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!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
This church is NOT...
Just being straight up. Sometimes, we get the wrong idea about church. Don't get me wrong, church is a great thing, no doubt, but there needs to be some clear boundaries, as to what church is for. Church is a body of believers that do life together and encourage/help each other live/love/honor God. God uses the church to speak to, to minister to, to help, to reclaim, to restore, to challenge and to aid in the growth of someone. It's a wonderful thing to be a part of and to be about...there's no telling what my life would be without being a part of the church. You can't love Jesus and not get the importance of church. Kind of hard to be real close to me and not like my wife and the same is true of Jesus. There may be some things about her you wish were different, but just as Katye and I are tied together, so are Jesus and the church, described in Scripture as "His bride" (that's a toughie for guys to reconcile, but it's okay...weirdness sometimes makes us look closer at a concept and end up understanding it more.).
But in learning about and being the church, there are a few things the church is NOT designed to do.
Here's one...the church is NOT designed to feed you. A popular thing I like to point out is that in God's world, His creation points to evidence of Him. That's not simply limited to a mountain being evidence of the majesty of God...it's all over the place. My son is 1 and Katye and I do a lot for him. We prepare his food, but even at the age of 1, he's expected to do things to feed himself. We chop up food and put it on his plate, and he's expected to pick it up, put it in his mouth and digest it. His body is expected/designed to integrate the food into his life. If it doesn't, then we take him to a doctor/hospital or something and pray and seek help to heal him, because something is wrong.
That's the way it is in our spiritual life as well. We may start out as baby Christians, but with maturity comes the skill to feed ourselves, in varying degrees. I love me some good preaching, but let's be honest, as adults are meant to be able to feed themselves, so are the children of God as they mature. We are all expected, like physical children, to be able to feed ourselves in the Word. That's important here at Bay West and at every church.
I think if Braden just continued to eat and not digest his food, just ate and ate and ate and never integrated his food into his body to sustain it, Katye and I would see him be bloated and unhealthy. I believe that this is a condition in the church as well. We see people who take in the Word of God in enormous amounts, yet they continue to wonder why they feel unfulfilled. Their natural reaction is that they "aren't getting fed" enough, so they find another Bible study or another service or another radio program or podcast to fill their spiritual bellies again. It can become an endless cycle, when the problem is not one of feeding, but of digestion. They've never integrated what they've heard into their spiritual body to sustain it and they are wondering why they feel so spiritually anemic.
God's message is not a message of quantity. Most of the time, we feel like the more we can get in the better we will be...and that's fine. But more than quantity of our intake, we must observe the "quality" of our digestion. If we refuse to listen to God's Word or integrate what God tells us into our lives, just endlessly searching for a better verse or a more palatable principle or a loophole to counteract the parts of the Scripture that we don't really want to hear...we will be spiritually anemic.
Naturally, for some, we go back to the church or the pastor and say, "I'm not getting fed" and in chasing the solution to the wrong problem, we never really get anywhere. As a staff member in other churches, I've had this subject come up and the point that I try to make is that when someone says they aren't getting "fed", it's an indictment on their own spiritual life, not the pastor's teaching or the Sunday School teacher's teaching or the Worship Leader. I have sat under some pretty anemic preaching in my lifetime...endured some music that has scarred my musician's ear for life, BUT, the only time that I have not been fed in my lifetime was due to one and only one reason...the lacking of my own relationship with Christ, because regardless of the theology or the Greek study or the historical emphasis or the amount of Scripture, God does the feeding and if I'm not getting fed, it's because there's a problem between Him and me...and it's not because He's not supplying things, it's because I'm refusing to eat what He has for me. I'm not picking it up off the tray...I don't want to hear it...I'm taking it in, but I'm refusing to ingest it...or I'm just not allowing myself to daily sit at the table and eat, because I think I can survive on the 30 minutes of teaching that I get on Sunday.
Be careful, friends, and don't fall into this trap. Never let your plate get empty...never allow sin to gum up the process and never retreat from your daily time with God's Word. Listen to what He says and live His direction...I promise you, if you do that, you will never go "unfed".
Continue to pray for us at Bay West Church as we continue to try to be a church in west Palm Bay, Florida.
But in learning about and being the church, there are a few things the church is NOT designed to do.
Here's one...the church is NOT designed to feed you. A popular thing I like to point out is that in God's world, His creation points to evidence of Him. That's not simply limited to a mountain being evidence of the majesty of God...it's all over the place. My son is 1 and Katye and I do a lot for him. We prepare his food, but even at the age of 1, he's expected to do things to feed himself. We chop up food and put it on his plate, and he's expected to pick it up, put it in his mouth and digest it. His body is expected/designed to integrate the food into his life. If it doesn't, then we take him to a doctor/hospital or something and pray and seek help to heal him, because something is wrong.
That's the way it is in our spiritual life as well. We may start out as baby Christians, but with maturity comes the skill to feed ourselves, in varying degrees. I love me some good preaching, but let's be honest, as adults are meant to be able to feed themselves, so are the children of God as they mature. We are all expected, like physical children, to be able to feed ourselves in the Word. That's important here at Bay West and at every church.
I think if Braden just continued to eat and not digest his food, just ate and ate and ate and never integrated his food into his body to sustain it, Katye and I would see him be bloated and unhealthy. I believe that this is a condition in the church as well. We see people who take in the Word of God in enormous amounts, yet they continue to wonder why they feel unfulfilled. Their natural reaction is that they "aren't getting fed" enough, so they find another Bible study or another service or another radio program or podcast to fill their spiritual bellies again. It can become an endless cycle, when the problem is not one of feeding, but of digestion. They've never integrated what they've heard into their spiritual body to sustain it and they are wondering why they feel so spiritually anemic.
God's message is not a message of quantity. Most of the time, we feel like the more we can get in the better we will be...and that's fine. But more than quantity of our intake, we must observe the "quality" of our digestion. If we refuse to listen to God's Word or integrate what God tells us into our lives, just endlessly searching for a better verse or a more palatable principle or a loophole to counteract the parts of the Scripture that we don't really want to hear...we will be spiritually anemic.
Naturally, for some, we go back to the church or the pastor and say, "I'm not getting fed" and in chasing the solution to the wrong problem, we never really get anywhere. As a staff member in other churches, I've had this subject come up and the point that I try to make is that when someone says they aren't getting "fed", it's an indictment on their own spiritual life, not the pastor's teaching or the Sunday School teacher's teaching or the Worship Leader. I have sat under some pretty anemic preaching in my lifetime...endured some music that has scarred my musician's ear for life, BUT, the only time that I have not been fed in my lifetime was due to one and only one reason...the lacking of my own relationship with Christ, because regardless of the theology or the Greek study or the historical emphasis or the amount of Scripture, God does the feeding and if I'm not getting fed, it's because there's a problem between Him and me...and it's not because He's not supplying things, it's because I'm refusing to eat what He has for me. I'm not picking it up off the tray...I don't want to hear it...I'm taking it in, but I'm refusing to ingest it...or I'm just not allowing myself to daily sit at the table and eat, because I think I can survive on the 30 minutes of teaching that I get on Sunday.
Be careful, friends, and don't fall into this trap. Never let your plate get empty...never allow sin to gum up the process and never retreat from your daily time with God's Word. Listen to what He says and live His direction...I promise you, if you do that, you will never go "unfed".
Continue to pray for us at Bay West Church as we continue to try to be a church in west Palm Bay, Florida.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Urgent patience...
I was reading in John 9 the other night about where Jesus heals a man born blind. The disciples asked Jesus why this man was born blind, was it his sin or his parents? Jesus told them it was neither, but he was this way so the power of God could be seen in him. Then there was this verse....
A couple of things... God will sacrifice physical comfort for spiritual gain. We aren't too keen on that and somewhere in our psyche, we have programmed into us, just like the disciples, that everything that isn't comfortable is a punishment or a persecution...when actually, there's no guarantee that it is either one. It could just be a sacrifice of praise to your God. Are you okay with that? To quote the great theologian Ben Stiller from the end of "Meet the Parents"...CAN YOU DEAL WITH THAT?
That's a tough concept to assimilate....God creating you to go through a hardship so He can show His power. This blind man had lived to manhood, completely blind, and it wasn't anyone's fault or a punishment, but was simply so God could show His power. That's not the particularly lollipops and giggles God that everyone seems to try to sell, but the sovereign Lord that we are all forced to come to grips with if we follow Him long enough. Of course, God loves us, but we forget that His purpose doesn't begin and end with this act of love. Though valuable enough for Him to voluntarily die for, we are not more valuable than Him.
None of us really have any problem with God showing His power, in fact, we welcome that moment...it's the stuff before it that we have the biggest problem with. It's also that God doesn't send us a postcard letting us know when this process begins that it's going to end up with Him showing His power. Many times, we are in the dark until the moment that it happens, much like the blind man.
Truthfully, the blind man was fortunate. I'm reminded of a story I heard Monday night in my LifeGroup of the an Eastern European cleric who attempted to take down Communism by defending the truth and overcoming evil with love. When the troops came into the streets, he handed them cookies. He finally was killed, finished off by being drowned to death, after being tortured within an inch of his life. The people to which he preached revolted by the thousands, but they were true to his message as they marched through the streets shouting "We forgive".
He never saw that moment in the story...he never saw the massive result of his life on Earth. The truth is that many of us will never see the culmination of what God has for our lives...regardless of our lives, the ripple lasts longer. The fortunate really get a moment of exhale, when they know it was really worth it...but it never compares to the moment when we see Christ face to face and really get it.
The thing we must remember...is the final statement. The night is coming and at some point, your chance to make a difference will be no more....when no one can work. There is an urgency...but we must not run ahead...but delayed obedience is still disobedience. There must be a balance of tension and patience in life, where you are always ready, but never rushing. It's the obedience zone...it's the balance on the waterskis between pulling and being pulled (one gets you a face of water)...because we all have tasks and we must "quickly carry" them out when the moment comes, not hesitating, but surging forward in urgent patience.
Look for it. Don't miss it.
Please continue to pray for us as we try to be the Jesus' church in west Palm Bay Florida at Bay West Church.
4 We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work.
A couple of things... God will sacrifice physical comfort for spiritual gain. We aren't too keen on that and somewhere in our psyche, we have programmed into us, just like the disciples, that everything that isn't comfortable is a punishment or a persecution...when actually, there's no guarantee that it is either one. It could just be a sacrifice of praise to your God. Are you okay with that? To quote the great theologian Ben Stiller from the end of "Meet the Parents"...CAN YOU DEAL WITH THAT?
That's a tough concept to assimilate....God creating you to go through a hardship so He can show His power. This blind man had lived to manhood, completely blind, and it wasn't anyone's fault or a punishment, but was simply so God could show His power. That's not the particularly lollipops and giggles God that everyone seems to try to sell, but the sovereign Lord that we are all forced to come to grips with if we follow Him long enough. Of course, God loves us, but we forget that His purpose doesn't begin and end with this act of love. Though valuable enough for Him to voluntarily die for, we are not more valuable than Him.
None of us really have any problem with God showing His power, in fact, we welcome that moment...it's the stuff before it that we have the biggest problem with. It's also that God doesn't send us a postcard letting us know when this process begins that it's going to end up with Him showing His power. Many times, we are in the dark until the moment that it happens, much like the blind man.
Truthfully, the blind man was fortunate. I'm reminded of a story I heard Monday night in my LifeGroup of the an Eastern European cleric who attempted to take down Communism by defending the truth and overcoming evil with love. When the troops came into the streets, he handed them cookies. He finally was killed, finished off by being drowned to death, after being tortured within an inch of his life. The people to which he preached revolted by the thousands, but they were true to his message as they marched through the streets shouting "We forgive".
He never saw that moment in the story...he never saw the massive result of his life on Earth. The truth is that many of us will never see the culmination of what God has for our lives...regardless of our lives, the ripple lasts longer. The fortunate really get a moment of exhale, when they know it was really worth it...but it never compares to the moment when we see Christ face to face and really get it.
The thing we must remember...is the final statement. The night is coming and at some point, your chance to make a difference will be no more....when no one can work. There is an urgency...but we must not run ahead...but delayed obedience is still disobedience. There must be a balance of tension and patience in life, where you are always ready, but never rushing. It's the obedience zone...it's the balance on the waterskis between pulling and being pulled (one gets you a face of water)...because we all have tasks and we must "quickly carry" them out when the moment comes, not hesitating, but surging forward in urgent patience.
Look for it. Don't miss it.
Please continue to pray for us as we try to be the Jesus' church in west Palm Bay Florida at Bay West Church.
Monday, May 17, 2010
A wonderful PROBLEM
Hey folks, in the aftermath of our message on the Family and why it matters in our "Family Matters" series, we are looking to start some new Life Groups.
The wonderful problem is that the ones we have are starting to get FULL! What we need is for some of you to pray about hosting one in your home and others to pray about actually facilitating the study.
This may mean that you are currently in a LifeGroup and God is leading you to step up in leadership and fill one or both of these roles (our goal is host and leader to be separate, but it works in some situations). This may mean that you aren't involved in a LifeGroup currently, but would like to be in on the start of one of our new groups. Please pray about this.
If you are interested and would like to know more, please email Dennis Smith (Minister of Education) at dennis@fbcmel.org or Jim Campbell (Campus Pastor - Bay West) at jim@fbcmel.org . Thanks.
Please pray for us as we continue to be the church for the West Palm Bay, Florida at Bay West Church.
The wonderful problem is that the ones we have are starting to get FULL! What we need is for some of you to pray about hosting one in your home and others to pray about actually facilitating the study.
This may mean that you are currently in a LifeGroup and God is leading you to step up in leadership and fill one or both of these roles (our goal is host and leader to be separate, but it works in some situations). This may mean that you aren't involved in a LifeGroup currently, but would like to be in on the start of one of our new groups. Please pray about this.
If you are interested and would like to know more, please email Dennis Smith (Minister of Education) at dennis@fbcmel.org or Jim Campbell (Campus Pastor - Bay West) at jim@fbcmel.org . Thanks.
Please pray for us as we continue to be the church for the West Palm Bay, Florida at Bay West Church.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Habakkuk...the ultimate 'SAY WHAT????"
I was thinking about a friend tonight who's had a really rough time recently and isn't out of the woods yet. What do you say? When things have been so tough, just what religious platitude do you throw out there? "Keep on keeping on"...yep, I'D hit me if I said that. When "trust in the Lord" is what my friend is doing and it's just going to be a process...a long one, perhaps, what do you say? Guess I'll just pray. It's especially hard when you've lain out for the very Lord that seems to have been the very One who left you almost stranded in the tough spot you are in. What's encouraging? Maybe a little company, possibly?
When I prayed for my friend, I prayed for the faith of Habakkuk. Here's the story (if you don't know it). Here's Habakkuk, trying to be out there being God's guy, standing up against evil, and he goes to God completely indignant against the nasty Babylonians. He's all like just laying down how it is to God, completely expecting God to totally agree with him...Habakkuk is completely convinced that God is right there with him, and of course, who wouldn't be? But God completely throws him an uber-curve. "God, how can you let their evil continue?", and God replies "no, no, I'm raising the Babylonians up to do something you wouldn't believe..."
After God laid out the plan, I don't know if there was a long pause before Habakkuk's second complaint, but there should have been. My picture is a cartoony extra long Looney Tunes face on a guy just standing there with his scroll unconsciously slipping from his fingers...."Say WHAT????....bu-bu-but you sa......"
This moment was a cataclysmic theological change for Habakkuk. He was COMPLETELY bought in to one particular line of thought and it got just blown out of the water..."raising up" the people who were tormenting/violating/damaging him and his people and doing evil all over the place...God??? How??? He's in a tough spot, and it's almost like God just booted him from the chariot he road here in and sped off in it down the long dusty road out of sight.
Still, through the book, you see the faith that is beyond "belief" or theological theory in Habakkuk...a belief that is simply in the amazing God that He has served all His life...and at the end of the book in chapter 3 are these words, from the guy who's just been driven somewhere and left...
Wow...that's stout. Throw me a curve, God and I'm with you. Completely destroy my pre-conceived understanding that I've spent years building of You and I will still rejoice in You and be joyful as well.
Hang in there, buddy.
Please pray for us as Bay West Church continues to try to be the church to the people of west Palm Bay, Florida.
When I prayed for my friend, I prayed for the faith of Habakkuk. Here's the story (if you don't know it). Here's Habakkuk, trying to be out there being God's guy, standing up against evil, and he goes to God completely indignant against the nasty Babylonians. He's all like just laying down how it is to God, completely expecting God to totally agree with him...Habakkuk is completely convinced that God is right there with him, and of course, who wouldn't be? But God completely throws him an uber-curve. "God, how can you let their evil continue?", and God replies "no, no, I'm raising the Babylonians up to do something you wouldn't believe..."
After God laid out the plan, I don't know if there was a long pause before Habakkuk's second complaint, but there should have been. My picture is a cartoony extra long Looney Tunes face on a guy just standing there with his scroll unconsciously slipping from his fingers...."Say WHAT????....bu-bu-but you sa......"
This moment was a cataclysmic theological change for Habakkuk. He was COMPLETELY bought in to one particular line of thought and it got just blown out of the water..."raising up" the people who were tormenting/violating/damaging him and his people and doing evil all over the place...God??? How??? He's in a tough spot, and it's almost like God just booted him from the chariot he road here in and sped off in it down the long dusty road out of sight.
Still, through the book, you see the faith that is beyond "belief" or theological theory in Habakkuk...a belief that is simply in the amazing God that He has served all His life...and at the end of the book in chapter 3 are these words, from the guy who's just been driven somewhere and left...
16 I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us.
17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
Hang in there, buddy.
Please pray for us as Bay West Church continues to try to be the church to the people of west Palm Bay, Florida.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
The Invisible Woman - overtime
Here's a pretty good video by Nicole Johnson called "The Invisible Woman" and it has an expanded view on the message last Sunday from our "Family Matters" series. Larry played it at the Melbourne Campus.
Remember that the "invisible creates the visible" and that is your character...the character of the Proverbs 31 woman. It's interesting to see Nicole's take on not getting caught up in the resume and how she illustrates another point...not only does character connect and communicate...it rarely gets the credit it deserves...also, it's contribution isn't made for the benefit of the contributor or those close to the contributor here on Earth.
Watch it...it's pretty good and I doubt you'll be disappointed.
Please continue to pray for Bay West Church as we continue to try to be the church of Jesus Christ in the West end of Palm Bay, Florida
Remember that the "invisible creates the visible" and that is your character...the character of the Proverbs 31 woman. It's interesting to see Nicole's take on not getting caught up in the resume and how she illustrates another point...not only does character connect and communicate...it rarely gets the credit it deserves...also, it's contribution isn't made for the benefit of the contributor or those close to the contributor here on Earth.
Watch it...it's pretty good and I doubt you'll be disappointed.
Please continue to pray for Bay West Church as we continue to try to be the church of Jesus Christ in the West end of Palm Bay, Florida
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)