Verses from the talk on "Words"

At Church at the Park today, we talked about the words we use, their importance in our lives and what the Bible has to say about them.

Facts about words
20,000 words a day spoken for the average woman
7,000 words a day spoken for the average man 

When you think about the words you read , the words you hear, words we think, words we hear, and you realize that words are a huge part of our lives.

Words are powerful.

Good ones are valuable.

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.
Proverbs 25:11 ESV

They can start or stop a fight.

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Proverbs 15:1 ESV

They can bring healing or hurt.

There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
Proverbs 12:18 ESV

They have the power of death or life.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.
Proverbs 18:21 ESV

Words tell who you are.

But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.
Matthew 15:18 ESV

God cares about what you say.

He commands what words we are to use.

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 
Ephesians? ?4?:?29? (ESV)

He has a standard for our words.

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Colossians? ?3?:?17? (ESV)

Every word you say should fit under the umbrella of representing Christ and should be a testament to thanking God for who He is in your life.

God created words for us to use to tell about Him.  Your words are what you are to use to share truth of Christ with others.

He holds us accountable for our words.

I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,
Matthew 12:36 ESV

It's not just the words that you say, but other words as well.

The words you read...
The words you think...
The words you write...
The words you post...
The words you cheer...

The words you give value to that others say...

What kind of words should we say?

THINK - 5 questions to evaluate the next words I am about to say.

True - Will it be the truth? - Psalm 5:6, Ephesians 4:15, Proverbs 12:19

Helpful - Will it be helpful? - Phil 2:3-4 
Inspiring - Will it inspire them to be better? - Hebrews 10:24-25

Necessary - Will it be worth being said? - Proverbs 10:19
Kind - Will it be kind?  - Ephesians 4:32

Kind is not just smoothing things over and avoiding conflict...it's saying the truth in a kind manner.

If it doesn't pass all of these questions, then don't say it.
If the message is important enough to be said, then find a way to say it that it fits all of these categories.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Psalm 19:14 ESV

How did this happen?

Here we go again.  I let myself get fat….again.  I know you’ve never done that.  A few years ago, I lost a lot of weight, got back down to high school weight, ran some 5ks (set personal bests) and all that.   Then, I started to let the workouts slip, and began to eat a little more.  I’d get on the scale the next day and I really didn’t gain anything, so I let it go a little more.  I mean, I worked out all the time, so I should be good, right?  Well, 3 years later, here I am...almost back where I started. How did that happen?  Maybe if my belly had just bulged out when I ate the first Krispy Kreme, I would have stuck it out, but the effects of weight gain aren’t that user friendly...they sneak up on you.

Spiritual consequences are like the effects of weight gain.  God created the physical world to reflect what He’s trying to tell us spiritually.  We fool ourselves into believing that spiritual consequences don't exist.  When we “commit” a sin and the boulder doesn’t drop from the sky or there are no explosions, we think we got away with it or God wasn’t watching or maybe even, all this Christian stuff is a bunch of junk.  It could go on this way for years.  Then, one day, we look at our lives and go, “How did this happen?”  It might even be after we made some good changes in our life.  Sometimes, the greatest collapses in someone’s life happen immediately after a resurgence of good behavior.

Jesus even tells a story about a guy who was possessed by an unclean spirit.  The spirit leaves, and the guy takes the opportunity to sort of “clean up his life”.  Later, the unclean spirit comes back only to find everything all fixed.  The spirit gets 7 of his buddies, all worse than him, and they gang up to wreak havoc on the guy’s life.  Jesus closes the story by saying that “the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

Sometimes, we might think, like that guy, that we can just make some lifestyle changes...start going to church, maybe learn a Bible verse or two, by heart even.  We volunteer at a charity, get clean off the “hard” drugs, and we feel pretty good about ourselves, thinking we’ve done enough.  Then the slide begins and before we know it, we are worse off than we were before.  It’s like we painted the living room of the house to hide the cracks in the walls, but never addressed the foundation problems that caused them to begin with..

The reality is we can’t clean our lives up on our own...only God can do that.  Without turning our lives over to Him once and for all, we don’t begin to really see the long-lasting results we dream of and we just gain “the weight” all back.  It might show in different places, but the reality is when we get on the scale, we’ll see that it’s worse than when we started.  Then we are just left to look around and wonder “How did this happen?”

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.

Easter blog series: Takes 1 to Know 1, Dishing on Church Folk-Judgmental

Having been in church most of my life, I know a lot of "church" people.  I've been lucky though, because I've been able to have a wide array of experience in my life and part of that is knowing a lot of people who aren't "church" people.  It's amazing what people not in church think about church folk...most of it due to experience with a "church" folk who has somehow become representative for everyone.

From my experience, I thought I'd dish on some church folk and some common thoughts about them that ARE and AREN'T true.

Truth:  We can be really judgmental.  Why is that?

 Yep, guilty as charged, I've seen this one first hand...I've BEEN this one first hand.  What's funny about this one is that the Bible teaches us not to be judgmental but also to "judge" others in a sense.  Say what?????  Don't feel weird, there's some issues that confuse church people and non-church people alike.

We've all heard it "Judge not, lest you be judged." But what does that mean? 
It seems pretty straightforward, but as one of my Seminary teachers said one time...that's a great verse, but the verses that immediately follow that verse talk about how we are supposed to look at the fruit of someone's life and judge for ourselves where they really stand.  That's confusing  Some of them get the "judge not" and just keep their mouths shut, no matter the situation.  Others really get the verses after that and are real good at exposing others' inconsistencies, going too far and hurting people.  But honestly, either extreme is wrong and it's usually based on a wrong understanding of the word "judge".

The way I understand it, when the Bible says "judge not, lest you be judged", it's talking about making a judgment call on someone for good, in the eternal fashion, such as condemning someone or writing them off.  That's not our role at all...we don't decide someone's fate, declare them worthless or put them on the OUT list.  Romans 14:4 even says that "who are you to judge another man's servant?  To his own master he stands or falls..."  So, that's God's job to put the final stamp on someone's life.  This understanding gives us the measure for hope for anyone on this Earth and helps clarify our role here, which is to show God's love to people on this Earth as much as we can.

So how should be evaluate correctly?

Well, then what about the "fruit" stuff... that is meant for us to know whether we should know or not if someone is helping us to follow God or not.  It's not punitive, it's informative, for many reasons

For example, if I give you some advice or tell you to do something and you go "hey, that's not what the Bible says", either I'm wrong or you're wrong or there's a synthesis of the two things in conflict that we aren't both aware of yet...maybe our disagreement helps one of us or both of us find truth (that's part of the reason that the Bible says "as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another". In case you haven't thought about it, iron doesn't sharpen iron by not conflicting with them.)  Great!
 

Secondly, you may need to share this with me...not so you can scoreboard me or out of motivation to be "over" me or to "put me in my place", but so that I won't be wrong and dishonor Christ.  You don't beat me into submission or stop loving me or if I disagree with you, just write me off...wrong, wrong, wrong... you are to pray for me, love me and be my brother/sister through this time in my life as I learn or you learn or more likely, we both learn. NEVER is this meant to be used to look down on someone as inferior...ever.

The correct way to "judge" (as in evaluate) would be like looking at someone who is sick and saying "Hey man, you look green, are you okay?  Can I help you?"  It's concern...
Or, if someone's life is obviously not focused on honoring God by the way they choose to live their life according to God's Word, it gives me a clue as to how I should weight their advice or opinion.  An extreme example is someone who continues to lose most of their money in the stock market trying to advise me on how I should invest my money...yeeeaaah, right...I'll pass.

Unfortunately, some believers misconstrue that to mean that we need to put down or look down on others.  Some people misuse the things the Word says about evaluation to pump themselves up in their insecurities, such as, they feel that if they can measure themselves against someone else and be better they can feel better about themselves.  Sometimes, people can try to find their worth in seeming to being better than others instead of finding their self-worth in Christ...choosing to focus on others problems so they don't have to contend with their own, either in a move to avoid hard things in their life or an blind thinking they are being "selfless" by suffering in their problems while they help others.  That's not Biblical at all. 







Matthew 7:3 says ""Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?"  Galatians 6:2 tells us that we must "Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ."  So we have to help others with their problems.  If we wait for all our imperfections to be handled before we help a friend, we'll never help anyone.  So what is this verse trying to say?  What this verse is saying is don't use the problems of others to avoid dealing with your own issues...we are to confront issues in our own lives for the health of us and our friends.

Romans 14:3 says "Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don't think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us."  Christians can miss this and get off track, when in truth, we all measure ourselves against only one person...Christ.  None of us measure up to Him.

So, in final, here's the deal...I say this next thing a lot.  In Ephesians 4:15, Paul tells us that we should "speak the truth in love".  Sometimes the loving thing to do is to point out that someone is wrong, but even in speaking the truth, we can never sacrifice doing it in a loving manner.  Here's love for you...1 Corinthians 13 says love is this...check your love when you do this.
   Love never gives up.
   Love cares more for others than for self.
   Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.  (JC:  envy)
   Love doesn't strut,
   Doesn't have a swelled head,
   Doesn't force itself on others,
   Isn't always "me first,"
   Doesn't fly off the handle,
   Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
   Doesn't revel when others grovel,
   Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
   Puts up with anything,
   Trusts God always,
   Always looks for the best,
   Never looks back,
   But keeps going to the end.

Blog series: Takes 1-2-Know-1: Dishing on Church Folk-We're perfect (or think we are).

Having been in church most of my life, I know a lot of "church" people.  I've been lucky though, because I've been able to have a wide array of experience in my life and part of that is knowing a lot of people who aren't "church" people.  It's amazing what people not in church think about church folk...most of it due to experience with a "church" folk who has somehow become representative for everyone.

From my experience, I thought I'd dish on some church folk and some common thoughts about them that ARE and AREN'T true.

MYTH #1:  Church people have it all worked out perfect with perfect lives (or they act like they do, but secretly, they don't).  It's funny that this is a common theme among folks.  Honestly, I've seen evidence to back the parenthetical part of this statement on more than one occasion, but a greater understanding of this myth let's you know it's not true.  I'll show you why it's ironically comical that this is a rep for people in church.

One...I've never met anyone on the Earth, that,in their right mind, in a totally honest moment, that thinks they are perfect...in the church or out.  I'm not sure that person exists.  I've seen arrogant people before, but usually, in my experience, that's really just subconscious/conscious overcompensation for weaknesses that they are really trying to hide or have yet to admit.

Two, one of the most fundamental beliefs of Christianity is that in the same way, ALL of us are imperfect and have NO chance to achieve it on our own.  The very fact that anyone walks into church and/or enters into a relationship with Christ is admitting that you are NOT perfect...that you are flawed.

This sparks a couple of other questions:

Why do some of them "act" like they are perfect?

- The easy answer is because they aren't.  Acting like you are, like anyone on the planet, is proof that you aren't perfect, because no one is.

Another reason is ignorance.  Some people still haven't learned what it means to admit your imperfections.  It means that you are always 100% flawed, but you are always trying to connect with a perfect God.  While God is moving us toward being complete or perfect one day, that's not done the moment you decide to follow Christ...some folks don't know what to do with that.

Another reason is insecurity.  It's not easy to admit your weaknesses to others, even though that's what the Bible asks us to do.  Some people mistakenly think that acting more "disgusted" or "appalled" at the acts that sin comes out as in a person's life, somehow makes them seem to be more right with God.  All that does is cause people to be moreActually, insecurity is fueled by pride.  We all want to look like we know what's going on and, true to form with our condition, we aren't...it causes some problems.

Another reason is misguided expectations.  Some people actually believe that when they enter a relationship with Christ that somewhere, somehow, they'll achieve this (pardon the expression) "Zen-like state" where nothing bothers them, nothing ever goes wrong, they never do anything wrong or make a mistake again and the sin nature that's part of of every person on the planet just goes away.  Not true.  Following Jesus' path is a way to deal with the effects of sin and because of Jesus' leadership and strength, we can have the power, the understanding and the awareness to choose a choice that isn't controlled by sin in our life, but to think that we will never struggle again is foolish.  For me, as I've grown in Christ and learned more about Him, I've actually found MORE things that I need Christ for, rather than less, and that's exactly how it's supposed to go as we grow in Him.

Another reason is that there is an enemy who wants us to fail.  The Bible tells us the Devil is alive and well and is trying to get us to be stupid and hurt others...like we aren't capable of doing it on our own because of our own problems.  He helps confuse people into thinking that if you are a Christ follower, then you hate sin, then you have to be perfect and hate people who aren't and then if you aren't a Christ follower, then you can't be one because you sin...it's flawed logic, but it's amazing how many people buy into it.

Basically in a nutshell, here's a Christian...an imperfect person who is resigning himself/herself to the fact that they can't make it on their own, but realizes that there really is a solution to making it through life and they've found Him.  His name is Jesus.  Now, they are trying to learn to live in that situation. 

There's a great song by Natalie Grant that says this and it kind of sums up this topic.  "There's no such thing as perfect people, there's no such thing as a perfect life, so come as you are, broken and scarred, lift up your heart and be amazed...and be changed by a perfect God."  The truth is that you've got to learn to exhibit grace to others, just as you receive it yourselves and that's how God planned for it to be.

This week, I'm going to try to deal with a few more dish on church folks subjects...hope this helps non-church folk understand church folk or maybe even, church folk understand themselves a little better.

Beyond the Vow...

This week we are starting a series at FBC Melbourne at our Bay West Campuses and Melbourne Campuses called "Beyond the Vow" and it's a crucial one.

As a pastor, I see a lot of marriages, both inside the church and outside of it, that are experiencing trouble and because we are human, it can get a little disheartening, even if the majority of the marriages around us are in good shape.  Even so, you have to think...why is that?  The disparity of marriages in the church in trouble or ending in divorce, really is not that different statistically from that in the world and why is that?

I believe that part of the reason is that we've legislated and written and analyzed and psycho-analyzed our marriages to death.  We've struggled through the definition of roles of the spouses and what's fair and what's not and what's too constricting and consequently, what's too freeing...and in all that verbiage, we've forgotten what marriages are for.

For the month of March, we'll be going through this series in our worship services, but we'll also be bringing in Dr. Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, who's done a lot of Biblical study on marriages, to help us take an intense look at our marriages on March 23-24 at our 2 to 1 Marriage conference.  Feel free to signup to come if you'd like here 2to1marriage.com .

Also, in the month of March, off the heels of our Hungry for God series, our church will be participating in a corporate fast***, seeking God intently to move in the marriages in our church that are under attack and for vision/direction for our church as a whole moving forward in how we serve God in the Melbourne/Palm Bay area...March is going to be a HUGE month.

In Beyond the Vow, we are going to take a good hard look at the reason anyone gets married in the first place, exactly what marriages are and AREN'T supposed to accomplish and how we can take that knowledge and "re-track" our marriages on a path that will really last "'til death do us part".

Don't miss it.

***Basically Pastor Scott, Senior Pastor at FBC Melbourne, has called our entire church to take some time and let go of something that we do this month, and use that time seeking God's presence in these areas.  Formally, we are asking members and regular attenders of FBC, both campuses, to consider fasting for a period of time in the month of March from food or some other form of physical gratificaion to seek God's presence in these two areas in our church.  For more info on fasting, you can click here for our page on fasting and some resources OR you can listen to our sermons on fasting here from our "Hungry for God" series.

The "last" weekend of an era

This weekend, we'll take another step in the changing of an era...we'll say "goodbye" to FBC's Senior Pastor Dr. Larry Bazer and his lovely wife, Gayle, in their role as "first couple" (so to speak, you know what I man) of FBC Melbourne.

For 25 years (he became the pastor here the year I graduated from high school and honestly before a lot of folks who'll read this were even born), Larry has been the leader of FBC Melbourne. He has baptized, counseled, married, buried, effected, launched into vocational ministry, taught, visited and cared for a boatload of people in his time here.

God has blessed and multiplied Larry & Gayle's influence to reach over county lines, church lines, state lines, country lines, denominational lines, philosophical lines and governmental lines in this area. Many of the churches in the area have been either started or guided or directly effected by his desire to teach, mentor and make disciples...which is shown by his reassignment to continue doing that fulltime in the US and the rest of the world by devoting himself fully to training/mentoring pastors from Melbourne to Ecuador to Panama to Romania and beyond.

We should be especially thankful for Larry's determination in following what God has set before him in Palm Bay. After many short-lived works in church planting, the Bay West Campus began in 2009, under his direct influence and work and we will hit 2 years next month....two months of being a church in Palm Bay, Florida. That's two years of continuous steady growth, leaving us poised to continue the growth of God's kingdom in a historically tough place to grow.

I think that as we celebrate the God who Larry follows with a different spin this weekend, we shouldn't ever forget that MANY churches have been started in Palm Bay (many in conjunction with FBC Melbourne during Larry's tenure), that have not made it as long as Bay West has. A lot of these churches struggled, but all of them were collectively part of God's work to get us to where we are now...just as Bay West is another link in the chain of God's work in Palm Bay, along with 63 or so more churches in Palm Bay currently trying to reaching 103,000 people approx.

Bay West is truly blessed and a lot of that has come from Larry's faithfulness in the midst of what the world would mistakenly call "failure". The truth is that we are as ill-qualified to pronounce the judgment of "failure" on something as we are ill-qualified to definitively say that all scientific discovery is over or that we have measured the Universe to the inch. God works and plans far beyond the scope of our analysis....so what does that mean for us personally?

Here is what it means. Do what you know honors God with every decision...no matter how small or how great, then let God judge the failure or success. Live this consistency in belief and in 25 years, maybe you'll look back at your journey and be pleasantly surprised at the trail that God has left in the wake of one God-honoring decision at a time...just like we are doing at the end of this era with Larry & Gayle, as they move on to a new thing in God's journey for them. Thanks, guys.

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...

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.

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".

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.

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.

One old adage debunked...

"You can tell how popular the pastor is by how many people show up on Sunday morning. 
You can tell how popular the church is by how many people show up on Sunday night. 
You can tell how popular Jesus is by how many people show up at prayer meeting."

This is an old adage from church leadership from a while back.  Someone should be due this quote and usually it holds true...BUT...not at Bay West last Sunday.  Why?  Because we experienced our largest total in the worship service for 2010, but there was one thing missing...the campus pastor, ME!

Some guys might be a little sad and while I guess I was disappointed that I couldn't experience it with you, the first thing for me was to let out a "YES!"...on the inside, because Matt texted me the total while I was in church in Arlington, TX.  (and yes, I checked the text message...couldn't wait so I did it during the "welcome" time at the Church on Rush Creek, where Katye and I attended on Sunday).  That's exactly what I want to see in our campus and church, a body that comes because of a love for Christ and not a love for a particular leader or anything.

Some accepted thoughts that I've enjoyed seeing fall so far as well...
"You can't grow a church in Palm Bay, for some reason." - God's proving that wrong.
"You can't grow a church without the cherry location." - While we love our school, we are out on the outskirts of east buddha..as we say in Bama)
"You need a lot of experience to get it done."  campus pastor - 1st timer, worship leader - 1st timer, children's leader - 1st timer and MANY of our leaders are taking on their first shot at both their responsibilities AND being a portable church.  God has brought the wisdom. 
"People over a certain age won't attend a portable church..." - WRONG
"People over a certain age won't attend if you don't ________ {insert church tradition here}" - God proves that wrong every Sunday.
What I've enjoyed seeing is that our services at Bay West are LARGELY ageless...one of the most diverse churches generationally I've been around.

Some popular stereotypes about church I'd like to continue to see broken...
"Americans are too lazy and self-absorbed to give and serve sacrificially."
"Churches only care more about what goes on inside their walls than what goes on outside their walls." 

Please don't see this as "pride", because our people only go as far as our God moves us and sustains us and guides us.  If we give in to God and His leading, all these things and many more restrictions can be broken because God is limitless...He does whatever He wishes.

That's the lesson here...if you submit to God, the limits that you thought were there, probably won't be and you'll live a life that is bound only by the limits that God, not man, puts on it.

Please pray for us as we continue to try to submit to God's leading and be the church in Palm Bay for Christ that He wants at Bay West Church.

So what's the deal with baptism?

On August 8th, we'll be taking advantage of becoming a Christ follower by having baptism on the beach.   We'll be having a cookout/baptism at Howard Futch Pavillion over on the beach from 4-7pm.

I get questions about baptism and what we believe and who should be and all that jazz.  Does it do any good to baptize infants?  Does that help?  Where did it come from?

This Sunday, we'll clear a lot of this stuff up.  You won't want to miss it.

Things to remember:
August 8th - John James, former lead singer of the Grammy award winning band "Newsboys", will be speaking in our worship service.  John has a great testimony as God led Him, even in the midst of being submersed in Christian culture, to the REAL important things in His life. 
That afternoon - Beach Baptism

August 15th - VISION begins...don't miss it!

Please continue to pray for us at Bay West Church as we continue to try to bring Christ to the people of Palm Bay by being a church in palm bay.

One thing I forgot today about what is and isn't good...

One more thing that I forgot to say today about what makes a "good" life.

For most of the planet, "good life" means that you do most things right, and everything thinks you are a great person...but as I said today at church, a "good life" has very little to do with what people think of me and everything to do with what people think of God.

What that means is that even in my failures, I can live a "good life".  As I live my life attempting to be honorable to God, I'm probably going to make some mistakes and fall.  If I'm living the world's definition of a "good" life, then I'm done pretty much...game over.  But if my life is truly about focusing everything I can to bring glory to Christ, I can still be living a "good life".  I can take advantage of God's grace and bring glory to Him by showing others that God's grace is amazing.

When I ask for God's forgiveness, accept His grace and point to His healing, I can bring glory and praise to God's great love, grace and healing power....doesn't make me look too swift.  I look flawed and imperfect...this is the place where people usually hide their failures, so they won't look bad.  That's not God's plan.  When we fail, we should not be reluctant to testify of where we failed and God showed up.

Like I said, that won't make us look too good, but that's not really the point is it.  It's all about "what people think of God" after witnessing my life, not about how great they think I am...think about it.

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

Family Fun Night a success!

Wow...it's done.  Thanks to all who helped setup.  Nice job Randy and Bevan...great to have good folks you can depend on on staff at Bay West.

All Things New...thanks for the use of the PA, a top-notch show as well, great spirit, and zero ego...nice.  Bay West Band and Christian's band were stellar...

To all the guys who worked double over-time Friday, Saturday and Sunday on the stage....way to go...good thing that won't have to be built again.

To all the bounce house foremen, superhuman hotdog cookers, balloon-wielding magic men, info table jockeys, bunch wrappers, tiny tot entertainment brokers and Bearbonez Productions...way to go!  Great job!  Hard work is rewarding...

To all the neighborhood folks who showed, it's our sincerest desire that you had fun and if there's any thanks to be had, point it Jesus, it was his party.

500 hotdogs....
boatload promotional bottled water...
3 bounce houses...
1 stage and 3 bands...
over 500 people...

Awesome outreach to meet more folks in the neighborhood...great times.

Load it up...."Jesus to the City" starts next week!

Jesus to the City

Just what are you here for...seriously.

When I was in Seminary, many times I would meet students who were there and when you asked them what they were involved in doing for the kingdom, they would say "I'm going to Seminary".  Usually this was followed by how "one day" when they were out of Seminary, God would give them a place to serve and then they would be "serving God".

I always had a problem with that type of philosophy.  I don't think there "comes a day when we will" serve Christ...I believe that day is right now. 
Sometimes, I feel like many of us act as those guys in Seminary..."some day" "one day, when ______ _____, then I'll ________ for God".  It might be couched in the sweetest and most innocent "I'm not ready" verbiage, but it's the same ol' thing.

At every place we are, we have something that God has for us in service to Him. God is not a big wasteful guy...truthfully, He's the most efficient leader I know.
God made you and you breathe...that fact alone is enough for you to know that You have something important to be about for Him.  Some where, some how, God chose for that miraculous power that's called "life" to been spilled on you...so you've got no excuse.  You have all the tools at this very moment to do/be/accomplish everything that God intends for you to do/be/accomplish at this very moment...what are you waiting for?

Stop "waiting" for the moment that just passed you by while you were reading this sentence, reach up and grab the next one that will be gone by the time you click off this page.

Jesus to the City...July 4th...see what it's about.