Feel the change...

What role does the Bible play in growing our faith?


So I had a friend of mine who was really struggling in a particular area of his life. He felt like for every step he took forward, he fell back another two. Even though he knew that what he was doing was wrong, he kept falling into the same old trap. One night he asked me, "Am I the only one who's ever felt like this?"

In answer I emailed this scripture from the book of Romans chapter 7 verses 18-19, "18 I know there is nothing good in my sinful nature. I want to do what is good, but I can't. 19 I don't do the good things I want to do. I keep on doing the evil things I don't want to do."

In this particular passage, the Apostle Paul is wrestling with his sinful nature and he expresses a common frustration. Who hasn't sat back after a particularly bad decision and wondered why we knowingly embraced a choice that led to death? All of us have been there.

Now the point of this story isn't to excuse my friend's behavior. What he did was wrong, no two ways about it. But by reading
about the struggle Paul endured two thousand years ago, my friend was able to gain some perspective, dust himself off, and try again. Paul also ends his painful deliberations on a victorious note. In verses 24-25, Paul says, "24 What a terrible failure I am! Who will save me from this sin that brings death to my body? 25 I give thanks to God. He will do it through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Often times we look at the writers of the Bible as superhuman beings whose every thought was whispered to them by God. But sometimes, in my darkest moments, I find comfort in the fact that the Bible is a collection of stories about people. People who sometimes succeeded in pleasing God and sometimes failed miserably. People who were just like me.

Pick up your Bible and read a couple of verses. You might be surprised at who you find staring back from the pages.


- Don

Pivotal Circumstance...

I knew it was coming, all the signs pointed to it and I had already looked at our budget and knew we would be OK for a little while, but as I was walking toward the meeting room I wondered if everything was really going to be OK. And as the words hung in the air I almost couldn't believe what I was hearing... "Due to the recent lack of sales company wide we are eliminating several of the Contractors and unfortunately you are one of them." I returned to my desk and quickly let my wife know that my days were numbered.

We can't always see our circumstances coming, but they often have the same affect. Whether it is a loss of a job, death of a friend, health problem, etc. the circumstances leave us dazed and disoriented for a moment before we realize we have a choice to make...

Do I trust God in-spite of what I am experiencing and feeling? Or do I start to question God's intentions and take matters into my own hands?

Well for me I found my prayer life elevate as I tried to seek God and see what He might be be doing... I wasn't at all happy about the situation I found myself in. I felt like that job was exactly where God wanted me to be for a season. Then I was relieved of my contract 5 months early and I found myself questioning the timing, but through it all I trusted and sought God.

My pivotal circumstance turned out to be one that altered the course of my life and now as I look back on it I wonder if I would be on this journey I now find myself in? I wonder if this is what it took for God to get me to leverage my life for His?

What circumstance are you facing?
Do you trust God in-spite of what you are feeling or do you find yourself questioning God's intentions?
Will you allow God to leverage your circumstance for His glory?

I'd love to hear your thoughts...


- Rainey

Feel The Power!

“Give God the first minutes of your day.”

Normally this isn’t too much of a stretch for me. As an aspiring writer, my alarm clock starts chiming at 4:50 so I can spend time moving a chapter a little farther down the road, editing a magazine article, or tinkering with a short story before work. Until this week. Until I signed a little pledge card Sunday morning and dropped it in the offering plate. Until I spent Sunday and Monday nights coughing and Tuesday night staring at the ceiling while the digital clock on the nightstand next to me counted down the minutes until sunrise.

Funny how that works, isn’t it? Because when the alarm started beeping this morning, the question running through my head wasn’t “I’m so tired, how am I going to make it through the day?” or even “What am I worried about that I couldn’t sleep last night?” No, the question battering the inside of my skull at 4:50 this morning wasn’t so politically correct. It went something like this, “Why am I doing this? Do I really think God is going to show up?”

Wow. Amazing how your thoughts crystallize after three nights without sleeping. How about it LifePoint? Am I the only one struggling to get up this week, secretly wondering if God is really going to show up? Is anybody who agreed to start giving God their first dollars this month, now having second thoughts? Is anybody else wondering whether they will really hear from God if they fast a Starbucks latte?

Or am I the only one?

As I read this post, I start to think that maybe I’m asking the wrong question. When I wrote my name on that card Sunday morning, I don’t remember seeing a box for God to check or a line where he could sign. I don’t remember hearing him say that he was in on this deal at all. Because when we get right down to it, the question that I should be asking isn’t “God, are you really going to show up if I get out of bed?” but, “Don, are you really going to be obedient even if you don’t know whether or not God will show up?”

The author of the New Testament book of Hebrews says in Chapter 11 verse 1 that “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Sure enough to make decisions based on what we know God wants us to do even when we aren’t confident of the results. Faith isn’t something you stumble into, but it might require stumbling out of bed at 4:50 in the morning.

Is anybody with me?

- Don

Trust

"I'm willing step out in Faith-I just want to know that's what you want
me to do."

I wrote that line in one of my prayer journals during a time
when I was intensely seeking God's plan for my life. I remember that
when I uttered that prayer to God the thought seemed perfectly logical,
noble even. Here I was, willingly telling my Father that I'd be happy
to follow his directions-if he'd just light the road ahead with a
burning bush or two.

You see a relationship with God, more so than any other
relationship, is based on trust. We can't see God, or feel him, and
most of the time when he speaks, he doesn't use an audible voice
accompanied by an earthquake or a celestial spotlight. But in order to
experience him, we have to make the intentional decision to trust our
lives to someone we've never physically met.

Which brings me back to the line from my prayer journal. On
Sunday, Andy said, "None of us will ever stumble into Faith. Faith
isn't going to just happen." Another pastor friend of mine expressed
similar sentiments when he said, "I think a lot of people look for God
to work first, then step out in Faith. Some of the dramatic works of
God in the Bible were like that...but by far the normal pattern is that
God's people make choices to serve him using wisdom they've gained from
the Bible, godly friends, mentors, and life experiences."

Both of these friends were trying to tell me that life with God
can only be lived through trust and that the decision to trust must be
made in Faith. Faith that God has a story for my life if I'll just
reach out and grab it.

So what about you? Do you trust Him or are you still just
stumbling along? Imagine what your life could look like if you'd just
muster the courage to take that first step. Join me-let's experience
this together.

- Don

* Andy said that the story of the Bible is a story of trust. How
does trust play into your relationship with God?
* Can you think of a time when God did something amazing in your
life once you decided to trust him? Share it.

Play to win...

"Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19.

If you're like me, then you'd probably rather sit through a root
canal then purposefully share your faith with someone. The thought of
going up to a friend, or even worse a stranger, and attempting to
distill the entire Bible into a thirty second conversation centered
around sin, the four spiritual laws, some kind of bridge, and maybe the
Roman Road leaves me feeling a queasy. And maybe it should.

If you read the account of Jesus calling his first disciples in
the Gospel of Matthew 4:19, you'll see that he approaches things a
little differently. When Jesus invited two brothers, Peter and Andrew,
to join his ministry, he made it abundantly clear that they would be
leaving their old lives behind. But at the same time, Jesus couched his
invitation in terms that they would understand. He could just as easily
have invited them to become healers of men, or shepherds of men, or
teachers of men, but he didn't. Jesus told the brothers that he would
teach them to become fishers of men. Why? Because Peter and Andrew
were fishermen and Jesus knew that they would instantly understand his
message.

So how does that apply to us? Pastor and evangelist Tony Evans
once explained the process of sharing your faith by comparing the action
to a Dallas Cowboys fan talking about football. Tony stated that a
Cowboys fan doesn't have to try to work the subject of football into a
conversation. Since the fan is already passionate about football, he
talks about the Cowboys naturally without worrying about what he'll say
or how he'll say it. Tony's point is that if we are truly passionate
about something, talking about it will come easily.

Just like the fisherman who first related to Christ through
their life experiences, I've found that I share my faith most
effectively when I focus less on New Testament theology and more on what
God has done in my life. When I think of how good my Father has been to
me, I naturally want to share this story with others. Not as a
theologian or Biblical scholar, but as a simple, passionate fan who
can't wait to tell his friends the Good News.

So what about it? Are you ready to follow and fish or are you
still standing on the beach? Hurting people, desperate to hear a
positive story, surround you. Tell them yours.

- Don

* Tony Evans talked about sharing your passions with friends with
the expectation that your relationship with Christ will be one of those
passions. What if it's not? On Sunday, Andy said that God wants to
replace your indifference with passion. Will you let him? Tell me
about it.

* In the same teaching I referenced above, Tony Evans suggested
praying this prayer every morning: "God, I ask you to give me the
opportunity to share my faith with someone today, the wisdom to
recognize that opportunity when it comes, and the courage to act on it."
Pray that prayer for the next week and tell me what happens when you do.

The Church...

"You go to church, right? What's that like?"

Who hasn't fielded this question from a co-worker or friend?
When someone asks me about church, I normally reply by giving them
Wyandott's location, the time our Celebration starts, and a quick
endorsement of Brandon's singing or Andy's teaching. But does this
response really answer their question?

In the Gospel of Luke chapter ten, verses one through four, we
find Jesus in the middle of forming the church. He's on the eve of his
crucifixion and has even told his disciples that he's about to be
betrayed, but they don't understand him. You'd think that this would be
the part of the Bible where Jesus tells his followers how to conduct
church after he's gone. You know, the answers to important questions
like: How long should the service last? Do we take communion with wine
or grape juice? Which translation of the Bible do we use?

But if you read those verses in Luke, you'll see that Jesus
didn't waste any of the precious time he had left on earth talking about
a building or detailing the format of a Sunday morning service.
Instead, he turned the focus of his followers outward. He paired them
up, pointed them toward the surrounding towns, and said, "Go, tell them
about me." That's it.

So maybe the next time I get a church question, I should answer
by talking about my wife's missions trip to Mexico, my awesome Reset
group, the Friday morning men's breakfast, or Tim Anderson's latest
Outreach. Because those are the activities that define us as a
church-not where we gather on Sundays.

* Share your church story with someone this week and post the
results of your conversation to our blog. I dare you.

* Is your church story only about a building and an hour on Sunday
mornings? Step out of your comfort zone and tell me what happens next.




Don Bentley

Prayer...

I think Mc Hammer said it best... "You've got to pray just to make it today".

In all seriousness I'm learning that prayer is the anchor of our faith. If I'm honest I can also say in the same breath I have much growing to do in this area. What I mean by that is my life doesn't reflect the truth I just made. My life doesn't reflect the truth of prayer anchoring my faith. I believe it to be true, my story is full of times where prayer has not only influenced me but also completely changed an aspect of my life. Without prayer I know I wouldn't be where I am today... Yet my life doesn't reflect this truth.

Let me clarify... I don't have a "dynamic" prayer life, I don't discipline myself enough to spend X number of minutes/hours with God, I don't find myself on my knees crying out to God. But I should...

For the past few months I feel like God is calling me to Him. I feel like God wants my prayer life to be "dynamic". I feel as if my relationship with God could be so much more than it is and I'm the one that is missing out.

I'm not saying I don't pray... I'm saying I don't make it a point to spend time with just God. I'm not talking about while I'm in the car or right before bed... I'm talking about time with God with no distractions...

What about you? How does your life stand up to the truth of prayer being an anchor of our faith? What does your prayer life look like?

What might you be missing out on?

I'd love to hear your thoughts...