The Church...

"You go to church, right? What's that like?"

Who hasn't fielded this question from a co-worker or friend?
When someone asks me about church, I normally reply by giving them
Wyandott's location, the time our Celebration starts, and a quick
endorsement of Brandon's singing or Andy's teaching. But does this
response really answer their question?

In the Gospel of Luke chapter ten, verses one through four, we
find Jesus in the middle of forming the church. He's on the eve of his
crucifixion and has even told his disciples that he's about to be
betrayed, but they don't understand him. You'd think that this would be
the part of the Bible where Jesus tells his followers how to conduct
church after he's gone. You know, the answers to important questions
like: How long should the service last? Do we take communion with wine
or grape juice? Which translation of the Bible do we use?

But if you read those verses in Luke, you'll see that Jesus
didn't waste any of the precious time he had left on earth talking about
a building or detailing the format of a Sunday morning service.
Instead, he turned the focus of his followers outward. He paired them
up, pointed them toward the surrounding towns, and said, "Go, tell them
about me." That's it.

So maybe the next time I get a church question, I should answer
by talking about my wife's missions trip to Mexico, my awesome Reset
group, the Friday morning men's breakfast, or Tim Anderson's latest
Outreach. Because those are the activities that define us as a
church-not where we gather on Sundays.

* Share your church story with someone this week and post the
results of your conversation to our blog. I dare you.

* Is your church story only about a building and an hour on Sunday
mornings? Step out of your comfort zone and tell me what happens next.




Don Bentley

Prayer...

I think Mc Hammer said it best... "You've got to pray just to make it today".

In all seriousness I'm learning that prayer is the anchor of our faith. If I'm honest I can also say in the same breath I have much growing to do in this area. What I mean by that is my life doesn't reflect the truth I just made. My life doesn't reflect the truth of prayer anchoring my faith. I believe it to be true, my story is full of times where prayer has not only influenced me but also completely changed an aspect of my life. Without prayer I know I wouldn't be where I am today... Yet my life doesn't reflect this truth.

Let me clarify... I don't have a "dynamic" prayer life, I don't discipline myself enough to spend X number of minutes/hours with God, I don't find myself on my knees crying out to God. But I should...

For the past few months I feel like God is calling me to Him. I feel like God wants my prayer life to be "dynamic". I feel as if my relationship with God could be so much more than it is and I'm the one that is missing out.

I'm not saying I don't pray... I'm saying I don't make it a point to spend time with just God. I'm not talking about while I'm in the car or right before bed... I'm talking about time with God with no distractions...

What about you? How does your life stand up to the truth of prayer being an anchor of our faith? What does your prayer life look like?

What might you be missing out on?

I'd love to hear your thoughts...

Andy

Love

John 3:18 "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does
not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in
the name of God's one and only son."

Absolute, gut-wrenching terror. That's what I felt as I looked around
our empty family room, searching for my mom and brother. The
furniture and other familiar objects surrounding me loomed ominously
to my eleven-year-old eyes, and my heart thundered against my chest.
Our church had been showing a graphic movie series depicting the lives
of people left behind after Jesus' second coming. Once again, I'd
convinced myself that the absence of my family signified that I'd
missed the rapture. I knew that I'd become a Christ follower during a
Sunday night service years earlier, but the memory of cheating on the
previous day's math assignment weighed heavily on my conscience. Had
I waited too long to ask God's forgiveness for that sin? Was I now
destined to spend the next seven years trying to stay one step ahead
of the antichrist's soldiers?

The comforting echo of my mother's footsteps as she climbed the stairs
from our basement put my fears to rest. For now. Flush with relief,
I ran to my room, confessed my sin and prayed the sinner's prayer yet
again. For a couple of days I felt all right, secure in my knowledge
that God still loved me. But I knew that sooner or later I'd say or
do something I shouldn't and experience a fresh wave of terror at the
sight of an empty room.

This cycle went on for years. Every time I'd mess up, I was certain
that this time God would refuse to take me back. This time, he'd draw
the line and say, "Son, I think I've been about as patient as anyone
could expect a father to be. We had a good run, you and me, but this
time, you're on your own."

My version of God consisted of an old man dressed in white robes who
kept a clipboard at his side, always ready to mark down my latest
infraction. If I could remember my sins in time, and beg his
forgiveness, he'd scratch out my mistake and I'd be ok. At least for
a while. But I knew in my heart that God always stood ready to add
another transgression to my ever-growing list.

Was my caricature of God accurate? According to the Gospel of John,
absolutely not. You see, John 3:18 reads, "Whoever believes in him
(Jesus) is not condemned, but whoever does not believe in him stands
condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one
and only son."

According to that verse, even though I would continue to mess up,
because I believed in Jesus, and had surrendered my life to him, I
could no longer be condemned. Period. End of story. For the longest
time, my human mind couldn't process that simple truth. Who really
loves that way? Who can honestly look someone in the eye and say, "No
matter how you hurt me, no matter how your actions embarrass me, no
matter what you say about me, I will still love you. In me, there is
no condemnation."

Think I'm making this up? Check out what the Apostle Paul had to say
in Romans 8:1 "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who
are in Christ Jesus because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit
of life set me free from the law of sin and death."

Kind of Resets your definition of love, doesn't it?

- Don

* Andy said that sometimes this truth is hard for us to accept
because we don't always see this type of absurd love modeled in our
families. Have you ever seen someone in your family model absurd
love? Tell me about it.

* In the Robb Bell video we watched Sunday, Robb said that the son
thinks, "I'm found out. I'm guilty." All the while, the Father is
saying, "There's nothing you could ever do that would make me love you
less." That may be one of the hardest truths in scripture to
understand. Have you ever had to come to terms with this truth in
your life? How?

Surrneder...

Luke 5:11 "So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and
followed him."

What's your net? Are you willing to leave it behind? Those are
the questions that every Christ follower has to answer. To put it
simply, are you gutsy enough to exchange your safe, comfortable life for
His bigger story?

This choice is illustrated for us in the New Testament book of
Luke chapter five, verses one through eleven. In this passage of
scripture, Jesus calls his first disciples by inviting them to throw
down their nets and become fishers of men. Sounds simple, doesn't it?
Maybe not.

In his book, Velvet Elvis, Robb Bell goes a little deeper into
the context behind this story. You see in Jesus' time, Jewish boys all
aspired to become Rabbis. Boys began their religious training quite
young, progressing through successively harder levels of schooling until
they reached the point where they would be tested and apprenticed to a
Rabbi. Those who were smart enough, and could master the complexities
of Jewish law, became followers of a teacher or Rabbi. Those who
couldn't survive the rigorous selection process had to opt for other
vocations. They became fisherman.

So when Jesus invited Peter, James and John to throw down their
nets and follow him, he was basically saying, "Look, I know you've been
told before you weren't good enough, but I think differently. Throw
away the comfortable, safe lives you've built for yourselves and take a
chance on me."

Doesn't sound quite as easy now, does it? But the story gets
deeper.

If you notice, Jesus caught up with his would be disciples after
they'd experienced one of their worst nights of fishing. Simon (Peter)
tells Jesus as much when he says in verse five, "Master, we've worked
hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I
will let down the nets."

And then a miracle occurs. The men cast their nets back into the
Lake of Gennersaret, catching so many fish that their boats begin to
sink. In the space of a moment, the fishermen's worst day on the job
transforms into their best.

This is where the story twists. While the men are enjoying the
greatest success of their lives, Jesus invites them to leave their nets
behind and follow him.

Wow. When times are tough at work, it's pretty easy for me to
imagine selling everything and moving to Mexico to work with orphans.
Funny how I don't seem to feel the same way after a big promotion. If
you study the New Testament, you'll see that many other people faced
this same choice. The rich young ruler came to Jesus at the height of
his power only to be told that, to become a Christ follower, he had to
sell everything he had. Levi, a tax collector, walked away from his
lucrative job in order to follow Jesus.

So what about you? What are the nets that are preventing you
from completely following our Savior? Is it your career, your past,
your finances, or maybe the sense of control that you would have to
surrender to a God you've never seen?

During his message on Sunday, Andy made the statement that
"before someone can make a radical decision to follow something, they
first have to make a radical decision to let something go." So which is
it my friend? Are you the follower of a Rabbi or a fisherman?

* Feeling gutsy? Try praying this prayer, "Ok, God. Not my will,
but yours be done." Feeling really gutsy? Post a response and tell me
what happened after you prayed.
* Andy said, "all of us carry nets that can entangle us." Tell me
about yours.

- Don

Fair...

Mine. I want it. I had it first. I didn’t do it. But he started it. You may think I am replaying a conversation that took place this morning with my 3 year old son. And you are right. But even more revealing (and embarrassing) is my admittance that it is also the same conversation I have had countless times with God. I admit it. I am quick to find someone to blame when I have been wronged. To take it one step further, I quickly become an expert at justifying my actions when I have been the one doing the ‘wronging’.

When I was in younger, my parents and I would argue about how they were choosing to parent one of my siblings. You see, she chose a different path for her life – one that most anyone would agree was selfish and destructive. On the other hand I was doing my best to please my parents by excelling in school, holding a job and trying to learn responsibility. Don’t misread me here, I made more than my far share of bad decisions and certainly took many opportunities to show my rebellious side – but that is a different story for a different day. I was no angel child, but compared to her, I looked pretty darn good. No matter how good I was, or how ‘bad’ she was, we were still offered the same privileges it seemed. I got a car to drive to school and work, but you know what, so did she. Didn’t they know she rarely made it to school and didn’t even have a job? Strike 1. She would hit them up for some cash for who knows what, and I had to explain what I intended to do with every cent I was given. Strike 2. You can see where this is going. I would get so angry because it appeared that if I would choose to make poor choices I would be afforded the same luxuries, or perhaps even more. They were always dealing with her latest ordeal and I was just expected to “stay out of trouble” and “don’t cause us any more problems because we already have our hands full with your sister”. It seemed the spotlight was always on her.

I had never drawn the parallels of this story to that of the Prodigal Son, but today they were made very clear. My parents were extending the same grace to her as they were me. Why should I expect them to parent me any different? It wasn’t up to me. I wasted so much time being angry and wondering why I wasn’t being applauded for my efforts.

I am sure many of us have similar stories – but that is just it – the story doesn’t really matter. What matters is who you are in the story. Are you the rebellious son, lost and far from God? Are you the self-righteous one, no longer capable of rejoicing when a sinner returns to God? Maybe you've hit rock-bottom, come to your senses and decided to run to God's open arms of compassion and mercy? Or are you one of the servants in the household, rejoicing with the father when a lost son finds his way home? No matter what, God is standing there ready and willing to accept you regardless of who you believe yourself to be or what you have done. For me, I just need to accept grace for what it is – an amazing, unexplainable gift from my Heavenly Father.

Dee