The Power to Change

“What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!” – 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT)

In ministry I have encountered people of all ages in some of the darkest struggles of their life; suicide, cutting, abuse, eating disorders, unwed pregnancy, uncaring parents, family conflicts, death, divorce, and the list goes on. In all of this, there has been one theme that we have endeavored to make clear; only God has the power needed to change their situation. While many of these are still walking through the valley of their current circumstance and struggle, some have experienced God’s power to change, which has brought them freedom and victory. One who has struggled with an area for many years was touched in a marvelous way and is now a testimony to the healing power of God. Another young person recently gave their heart to the Lord out of a great trial in their life as they let faith replace unanswerable questions and doubt.

Each one of us has a past riddled with mistakes and regretted decisions. Thanks to a God who loves us, we can count those things as behind and leave them there. We have no reason to go back and relive the past. As Paul stated in Philippians 3:13, “Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead,” (HCSB). Once we have been touched by the power of God to change our hearts and lives we are a different person. When people come to us with such dark and impossible issues, Christian cliches and pithy words won't do them any good. They do not need pat answers or quick fix solutions. Offering human centered advice won't cut it. They need faith in God that will sustain even without having the answers to "Why?".

It is only in the Word of God that we can offer them any hope. Anything else would be hollow and worthless.

Only Jesus can give the power to change.

Yes & Amen

But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not "Yes" and "No." - 2 Corinthians 1:18

I was going to share this with our staff this morning, but circumstances changed our plans a bit.

Paul is addressing a change of plans himself in this passage. (To be honest the irony of this just dawned on me. You'll have to trust me that this was not thought out this way. I'm not that clever.) Anyway, there were some that were questioning Paul's integrity or at least his sincerity when he had shared his planned itinerary to be there at a certain time. He wanted to make sure that they understood the truth and that the message that was preached was true.

So many times in life we send conflicting messages. While there are times this is unavoidable, as in the case of Paul, most of the time it is simple carelessness or a looseness on our part that causes this. I'm not going to touch on the side where intentional deception comes in, we know that lying is clear cut sin. We can be very flippant with our promises and our words so easily. If we are not careful, we can even do this in spiritual matters. "I'll pray for you," yet, we never get around to it. "I was thinking of you recently," yeah, the moment we saw them or their name popped up on caller ID. "I felt God leading me..." the second we wanted to do something else or got uncomfortable with a situation. On and on it goes.

So quickly our lives and our message becomes "yes" and "no". Our message should be the same as Christ's. His was "Yes." Meaning, His message was sure and it was consistent, and it brought hope and life to all who heard and accepted. Paul continues in this passage and says that our message is to be "Amen". Most of us know that "amen" means "so be it." It is not actually a statement of completion or ending, it is a statement of agreement and alignment.

"Amen" became the ending to prayers out of a desire to express agreement with the prayer just prayed by another. It is an affirmation of what has just been proclaimed or petitioned. The word also means "believe" or "truly". Amen is not a conclusion it is a declaration of faith and faithfulness. When our words and our lives are "Yes" and "Amen" we are aligning ourselves with the Word of God, the message of peace and salvation, and with great faith in the sovereignty of an Almighty God. May our words and our actions consistently portray this to the best of our ability as we live intentionally for Him and for His glory.

A Thought

Not sure where this is from or what inspired me to write it, but I ran across this in my journal:
"It is not a life of faith if one is engaged in the work of God. It is not about position, titles, or volunteerism; it is about being active in making God known to those who do not."

So many church goers would say they are living a life of faith or some equivalent form of that saying. I wonder how many really are. In hearing and reading church folk it seems that way more are concerned about their own personal preferences, comfort, and desires. If the music is too new, too old, too loud, too quiet they complain. If the preacher wears a tie, doesn't wear a tie, shouts, doesn't shout, preaches series, preaches verse by verse, preaches from a script, from notes, from memory people gripe and complain. Folks leave churches over the color chosen to paint something. People get upset over and announcement that was made. Folks fight over who gets recognition. People are offended if they weren't personally greeted by the pastor or some other leader. Offenses, gripes, complaints, confrontations, pouting, quitting, and so on are all signs (fruits) of a life that is not living in faith. Rather, these are all fruits of a life living in self.

What would happen if we became less focused on what makes us feel good and comfortable and we started working to help others find the love of God even when it is outside of our comfort zone and preferences?

I think things would change in this world.

Sunday Unwind

Easter weekend. JESUS IS ALIVE!

This is what we celebrate. This is the message we proclaim. It's why we exist.

Yesterday was incredible! We held our Easter Egg Hunt in the morning at Winterset Elementary. The attendance was fantastic! Largest ever for Cap City. Best of all, 75% of those there were guests. That is awesome! We gave out 5000 eggs, who knows how many pounds of chocolate, and 60 prize packs. Next year we plan on at least 10,000 eggs. Cap City folks, as you have opportunity, hit the post Easter sales and pick up plastic eggs for our Egg Hunt next year. Thanks!

After the Egg Hunt we had some men show up to do some work around the grounds. We pulled weeds, raked mulch, and just did some general sprucing up. The place looked very nice for this morning.

This morning, we started the day with the Sonrose breakfast. The men and women who put that together just rocked it! The food was terrific and everything looked so elegant! Thank you for the extra effort! I love this church! We have some of the best people you can find anywhere!

10 am.

There was definite anticipation in the air. The worship team locked in and we were off and running. God's Spirit was there and moving among hearts and lives. The song "Mighty to Save" is becoming an anthem of the church. One of my favorites for sure.

Shared from Luke 24 this morning. Today is Easter so we focus on the resurrection. I never want to fall into the trap of trying to get cute and clever with the story of Jesus. There is no reason to preach anything other than the cross and empty tomb at Easter.

Focused in on the fact that the disciples struggled with the reality of Christ's resurrection. You and I would have also. We have the luxury of 2000 years of history to look at those events. They lived them. They saw Jesus die. Their hopes were dashed and their lives turned on end. We shouldn't blame or judge them for their struggles. We struggle with our faith and trust in God still today. We have been told that God is in control and He has the end in hand, yet we worry and stress and get down trodden.

The disciples on the road to Emmaus were discouraged and didn't recognize Jesus because they couldn't get past themselves and their own let down of what had just happened. Even as Jesus walked with them and talked with them, they didn't realize that their Savior, Lord, Messiah was right there. So often, we don't realize God is with us or hear His voice when He speaks because our own discouragement keeps us down. But once Jesus reminded them of the prophets and scriptures, their eyes were opened. He told them the story of Himself. When life is blinding us to the truth of God and we are struggling in our walk with God, we just need to go back to the story. We need to tell others of the story, we need to live the story. When we do, our eyes are opened. The eyes of others are opened. Once their eyes were opened, they told the others and there was no turning back.

I wonder what would happne if we truly got a view of the risen Savior and lived out our lives everyday proclaiming that "He is Alive!"?

You can hear the full podcast of this morning's message here.

Today was the wrap of the "HiStory" series and next week opens up the series "What's In Your Bag?". In this series we will be looking at fulfilling God's purposes in our lives.

Great things are happening and the best is yet to come!

Friday

Today we remember the death of Christ on the cross.

• It is a celebration because of what was accomplished.
• It is also a somber remembrance of the suffering He endured.
• It is a day of sadness because our sin is the reason He went to the cross.
• It is a day of healing as it is by His stripes we are healed.
• It is a day of forgiveness as our sins were atoned for.
• It is gory.
• It is gritty.
• It is ugly.
• It is dark.
  
• It is grisly.
  
• It is holy.
• It is pure.
• It is for everyone.
• It is personal.
• It's Friday, but Sunday is coming!
  

New Series

We are starting a series on February 15 entitled, "What if...?"

We are going to explore the ramifications of this question from a few different angles and see what God has for us. Get ready for your faith to be stretched, your thinking challenged, and your journey to move closer to God.

The question "What if...?" is a powerful question. What if you suddenly received a million dollars? What if you could start over? What if you knew then what you know now? What if you got that new job? What if you could hear God speak to you every day? What if your prayers were answered? What if your dreams came true?

Also with this series we are going to begin podcasting our messages. This is something I have wanted to do since arriving and we are going to get it up and running. You will be able to subscribe through iTunes or from our website. More details to come.

What if......

What if... ? Powerful question.

What if we let go of all of our pre-dispositions to the way things are supposed to be done and started with a new slate, a fresh look at what needs to be done. Is that possible? Is it possible to open our minds and let our creativity expand beyond what we know to what could be? What if we could?

I am becoming more and more able to cope with questions without answers. I like knowing why. I want to know what is going on and have a fix on everything around me. Yet, as I journey through life, I am finding that is not as often possible to have the answers as I would like. In dealing with this, we can either scream louder for answers and demand our way; deny the fact and pretend we have the answers; blame the questions and declare the right things aren’t being asked or it is wrong to ask; or we can accept it and learn to walk in the understanding that some things are bigger than us and beyond our ability to know.

With this last mindset comes a few other things: amazement at life; wonder at nature; joy in little things; peace in storms; hope for tomorrow; and a new way of seeing situations. Instead of looking at everything for the sinister plot, the evil motive, or the hidden conspiracy, we come to the point where we are seeking the opportunity of God to impact a life, expand His Kingdom, and serve His purpose.

• What if we moved beyond fear and trepidation and boldly proclaimed the love of God and reality of Christ to those around us?
• What if we stopped seeing church as a form of worship on Sundays and Wednesdays?
• What if we went to where people already are instead of expecting them to come to us?
• What if we found new ways of presenting the Gospel in real and relevant ways in real situation in real life?
• What if we stopped relying on programs and models and forms to get the job done and started trusting in the power of God to work through us?
• What if each person in the body of Christ got into “the game” and did their part?
• What if we put aside petty differences and juvenile arguments and joined in unity to accomplish God’s mission?
• What if we followed the example of Christ and not the traditions of man?
• What if each one of us ventured out to do what God has called us and an individual to do with reckless abandon?
• What if we lived out of our faith that God is real and is working instead of by our sight and human understanding?
• What if we dared to ask God for the big, the impossible? And, then actually lived in expectation?
• What if we looked for what we can offer and give instead of what we can get?
• What if you accomplished that dream in your heart?
• What if ... ?