Bay West Church is MOVING...to another church? What?????

Here's a pretty good sample conversation in my life these days.

Person:  What's going on at Bay West Church?
Me:  Well, we're about to start meeting in a new place in August for worship on Sundays.
Person:  That's awesome!  Where is it?

Me:  Up on the West end of Emerson in Palm Bay (100 Emerson Drive, 32907)...you know The Mission Church, there?  That's where we'll be.

Person:  What?  Where is The Mission Church going?

lol.  I figured it might be fun to share the explanation in one place...so here's what I say next.

The Mission Church isn't going anywhere.  They'll be there and so will we, AND so will the Hispanic church that meets in the building as well.  Since the 80s, when the Ostranders built the church, they have always had other churches meeting in their space.  They see this as part of their ministry to Palm Bay to help other churches get off the ground.  "This is God's building, not ours...nothing is off limits to you here...we want you guys to feel as if this is Bay West Church's home while you are here."  That's the type of things we heard in our meetings with Pastor Mark, Pastor Jesse and Pastor John.  They have a real kingdom mindset, because more healthy churches reaching people in Palm Bay is better for all...no church competition here.

Here's a good picture of their attitude...their offer.  We'll move our services from 10:15 to 9am, so you guys can have a service on Sunday mornings in our worship center.  You guys have all these cabinets and stuff...hey, we've got places you can store the stuff...don't spend money on storage, we want you to put as much as you can into ministry.  We'll find places for you to store it here.  If you've been in The Mission, you know it's not gigantic...that's generosity.  You see the real test of someone's kingdom mindedness when it actually puts them out...when they have to sacrifice their capabilities to help God work through you.  We should all take a lesson from them.

So at 8:00am on August 11th, they'll have their Sunday School, then at 9:00am their have their service and finish between 10:15 and 10:30...then we'll start our service at 11am.  And we'll all have church.

Is Bay West Church going to merge with The Mission Church?  
Nope...we are still a campus of FBC Melbourne, still a Southern Baptist Church.  Meeting in the same building with two other churches...  Although, Pastor Mark is trying to talk me into going to Haiti on a mission trip with him...I'll have to hook him up with our local Haiti "missionary" Bob Osterholm (lol).

That's how it works...it may sound different, maybe a little weird, but it's a God thing...just go with it.
 

REMEMBER...Football is in the Fall, right?  Then remember 11 on 11...11am on the 11th of August is when Bay West will be in their new location.

***See how I resisted the normal tangent about how a church isn't a building...it's people.  When you think about it that way...it's a lot easier.

How to know if your should listen to that influence...

Ever wondered if you should actually be listening to a particular influence (writer, TV show, blog, etc...)?  Was faced with this today and God called this to mind from James 3...


But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
James 3:17

Is it...
...pure or tainted?
...ultimately peace-loving or divisive?
...considerate to others or rude to them?  (not does it tell others they are wrong, that's not being rude, and sometimes it's the most considerate thing to do)
...submissive to authority (God) or demanding for itself?
...merciful or unforgiving?
...impartial or one-sided?
...sincere or manipulative?
What fruit seems to spring from it?  (solution or separation, unity or useless conflict, insults or insight).

If it doesn't pass the test, then you can probably get along without it.  Also, any wisdom that you feel led to give to others should follow that rule, too.

Words to the Wise: Leaving conflict behind

When talking about leaving a tough situation with a friend, this wise friend threw out the metaphor of leaving "firing shots over your shoulder" and how that's how some leave tough situations, trying to inflict pain on others as they leave.  I really latched onto that picture of a cowboy riding away from a fight on a horse in the old West.  At full gallop, the cowboy would look back and fire a couple of shots at the enemy as he left trying to pick off a bad guy or to do as much damage as he could.  After thinking on that picture and had some thoughts about parallels that are flaws in the "shooting over the shoulder" strategy in leaving a tough situation. 

One, shooting over the shoulder isn't very accurate, especially speeding away on a horse, so they never hit what they intended to hit.  They don't really ever damage any of their targets.  When you leave, those shots never make it back to those that hurt you, so they are usually completely oblivious to your gunshots...or one might get through out of nowhere and then everyone around wonders why in the world you'd be so cruel to do that, because those innocent bystanders in close proximity have no knowledge of the situation.

Two, because they have no accuracy, they usually cause damage that they never intended.  The only possible people who get "hit" by things are those people that those fleeing on horseback have a relationship with that have deal with them.  Think about it...you don't hang out with the folks that hurt you, you hang out with the folks that love you.  Whether a new relationship or an old one (pre-dating their hurt), friends are forced to relive the pain with the rider time after time.  It might be a relationship from the place of pain that didn't have a part in the hurt, but constantly feels the need to either apologize or exist in a vat of hard feelings against others because they are have to interact with them.  It could be the rider's spouse or children or just good friends..they take a bullet(s)...either way, you end up really just shooting your own team.

Three, they never really truly leave the situation.  Getting farther and farther away, as they lose perspective on things, the details of what happened gets distorted and out of focus.  Their attention is focused on something they can't control and they waste their time with things they can't/wouldn't/won't fix.  The facts just get worse, like a caught fish just gets bigger each time you tell the "story", and they just stay one step away from the situation and the hurt.

In keeping their focus on what's behind, they are not able to deal adequately with the present.  It's like they ride away believing a rope is tethered to them and to the situation and to them, trapping them to that moment in time.  At any second, they are prepared to teleport themselves back to that moment in time, any time someone will listen to them re-tell the injustice.  They blame those in that place or those from that situation for never letting them leave, but, if they were to step back and examine the two ends of the "rope" carefully...they'd find one end in that situation just laying on the ground and the other end, not tied to them, but just grasped in their clenched fist.

Consequently, because they are ignoring the present, they also are unprepared for the future.  They usually crash into and destroy something in their future because they were unprepared for it, because they spent too much of their life looking back.  They never leave the past behind.

Ultimately, the greatest damage the rider ever does is to himself.  This damage usually becomes something that they blame on the tough situation and people in their past that just "ruined" them.  The truth is that it is their own toxicity that is eating them away from the inside.  It will continue to eat away long after the memory of the past has faded into nothingness, because anything that remotely resembles the pain becomes their new nemesis, drawing their ire and judgment.  Truly, the most dangerous and unhealthy thing of the situation is something that they carried away inside themselves...the inability to be secure in who they are and move on to the future that Christ provides.

Want to know if this is you?
What's the big hurt in your past?  Like the ol' "how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie pop" cartoon...how many comments does it take you to get full on mad about that situation/person?
Do you refer to it often? 
Do people know where you are going very early in the conversation?
Does it drive your decisions now?  Do you find yourself spending a lot of time building defenses to avoid getting in that situation again?  (Nothing wrong with avoiding a bad situation, but are you obsessed with doing so?)
Do you see trails leading to a repeat of that situation often?
And a real situation arises like it...how fast do you get into full strike mode?

Word to those who wish to be wise in their life...don't be this person, that's not Christlike, and living this way accomplishes nothing.  Drop the rope, leave it behind, forgive and set yourself free.

Generosity all over the place.

The famous King Solomon of the Old Testament was widely known because he was the wisest man alive at his time...ever wonder how he got His wisdom?  The story goes in 2 Chronicles that He became King and took a "firm control" over his lands because God was with him and he got his leaders together and went to worship at a temple.  After burning a 1000 burnt offerings to God, that night, God appeared to him and told him to ask for anything...ANY thing...he wanted and he would have it.  He basically asked for the wisdom to lead God's people properly....and this was God's response.

¹¹ God said to Solomon, “Because your greatest desire is to help your people, and you did not ask for wealth, riches, fame, or even the death of your enemies or a long life, but rather you asked for wisdom and knowledge to properly govern my people—¹² I will certainly give you the wisdom and knowledge you requested. But I will also give you wealth, riches, and fame such as no other king has had before you or will ever have in the future!”

It was said after that time that silver and gold were as common in Jersualem as stone...

Facebook and affairs? What's the real problem here?

For some time, Facebook has become more popular as a communication and social media tool.  With the rise of that popularity and usage, the concerns of Facebook increased.  Addictive games, addictive info supply, and massive time wasted leading to lack of productivity are among the list. 
While these seem more controllable and harmless, more dangerous games are "played" like marital affairs.  John connects with Jennifer from high school and driven by strong early emotions and a lot of rose-colored glasses about the past, John and Jennifer begin a relationship online that leads them to connect emotionally again...one problem, John and Jennifer are married and not to each other...and they end up leaving their previous soulmates to be together in some sort of "we found our real soulmate...no, REALLY...not like the other soulmates, but the real only one for me" moment. 

There's a growing trend to outlaw Facebook in business and religious circles, and, from ministers to counselors, to "demonize" it.  So is Facebook a marriage killer?  I don't think so.  The pattern of online affairs usually seems to follow the same pattern as any affair...connection, emotional attachment, improper contact, secretive continuance, adultery and ultimately, announcing that you've found "the one" to "the one" you've already found.  Facebook isn't the problem, it's an opportunity for connection and at ANY opportunity for connection people can stumble.  Without discipline and transparency and honesty, anyone can sin.  I think the Bible shows us how sin happens in James 1...

14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.

15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.  16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.

This passage is talking about the subject of whether or not God tempts us to sin and while the answer is "no", this passage gives us the pattern by which sin...ALL sin...happens.  There is a desire that tempts us, we linger with that desire and hang around with it...then it takes hold of us and we act on it (gives birth to sin) and then that sin leads to death.  Sounds a lot like the process of an affair...online or otherwise.

I've thought rather than demonize Facebook, maybe we should look at the real problem which is ourselves and put our guards there.  There's no denying that Facebook gives more occasion for connection, that's why it's popular, but just like any other area of connection, it shouldn't give us some "free pass" to throw off all safeguards and just act however...that's where the real problem comes.

In real life, I don't ride in a car by myself with a member of the opposite sex that isn't family, if I can help it...I don't tell things to members of the opposite sex that I haven't told my wife.  I don't have personal conversations with members of the opposite sex, but if a conversation turns that way, I talk about it with Katye.  She is privy to all parts of my life...and loads of that are things that I tell NO ONE but her and vice versa with her.

I don't violate those things on Facebook either... and then there's other guards as well, if I don't know you, I'm probably not going to accept your friend request.  I stay off private chat, if I can help it...if I do get on and talk with someone, I'll let Katye know what we said.  That's transparency...that's a big part of safety.  If I'd feel weird telling Katye about an interaction, then it's a safe bet, I don't need to take that connection opportunity...that's a good safeguard for me.

The truth is that affairs start at ANY connection point...too many affairs start at work, so should we stop working?  or make work segregated sexaully?  No.  Work isn't the problem...and neither is Facebook.  The problem is the lack of discipline of the people who use it...and to an experience, that's exactly how sin works...regardless of the medium.

Bay West T-shirts - a RADICAL piece of clothing to own

This Sunday, we'll start selling the Bay West T-shirts that I've been putting on Facebook and Twitter and that Randy and I wore to Church in the Park on Palm Sunday.  These T-shirts won't just be a normal buy and be a walking ad for Bay West, they have a larger purpose.


We are in the process of working with Viera Water Network, a year old ministry based up in Viera, that goes to under-resourced countries to build safe water pumps and safe water systems for people.  Over 1.4 billion children die each year from preventable diseases caused by unsafe drinking water...that works out to 4,000 deaths per day or 1 every two seconds...that's two children alone that have died from a preventable disease due to drinking unsafe water since you began reading this blogpost.


FBC is forming a partnership with VWN and we will be sending a team to community that we have partnered with in Nicaragua in July.  We hope to be able to see VWN repair two water supply areas there in the community and my hope for these T-shirts is that the sale of them will pay for at least 1 of the repairs.  I hope to be having Daniel from Viera Water Network in to Bay West to give us a better picture of what they are doing and the ministry they are a part of.

We will be selling the T-shirts for a minimum price of $15 per shirt...we have made a decision NOT to recoup the cost of the T-shirts and send ALL money given to the shirts to this project.  Due to our commitment to the Radical Experiment, we'll make adjustments in our campus budget to make up for the production costs of the T-shirts and any future T-shirt orders for this project, so we can give ALL of the $15 price to the project in Nicaragua.


Why minimum price?  We chose this term because we know that some of you will probably want to give more to this project, so anything above $15 given to each shirt will go to the project as well.


Why $15?  We have 100 shirts and the average cost of a well repair is $1500...our hope is to pay for one at least and possibly pay for another or have money to put toward another.


We have regular T-shirts, soft cloth (blue, tan, black) and some "Junior Cut Ladies" Tees (Pink/black writing & black/white writing) as well.

Time

“Time, why you punish me?” That’s the beginning line to an old song by Hootie and the Blowfish (some people will hate me for saying "old song", but it’s been 15 years people…that’s broaching oldie). Even though it’s been 15 years (ouch again), I can still identify with that line…though probably not in the way it was intended. Sometimes, it feels as though time is flying at you and just punishing you. I remember hearing a story told by a comedian about how a man tried tying himself to a post on a seashore once to prove he was fit enough to withstand the force of the wind…the comedian calmly pointed out that it wasn’t the force of the wind that got you, it was what the winds blew at you. His words were “When you get hit by a Volvo, it doesn’t really matter how many sit-ups you did that morning.” Clever and true.

Time is like that as well. It sweeps in and through, going seemingly faster as you age, and then you think it’s punishing you, but it’s not time, it’s the things that time blows at you…the tragedies, the changes, the harsh realities, the seasons of life that pass and the seasons that never seem to end. It is like this for EVERY person on the planet…we are not alone.

It’s at times like these that I am most comforted to be a follower of Christ. Jesus tells me in John 15:5 that He is the vine and we are the branches and promises help for us as we remain in Him and He remains in us. He supports us from without protecting us from what comes…and then bolsters us from the inside helping us to withstand tremendous collision. He tells us in 1 Corinthians that He controls the things He lets get to us and provides for help even in the toughest of situations. In Romans 10, Paul writes that “all things work to the good of those who love and serve the Lord”, showing us that even the most seemingly cruel situations, God controls and turns them to good in our lives and the lives of others as we continue to love and serve Him.

It’s times like these, when I read the word and see the massive amounts of gigantic debris that time has thrown at those who have followed the Lord throughout the ages that I understand one truth for sure…

God is bigger than time, and time, at times, may “punish me”, but God will sustain me and bless me, if I refuse to be the servant of time, and remain the servant of Christ.

Gaps and holes

We talked a few weeks ago about why it's important to study all of God's Word...to read it all for yourself.

One of the primary reasons we talked about this danger was because failing to do so can leave "gaps" and "holes" in your understanding of God's Word.  The natural tendency when you don't have information is to try to fill those "gaps" and "holes" with your own logic or wishes or from your sense of justice or mercy...and most of the time, our personal thoughts are not God's thoughts.

I ran across this verse that made me think about this in my reading today...in Jude 1

¹⁸ They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.”
¹⁹ These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

What the Bible points out here is the dangers of following merely your own natural instincts.  It's hard to remember that sin corrupts even our best logic and helps us completely rationalize the most illogical thing we can do...not following God...that's what sin did to us.  It made it seem like the "smart" and "logical" thing to do was something other than God's plan.  That's why the Word is so important and why we should strive to know it as well as we can.  Our earthly intelligence...at its best, will always have a part of it that will try to pull us away from God, because, through sin, it is flawed.  We need God...we need His Word. 

So take advantage of the gift that God gave you....and get rid of the "gaps" and "holes".

Radical AND the Power Team

The Power Team had a GREAT time last week and God really moved in the lives of some people, but, NOW, the real work begins for us as a church.  "Do you mean that setting the stage and all that stuff wasn't work?"  No, it was...but it's just the beginning.

Last week, 181 people made decisions for Christ for the first time, & 59 people who are returning to Christ in rededication.  That's almost 200 new people in God's kingdom...We just finished a series on our theme for the year, Radical....time to step up, people of God.

In Radical, it walks about multiplying yourselves and being a part of a multiplying community, here's where the rubber meets the road for that...it's not just seeing decisions for Christ, it's deciding to step in and take people who've made decisions and helping them grow in Christ...taking responsibility for the spiritual "babies" (if anyone who accepted Christ for the first time is reading this, I'm not trying to slam you, but to make a point to existing Christians...you are new, and you need some help to know where to go from here - that's all.)

Don't bring me any weak stuff like "I don't know enough"...every person who's been a Christian knows SOMETHING to pass on to the next one.

Here's where the RADICAL challenge/experiment meets the road now...what are YOU going to do about those spiritual babies?  Not me...not Larry...not Dennis or Doug or David or Jenny or Tom or Scott or Randy or Nate or Bevan or the deacons or whatever group you can categorize... but YOU...What are you gonna do?

Here's my suggestion:

If you know ANYONE personally who made a decision, then YOU take the personal responsibility to be PROACTIVE in offering yourself as a resource and mentor through this time for them.  I'm not talking about just once, but to call them and then check up on them...ask them to lunch (guys with guys, girls with girls...please)...talk to them about their decision...encourage them once a week for the next two months...help them get to church by inviting them, offering them a ride...be availble, but not just that, be proactive in contacting them.  Point them to where you read...not reading the Word?  START NOW...you don't have time to waste, them read it with them.

There shouldn't be ANY young Christian that has to wait to ask for help...that's the job of ALL Christians in our churches.

Time to step up people...God dropped 200 spiritual children on your door, church...rubber is meeting the road as you read this...what you gonna do?

Look what's going on in the schools in Brevard County

I got an update from Loretta Dozier, the founder of Dove Bible Club, that we had in services a few months ago.  Loretta and her husband, Anthony, are doing some great work in the schools in Brevard County.  She started Dove Bible Clubs in 2008 in 4 schools...here's her latest update below, including the first DBC started out of the state of Florida in Houston, TX...

"We just started school #14.  We are in all 11 Brevard County elementary schools in Palm Bay and 2 Middle schools (Southwest Middle-Palm Bay and Wells Middle - Houston Texas).  We are now moving northward in the Melbourne schools.  We started Meadowlane Intermediate in January, with a total of 55 students.  We will start school number #15 next month at Meadowlane Primary.

For the month of January, we shared the gospel with 381 students.

The print cartridges are coming in very handy. It is nice to have them on hand, as I need them. I have already used 1 black cartridge and started my second one yesterday. God bless you and BayWest Church for your gift of ink cartridges!"

Loretta and Anthony really need our prayers for energy, strength and wisdom to continue doing the work God has for them in our schools.  For more information on Dove Bible Clubs, including how you can help in your area, check out dovebibleclub.org .

Sugar and air

Every year, we make our way around to that time when we all are bombarded with signs of love everywhere. Hearts, flowers and balloons mark the stores, advertisements and commercials on TV. Usually our mental paintings of love consist of romantic fancy and that's certainly a part of the equation. Still, for me, I see this extreme over-emphasis on this small part of love, as more of a detriment in some ways than a help. Don't lynch me...hear me out.

I fear that in focusing exclusively on the emotional part of love in our relationships, we walk away with the wrong definition of what we sign up for. Love is not about that rush of feeling you get, that's not the substance of love, that's like the icing on a cake. Icing on a cake is pretty much sugar and air. In every relationship, there comes a time, where the strength of love is tested. If your version of "love" is just sugar and air, then you are in trouble, because there no substance to it. Icing never stands by itself, it needs a solid substance by which to cling.

The substance of real love is based in commitment and sacrifice. The Bible says that there's no greater love that a man can have than to lay down his life for his friends. The most extreme picture of this definition was when God's Son, Jesus, gave His life for every one of us without a "pre-nuptial" promise beforehand. That's unconditional...freely given regardless of whether it's returned or not.

Everyone longs to be loved in this manner because it's real. The problem is that we all want it, but we don't want to do the work to give it. It's the son that wants his mom to just "accept him", but doesn't embrace her lack of acceptance. It's the wife, that thinks its all her husband's fault, and if he'd just "love" her like he is supposed to, then everything would be fine or the husband who does the same...we all want to have the perfect partner to love, but much like Jesus, who has no choice but imperfection from which to choose to love, it isn't happening. That's part of what Jesus modeled for us, because the strength of love is never in the getting, but in the giving of it. Here's another truth of it...if you aren't willing to give it, you will never get it, it will never come to you by demanding it. You'll just be shouting at the rain. It's a commitment freely given, with risk of it never returning anything. That's hard, but true.

So when you "get" the flowers or the golf clubs or the card, and over a candlelight dinner you gaze into the eyes of someone, don't forget that the feeling of the moment has to have some hard choosing, unglamorous, pride-swallowing sacrifice at its foundation if it's going to last. If not, it'll wash away at some point, either in light rain or hurricane, because ultimately, it was just sugar and air to begin with.

Safety redefined

I'm reading this book called The Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus and he deals with the "domestication" of Christianity. One of the principles that he discredits is the Americanized version of the safest place to be is in the center of God's will. We've somehow taken this to mean that God will keep us physically safe. That's not necessarily true. I believe, in the eternal sense, that the safest place to be is in the center of God's will, but there's a lot of Biblical argument that God will sacrifice physical safety for spiritual gain.

Ran across another deal this morning...Joseph, son of Jacob, was sold into slavery by his brothers and those same loving brothers told their father that he was dead. They even attempted to manufacture evidence by taking the coat they'd stolen from him and dipping it in animal's blood, to throw Jack McCoy off the track.

After all of this, Joseph goes on this amazing journey where he's sold into slavery, falsely accused for rape and imprisoned for at least 2 years or more. Person after person that Joseph helped or served faithfully in his state betrayed him or forgot about him or lied to have him imprisoned. Then, of course, he interprets a dream for Pharaoh and Pharaoh ends up making him second in command of the country of Egypt...a pretty normal occurrence for all us, wouldn't you say?

Here's the point...most folks read that story and think God jumped in while Joseph was in prison and "took over" to bring him to the exalted position of 2nd in command in the country...but that is not what the Bible says. Here's the commentary straight from Joseph's mouth in Genesis 45.
5 But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives. 6 This famine that has ravaged the land for two years will last five more years, and there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.

No matter how you read it..."It was God" sticks out. So was God not in control while he was attacked by his brothers, imprisoned by them, sold & resold as a slave, falsely accused & imprisoned for rape, forgotten and betrayed by people sworn to help, but then he was "in God's will" when God stepped in to make him 2nd in command in Egypt...or was it, as Joseph seems to understand, all a part of God's will to begin with... Kind of blows that "I'm safe in the arms of God" thing. I really like the old song "Sheltered in the Arms of God"...it talks of safety, but the chorus states the truth "so let the storms rage high, the dark clouds rise, they won't worry me".  Our physical blessing or safety is not the priority...of course, God doesn't want you to live in a stressed out state, but that's because He wants you to trust Him so much, that you accept what He has for you, NOT that there is always piles of money in the bank or the job is safe or the 401k is rolling on up.  We will see death and struggle, but that's not because "Satan" snuck into the control tower and God is breaking down the door to get things back in order...doesn't work that way.

The "Bay" Way

I confess...that's flippin' corny.  No doubt about it...I'm going to own that, but as I told my girls about commercials on TV, they aren't written to be the best song or the best acting, they are written to be the most memorable and that's what Bay is all about.

Hence, the Bay Way.  I've gone to church a lot in my life and I can navigate the culture pretty much, but if you haven't been in church all your life, you may not get the memo of what's "normal" in being a part of a group of believers.  So here's what we are...our core values are explained here.  Those are called "the 6" and are they are statements that guide what we are trying to do at BW to keep us on track as an organization.

But past that, for the individual, if you wonder what's the norm for involvement in church, here it is for us...and it's BAY.

Be here.  A primary purpose is for us is to help people love God more.  Our worship services are designed to help you learn about God and process through various parts of who He is through speaking, singing, and creative experiences.

Among friends.  Another primary purpose is to learn to love others more, from a God perspective.  Our small groups are designed to develop community and relationship.  People learning from God by being a part of each other's lives and learning to care/love each other from a God perspective.  These Bible studies meet in homes weekly or bi-weekly.

Your part.  Another primary purpose is to learn to serve the world around us.  We expect everyone to find a place that is their responsibility within the workings of Bay West.  That's usually on Sunday mornings taking a turn on our FIT (First Impressions Team), KidZone, Setup crews, Worship Team or something like that.  Everyone needs to be a part.  This practice reinforces the truth that we don't come to Bay West for ourselves.  It teaches us to give to serve others inside the church and hopefully, that habit translates outside the church.  It's important in the church because doing it in the context of "worship" helps us understand that worshipping God isn't a passive activity and we learn more by doing.

There it is, in a nutshell....Be here, Among friends, Your part..."BAY" Way.

So, how are you finishing off 2010?

So, how are you finishing off 2010? If you are like me, it's possibly like running 300 miles an hour and then slamming on the breaks, hitting a wall, somewhere around Dec. 26-Jan. 2. A lot of people I talk to seem to be like that. There’s a lot of stress in the season these days. One really has to wonder how it came to that, because “stress” was about the last thing that God really wanted for us to associate with the birth of His Son. It was quite the opposite actually.

In the Bible, the prophecies that talk about Jesus’ coming tell us things like “God is right here with us”, describing His power and might and endless capability to handle situations and this world…and then it wraps all that up in words like “Everlasting Father”, denoting how this magnificent God views us all. One of the most interesting themes that is thrown out the Old Testament is the theme of “comfort” in Isaiah 40. Prophecy in the Bible usually has an effect for the people of that time, an alluding aspect to a future event and an over-arching principle for all of mankind. In Isaiah 40, the Israelites are just getting back in God’s good graces, so to speak, because they are being delivered from a country’s oppression that has been due to their lack of respect and obedience to God. Isaiah 40 starts off with “comfort, comfort my people” and then it goes on to link this prophecy with the life of Christ in the New Testament. We begin to understand that one of the big things about Jesus’ coming is that we are comforted in knowing that the Master Planner of the Universe is actively working over us with the care of a Father and has sent His valuable Son to rescue us. In a lot of ways, Jesus’ coming was meant to reduce the amount of stress in our lives, limiting us to one main concern, a relationship with Jesus as the source of our comfort.

God’s gift of Christ was supposed to streamline our cares in this world to our relationship with Him. We were supposed to see that God would provide, care for, protect and direct us by giving us access to limitless wisdom and knowledge that is found in the relationship with Jesus.

You see, What we’ve created is far from a simple gathering of a few shepherds with the family. This event was meant to take the pressure off and relax us…but somehow, we’ve found a way to turn it into one of the most stressful times of the year. Sometimes, I have to wonder if somewhere, when Christmas starts again, God just looks at our overstated plans and just, figuratively, shakes His head…and maybe chuckles a little.

The invisibility of repentance Part 1

Today's blog is not a solution...it's a beginning to a thought process.  Think of it as a jumping off point....you may not agree.  You may not find resolution...it's not sewed up and finished.  That's fine....Here we go...
This thought's just been running through my head and I'm a little concerned for the church of America today and it has to do with God's grace and forgiveness. 
I believe somehow in our society, we've gotten the impression that "admitting" or "confessing" your sin is enough for God's forgiveness and grace.  It's become accepted, almost, to some, for us to feel that if we own up to a sinful behavior, but tack on the end, "God will just have to forgive me", then somehow, someway, we feel that's enough to settle accounts with God.  Sadly, it's not.  I wish I could tell you that only giving the "head nod" and the "yeah, you're right" was good enough for God's forgiveness and grace, but it's just not. What then finishes off that forgiveness for God? REPENTANCE.
Repentance means that you turn around from the direction that you are heading, do a 180 and do it God's way. That's what it is. That's all it is. There is no substitute for that. In other words, if I'm not being kind to someone, then my repentance is to start treating them with kindness. That's what it is. If God has told me to do something, then my repentance is to do what God says, that's the only way that relationship with God is maintained.  Here's a thought for you to chew on...I'm not done with this, so really chew on this.

The grace of God is a magnificent thing, but it is designed to cover us until we come in line with God's Word...NOT instead of us coming in line with God's Word.

What do you think?

Next time....we'll start here.

 "If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left."
Hebrews 10:26

The definition of God

You know...I don't think we take enough time to think through what being "God" means.  It's impossible to fully grasp.  God is unique and has a set of rules that apply only to Him.  Just wanted to throw out some random thoughts on the subject.

God is perfect...He lacks NOTHING.  In other words, He does not need you or I.  You and I must act on the basis of need.  We need food.  We need relationship.  We need rest.  God is in a total state of perfection...in other words, at every moment, He has NO need.  In turn, He never acts out of want or need...He acts ONLY out of free choice.  We cannot understand that, because every decision we make, every action we attempt, is, at it's most free, a coerced choice or a "forced choice".  At some level, every choice we make is effected by "need".  In fact, our entire life is colored by need.

God owns everything.  That's me, that's you, that's your Mom, your house, your stuff...it's all His.  In the faux ownership thing that we live everyday, really just minding HIS stuff, we don't like anyone telling us what to do with our (HIS) stuff...well, neither does God, and even more, because it is His stuff...and it really is.  He's not caught in the fake state of ownership like we are, attempting to "own" everything, including our own bodies.  He really owns it all.  Unlike us, He's not just holding it until the real owner decides to take it back.

God is not moral.  Before you lynch me, follow me a little.  I'm not saying that God is immoral.  When we say that something is "moral", we are saying that here is a "moral standard" and this thing/act/person conforms to that standard, therefore they are moral.  God conforms to no standard...He is the standard.  It would be more correct to say "Moral is God."  The standard by which we determine something being right or moral or just is what God is.  That's the only requirement.  In this sense, God is not just...Just is God.

Whatever God decides to do in the moment is right.  He is not bound as we are, by a standard that is out there that depicts justice or righteousness that we try to model.

For example, if God decided to completely flip the rules of life tomorrow (which He would never do, because He is unchanging and consistent to His character, but for sake of argument)...if He did...say...make murdering people right and correct.  That's just crazy, but I'm just picking something "nuts" to make a point.  If he made that switch in morality, then that would be the right and moral thing to do, because He is the standard of right...there is no other.

For us, we can easily fall into a very American mentality of thinking that the authority needs to meet our approval.  God cannot be judged or evaluated.  There would never be an evaluation that comes back but "that's the most perfect action to be taken".  Why?  Because whatever God does, by definition of "being God", is absolutely right.  The misconception that we all fall into at times is that there is a standard set that we are supposed to judge God by, that He should meet to determine if He deserves our allegiance.  That is completely wrong and it makes terribly misguided conceptions of God.  It lacks an understanding of what it means to be God.  Think about these questions...

What if whatever you decided to do was instantly a law of the Universe? 
What if gravity was your decision? 
What if what you felt defined reality?
What if the concept of perfection was based on what you are?
What if the way you are determined the way the world worked?
What if physics was based on you and not the other way around?

Getting the picture...to question God is not to understand who or what He is and to demonstrate an ignorance of life itself. 

There is no effort required to be perfect or all-powerful or all-knowing...it's just who He is.  It's more natural to Him to be all of those things than it is for us to attempt to breathe.  Easy and hard are irrelevant terms to God when "nothing is impossible" for you.  As I said, the normal rules and assessment techniques don't apply when it comes to God and when we attempt to say things like "God didn't do that right" or "God is wrong" or "I think it would have been better to have done", we just spout ignorance of the reality of the situation, not some sort of evaluative wisdom that God didn't understand somewhere.

And the glorious thing is, in the middle of this situation, that He is aware of our almost insulting ignorance and He's quite willing to walk patiently with us through the complicated and impossible process of understanding...why?  Because He loves us that much...and because, nothing is impossible for Him...another by-product of being God.

Please continue to pray for us at Bay West Church as we try to be the church of Jesus to west Palm Bay Florida.

A little reminder about relationships

I know we talked about why we have them yesterday, how important they are and that they are one of God's primary learning tools for us and a top-level revelation process about Himself to us...but really take this with you today.

We can, in an almost obliviously selfish way, go into autopilot thinking that our relationships are for us.  I challenge you not to live that way today.  Give it a shot and just try it.  The first time that you have that moment today where you think "What the devil are you thinking?" whoever your "you" is...stop it a minute...take a breath and ask yourself this question..."What is the goal of my next response?"

A few reminders...
"...to spur others on toward love and good (God) deeds..."  Hebrew 10
"...gently restore" someone from a sin  Galatians 6
"...to seek and to save that which was lost"  Luke 19

Take a breath...accomplish your purpose, which, btw, isn't to prop your rep?  Some people may look at what you do and think you are just taking junk...they might even call you a "doormat".

A huge secret/key to cultivating relationships with God's purposes in mind is to find your self-worth in pleasing Christ and not finding it in living up to the expectations of those around you.  It's not easy...but it's the key and it's the way you are going have to do it to succeed in living a life that follows Christ.  It's just the way it is.

Please continue to pray for us at Bay West Church as we continue to try to be the church of Jesus to the people of west Palm Bay Florida.

So what is the heart?

Reading this morning...Proverbs 4:23 "Guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."  It's funny, but I've read that many times, but some days the Word hits you differently than others.

It's really true.  Picture a flowing spring of water...picture a hole that it comes from, as it runs along the ground making the stream.  If you go to the source and pour in green food coloring, think about what would happen.  It would turn the stream green or at least, greenish.  Hopefully, it would run out or clear out, but it would effect it for a while.  Imagine setting up an I.V. of green food coloring that dripped at a steady pace into the wellspring or the source...it would effect the spring, turning it greenish or green consistently...whether that's good or bad, depends on your perspective on green and food coloring.

Apply that to our heart, the source, and our life, the stream.  We should be careful what we allow to dump into or to drip into our life, because it can turn it green or whatever...and as I said, the good or bad is dependent on your view of green, because what we allow into that wellspring of life can do either.  Carelessly allowing a temporary thing or even an ongoing habit/activity to "drip" can drastically effect many areas of your life. 

For many of us, the stream of life takes a turn around a tree, out of sight of the source of the stream, and looking at life there, we honestly can't tell why the life is effected in the way it is.  Nothing is poured into the stream at that point...nothing is in the immediate vicinity, but the life is effected negatively or positively anyway.  If it's negative and you are trying to solve it, it can be maddening...there is no cause, seemingly...nothing related to the direct issue...how do you fix it?   You just can't find the cause at that location...the problem is that it was what was dropped in at the wellspring, the heart, seemingly having nothing to do with it, and the effects show up far from the site of the problem.  It's just how it goes, and like it says in vs 19 of the same chapter, it can put you on a path of wickedness, that is darkness, and they "do not know what makes them stumble."

I picture standing determined guard over this spot of my life, making sure that whatever gets here, as best as I can make it happen, is Jim-tested and Jim-approved...better still, that Jim's test standards come from the Word of God.  Because what gets there will color my life...there is no way to avoid it.  Protect it.

Proverbs 4 is all about wisdom and it's got several cool deep nuggets that can shape your activity/thinking for the better in it...some of the verses I'm committing to memory right now are from here (incidentally, I just changed my Scripture memory process...awesome  Android app called "Remember me"...free app, it will even speak the verse to you if you need it...try it out.)

Try it out...Proverbs 4, I mean...the Android app is optional.  iPhone users are on their own.  :)

Keep praying for all of us on the leadership team at Bay West Church, as we try to be the church of Jesus in Palm Bay.

Interesting deal about "SMALL is big" from Last Sunday

Last Sunday, in the intro talk to our message series "Focus", we talked about the parable of the talents from Matthew 25.  We talked about how Jesus was teaching about the kingdom of Heaven, but the real issue that He was teaching everyone about was how to live and maintain in uncertain times...in situations where there is limited info and visibility is hampered.

In that parable, we learned that that zeroing in on the small things...the moment by moment decisions and honoring God with each one, keeps us in focus (which, is all about zeroing in on the small things and that's why they are so big.)

In that context, we talked about the guy with the 5 talents, 2 talents and the 1 talent...interesting bit of knowledge on those guys that I forgot to bring out.  A talent was the largest single unit of money back then in Jerusalem.  It was equal to 10,000 denari.  Interestingly enough, a denari was basically looked upon as one days wage....or 10,000 days of work.  If you worked somewhere for around 40 years, you'd probably hit 10,000 days of work or somewhere thereabouts...which in our culture is basically your working lifespan as an adult, give or take a few years.  In a sense, the talent was a life or a life's work.

When you begin to look at the parable of the talents as basically a "life" producing other "lives" and multiplying themselves in the Christian context...you begin to see the picture even more clear, as the layers of this teaching story really play out.  It spoke to me as in "what am I doing to multiply life with the life that I've been given?"  Or in other words, with this life-giving gospel that God has charged us all to take to masses and masses of spiritually dead people...am I hiding it in a hole in the ground or am I working smartly to allow God to use me to increase what He has?

Please pray for us at Bay West Church as we attempt to be the Church of Jesus to the people in West Palm Bay, Florida.

The way...

1   “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.
2   There is more than enough room in my Father’s home.  If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?
3   When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.
4   And you know the way to where I am going.”
5  “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6   Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
John 14:1-6 (NLT)

These verses are pretty familiar to those around church...but in these verses, we zoom by wisdom every day.  I think that all of us that follow Christ, at one time or another, have felt Thomas' pain..."God, I have no idea where you are going with this."  We've all sought direction.  We fall into a trap of thought that paralyzes us.  It says "If I can't picture the end result or know the exact end destination, then how can I know which way to go today?"  We all feel as though we need to see the end result to know how to proceed., but that's just not true.

We treat life like Google maps.  We have to know the ending address and we want to plug that in to let our personal Google app generate the map...then we want to choose the options of the roads we want to take to get to the end destination.  One problem is that God doesn't work that way.

He's already generated the map...and He's not giving it to us to manage.  He's in full possession of that.  If He handed it to us, the complexity of the plan would probably blow our minds and we'd be filled with thoughts of "no way THAT'S going to work."  So what He does is give us, not the whole enchilada, but one decision at a time.  He calls out the instruction and we move.  That's the point of this Scripture.

Jesus said "I am the way"...I will be your momentary guide.  Don't look for the end, look for Me..just go where I go and do what I do.
"I am the truth"...I will never steer you wrong.
"I am the life"...do not look for life's fulfillment and purpose outside of me.  Anything you find to fulfill those roles will break like plastic when you lean on them...only I can handle them.
"No man comes to the Father but through Me."  I'm all you need to know.

That's about it.  It's really about that simple.  Need direction?  Make the next decision you make be the most God-honoring one you can.  One after one, one breath at a time...from the little to the big...