Sermon from FBC - I Can See Clearly Now

--> “So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.”

2 Corinthians 5:9

At the beginning of the year, we all seem to instinctively have this desire to review our life, to look back and see how things went, and look forward thinking about how we might reach our goals.  As Christians, there are certain spiritual goals we should all be pursuing.  At the start of this new year, we'll be reviewing those goals, so as you consider your resolutions, you can include some spiritual goals as well...

To read the message now, click here...

         http://fbcwaverly.weebly.com/sermons/i-can-see-clearly-now

Thanks for reading - or listening, there is an audio link as well!  I'd love to hear what you think.

New Year... New Look...

Happy New Year!

As we come to a new year, we are changing the look of the blog.  It's time for a redesign, something new, something exciting.

A new year is an ideal time to make changes.  Are you making changes?  Any resolutions? 

Perhaps more importantly, are you allowing God to make changes in you?  I'm not talking about resolutions here, I'm talking about the new life God wants to bring to you.  When you put your faith in Jesus, He promised to transform you into the very image of Jesus.  But you have to let Him.

I.  How do you let God work in you?

You let God make these changes in you by putting yourself in places where He can reach you.  the Christian Disciplines are those places.  Daily devotions, regular church worship, daily Bible reading, and Bible Study with a group of believers, are all examples of places where God can work in you.

In Richard Foster's book, Celebration of Discipline, he outlines three major types of discipline, all designed to bring into a place where God will change us into the image of Jesus.

II.  What are these disciplines?

Foster's three types include:

1.  The Inward Disciplines:  including meditation, prayer, fasting, and study - these are the things you do by yourself, things that no one else sees.

2.  The Outward Disciplines:  including simplicity, solitude, submission, and service - these are things you do in the company of others, how others see your life of faith lived out.

3.  The Corporate Disciplines:  including confession, worship, guidance, and celebration - these are the things you do together with other believers, often in worship services or prayer gatherings.


So as the New Year starts, I encourage you to think about where God is working in you, and make sure you're letting him there.  Reflect on your practices of the Christian Disciplines - that's where God is at work!

Back to the new look of the blog - What do you think? Let me know, leave a comment.  I'd love to hear from you.

And I truly wish you the very best of New Years.  May 2014 be the best yet!

Steve

What is church?

I think that we here at Almond Union of Churches can be very proud of our church.

Our Food Pantry and Samaritan’s Loft make a real difference in our community. Our Missions Committee is our busiest committee, and I think that’s how it should be. We show our love for others by actions – physically caring for the people around us.

In the Confessions of a Small Church Pastor web blog, I came across this definition of the early church:

Church was a community, a refuge, a place of healing, a gathering of God’s people, open to others, driven by fellowship and mission, obedient to God, gathered for worship, inclusive of slave and free, innovative, sharing, caring, loving, powerful, prayerful, worshiping, gifted — an expression of the kingdom coming in the world now.

That was the model given us in the New Testament. How are we doing as a church? What should we be doing as a church? And even more important, how are you doing as a believer? Do you measure up to the standards set in the early church? Is there anything you could be doing differently to help others see the expression of the kingdom of God that is here now?

How can we make sure we are community, a refuge, a place of healing, a gathering of God’s people, open to others, driven by fellowship and mission, obedient to God, gathered for worship, inclusive of slave and free, innovative, sharing, caring, loving, powerful, prayerful, worshiping, gifted – all the things the early church was…

First Heal Thyself...

Be not angry that you cannot make

others as you want them to be,

since you cannot make yourself as you

wish to be.

-Thomas a Kempis

The Bible talks alot about making sure that we are right before the Lord, before trying to make others right. Passages like "first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye" (Luke 6:42), and "if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar, first go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5:23).

While there are passages that tell us to convict our neighbors of their sin, so they grow in their faith, it is very clear that we must make sure we are right before God first.
So before worrying about others, work on yourself.

Standing on Holy Ground...

Sunday’s worship service at the Almond Union of Churches was a little different than normal. The heater was not working in the Sanctuary, so we set up chairs in the Social Room. It was nice and cozy, and we had a good service, but there is something less formal, almost less holy, about worship in the Social Room.

Yet as I was thinking about this, I am reminded that when we come to faith in Jesus Christ, we are given the Holy Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing our salvation. The Holy Spirit is given freely to all who believe.

So if we have the Holy Spirit, then everywhere we go, the Holy Spirit goes with us. Therefore, wherever we are standing is Holy ground. It doesn’t matter if we worship in the Sanctuary, or in the Social Room, or if we are unable to attend for any reason. The Holy Spirit is still with us.

And when we go to a place, we bring the presence of the Holy Spirit with us, and that place becomes Holy ground. When you are sitting to worship, that is Holy ground. But when you are sitting in a restaurant thinking how slow the service is today, you are still sitting on Holy ground. When you are standing in line at the grocery store, thinking of all the things you have to get done this afternoon, you are standing on Holy ground. When someone comes to complain to you for the umpteenth time, you are standing on Holy ground.

By virtue of your faith in Christ Jesus, you are Holy. And where you go becomes Holy, because you bring the Holy Spirit there.

Play beautiful music - together!

I love music, but I don’t really play an instrument. I do participate in the church’s Chime Choir, and have a lot of fun with it. You certainly don’t have to be a musician to participate – it’s quite easy!

On occasion, when I struggle with a particular piece we are trying to play, I will sneak up to our balcony and pull out my two chimes, and work on my part. But the thing with chimes is that there are 30-40 chimes that are played in any given song, and the two that I play don’t sound anything like the song I’m playing when I’m practicing on my own.

I think that life is like that. When we are doing our thing, acting by ourselves, we have trouble seeing the big picture. One person can make a difference. But when that one person joins dozens of other people, so much more can get done.

One person working on a project alone can make a great project. But when two or three other great minds work together, new ideas come to light, and the project is much better as a result.

Our faith is like that, too. We can carry on a life of faith by ourselves. We don’t need church, we don’t need activities to keep us busy. We can lead a life of prayer and devotion with or without others. But when we come together, our faith can grow so much deeper. In the Psalms you will find a passage, “Iron strengthens iron.” We sharpen each other when we come together as part of larger body – a church body. Jesus understood how our faith can grow when we come together when he said, “Whenever two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there also.”

You don’t need the church. But your faith can be so much deeper, so much more alive, and so much more real when you are an active part of a church. It’s as dramatic a difference as hearing my two chimes when I’m practicing alone, compared to the richness of 30 other chimes playing at the same time along with me.

If you’re living a life of faith alone, you’ll never know the difference until you come together with other like minded people. You will find them in church!

When God seems distant...

In a book I’m reading, Sacred Reading, The Ancient Art of Lectio Divina, by Michael Casey, he brings out something that I think deserves some reflection.

He talks about times when God seems absent. There are times, I suppose when you start any new discipline, that spiritual growth comes quickly, and you feel it. But then there are times, often after doing the same discipline for some time, that spiritual growth doesn’t seem to come at all. It almost seems that God has moved on and has left you alone.

Aldous Huxley calls this phenomenon “induction” – the principal that “every positive begets its corresponding negative.” Casey writes, “Any striving after specific virtues is followed by an almost irresistible tendency to backslide.”

I don’t know if I agree with that exactly, but I know that in my own life my spiritual growth has been very cyclical. I experience highs of incredible growth and special closeness with God, followed by times of dryness and distance from God. I suppose all of you have experienced something similar to this.

Perhaps the positive in this is that this happens to everyone. Maybe it goes back to our sinful nature. Maybe any commitment toward God brings up an unconscious pulling away. Maybe it is a spiritual battle being fought, the enemy not willing to give up on us. Whatever it is, the key to moving on is persistence on our Bible Study, in our devotions, in our prayers, and in our disciplines.

God is there, even when you don’t feel him. Persist in moving toward him, and I bet you will feel him again…

Church Transformation

I attended a Leadership Day Seminar today. There were a number of workshops offered, but the one that caught my eye was one titled Tools for Transformation. The keynote speaker for this event was also the presenter for the Tools for Transformation workshop. It was a very well done workshop, with lots of resources and lots of ideas for bringing people into our churches.

There is one thing that I often find missing from workshops on church transformation, and that’s the work of the Holy Spirit. God is in the transformation business, and we can’t hope to transform anybody (or any church) without the work of God in our midst.

To me, church growth is impossible without spiritual growth, and spiritual growth is usually left out of any attempt to transform or grow our churches. At least it’s been left out of the workshops I’ve attended. That’s why our churches aren’t growing. How many people did Peter lead to Christ before he was filled with the Holy Spirit? (zero – zip – none!) How many after? (3,000 the first day!)

If you want your church to grow, you need to grow yourself. As we grow spiritually, we invite others. We act as the people of God. We are filled with the Holy Spirit which leads and guides us. Who wouldn’t want to go to a church where all that was happening? And who would invite people to a church that didn’t have that?

We transform the church by transforming ourselves. Become serious about your own spiritual growth, and you will make a difference – Because as God fills you, others will notice, and seek to be filled too! Then the church will grow!