on these projects in January.

Parsonage

Grace Maricopa has been gifted, by the grace of God, a beautiful 3 bedroom, 2 bath house in Maricopa to use as a parsonage for our Family Pastor. The paperwork has been filed with the escrow services and we are waiting for receipt of the deed.

Please join in us praising God for His generous blessing to Grace Maricopa through his faithful servant who, through their generous gift, has made generational impact to the future of Grace Maricopa.

Once the deed has been received, we will hold a dedication service at the parsonage. More details to come.

People Mover

Grace Maricopa has a vision for a robust Senior Ministry that will include monthly trips for Seniors around the state of Arizona and to Mexico border towns.

This vision requires the church to acquire a large bus for transporting seniors.

Please pray that the Lord will provide a large, comfortable bus that can acommodate wheelchairs for this ministry.

Prayer Ministry

Grace Maricopa has a devoted prayer ministry that meets every Wednesday @4pm. We invite everyone to join this pivotal ministry and pray to our loving, powerful Father in heaven for our needs and the needs of others.

If you have a prayer request please email your request to the church office at, Office@GraceMaricopa.org