Looking Back, Looking Forward

I am a couple of days late with the Monday Sunday Recap, but here it is along with a look at what’s coming up this Sunday @ LifeJourney.

Looking back…

This past week’s teaching was from John 2:13-23, where Jesus cleansed the temple. Here is what we learned…

• We began by asking the questions, “Why are you here and What did you bring?” Worship is always about motivation. 
• We are here for two reasons: To see God, and to help others see God. As a church, we have to remove distractions and barriers that keep people from clearly seeing God.
• We can become so distracted by things that don’t matter. A good example is building projects. When Jesus told them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days”, the teachers of  the law missed it. They were focused on the building, but Jesus wanted them to focus on God. How many church buildings exist in the world that are ornately beautiful but are devoid of the presence of God? Herod had spent 46 years remodeling Jerusalem’s temple, but the presence of God had left centuries before. Buildings are great, but they are only a tool.
• It is our mission to help those who are farthest from God draw nearer to God. If you look at a diagram of the temple, you will see that the Court of Gentiles was farthest from the Holy of Holies where God’s presence was supposed to dwell. This is where the market was set up. Instead of helping people to draw nearer to God, they were actually keeping them away.
• So what are we supposed to bring?
• First, we bring our sin. The purpose of the temple was to atone for sin. Jesus laid down His life as the ultimate sacrifice. We come together to confess, repent, and restore.
• Second, we bring our fears and weakness. Psalm 32:7-8 speaks of God as the one who will protect us and bring us deliverance. Our habit so many times is to run from God instead of to God. Jesus is the one who lovingly protects and directs us.
• Third, bring your money. Why do churches close? Because the people fail to obey God in their finances. When a church ceases to practice walking by the Spirit, it begins to practice business. If God’s people obey God with their money, the church will never have to do another fund-raiser. We will be looking for places to invest God’s money for Kingdom building.
• Fourth, bring your praise and your prayer. In another Gospel Jesus said, “My house shall be a house of prayer.” It is not a house of music, a house of preaching, or a house of fellowship dinners. God expects His people to pray and to seek Him together. Come ready to connect with God and commune with Him.
• Finally, bring your friends. Is your church a place where you are excited to invite your friends to? Will they clearly see God? Will they sense His presence? Will they be distracted?

Looking forward…

• This coming Sunday we will be looking at John 3:1-21 which contains probably the most famous passage of scripture in the Bible. This is it!! The Gospel as explained in Jesus’ own words. This is a tremendous opportunity to bring someone who needs to meet Jesus. Don’t let the opportunity slip away!!
• If you haven’t yet signed up for a LifeGroup it is NOT too late! We had a good start this past Sunday and it is a great way to go deeper and build relationships.
• I’ve got a couple of ideas for blog posts that I want to do just for fun. Be on the lookout and see you Sunday!!

The Monday Sunday Recap: 1.16.12

Yesterday I taught through John 2:1-12 where Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding in Cana. Here is a summary of the teaching…

• The primary issue in this passage is faith in the midst of emptiness. This was known as Jesus’ first miracle. The real question we have in our minds is, “Does Jesus still perform miracles today?” The answer is, “YES!” But first we have to ask why Jesus performs miracles?
• Vs. 11 give us a clue…”What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”
• Jesus performed miracles for two reasons: To REVEAL Himself, and STIMULATE faith. Jesus doesn’t perform miracles just for fun, or at a whim. There is always a purpose behind Him moving in the miraculous.
•  Some of us are dealing with great emptiness in our lives…empty wallets, empty relationships, and a great sense of hopelessness that leaves us feeling…well… empty. Some of us are so empty, that we feel that if God doesn’t move, we just won’t make it. Jesus CAN and WILL move miraculously in our lives when it is needed. But what do we do in the meantime?
• First, have an awareness of His presence. Remember, it was the groom’s family’s responsibility to provide food and drink for all the guests for an entire week! The guests could actually take legal action against them if they failed to live uphold this expectation. So when the family ran out of wine it was SERIOUS! Mary immediately went to Jesus. She didn’t know how or what He would do, but she was confident in His ability to intercede.
• Here is a working definition of faith…Faith is trusting in the presence of Jesus in the absence of the supply! When you are running on empty, put your faith in the presence of Jesus! He will never leave you nor forsake you! Jesus is WAY bigger than your emptiness!
• Second, trust in His timing. When Mary informed Jesus of the situation he gently reminded His mother that His hour had not yet come. In other words, we can trust Him to act in His perfect way, and in His perfect time. We never have to doubt His love for us. That was forever settled on the cross!
• Third, be willing to work through the issue. Jesus could have made the wine miraculously appear in the empty jars, but instead he had the servants fill them with water. These jars held anywhere from 20-30 gallons. We don’t know how many servants there were, where the well was, or what they used to draw it out with. However, we can guess that it took a LONG time to fill those jars!
• Let’s ask an honest question; How much of our emptiness is because of bad choices or disobedience on our part? I’m not saying that all of our emptiness is our own doing, but how much do we really take responsibility for? Sometimes God wants us to start obeying Him before He will intercede. For example, if you are drowning in debt, could Jesus miraculously wipe out your accounts or provide the money to pay them? Yes, He can! But maybe He wants us to develop our character through hard work, tithing, saving, and sacrifice? Remember, Jesus’s main goal is to see us grow and mature as believers in Him.
• One of the secondary issues in this passage is alcohol. Some of us may have grown up in a church that taught that alcohol was sinful and that “wine” in this passage really doesn’t mean “wine”. (I call this the Bill Clinton method of interpretation. It all depends on what the meaning of “is”…is. What?!) I will write my own post on this issue soon, but in the meantime here is an excellent article written by Mark Driscoll.

Looking forward to next Sunday! Bring someone with you to LifeJourney Church!

Sunday Recap + Randomness

Yesterday we looked at John 1:35-50 and learned an evangelism method that is free of guilt and diarrhea. Here are the highlights from the message:

• Every single one of us has a circle of influence. Family, people we work with, clubs, and sports teams we belong to. Every circle of influence is an opportunity to point people to Jesus.
• The two disciples who followed Jesus were originally disciples of John the Baptist. John wasn’t there to gather disciples for himself, but to point them to Jesus. My job as a pastor is NOT to gather a crowd, or create a cult of personality. My job is to build disciples who will go out and march on the gates of hell!
• When the two disciples began to follow Jesus, he stopped and asked them a very legitimate question…”What do you want?” It’s not enough to just want to avoid hell or be physically healed. The disciples asked where Jesus was staying, indicating their desire to remain with Jesus and learn from him. They didn’t want Jesus’s money, a magic trick, or fame. They just wanted JESUS! What do you want?
• When the disciples asked Jesus where he was staying, He replied, “Come and see…” No plan. No blueprint. No details. Just, “come and see”. Jesus told us that following the Spirit is like following the wind. You don’t know where it comes from, or where it is going (John 3:8). When it comes to following Jesus you just listen to His voice, and do what He says!
• The first thing Andrew did after choosing to follow Jesus, was to go and get his brother Simon, and bring him to Jesus. He didn’t write a Southern Gospel song about heaven. So many churches are nothing but little clubs where all people do is sing about going to heaven when they die. Meanwhile, everyone around them can just go to hell. Andrew understood that found people find people!
• Evangelism starts in your living room. Andrew found his brother, first. Jesus did tell us to go into all the world, but that starts right where you are at. There are people all around you who need Jesus, and some of them are your family!
• When Jesus met Simon, he changed his name to Peter, which means “rock”. It was a nickname, but Simon was anything but a rock! He was impetuous and a coward. We must always see people not for what they are, but what they can become in Jesus! Peter went on to become one of the pillars and foundation of the church!
• Although you should be students of the Word, you don’t have to know all the answers to people’s questions. Our goal at LifeJourney is to create an atmosphere where you know every week you will hear the Gospel preached boldly, accurately, and passionately! All you have to do to lead someone to Christ is to say, “come and see”.
•  Here is a video we closed the service with that drives home what this kind of evangelism looks like today. This is awesome!!!

Randomness…

• It was awesome to introduce our new Children’s Pastor yesterday, Dee Powell! She had a great first day and we really sense that God is going to bless our children’s ministry through her leadership! She will be holding an open forum/meeting next Sunday right after the service for all volunteers and parents. This is a great opportunity for you to meet and Dee and ask her any questions you might have!
• LifeGroups will be kicking off on January 22nd with sign-ups being next Sunday. We will meet for eight weeks. The dates are: January 22, January 29, February 12, February 19,February 26, March 11, March 18, and March 25.
• That’s all for now! Remember to do your homework: Go to one person in your circle of influence this week and invite them to hear the Gospel. All you have to say is, “Come and see”!

Come and See

We are excited @ LifeJourney Church to be teaching through The Gospel of John during 2012!. Quinn did an amazing job last week of taking us through John 1:19-34. Quinn taught us that just like John the Baptist, we are not here to point people to a particular leader, pastor, or church, but to Jesus.

This week we will focus on verses 35-50. I will be teaching an evangelism method that eliminates guilt and frustration and has the potential to win millions to Jesus Christ!

Also, we will be introducing our new Children’s Pastor, Dee Powell!

Come and join us @ 10:30. Don’t miss it!

Peeking Over The Table

When my son Micah was around 1 year old, I was a bi-vocational pastor working 30 hours a week as a school bus driver. I would usually get home a little after 5PM while Noralee was making dinner. She would allow Micah to watch a video while she was cooking. As the video was rolling, Micah would wander around the house and occasionally walk into the kitchen and peek up over the table. Even at this young age he knew that dinner was on its way.

What struck me about this routine is that he would always look with anticipation that dinner would be sitting on the table waiting for him. He never lost hope. He never complained. He never acted frustrated. He never cursed God (or his parents). He would go away, and a few minutes later would return with the same look of anticipation and hope. Micah didn’t know WHEN dinner was coming, but he KNEW it was coming.

How many of us approach God with this same hope? Earlier this week I saw a quote that said, “Faith is hope standing on its tiptoes”. 

What are you trusting God for? What are you still waiting for? What have you given up on?

Whatever it is, Ephesians 3:20 promises that He is “able to do IMMEASURABLY MORE than we could ever hope or imagine…”

I don’t know what Micah’s expectations were at 1 year of age, but I do like to think that he was always more than satisfied when he finally sat down. Put your hope and trust in the Heavenly Father who is able to do MORE than any earthly father ever could.

I, Me, Mine: A “Personal Relationship” with Jesus Christ…

One of the most misused and abused statements in modern Christianity is “a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.”

Do I have your attention?

Good.

This is the phrase most often used to describe our salvation, and one which a lot of us grew up with and are most familiar with. The problem is this phrase has created generations of believers who see salvation as all about ME. I know Jesus. Salvation is about MY own personal experience, MY salvation, MY mansion in heaven, MY rewards, God’s will for MY life, MY reunion with friends and loved ones, and the promises of God are MINE.

I, ME, Mine…I, Me Mine…I,Me,MINE. (A really good Beatles tune by the way. You can check out the song here.)

The phrase “personal relationship with Jesus” is not incorrect or inaccurate, just overused. I DO have a personal relationship with Jesus in the sense that my sins are covered, my name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and my life is His, and His is mine. Jesus said, “…his sheep know His voice and they follow him.” (John 10:4), A personal relationship with Jesus only comes from cultivating a deep personal walk with God whereby we recognize His voice, follow Him, and reject the voice of the enemy. 

 But God didn’t call us to be the individuals of God, He called us to be the people of God.

We can get so wrapped up in our own personal “walk” that we begin to think the Bible, church, and salvation is all about… ME. Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching”.

How many times have we said, “I don’t think I’ll go to hell if I don’t go to church today”? True, skipping church won’t separate us from God for eternity, but have we ever wondered what effect our absence has on our brothers and sisters? You have no idea what an encouragement you are when you show up, and you have no idea what a discouragement you are when you don’t. We are not only responsible for our own walk, but our brothers and sisters walk as well. And I haven’t even touched on how our communities suffer when we don’t use the gifts God has blessed us with to build His Kingdom.

On Monday, after preaching this truth to my congregation, I opened up Vintage Church by Mark Driscoll and read these words…

“While not a concept in either the Old or New Testament, the idea that people stand alone as isolated individuals wove its way into the modern era, especially the American consciousness where the rugged individual is the hero in virtually all of our great cultural narratives. As a result, during the modern era the focus shifted from the church to the individual.  On this point the historian Mark Noll says, ‘Up to the early 1700′s, British Protestant preached on God’s plan for the church. From the mid-1700′s, however, evangelicals emphasized God’s plans for the individual.”

He goes on to say…

“…modern Christianity in practice defined the entire purpose of the church in terms of the individual over and above the glory of God and benefit of the community of people.”

Amazing that I didn’t read that before my message, but it was confirmation that God was leading me in the right direction with this past week’s message.

When we stand before God at judgment day, He will be judging us on what we did FOR OTHERS. Did we feed the hungry? Did we give a drink to the thirsty? Did we invite the stranger in? Did we clothe the naked? Did we look after the sick? Did we visit the prisoner?

Let’s ask ourself this question…Is our relationship with God “I, Me, Mine”, or “one another”?

LifeGroups

Yesterday at LifeJourney we unveiled our vision for discipleship. It is the Leadership Team’s conviction that LifeGroups are the best way to fulfill The Great Commandment and The Great Commission. 

LifeGroups are a group of 8-16 people who meet in each other’s homes together to study God’s Word, pray for and encourage one another, build relationships, and serve their community.

We don’t want to be a church that does LifeGroups, we want to be a community of LifeGroups that does church.

Today we talked about six benefits of LifeGroups:

Authentic Community

It is almost impossible to practice authenticity in a “moment of friendship” during a worship service, but it’s easier to be “real” when you are sitting in a small group of people in the comfort of someone’s home. There is a tendency on Sunday’s to “put on our best”. It’s easier to be real in front of a few close brothers and sisters, than it is in front of a church on Sunday morning.

More Shepherds

A big misconception is that the pastor does ALL the pastoral care. In reality, the pastor’s job is to “equip his people for works of service” (Eph. 4:11-12). If the pastor does all the ministry, the people will never “attain to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ”. If you have a need, your LifeGroup is there. If you are in the hospital, you’re LifeGroup is there. If you need prayer, you’re LifeGroup is there.In a LifeGroup, you have several shepherds and more focused care.

We Unleash Spiritual Gifts

For decades the church has had three services per week. In every service the people sit and listen, while the pastor speaks. It is my conviction that when the people sit and soak, the Holy Spirit’s fire gets drenched as well. In other words, because only one or two people are using and developing our gifts, we quench the Spirit of God, . God has given all of us different kinds of gifts. In a small group setting, the gifts are unleashed: teaching, hospitality, prayer, exhortation, compassion, discernment, knowledge, wisdom. We at LifeJourney want to see the Holy Spirit shine through His people!

Better Stewards

First of all, by meeting in each other’s homes, we are practicing stewardship of the good things God has given us. God has blessed some of us with beautiful  and spacious homes that would make a great place to meet together. God hasn’t simply blessed us just for our own enjoyment. He wants us to use the good things He gives us to bless others. Secondly, the Youth are growing at a rapid rate. They will now have full use of the LifeJourney campus on Wednesday evenings. The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. We are not owners, only stewards. We must continually ask ourselves, “what is the best way to use that which God has given us?”

Effective Evangelism

People need to feel like they belong before they believe. Some might feel more comfortable meeting a few believers at your home, than attending the larger worship service on Sunday mornings. Also, as you connect and build new relationships in your LifeGroup, you will have others that you can connect your guests to when they do attend. Our key words here are invest and invite. We want you to invest in the lives of non-beleivers, and invite them to a LifeJourney worship time or LifeGroup.

Better Fulfill the Great Commission

We are asking all of our LifeGroups to have one service project in the fall where they can reach out to the community of Pelzer/Williamston. It can be serving food to the hungry, providing blankets to the homeless, or some other “hands on” ministry. Jesus told us that “if you have done it to the least of these, you have done it unto me”. (Matt. 25:40)

We see the early church living out these principles in Acts 2:42-47. The result? “The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved (v.47).” The natural result of growing in Christ together, is a growing Kingdom!

Singleness & Marriage

I said something in my message yesterday that I think may have caused some confusion, and wanted to clarify.

I was talking about legacy, marriage, children, and singleness. I mentioned that singleness is a gift from God, and I highly ”worship” those who had it (in a tongue in cheek kind of way). I regret using the word “worship” as only God should be worshipped. I think “admire” would have been a better choice of word. Also, I realized later that a lot of my listeners might not have understood my point, and took it the wrong way. So here is what the Bible has to say about marriage and singleness, and what I was trying to communicate…

Proverbs 18:22 tells us that “he who finds a wife finds what is GOOD and receives favor from the Lord”. Psalm 127:3 tells us that “Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him”. So from a biblical point of view, both marriage AND children are an AMAZING BLESSING from God,  and I couldn’t agree more!!

That’s why I was saying that you cannot separate legacy from people. Noralee and Micah are the two most important people in my life. I couldn’t imagine my life without them. They add so much value to my life, that I cannot even describe it. Having a wife and child are the two greatest blessings in my life.

However…

…While marriage is a blessing, it is NOT REQUIRED or COMMANDED by God. There are some believers who have never been married, and have no desire to. The Apostle Paul was not married. Paul had much to say about this topic in 1 Corinthians 7, “Now to the unmarried^[a] and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. ⁹ But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion”. (vs. 8) He went on to say that an unmarried believer can spend his time fully devoted to the work of the Lord, because a married person’s interests are divided. (vs.34) 

To summarize, The Bible calls both marriage AND singleness “GOOD”. But singleness is only “good” IF you can control your passions and natural desires. According to Paul, this is not the norm. It takes a special gift to live a chaste life and give your full devotion to God.

That is what I meant by my comment yesterday. I personally DO NOT have the gift of singleness, nor do I want it. I highly admire those who can devote themselves fully to God’s work, remain pure, and find God’s favor and blessings apart from marriage and family. They are unique and strong individuals. They too can pass down an amazing legacy of love, devotion, grace, and service. (See Mother Teresa)

As a speaker, I sometimes have difficulty clearly communicating, even though this is my job and  is what I was trained to do. There are some days where you just feel like you are trudging through mud. Yesterday was one of those days!

I hope and pray that God clearly spoke to our people yesterday and through this post, despite my weakness! When we are weak, He is strong!!!

Super Bowl Thoughts

Congrats to the Packers! They played a great game. I honestly thought the Steelers would win, and here’s why…

• The Steelers front seven got totally whipped! I didn’t think there was an offensive line in the NFL that could do that consistently for four quarters!
• Green Bay won the turnover battle 3-0. I never would have believed in a million years that the Steelers “D” would go an entire game without a turnover.
• Aaron Rodgers (great name by the way!) played lights out again. I figured his streak would have to come to a screeching halt sometime, and thought for sure it would be against the Steelers “D”. I was wrong!
• Big Ben always makes the big play down the stretch. He had the ball in his hands with two minutes to go and couldn’t get it done. Very surprised!
• Charles Woodson went out with an injury in the 2nd quarter. I fully expected the Steelers to exploit that weakness in the second half, but they didn’t even try.
• Bottom line: The Steelers “D” didn’t show up, Ben had a sub par game, and they still only lost by six points. If they played seven more times, the Steelers win six of them.

The commercials were pretty good. My top three were this one, this one and this one.

I actually do like the Black Eyed Peas, but that performance was not good. The sound was horrible. Here is a Super Bowl halftime show where the musicians actually play instruments. I hope I have that much energy when I’m in my sixties!

Christina Aguilera is one of the best singers to ever hold a microphone, but her performance in the Super Bowl was obviously very poor. When it comes to the National Anthem, just sing it straight, and you can’t forget the words! But leave old Christina alone, she’s still a great singer!

The “Problem” with Conferences…

Recently my denomination held a ministry conference for pastors and their spouses. Although I didn’t attend, many of my friends and colleagues did, and have returned with positive reports. Like most conferences my buddies have come back refreshed and fired up about their respective ministries.

Don’t get me wrong, I love attending conferences, and I’ve been to some good ones! The Evangelism Conference at Willowcreek in Chicago, a leadership conference by John Maxwell in Baltimore, and several right here in good ole’ Anderson at NewSpring Church!

As a matter of fact, I have already planned and budgeted to attend a couple this year, which is one of the reasons I didn’t attend the denominational gathering in Jacksonville. It just didn’t fit my schedule or budget. The truth is, every time I attend a conference I come back refreshed, recharged, and reenergized!

Conferences are great! But here’s the “problem”…

For the large majority of us, we go to a conference and we hear a spirit filled speaker talking about what God has done in his church or ministry. We hear some amazing stories of redemption, regeneration, million dollar budgets, and Pentecost style conversions. We buy his/her books in the lobby, hopefully get a picture with our hero to display in our office, and go home and say…”That’s what my church needs to do!”

We proceed to buy some trendy clothes, spike our hair, get a tatoo, smash some guitars on stage, implement the kind of ministry we saw on display at the conference and………………………………………….NOTHING HAPPENS!

Here’s where we miss it…we focus on the outcome, rather than the PROCESS.

What the speaker was really trying to tell us is that he/she had a personal encounter with the living God. They experienced God in a very real way, heard His voice, followed His direction, and saw the results of God moving.

We focus on the regiment and results, but the speaker was focusing on the RELATIONSHIP!

Vision doesn’t come from conferences, speakers, books, or workshops. Vision comes from one source, and one source only…..GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Every single one of these pastor “celebrities” had a unique experience with God that came as the result of their obedience and relationship to God. They got alone with God, listened to His voice, and did what he told them to do. Period.

Notice I said “unique”.

We see the uniqueness of God’s calling all throughout scripture…

• How many “burning bushes” did God speak through?
• How many armies did He have march around cities and shout?
• How many ark’s were built?
• How many would be apostles were blinded on the road to Damascus?

I can just see the Apostle Paul holding conferences in Jerusalem, selling his autobiography, and then 3,000 pastors buying horses (just like Paul’s!) and riding down the Damascus road looking for a blinding light! (Anybody remember “The Emmaus Walks”?)

Conferences have their place. Conferences can refresh. Conferences can teach us great things. But conferences cannot replace an ongoing, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

And here’s another thing, not every person who’s heard the voice of God pastored a “mega-church”. Look at Phillip in the book of Acts. He held a “tailgate baptism service” for one individual, while Peter preached for ten minutes and had 3,000 converts! Both men heard the voice of God, obeyed, and saw the results God intended. Neither was more important or spectacular than the other.

Go to conferences this year. Learn all you can. I hope you come back with your batteries charged. But don’t neglect your relationship with God.

Spend time with Him. Listen to His voice, and obey the next thing He tells you to do! And most importantly, give Him the glory!!