Old School

Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart, in my heart,
Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart, in my heart.
In my heart, in my heart,
Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart, in my heart.

Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart, in my heart,
Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart, in my heart.
In my heart, in my heart,
Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart, in my heart.

Lord, I want to be more holy in my heart, in my heart,
Lord, I want to be more holy in my heart, in my heart.
In my heart, in my heart,
Lord, I want to be more holy in my heart, in my heart.

Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart, in my heart,
Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart, in my heart.
In my heart, in my heart,
Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart, in my heart.

I'll be preaching on servanthood tomorrow morning. Even the word seems archaic. To bring the concept across to today is going to take some work. Not only am I up against the changes in language, but I'm living in the most individualistic culture on earth. The Builder generation will hear the call to serve others and silently reply "I've done my part." The boomers will hear and reply "that's what we pay you for." Gen X will think about it and decide they don't have time. Gen Y may still be open to change direction.

For some reason, that old hymn popped into my head this week as I considered Sunday's worship. I know that I probably either learned it during one of my infrequent periods of attendance in church as a boy, or after I got married and became a regular. :) For some reason I think it was the first option. If true, that means that whoever taught it to me is long gone from my memory, but their service to God lives on - in me.

Did you catch that?

I'm writing tonight as a weary man to weary men and women, especially those in smaller churches around the world. Listen! I know it's hard. Week in and week out, showing up to teach the same people, receiving little in the way of positive results immediately, or appreciation and feedback over time. Too many of you get too little "sabbath rest" from God's service and so you find yourselves at the ragged edge of burnout again. "Why should I care? No one else does. What I do doesn't matter."

Stop right now and tell that old liar Satan to remove himself from your presence and quit whispering lies like that in your ears. Rebuke him and he'll leave. For now.

You need to know that even though the boys and girls, men and women that you have served over the years may not remember your name or even who put God's truth - God's message - into their mind and hearts...

God has used you. He has!

I'm sitting here in tears tonight, thanking God for someone I cannot remember, who chose to serve in God's Church for God's glory. So what if I can't remember who it was? God knows, and I expect they were rewarded for their faithfulness with the most precious words any person who loves God can hear: "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Sunday Recap Oct 4, 2009

Today's text was of an encounter between Jesus and a Gentile woman. The event puts the differences between Jews and Gentiles in stark terms. The walls that they constructed then aren't really any different than the ones we build today. The contrast between the Gentle woman's confident faith in Jesus and the disciples (or duh-sciples) is great.

As I studied this all week, and let the text percolate, I couldn't get over how many ways we divide from each other. Then how many ways we in the Church and as a church tell people whether or not they are wanted, whether they are loved by God and worthy of our time. Duh-sciples.

To follow Jesus means loving who He loved. "While we were yet sinners..."

But sometimes once you are inside the walls, you forget you were ever an outsider.

To paraphrase Robert Frost, "Someone there is that doesn't want a wall." His name is Jesus.

This week's music -

"Your Grace Is Enough"
"Call Upon His Name"
"Blessed Be Your Name"
"Grace Flows Down"

The basic idea was to help remind each other as we sang praises of just how great God's grace is - regardless.

The Times, They Are A Changin'

The world's changes rush in and by us so fast. The "latest and greatest" comes in and falls out of fashion that you can easily find yourself paralyzed in indecision. Nothing lasts. Everything is on it's way to being replaced by something else. That phone you craved? The replacement's replacement will be here before your contract allows you to upgrade. That laptop that was the real deal may not even be able to run next year's operating system.

So what lasts?

8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."

Isaiah 40:8 (NIV)

Just A Reminder

He works on us in all sorts of ways. But above all, he works on us through each other. Men are mirrors, or carriers of Christ to other men. Usually it is those who know Him that bring Him to others. That is why the church, the whole body of Christians showing Him to one another, is so important.

It is so easy to think that the church has a lot of different objects - education, buildings, missions, holding services … the Church exists for no other purpose but to draw men to Christ, to make them little Christs.

If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became man for no other purpose.

It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any
other purpose. - C.S. Lewis

What we have here, is a failure to communicate

Don't you love that comic strip? She really didn't get it, did she?

I had one of those hard conversations today.

You guys know the ones I'm talking about.

The ones where someone points out a flaw in your perfection. :)

There aren't many areas I would have claimed to have a handle on, but communication, especially the written kind, I thought was my little corner of the world. So much so that I seldom if ever run anything I write by someone else so I can gauge if what I meant to have conveyed actually, well... got there.

It's a pride thing.

And it's wrong, it's sinful, and it can hurt me in my passionate desire to follow Jesus and call others along on the journey.

My bride helped me see that today.

She must love me, and love Jesus, an awful lot.

Too Good Not To Share

I wish I could remember which church had this on their website. It is as clear an introduction and declaration of what we should hold as convictions as any I have ever seen. My hats off to you, whoever you are. :)

Currently Reading - The Big Idea

"Nothing is more dangerous than a single compelling idea that is lived out and nothing is more harmless than lots of little ideas never applied. By creatively communicating one Big Idea every week your church will transform people into genuine Christ followers who live out the mission of Jesus. Less is more!"

About halfway through this slim book (less is more :) ) and it does seem to fit with a lot of what I've observed over the years.

We give WAY TOO MANY packets of information for people to absorb each week. If people had a gun to their head and were asked "what did you learn at church last week that you can apply to your life?", I'm afraid most would say "Just shoot me."

In most churches I have known, there are multiple Sunday school or small group curriculums being used, that have no relationship to what the pastor's message is.

Not much of a logical stretch to see how focusing everyone on one "Big Idea" could help.

More later.

Top 10 Things You Should Know About Unchurched People @ Church

Great reminder from guys who know. Click on the link to read the explanations. Any insight, additions, suggestions?

'Top 10 Things You Should Know About Unchurched People' 2007

Top 10 Things You Should Know About Unchurched People

… if you want them to hear what you’re saying

By Kem Meyer, communications director at Granger Community Church

1. People don’t care about the church database.

2. People aren’t motivated by your need. They’re motivated by theirs.

3. People don’t care about their next step until they know they’re valued where they are now.

4. People don’t know who you are, no matter how long you’ve been around the church.

5. People multi-task and can’t remember squat.

6. People are turned off by lack of preparation.

7. People relate when you talk about them or people like them.

8. People feel left out and frustrated when you use insider’s language.

9. People aren’t impressed with your theological vocabulary and holy dialect.

10. People love stories, not lectures.

Worship @ New Hope 20 Jan 2008

We continued in the "Red Letters" series with a sermon entitled "What You Need To Know" from Matthew 4. More about that later. Main focus from the text was "repent for the Kingdom of God is near" and "Follow me."

Opening song:

Amazing Grace,(My Chains Are Gone) - great treatment of THE classic hymn

Forever

The Potters Hand

Ancient Words

Give Me Jesus (solo by Emily)

Just As I Am

I was trying to craft a set that reflected our need for God's grace and our call to follow Jesus as he said in His Word.

The message: I have been really working hard on examining my work as a preacher in recent weeks, and have read the Andy Stanley book "Communicating for A Change" twice. In it, Stanley strongly suggests that you go with one point and only put into the sermon other materials that directly support that point.

So I decreased the amount of text I put up, and went with visual images to support the message. Then I went a step further and sat on a stool to deliver it. My thoughts were that if I was stationary then I would not be able to rely on gestures and body language and would have to concentrate on the thoughts and concepts I had at hand.

Then I tried to hang that within the frame provided by Stanley.

Me - We - God - You - We

It seemed to help me focus, stay on point, and shorten the amount of words but deliver clearly what God had led me to say. I'll keep working on it.