Discipleship

Well, It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted anything. Since the last one I’ve enjoyed a great vacation, we’ve all endured some more snow and cold, and we’re getting ready to finish up the Body & Kingdom sermon series this Sunday. After that its back into Romans. We’ll begin with chapter 4 a week from this Sunday if you want to read ahead.

I say “a little late” because I was a few days late putting up the daily Bible readings for the month of February. If you are following these, sorry about that. They are up now. Please take advantage.

Also, I want to let you know about a great website called ccel.org. This is a website full of free, public domain Christian classic online books on theology, Jesus, etc. If you’ve ever wondered where to get started on reading stuff like this they can point you in the right direction. I encourage you to check it out.

I’ll visit with you all soon. Looking forward to it. See you Sunday.

I can not believe how cold it is outside. I thought that temps in the teens were pretty cold. Now I’m looking forward to the 29 they are forcasting on Sunday. I guess when things get bad it makes what used to seem really bad, not as bad anymore.

Reminds me of a song by an artist I enjoy. His name is Eli. I believe the song is called “Valleys” but I could be wrong on that. But the lyric I remember is “You don’t know how tall you stand until you fall. That’s what valleys are for.” It may seem like it can’t get any worse. Then it does. We learn much from these times, like how much we rely on God, and the good He brings our way and teaches us while in these valleys. We can also look and see how great He blesses us when we’re not in the valley.

I think I’m going to try and post some sermon notes for this Sunday on the blog under the sermon notes page. There is some information I’ll go through Sunday morning but we’ll have to go through it pretty quickly so I don’t know how many of you will be able to jot it down. If you can’t they will be there.

Also, If you weren’t able to get to church Sunday because of the weather, please check out last weeks sermon. Every sermon for the rest of this month will build on that one.

Stay warm these next couple of days. Keep the prayer vigil in mind this weekend. Hope you got a chance to sign up to pray. If not, pray for it from home.

See you Sunday.

For the month of January we are going to explore what it means to be the church and how we are the people of the church. Here I want to outline the upcoming sermons and each week I’ll post some notes on the blog under a page entitled “Church Sermon Notes.”

Here’s how the month will progress:

January 3 – The Church: Body & Kingdom

January 10 – A People Of The Word

January 17 – A People Of Prayer (Matt)

January 24 – A People Of Worship

January 31 – A Giving People

The first sermon will briefly detail how the church is the Body of Christ and the Kingdom of God. The rest of the sermons will speak on the kind of people we need to be if we are to fulfill our mission as the Body of Christ and the Kingdom of God in this world.

Again, there will be more detailed notes on the page to the right. Please check these out and feel free to leave your comments and questions.

See you Sunday.

I won’t say that I’m not a little upset with Charlie Brown being bumped tonight by President Obama. I understand he wants to outline his war plans to the American people. But I wish ABC would realize that more folks would rather hear Linus tell us about the One who brings peace than our President’s outline for more war. Or maybe I’m just a little biased.

I love holiday cartoons. I look forward to this as we approach Halloween all the way through Christmas. Weeknights are filled with great cartoons (and some not so great. but that should not distract from the great ones) that remind us about Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the Great Pumpkin. The Charlie Brown cartoons are my favorite. Just hearing the theme song gets me excited to see Charlie Brown put up with being mistreated by his friends, Lucy give expert advice on everything, and Snoopy accomplish all the things the rest of the characters can’t.

But I think my all-time favorite Christmas cartoon is “Garfield Christmas.” I like Garfield anyway but this show is great. The relationship between Garfield and Grandma, her thinking back on the good times when her husband was alive, and the transformation in her heart are all great. But the best thing is all their faces when they light the Christas tree. Their lips all look like cylinders with rings at the top as they all say ooooooooooh!

Yep, I love them. Going to watch some tonight and tomorrow night. Hope you get the chance to take some in with your family.

Justin

Got to go on a little drive today in my truck, down dirt roads, with my little girl. It was a great time. I enjoy moments in the quiet looking at the countryside.
But in order for this to happen, at one point in my life, I had to learn how to drive, how to react, turn, etc. Had I not learned how to respond to events on the road, instead of enjoying today, I would have wreaked havoc.
While I drive, I think. I was thinking about many things in our day regarding religion and politics. There are many things that our politicians are doing or are trying to do that have no place within a Christian worldview. When I hear about these things I immediately want to react. I want to do something. But that would be a mistake. I first need to learn. I need to learn how to live and react during these and many other times.
I learn by prayer. I pray so that my words and my actions are not my words and actions but those of Jesus. What he wants done is right. But how can I know what he wants done if I do not learn from him? How can I know the way of love, peace, truth and light? Only by sitting at his feet.
I need this. I need this every day. May we all learn from Jesus more than ourselves.

Each season has its own special feel to it. They each have their redeemable characteristics. Fall is my favorite but there are things I enjoy about them all. I may not like all the others but something good comes out of all the seasons.

But I like this season in the life of the church, particularly ours. There’s just things I get excited about. I like it when its cold outside and we come together into a warm place, with the heating system but also with the love of God and one another. I like the harvest party, revival, thanksgiving and the anticipation of Christmas. I love experiencing all of this with you. The changing of the New Year and the Chili Feed. These are all great times we get to spend together. I thank God for them, and you.

You are all such great people to be around. I look forward to this on Sunday. See you then.

Justin

I was listening to a U2 song. There is a lyric in the song “Moment of Surrender” that really caught my attention: “I did not notice the passersby and they did not notice me.” This is a sad commentary on the state of humanity. We are so wrapped up in ourselves that we can not see one another.

Is this what God intended for His creation? I think you’d agree that it is not. Our relationship with God is torn and so it follows that our relationships with one another are the same way. But this does not have to be the way of the believer. God has united us with Himself by the sacrifice of His Son making it possible for us to be united as we never could be without Him. We can see each other as God sees us, care for one another as God cares, set our issues aside and love one another. I’m certainly glad God overlooked my issues.

So can we see? How do we look at each other? What do we see in the person on the sidewalk everyone wants to avoid? Could we bother with ourselves to ask them their name? Can we see as God sees?

Let revival begin now. See you Sunday.

Justin

There are many things we appreciate about being home. Our home is a place of refuge, of love, of safety. Our home is a place where we are always accepted, the place we know we can always come back to, where the people love us unconditionally.
Do we think this way about church? I hope so. I hope we think of being with our brothers and sisters as being home. I pray we live according to the truth that being in relationship with the Father we are truly home with Him.
I would like for us to start thinking this way. The reason for this should become more evident over the next few weeks. We need each other. We need our Father. We need to come home.
See you Sunday.

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life” – 1 John 5:13.

You believe? You are saved. You’ve trusted Jesus? You are saved. There is no doubt about it. All the words of John in his letter  are given to these people that they may know that they are saved. The gospel of Jesus has accomplished it’s purpose.

We doubt. We sin. We become hardened to the joy of the gospel. Maybe we think we are having to work extra hard to make up for it before God, to justify ourselves before Him. Please stop. You are saved. Our work will not save us. Our religion can not redeem us. Only Jesus can. And He has. Let us not doubt. Let us take great joy in the truth that right now, where you sit, you are saved. Saved. Saved.

See you Sunday.