Have you Hugged a Fireman Today?

Ok, so neither have I (ok, there was that awkward embrace with my 2nd cousin last Friday).

Each year our church hosts a chili and wing cook-off/Firefighter appreciation banquet.  We invite the firefighters and their families to the church for an evening of entertainment and food, and there is a competition for best chili and wings.  This year, we decided to do things a little differently, and show them our appreciation by first taking them some chili and wings along with an invitation to the cook-off.

I called the fire stations to find out how many people were on staff at a time to know how much food to take to them.  You would have thought I was asking them if I could bring them a million dollars – they were very appreciative!

Today I took the first chili and wings into 3 stations.  They were all thrilled that we thought of them, and a little curious why a church was doing it.   Shouldn’t the church be the first ones showing our support in the community?  The fire department is the first group into an emergency, and wouldn’t it be great if the first people they thought of to call for help was the church?  As it is, the church is not called for help because we have stayed in our comfortable buildings behind our pretty stained glass.

Let’s get out there and be the church!

So it Begins!

Our 24 hours of prayer has started!  One of the elders here at Ontario Christian Church kicked things off this morning!  I am thrilled that people are still devoted to prayer!  Out of all the slots of time to fill, only 2 remained unfilled as of this morning: midnight Saturday and 4 am Sunday!  That is exciting!

I have encouraged our people to fast during this time also.  We don’t talk a whole lot about fasting, but Jesus assumed we would do it just like he assumed we would pray!  Matthew 6 says, “When you fast” not if.  We assume that fasting is supposed to be completely private, but it is shown by Jesus to be just as private as praying, and we don’t hesitate to tell someone that we are praying for them.  Maybe we need to encourage one another to fast more regularly and offer ourselves as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God!

WHEN YOU PRAY!

WHEN YOU FAST!

Power of Prayer

This weekend Ontario Christian Church will be participating in our 2nd 24 hours of prayer.  This is an incredible time of corporate and individual prayer where I have asked members of this body to sign up for 1 hour time slots to come to the building and pray.  While they are here, they are asked to pray for the lost, pray for our community, pray for this church, pray for the universal Church, and really anything that comes to mind!

Too often we ignore Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount regarding prayer.  Jesus never said, “If you pray” he said, “When you pray.”  How often do we spend an entire hour in prayer?  I mean really in prayer.  Last year, after I had been at this church for just over 2 months, we organized the 1st 24 hours of prayer and the reaction was the same from almost everyone, “1 hour?  How can I pray for a whole hour?”  The reaction afterwards was the same also, “That hour went by so fast – I could have gone for another hour with no problem!” 

Amazing things happen when we enter the throne room of God!  Time seems to either stand still, or fly by!  Allow God to meet you in prayer this weekend as our church meets God on Saturday and Sunday!

 WHEN YOU PRAY!

Memorial Day

I am not entirely certain what happened on Sunday!  I had prepared a sermon on Gideon and his battle with the Midianite army.  I thought this was going to be the perfect Memorial Day sermon.  Before I preached, there was a video shown with all of the people associated with our church who have served in the armed forces.  Somewhere in the middle was a picture of an elderly lady in our church named Mary.  Mary is just a tiny little thing, and is getting up there in years.  On the screen was this beautiful young woman, and it said she was a nurse during WWII.  Immediately my mind began racing about the stories she must have, and I wondered how many people listened!

The way my mind works, that got me thinking about our own stories…the stories that we have about our redemption…the stories about what God has done in our life, and God kept taking me to Deuteronomy 6.

“Deuteronomy 6:4-9

4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. “

We have a responsiblity to tell our children…to tell them every opportunity we get about the One God whom we serve!

Tell your story!

It was painful, but I scrapped my sermon on Sunday, and spoke briefly about this passage…I have never abandoned a sermon completely 2 minutes before I was supposed to preach it, but I couldn’t do anything else!

Impress your story on the people around you!

Thoughts thanks to Fishing & Catching

OK…if you read my last post, you know where I was going in stating the differences between fishing and catching.  Jesus called us to both fish for men, and to catch men. 

Honestly, that was the basis of last weeks Bible Study on the Life of Christ.  This whole week something has been rolling around in my head (and unfortunately, there is far too much room for that).  In keeping with the fishing theme, I wondered to myself, and involved some people in a discussion of whether or not we are actually involved in a catch & release program.  I don’t know if it is the same in other countries, but here in the US, there is a sad trend going on in the church to get people to “cross a line” and then we seem to forget about them.

Let me explain what I mean by “cross a line.”  For some, it is that trip down the aisle, or the sinner’s prayer.  Maybe it is baptism.  For some, it might even be membership into a certain church.  What happens then?  Where is the discipleship? 

When was the last time someone asked you what you were reading in the Bible for your own benefit?  When was the last time you asked that of someone else?  What is God showing you about his character?  How is your prayer life?  These are questions that should be asked as the beginnings of discipleship, and they aren’t even asked down the road. 

Let’s step out of our comfort zones, quit this catch & release junk, and start making disciples!

Fishing or Catching?

How do we respond to the battle call?I was studying Jesus encounter with a few fishermen and a miraculous catch. I noticed that both Matthew and Mark say that Jesus said, “I will make you fishers of men.” Luke, who includes more detail anyway says, “From now on you will catch men.”

If you have ever been hunting or fishing, you know that there is a difference between fishing and catching! I remember spending days fishing with my dad in Colorado mountain streams, and catching nothing…I was doing a lot of fishing though!

We are called to fish, and we are called to catch!

It doesn’t stop there though! The Greek word that the good Dr. uses is literally “to catch alive.” It is only used elsewhere in 2 Timothy 2:26 “that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.” We have got to realize that we are living behind enemy lines, and we are called to free those captives!

Not only is there a difference between fishing and catchiing, but one other big difference…when we fish, we take those fish from life to death; when we go after men, we take them from death to life…the only true life worth living!

Answer the battle cry!

Where 2 or 3 Come Together?

Ok, I just read a blog that said it, and I have heard it in church services more than half a million times.  “Jesus said that where 2 or more are gathered in my name, there I will be also, so Jesus is here in this service with us.”  That grates on me a bit!  Is it just that people have heard it the half a million times, or are they convinced that is what it means? 

If I learned anything in Bible College, it is that context is King!  (Thank you David Fish, Matt Proctor, Jim Johnson, and Mark Scott for pounding that into my head.)  If we look at the context of Matthew 18:19-20 what do we see?  We see Jesus talking about disciplining a brother who sins against us!  If we are in agreement as believers, Jesus is in agreement also!

Jesus has promised to be with us, and he has even sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in us, so even as I sit here all alone, Jesus is here!  Why do we make Bible passages say what we want them to say! 

Sorry everybody! Am I just straining the gnats here, or is it as bad exegesis (or actually eisegesis) as I think it is?

rant is done…all this because the person didn’t allow comments on their blog.  This would have been easier for all involved if I could have just mentioned it to that person!

Lovin’ God or Lovin’ Others

Why does it seem that too often I hear about people who are either loving God, or they are loving on others?  I had a friend whose ministry was called LOGALOO – Loving On God And Loving On Others.  As I prepare a sermon this weekend on John 21 I realize that it is not an either or thing!  We have got to be doing both!  I have seen churches that are great at loving God through their worship, and through their faithfulness to His Word.  I have seen other churches who have got the loving other part figured out, but it is to the point that it has become simply a social gospel.  Not the gospel that calls men out of their sin!

Church, we have got to be doing both!  We must love God, and that has to be our motivator to love others.  Even our motivation can mess things up.  I asked my 8 year old daughter today why we are supposed to trust Jesus, and her answer was so that we could spend forever with him in heaven.  I said that is true, but I explained to her that our motivation has to come strictly from our love for God.  We cannot be serving the people God loves because it will benefit us, or our church, and we can’t even do it because we think we will be given some extra jewels in our crown!  Our motivation has to be love – love for God!

“Do you love me?  Feed my sheep.” 

Easter is Over!?

So, the eggs have all been found; the tomb has been shown to be empty; Jesus has appeared to his disciples…now what?

We had an incredible easter weekend with a record number of people in attendance at our current building!  What do we do now?  Hopefully, somewhere on your journey this weekend, or before, you have encountered the living God!  Even the angels, when the followers of Jesus were looking for him, asked, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here.  He has risen.” 

Don’t just stay looking longingly into the empty tomb, go out into the world and tell about how encountering the risen savior has changed your life! 

No one leaves an encounter with God unchanged!  Allow people to encounter God through you this week!

Quit looking for the living among the dead, and quit acting dead when you should be living!

Good Friday

Good Friday services aren’t really done in the independent Christian Churches very often.  This year, I decided to do one.  We really didn’t know what to expect, but all in all it went pretty well.  One of the Elders said that at anything on a Friday night in the past would pull in maybe a dozen people.  We had about 80 for the service tonight.  We have been running in the 130’s the past several weeks, so I feel that was good response!

I tried to stay away from people after the service, because I didn’t want the empty platitudes, I wanted them to be meditating on what Jesus actually went through for them.

I stole the idea for the sermon from Terry Bowland at Ozark Christian College!  He had said in class one day that “There they crucified Him” would make a great 4 point sermon, and sure enough it does!

1. There – The most unholy place
2. They – The most unholy people
3. Crucified – The most unholy death
4. Him – The most Holy Person!

I gave each person a carpenter’s nail as a reminder of the spikes that were driven into the hands and feet of Jesus to take on our sin. 

I hope people encountered God!