IC Y ICYC IS GREAT

I was blessed with the opportunity to take 11 of the kids from our youth group to ICYC. It was a powerful weekend with a powerful message, Abandonment.

When I first read the title for the weekend, Totally Abandoned. I thought the teaching was going to be about us going all out for Christ, recklessly abandoning the world to best follow Jesus. I was surprised to hear the message was actually, the totally abandoned youth of America, who have lost their way. It was a deep message, "a heavy one" as my friend, and speaker for the weekend Mark Christian put it.

That heavy message was received well, and I think it will change the kids lives. I taught a lesson on Renewal, it wasn't very well attended. It must have gotten out that I wasn't any good. It was my first time teaching a workshop there, so it was fun to try out. I think I will do it again next year if the powers that be, allow me.

Something really nice happened to me this week. I received a great gift. I had to make a fool of myself, but it turned out to be worth it. I won a brand spanking new Macbook, and this is officially my first blog with my new mac. I like it. I vowed I would never buy a mac, it was getting to popular and anything that gets that popular I tend to dislike, but this machine is impressive. It is certainly an upgrade from my laptop I bought in my Junior year of college. This February will make it 3 years old. I think technology has changed since then.

But that's just a material thing. I had a wonderful week with the kids, and I think it will change how we interact with each other. The kids weren't overly excited, but the intial verdict was that they had a great time.

It was a great weekend, and I am extremely thankful I had the opportunity to get away from my preaching duties to enjoy this weekend and fellowship with the kids.

A special thanks goes to David Rinker for filling in for my responsibilities at EGCC. Thanks Dave!

Anyways, I am beginning the long process of no longer being a PC. It's hard, but I think I will learn to manage :)

Turkey take away

I had an exciting night of ministry. We've been planning for the last couple of weeks the 25 Turkey Drive. I asked the congregation to donate to 25 families, 25 Thanksgiving meals. Tonight was the night we would deliver the meals to the families in need.
At 6:15 we were to meet up, grab some grub, break out into groups and hit the streets. It was 6:10, and there were maybe a half dozen folks who showed up. I thought it was going to be a long night of turkey delivery. About 10 minutes later we had nearly 70 people. 20 were young kids, ready for a meal and a lesson. 17 were in the youth group, and 30 were adults ready to distribute some turks.
At first, my lack of organization skills were noticed. I just didn't know how many people were going to show, so it was hard telling how to go about doing it. I never did it before either, I should have a better grasp of it next year.
It was a great evening though. I really did not know what to expect. I had a hard time finding the houses that we designated, and others weren't home to receive their turkeys. It was kind of frustrating. I took the youth around with me, they were anxious to distribute turkeys, it was cool. Eventually, we found who we were to give turkeys too. The first house was a guy that was totally out of it, he said like two words. It was weird though, the door swung wide open, and their was no one at the door, the teen that opened it hid behind the door. From our perspective it looked like the door swung open magically because the guy was way inside in his living room and their was no sign of the person who opened it.
Eventually he popped out from behind the door, i think he was trying to scare me.
One turkey down, four to go. We then went trekking through the trailer court trying to find the right lot number. That was half the battle. The problem was half the trailers didn't have numbers showing which lot they were, and there was terrible lighting. Eventually i just stopped and asked where people lived, i got sent in the right direction, and the turkeys started finding a home. The next person we went to hardly said anything at all either. It was some kid that was just watching the place while the owner was out "doing s#%*" I thought that was interesting. We gave them the turkey, and wished them a happy Thanksgiving.
The next house was almost the exact same way.
There was a house that we missed before, the owner wasn't home, but before we called it a night, i decided i needed to try again.
The guy was outside of his house, locked out, and broken. He said he lost faith in people, he didn't think i was coming.
Without going into great detail, the guy was going through a lot of struggles, looking for answers in all the wrong places, and he was left with the question "will it ever get better?" I proceeded to tell him about a way that life could be better.
I don't feel like recapping the whole conversation, but I shared the beginnings of the gospel message. He belonged to a "church" a long time ago, but he had too many tattoos to be a Christian, and he smoked to top it all off. the nerve...
He knew a lot of scriptures, he knew about Jesus, he just hasn't seen the hope of a life following Christ. I challenged him that if he showed up to church on Sunday, i could share with him a lot more about a way to start getting things better, a way to find answers he was looking for.
It's exciting when you are in the place God wants you to be, doing what he calls you to do. God didn't suddenly inspire us in some crazy, out of this world way to pass out turkey's, he just called us all to deny ourselves. The congregation i serve had a little taste of what its like to deny self. I certainly did. and I'm left hoping that it will catch on, and we will do it more, and find ourselves more and more often in the place God has called us to be, abiding in his will.

Great insights at a minister meeting

I went to my monthly minister meeting today. There were some great thoughts, none better than:

when ministry becomes a job, you can:

Prepare without praying
Call without caring
Lead without loving

I have only been at this ministry thing for a little over a year, but I really needed to hear those truths. I haven't felt like ministry was a job yet, but I know its within me to feel that way. Hopefully these thoughts will guard against that.

maybe blog more

Well, i said i would start blogging more, then i stopped blogging. So i guess i should clarify, i will TRY to blog more.

At EGCC this week, we are going to do something pretty cool. WE have raised enough money to buy more then 25 Turkey dinners and give them to family's in need. I am really excited about it. I have spent the past few weeks preaching about the change that happens within us by following Christ, and what it ought to inspire us to do. The call has been for the whole church to shift from "consumers" to "Contributors." People who give, and not take, its a call to out serve one another.

I hope this is the beginning of a monumental shift in the congregation, for me: to think of others before myself, to give of self, and start denying self for the cause of Christ. I'm excited to see what God will do with such a congregation.

That seems like a tall order from a bunch of turkeys, but my prayer is he will multiply our efforts.

blogging more

I guess I'm going to start blogging more. A lot of preachers are doing it, and I am a young guy so I guess I ought to make this a channel for some of my thoughts. I will try not to make my entries as long as the previous.

My previous post has resulted in some hostility and was misinterpreted on Facebook. I was offering it up as a suggestion to minister's and really all people to have a fuller view of God, not just enjoy the characteristics we like. I guess its a process of my own discovery of more of God. Today in my study I noticed a lot about God and his anger. I guess I was especially attuned to it today in light of my previous post.

It was beneficial to look at, a lot of scripture jumped out to me, i guess i leave my studies from today thinking i have a long ways to go in discovering our great God.

Forget the hellfire and Brimstone, we just need to fear God

I was at a minister meeting Tuesday. It was a fine meeting, good fellowship and good material from a trusted minister in Frank Weller. Before his teaching, we were asked to pray, and take a few minutes to pray about the characteristics of God. I was game for that, when we, as a collective group of ministers were asked to share some of those characteristics of God, we shared the typical attributes of our almighty Living God.
His All-Powerful-Knowing-Presence, mercy, compassion, patience, sovereignty and love. It was nice to think of, but I was left waiting for someone to bring up his anger. It's funny we don't think too often about God's anger.
We were then asked to thank God for his attributes before we got into our prayer concerns. In my prayer, I thanked God for his burning anger against unrighteousness in the world.
I left the meeting thinking a lot about how me, and other ministers have a tendency to trivialize our God.
In my lessons for Wednesday night youth group, I have been taking the students through the book of Hebrews. In Chapter 10:31 it says "it is dreadful to be left in the hands of the living God." That's an awfully different statement then what we are hearing from many preachers. We often talk about the comfort and passion of God's hands.
I went on to explain the passage as such - the book of Hebrews was written to a group of people who were being persecuted for their belief in Jesus Christ. They faced life threatening situations every day. The obvious temptation then for those people would have been for the followers to turn away from God, and pursue a "safer" life.
The Hebrews author then talking about the dreadfulness of God's hands is for those who turn away. It is certainly good for the Christians of this world to find solace, strength and provision in the hand's of God, but it is also vitally important we are reminded of what a life of sin will lead us down. To know the love of God and turn from his ways will leave you in the dreadful hands of an angered God.
These words are a message of hope and a call to perseverance.
I went on to tell the kids this evening, that they may not face persecution the same way as Christians did centuries ago, but today, they still face threats on their life, every day. Every day they are called to go down a path that will lead them away from God. Every day they are tempted down path's that threaten their life. The scripture goes on to call us to perseverance, and endurance and a reward for those who are faithful. It's truly a message of hope.
As I come home from my lesson, and think further about our minister's in America, I am overwhelmed by how many quit ministry within five years. The statistic is 1 in 2. 50% of all ministers within the first 5 years quit. I am uncertain of how many others drop out of ministry because of some moral issue beyond those five years. All I know is, minister's seem to be dropping like flies. I have a close friend also in ministry, we both graduated at the same time, and entered into ministry at the same time. That statistic says that in four years, one of us will drop out of ministry.
the more i think about the overwhelming truth of drop-out ministers, the more I come back to my view of God.
I certainly serve a loving God, but i think a healthy dose of fear can go a long ways. If we would restore our view of God to a biblical perspective, not one defined by popular contemporary music "you are beautiful my sweet sweet song." God is a lot more then some melody to my life, he is the God of VICTORY; conquering evil. He is the God in whom the whole world should fear, and we call him a melody.
Maybe, just maybe, more ministers would stay in ministry, guard themselves against unrighteousness, if we restored within us a healthy fear in God. Where we get away from this girly-man of a god and restore a biblical view where sinners tremble at the thought of what would happen to a sinner in the hand's of God.
This isn't a commission to start hellfire and brimstone preaching, its a call to all of us to start thinking seriously about who our God really is, and what he deserves from us.
All I know is this, I told the kids tonight, to remain faithful, and no matter the persecution on the outside, its not worth turning away from God over, no matter what. The same ought to be true for ministers, for me. There is nothing worth trading my God for, for trading my ministry for (or my marriage). Nothing. Not 15 minutes of "pleasure" in adultery. Not 15 minutes of pornography. Not lying, not cheating, not manipulating, not making more money, not having more "security". There is nothing in this world, no pleasure, no comfort, nothing that is worth turning my back on God for, nothing that is worth risking my ministry for; and a healthy view of God will guard me from all of what the world says is worth trading him in for.
Friends in ministry, friends in Christ, let's make a commitment, to restore a proper perspective of God. For it's a dreadful thing to fall into the hand's of the living God, when you have known of his love, his mercy, his grace, his sovereignty, and disregard it to experience the fleeting ways of this world. Friends, it's not worth it. Don't turn, but draw close, and bow down to a God whom we must fear.

Camping For Jesus

I had the privilege of working a high school week of camp up to Lake James last month. It was a wonderful opportunity to serve the kingdom in a different way than what I am used to. I typically steer clear of camp. I was honestly not looking forward to it at all and I made no secret of my feelings either.

Thankfully, God used me regardless of my poor attitude. I know for a fact that God’s Spirit is active and powerful at Lake James Christian Assembly, because it softened the hardest of hearts towards camp and its ministry. I don’t think I could do another week for awhile, it really still isn’t my thing, but I really felt like God was using me there.

I had an interesting experience while there. I was the leader of a group, a dorm dad and I also taught a workshop. The workshop was what I was most excited about. I enjoy teaching, and that was going to be my opportunity to reach the most kids and get to know them.

My workshop was entitled “The Importance of Daily Bible Study.” Everyone else had the really exciting topics; one guy got to burn stuff…the new guy (me) was given the daunting task of convincing kids that they should read their Bibles more then play their video games. Now that’s what I call “Fun!” I figured no one would come with more exciting choices offered. I was wrong. Over 40 kids showed up for the first offering, and 30 for the second. I was excited, and I thought the lesson went really well on Tuesday. I thought for sure the rest of the campers would show up on Thursday for the next offerings. I calculated that was enough time to get them to tell all their friends about the best workshop with the coolest title. I thought for sure there would be 50 kids for Thursday’s lesson.

There was one. His name was Kyle. I didn’t know what to do. I asked him if he wanted to go to a different group and come back when I offered it the next hour. He didn’t care. But then something came over me like I needed to share my lesson with him one on one. So, I did. And we had a wonderful conversation. I will probably see him again next year. We won’t be best buds. We didn’t have a heart wrenching moment where we will forever be united. We simply spoke about Christ, what he is doing in our life, and how we can encourage that relationship every day.

I’m really glad I didn’t pawn him off to some other group. To think I was well on my way to doing that frightens me, but also assures me that God was a part of that camp, especially that week in that very moment. Thank goodness he is, because otherwise, my ego would have prevented an opportunity to share with a young man who is contemplating a life of Christian service. I never would have met him, shared with him, or encouraged him if it weren’t for the activity of God.

I could have talked my way out of going to camp. I could have come up with something else that I much rather of done, but I would have missed an opportunity to share with students about God and encourage them, and for that, I am forever thankful that God uses us even when we are stubborn, grumpy, egotistical and think there are more important things to be done. I don’t know how many times God is going to teach me this lesson, hopefully I will learn sooner than later. At the end of the week, I believe God used me. I made some good relationships with the students and I was able to challenge them. As I think about it more now, I wonder how much more God could have used me had my heart not been as hard as it was. We are truly fortunate to have a patient God who uses us even when our actions and our thoughts can be so distant from what he expects of our life. God is truly gracious. It seems every day is a reminder that “I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power.” (Ephesians 3:7)

- Jordan

FRUITY

Since reading Dallas Willard’s The Great Omission, I have had a strange obsession with the mention of “fruit” and its usage throughout scripture, specifically in the Gospels. Willard had a statement that made a significant impact on my life and my own spiritual journey, the statement being “If you tend to the tree, the fruit will take care of itself.” His statement was in the context of Luke 6 in regards to the good and bad trees bearing their respective fruit. The statement hit me in the heart. Am I putting my life in the way of God, the One with the pruning sheers, who can shape my life into one that bears the fruit of righteousness, goodness, patience, self-control, wisdom, peacefulness and gentleness? The statement made me ask the question, “Am I becoming the good tree?”

I recently read a scripture verse that never before stood out at all. I have read over it multiple times, in one of my favorite books of the Bible, yet the words never spoke to me until now. The scripture verse, Matthew 3:8, is quite simple and therefore, easily overlooked: “Therefore, bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”(NASB)

The context is John the Baptist speaking to the Sadducees and Pharisees who approached him while he was performing a baptism of repentance. John’s initial greeting for the Sadducees and Pharisees wasn’t charming, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” It sounds like John is upset that someone let the cat-out-of-the-bag about a special event like a surprise birthday party. John, it seems, would like to know who told the Sadducees and Pharisees that now was the time to repent and turn to God.

John continues in his message saying essentially that God can make up new children who belong to him out of anything, even inanimate objects like stones. So don’t think because of who you are (Pharisees and/or Sadducees) that you can live as you please and be children of God.

I started with talking about fruit. We enjoy summer and its fruit, with fond memories of scavenging berry bushes, spitting cherry pits, and eating strawberry shortcake…lots of strawberry shortcake. These are the conventional thoughts on fruit. Obviously, there is more in mind in the biblical sense of “fruit.” It has to do with the fruit of our life, which is essentially our “works.” I believe our works are not what make us righteous; rather, works are a response out of our righteousness. Our good fruit comes out of a life made good by God through Christ Jesus. The word “fruit” has captured my attention lately and I think that’s why the scripture jumped out at me like never before. I like how the NLT translates it: “Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God.” I had one of those “wow!” moments that you always enjoy when reading scripture.

If every confessing Christian took this scripture seriously and started living to its command of “proving by the way you live that you have turned to God” then maybe people might begin to see a difference in Christians, maybe even some fruit would come of what it is like to live in the kingdom of God and belong to God as his children.

But so often we don’t set out to prove we live for God. We try proving the things that simply don’t need our pathetic pontificating. We set out to prove: the existence of God, the creation of the world, why we take communion every week, the essentiality of baptism, the importance of coming to church services on Sunday, why people shouldn’t drink, smoke…Christians seem to get so enveloped with arbitrary things, if we actually set out to prove that we have repented of our sins and live for God then maybe people might see a different sort of faith where Christians no longer live a life of “sexual immorality, impurity, idolatry, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy and drunkenness,” Paul warns us, “those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

We need to take serious the way we live our life, and what we set out to prove. When we set out to prove we live for God and have repented of sins, we will bear fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. My point then is what are we setting out to prove? That we are right? Or that we live for God? I think there is a drastic difference, one that separates the Christ followers from the Pharisees. For one, they set to prove their ways were right, for the other, that God can be trusted and is who we all ought to live for.

This verse climbed the ranks of my favorite verses. It once wasn’t even in the running, now it sits before me at my desk. “bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” In other words, live like you love God. Write this verse down and put it in places where it is always before you, where you walk through the door, open the fridge, look at the speedometer… Always have before you words that encourage you to bear the fruit of a godly life. Ask yourself this question, “What am I trying to prove?” The answer is the fruit.

Story and a Makeover

A well told story can capture the imagination, and inspire a people. There is evidence of this from long ago and now. It doesn’t take much to capture the imagination of the American people. The new Indiana Jones movie released in theatres last month, is breaking records and will stand to be among the top grossing films for a long time. It is a fairly simple story; a professor/archaeologist seeks to save his friends and family from the evil antagonists’ plot to gain infinite knowledge and use it against capitalist America for the sake of communism. I watched it, marveled at it, and left the theater feeling like a kid again.

The new Indiana Jones movie won’t be the last blockbuster movie to enter theatres this summer. More movies will tell gripping stories of love lost, struggles overcome, battles fought, and all will inspire, captivate and motivate us in ways that little else can.

We love stories. We fell in love with stories at an early stage in life. We would sit on our parent’s laps and hear stories of green eggs, and Horton’s hearing things. We simply love a good story.

People are as captivated by a story today as they were thousands of years ago. The Old Testament is predominately a story. It is in these stories we hear about people who were faithful to God and how he changed their lives because of it. Within the Old Testament, we see the unfolding of God’s redemptive plan throughout history. We see a God who is active, and participating with his creation.

These stories in the first testament often go forgotten, and neglected. I thought that since many of us would be spending time this summer enjoying inspiring stories on the big screen we also ought to enjoy life-altering stories in our fellowship. The communion crackers won’t have anything on the popcorn, but the stories have the potential of changing our lives.

I will be spending the summer preaching throughout the Old Testament sharing inspirational, faith-filled stories about people who loved God.

Many of the stories will be familiar, some less, but all will be beneficial. God working through faithful people is a wonderful thing, and I pray that we might aspire to be the same kind of faithful people that God uses today. The world needs people who love God. In times of economic woes and widespread warfare, a people who trust in God with all their heart, soul and strength is crucial.

So the question is: will the Etna Green Church of Christ be that people? Will a church rise above its culture, out from the depths of uncertainty and skepticism and declare that its God reigns? Will people be faithful and trust in God like never before seen? It is very simple, we need to know where we came from to understand how strong we can be. Please join us throughout the summer in this faith training series about loving God more, and trusting him with all that we are. We have shining examples of people throughout scripture, let’s hear their story.

For me Mum

A Mother’s Day Promise

It was the second semester of second grade when I made the single most important promise I would ever give to my mother. It would change my relationship with her forever. I would continually walk through the house with my shoes on and that didn’t bode well for me because mother was a stickler for clean carpet. With three boys and a dog, clean carpet was a difficult task. After continual lectures to take my shoes off upon entering the house, and seeing how upset my mother would get after neglecting her wish, I decided I would try my best to make certain I took my shoes off upon entering the house. The opportunity to seal my commitment came when my class was asked to write a promise in the local newspaper to our mothers out of recognition of Mother’s day. I thought it appropriate to reveal my newfound commitment through the newspaper. With thousands reading my promise, I spent the rest of my days trying to fulfill it.

I did fairly well with it too. To this day, the first thing I do upon entering my home is take off my shoes. I made the promise to obey my mom’s wishes because she struck fear into the depths of my soul. I wasn’t going to walk through the house anymore because, at that age, my mom was my world. She cooked, cleaned and loved me like any wonderful mother would and walking through her house with dirty shoes would risk losing everything, possibly my life.

I have been thinking a lot about the New Life and the commitment we should have to God because of it. The current sermon series deals with the New Life in Christ and because of it, my eyes and heart are open to a whole realm of scripture that challenges and causes great conviction. In the early portions of Deuteronomy, the Israelites are going to enter into the land God promised them. This is after the wanderings in the desert and Moses recaps their story to remind them how they got to where they are and what they need to do. The message is quite simply, “have no other gods, and love the one true Lord God Almighty.” Obedience and trust in God was at the heart of the message for the Israelites. Moses stressed obedience and trust because it was disobedience and failure to trust in God that caused so many problems before and after the Israelites entrance into the Promised Land. It doesn’t make sense to us why they could be disobedient after all the miraculous things God revealed to his people, but it was a continual problem for them.

You might be wondering what this has to do with me not taking off my shoes. I bring that story to light, because it’s an example of love causing obedience. I obeyed because of fear and love. I don’t know if I truly thought I was going to be kicked out of the house for not taking my shoes off, but I certainly wasn’t going to try her on the threat. And that, fear and love, is quite simply the type of attitude we need to have towards God. We struggle with obedience and trust in the New Life in Christ because we have lost the sense of fear and awe in God. We are told so much about a gushy lovey-dovey god who serves our every need and somehow we come to think the New Life is all about getting what we want, when we want it. This, in spite of the truth, has wreaked havoc on our faith and fellow Christian’s faith around the world. Obedience and true trust seem to be at an all time low. We trust God to do what will best suit us, but fail to trust in him to help us with drastically making known the kingdom of God. By that, I mean we offer up prayer for sicknesses of friends and family, which is fine, but we neglect prayer for the diligence, strength, and faith to turn the other cheek, walk the extra mile, and give the shirt off our back.

God wanted the Israelites to be faithful, obedient and trusting because He had plans of using them as a witness to the world. This witness was through a nation that was different, set apart and holy, unlike any nations of the world. People would come to know God through the reverent obedience of this faithful people. This position is now held within the Church, only as more than a holy nation, we are a holy people who are salt and light to the world and witnesses of the kingdom of God. This is no easy task. If as God’s holy people we fail to fear and love God with all that we are, I worry obedience and trust in God will never rebound. In a world where there are so many different ways to supposed happiness, we know there is only one way to a life with real meaning, and true joy. But the world tries convincing us otherwise, with false gods and prophets, telling us to trust and worship in things of this world and time (Fortune & Fame). Moses says in Deuteronomy 13:3-4 “The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.”

We hold fast to our God and his ways. The New Life in Christ isn’t about what our God can do for us, its what he has already done to invite us in to live life belonging to him. I ask one thing: make a promise to love God with all that you are and make appropriate steps to commit to that promise. We have a difficult task before us, but we must prove faithful, and be the true exemplars of fear, love, trust and obedience.

- Jordan

New LIFE

Your New Life Now

April is an interesting time of year, there is evidence things are changing yet there are still remnants of the past. We experience the pleasant, warm, and gleeful feeling of summertime one day and the next day, sometimes within the same day, have the cold, gloomy and rainy days reminiscent of previous months. We all hope for better weather in April, but gloomy days are still very much present.

Our spiritual lives are much the same. It seems like our new life in God is in a perpetual state of April; our lives are at the crossroads of new and old. As evidence of our past life, our old selves linger like piles of snow and discourage us with rainy dreary days, while at the same time we see hope of a new life evident in the sun-laden days with cloudless skies and greening grass. Our old selves linger with occasional glimpses of the new.

Is this true for you? Do you wonder when this new life will happen that the preachers always preach about? Maybe I am wrong. Maybe there isn’t anyone in limbo concerning their spiritual growth and relationship with God. Maybe all Christians are living the new life now… I have a sneaking suspicion that I am not wrong (it happens, but not now). Every day is marked with opportunities to turn from God, to live for self, to promote ourselves, and live the old life, while at the same time, within the same day, in every situation we can live for God, praise God and promote his Kingdom. Every day is a day we can live to gratify the desires of our heart or God’s. So what do we do? What’s wrong with us that our old selves loiter? When does our new life begin?

In a world that tells you that you can have your best life now, we know better. We know that as long as this world exists as it is, with its hate, its debauchery, anger, lust, selfishness, envy and sin, it doesn’t mind rearing it ugly face in our life. As the people of God, we are to rise above the temptations of this world and live for God. But in this fast changing, and always misleading world, it always seems to find newer and better ways to bring down the people of God. There are continual reminders of a fallen world all around us, the question is, what will the Church do to reveal the new life now?

Spring prepares for the summer. We aren’t gearing up for winter at spring time. We clean up the house, prepare fields for sowing and get a fresh new wardrobe. We might all be in a perpetual state of April in our spiritual life, but what are we gearing up for? Are we preparing for the summer of Salvation? Are we cleaning our spiritual house? Are our fields prepared to hear and understand the word of God? Are we clothing ourselves with Righteousness? A new sermon series is beginning this month: “Your New life Now!” It is for those of us who long for the day of Jesus’ return, who need encouragement in the days to come; helping us realize we can live the new life now. The cornerstone verse is 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, 6:2:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God…I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”

Christ died for all. This is our hope; this is the beginning of new life. Christ is our future hope, today!

New Year

Every New Year is accompanied with new resolutions. We resolve to do better in the many aspects of our life. We say we will try to lose weight, spend less money, save more money, work out, run a mile every day, read more, stop smoking, stop drinking, or something as simple as watch less television, yet our New Year resolutions most often fail.

The same seems to happen with our spiritual life. Every New Year is joined with a desire to pray and study the Bible more. We try reading through the Bible in a year, get to Exodus and the enjoyable task turns toilsome. Much like the physical resolutions, the spiritual are hard to make habitual. If you are anything like me, failure always seems lurking around the corner. We try hard to change things that need changing, but most often we fail to reach our mark.

So what is your resolution this year? Is it to stop smoking? Or get out of debt? Every New Year is connected with a sense of new beginning, and hope that the year to come will bring more blessing then hardship, less pain and more joy. But the truth is, we don’t know what the year will actually bring. If we all came together and talked about the past year, we could find things we did well, along with things we could do better. What are you going to do to make this year different then the last? We all could use some help in the coming year. The beauty of a community of believers is you can find such help. It is hard doing anything on your own. God understands our frailty in this regard and finding strength in the faithful is what being a part of a community is about.

As a community of believers, we are beginning a new series on Wednesday nights that will prove extremely beneficial for those who attend. Andy Stanley is a respected communicator, who will bring us to a new level of understanding of what God has given us, and how we use it. If you are stretched to the max, and your wallet feels the same way, Stanley stands to provide helpful insights into the world of finances, time management, and most importantly, Godly living. If you don’t have time for this, you need to come.

Resolve this year, to commit to 8 Wednesday nights in the new year, beginning on January 9^th. Spend 8 weeks with us, it’s the best possible way you could start the new year.

May God Bless you this New Year, and May we continue to grow in our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ

December Newsletter

Christmas is just around the corner. We stuffed ourselves with the turkey, and are ready for the holiday ham. There are those staples of Christmas; food, family and gifts. They are certainly a mainstay in Christian homes throughout America.

When I think about Christmas, it is really hard not to think about gifts. I always like to think back to different Christmas’ and what all my brothers and I received. I remember one of my favorite gifts being a basketball hoop. The frozen ground kept us from using it for awhile, but we horsed around on that thing for a long time. We liked lowering the rim and taking turns dunking on it. We went through quite a few rims.

Another year, my brother and I received football pads and helmets. It was a great gift because we loved to play football, but the pads were more an outfit than equipment. In other words, it was something to be worn, not used. They looked good. The strong caution not to use it for hitting, which came from the manufacturer, went unread and unheeded, and we proceeded to tackle and hit each other in the yard for the next few months until the pads were, well, worn. I don’t remember us ever getting hurt because of it though. It could just be I suffered multiple concussions, causing memory lapse.

I remember those gifts more so than many of the other gifts, because I was excited about them. There is nothing to exciting about getting underwear and t-shirts for Christmas. A necessary evil of my family Christmas was to receive undergarments. (Santa had a real knack for picking out the right sizes; of course it’s hard to mess up socks!) While I didn’t enjoy receiving those clothing items as gifts, they were entirely necessary. I wore out all my other clothing, and it was perfect time for Santa to replenish my stocking full of “necessary” items.

As the holiday checklist is now upon the fridge, and the list of things to do grows and grows, let us take the next four weeks in our busy schedule to look back to the wonderful gifts that God has given us. My first message looks at the gift of life. We often look at the gift of life being when God created the world in Genesis. Well, we will bel looking at t life through the lense of John 10. The gift of life; our life under the shepherd’s care. We will follow with messages around the gifts of love, repentance and the Messiah. All of which we need reminders of, and replenishing of in this busy season, where the meaning of Christmas can be lost in consumerism and business. Let us, turn for the next month, and look at what God has given us, through his Son.

We can often look at these gifts, and forget why we need them, grow accustomed to having them or just plain not realize the necessity of these gifts. With a fresh new look at who our God is, and what he is asking of us, let us turn and look at the gifts of the Father, through the Son, in a different light.

Considering the time of year, I feel it appropriate to look at some of the “gifts” that God has given us through his Son. Our first look will be at “The Gift of Life: Life under the Shepherd’s care.” We will then look at the gifts of love, repentance, and the Messiah. These may not be the flashiest of gifts. They may not be the latest and greatest video game system for the kids. But for the people of this world, we were gifted with many blessings from God. I could spend the next year preaching on the many gifts we have received from God, but I have selected four, that tie into our life as Christians, and how we live for God. While some of these gifts may go unnoticed, maybe quite often, unused, they are entirely necessary. These are gifts we just can’t live without. Please, join us each Sunday, as we look at each of the different gifts that God has given us, through his Son.

New Blogger

I didn't think I would ever do something like become a blogger, but i guess i am going to give it a try. I will upload some of my newsletter articles as well as general thoughts and things going on in Etna Green