Summer in the Scripture – Week 4

The summer is already flying by.  I’m looking forward to hearing Dr. Luke’s account of the life of our Savior this week.  He was a medical doctor and the only gentile author in the Bible.  Many Bible scholars believe that his source of information that his gospel is based upon was Mary, the mother of Jesus.  He has insight that reveals Mary’s heart like no other gospel writer.  When he says, “And Mary kept these things and pondered them in her heart”, we surmise that only Mary could have told him that.  He also wrote the book of Acts, being a traveler with the Apostle Paul in some of his travels.  He writes with the accuracy of his training.  I am enjoying Luke’s account of the “old, old story” of Jesus and His love.

Summer in Scripture: Faith

Lately God has been challenging my faith so much.  Listening through Mark I’ve realized that this was something that even Jesus’ disciples struggled with.  When I heard the two different occasions of Jesus feeding so many from so little then shortly after the disciples still struggled with believing I thought it was ridiculous! But when I really look into my life, I can’t help but notice that my life isn’t very different. I’ve seen God do some amazing things right before my eyes; and then turned my head to a different area of my life and found myself worrying if God would come through for me almost in the same moment.  Even in my life it seems ridiculous. I would like to offer you a challenge: Pray that God would search your heart and life and show you if there is any way you could strengthen your faith in Him. Better yet pray He would show you some ways you could strengthen your faith in Him. But be ready if you really ask God for this.. It’s not always an easy and comfortable path!

Summer in the Scripture – week 3

In listening through the book of Mark this week, one thing is certain.  Jesus did some amazing things that had never been done or attempted among people of the earth.  No wonder crowds followed Him wherever He went.  He taught them about life, healed them, fed them, delivered them, and loved them.  Who wouldn’t respond to that touch from heaven?  I purposed not to listen with ears that assign those works to the past.  I believe He still does now what He did then.  I will listen with ears that believe He remains the miracle working Son of God.  I have been with Him long enough to know that He remains the Victor and the One who accomplishes whatever He feels the Father wants.  I will listen with hungry ears to know His wonders.

Summer in the Scripture Week 1

As we launch on our Summer in the Scripture journey, I am truly excited to be part of this great project.  At first I thought I had to blog about something profound that I had learned and teach part of the passage from the Scripture.and easy to understand.  I thought of the children listening and knew that they could understand too.  The parts of the lineage of Jesus was a little tedious but like Bryan said in his blog, I have to remember Matthew was a Jew trying to convince Jews that Jesus was the Messiah they were looking for.  

The birth of Jesus and Joseph taking his family to Egypt will amaze your children. 

 I have realized how important this adventure is.  Life happens- the consequences and trials come.  Sometimes I feel like I’m bobbing in a ocean being tossed with no hope of my feet touching bottom.  Then, I read or recall scripture and the Holy Spirit helps me, He puts my feet on solid ground.  He comforts me, He encourages me, He helps me.  “In the day of trouble, I will call on you and you will answer me.”

This is an adventure as a church together.  Our virtue this month is Responsibility – knowing what you should do and doing it. 

Listen to the passage for the week and see what God shows you.  I can’t wait to hear what everyone has to say about their adventure.  So please leave your comments and what your kids said, good or bad.  If you haven’t read Bryan’s or Preacher’s blog read them they are very insightful. Please tell you children this is the Bible, it is God’s words  and it really happened.

Until next week…

Suzie

Summer in the Scripture Week 1

Today many in HeartLand Church will begin a summer journey together.  Children, teens, and adults will begin to listen through the entire New Testament together as the summer unfolds for them.  On their work commute, ipod, vacation, late at night, and early in the morning, the Living Word will be spoken into our hearts.  No doubt, we will discover many new life changing truths even though we may read them before.  The Holy Spirit waits anxiously to show us some of the treasures and mysteries that come from God’s heart.  The words of truth that we hear, originated in heaven.  They were once in the womb of the the heart of God and now birthed into our spirits.

I can hardly wait to hear the stories of what God is doing, changing, teaching, and building up in the lives of those we love.  The children, with their own edition of CD’s will be learning for the first time so many concepts and stories that will become a foundation for the balance of their lives.  Teens and adults will once again sit at the table of the Master to be fed from acres and acres of green pastures provided for the sheep of His pastures.

Disc 1 is where we begin this week.  One disc per week will bring us through the entire New Testament in 15 weeks.  It’s going to be a great journey together.  Purpose in your heart now to finish the journey.  There are a lot of starters around us but fewer finishers.  I will cross the finish line.  Come and go with me into wonderful world of God’s world.

Shametaker

Yesterday at the gym when I was doing an upper body workout trying to ignore the bad shape my upper body was in, I glanced up at the border at the top of the wall.

It had the names of Jesus written on it. It had the usual names ” Provider, Emmanuel, Savior”  but I noticed one that really struck my heart, “Shametaker,”

We all love Facebook and the way we reconnect with old friends, relatives and classmate but sometimes I will see a name that brings back some injustice I have done or was done to me.  When it was something that I did, shame comes into my heart and once again my computer brain will relive the incident (it happens to you too admit it!).

Yesterday the name of Jesus, Shametaker, made me realize that when I gave Jesus control of my life He took away that shame and forgave me.  That sin was nailed to the cross and He doesn’t remember it.  Why should I let it cripple me today?  Preacher’s message Sunday was about the woman at the well, “Come See A Man”.  The Samaritan woman accepted Jesus as her Shametaker.

What is Jesus to you?  I’d like to hear and rejoice with you.

Here is a Youtube video to help you worship.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2qm3eD4akM&feature=related

Crazy Love #1

“Most of our thoughts are centered on the money we want to make, the school we want to attend, the body we aspire to have, the spouse we want to marry, the kind of person we want to become…. But the fact is that nothing should concern us more than our relationship with God; it’s about eternity, and nothing compares with that. God is not someone who can be tacked on to our lives.” -from Crazy Love by Francis Chan (pg 96)

I have recently started reading this book with some friends just hoping that God would teach me something from it.  It has done more than just teach me a few things.  It has challenged me to test my faith and life as a Christian.

As I read the quote above I felt like Francis was standing in front of me, looking straight into my eyes speaking these words.  After thinking about how crazy that was I thought, “this is God speaking through Francis straight to me.”  It was like God told Francis to write this sentence because He knew that I was going to read this. (Even crazier right?)

I know that as Christians our biggest struggle, our biggest downfall, our biggest fault is self.  We are our worst enemy.  We lift ourselves above God without realizing it sometimes.  We make life out like we are more important and deserve more than God does.  We don’t actually say this all the time.  But when we “need” a new car or a new computer or a new house, sometimes we “need” it bad enough that we can’t afford to tithe.  Sometimes we have to go against the financial principles of the bible because we want something else.

It doesn’t only happen with money but that seems to be the “god” of America.  We have so much invested into making, saving, or spending money.  Think about something that you do in your life that doesn’t involve something to do with money…

Almost every high school student I know factors two major things into their college of choice (notice I didn’t say all students); the school is either known for great parties or high-paid job opportunities.  Most parents teach their students that you need to go to school for something that will allow you to make a lot of money some day; so you can live the “American Dream.”  I understand you want what’s best for your kids but is a lot of money necessarily the best?.. And when students are thinking through colleges they often look at how much fun they will have.  Most teenagers lose faith when they go off to college.  They gain independence and now have the ability to get away with everything their parents kept them from doing in high school.

Each one of these examples that Francis names is something I think we all struggle with; whether it’s personal to our lives or we see it in someone close to us.  Look at the magazines in the aisles of Walmart, pay attention to what the commercials are telling you, listen to what the media is broadcasting.  Almost nothing in our culture is easily related to God.

Think about the rich young ruler in Luke 17. Jesus says to him “You know the commandments,” and the ruler says “All these I have kept since I was a boy.” Jesus goes on to tell him he is still lacking something.  Jesus wants him to “sell everything you have and give to the poor… then come, follow me.”  The young ruler just walks away.

This teaches and reminds me God wants all of my life.  I couldn’t imagine being know as a rich young ruler and being expected to give everything I own away.  It’s hard for me to give the little that I call mine away; more less giving away riches.  But that’s what God expects of us.  He doesn’t just want us to allow Him to control our money, or our marriage.  There is no package plan that we can put together to knock some others off.  God wants us to be completely dependent on Him.

Is that bad though? Would that be the worst thing in the world? God not only wants us to give everything we have to Him; He also wants to give us the greatest thing in all creation.  He wants to give us, in return to surrendering to Him, an everlasting relationship with Him.  As Francis said “..NOTHING should concern us more than our relationship with God..” It will last for all of eternity.  When our house is destroyed in a storm (created by God) God still wants to have a relationship with us.  When we lose our job (that God gave us the opportunity and ability to have in the first place) God will still provide for our needs.  When we feel lost, lonely, or hurt (also things created by God) God is there with us.  He is always in our lives as long as we surrender it to Him.

However, Romans 2:8 says “But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.”

There is no such thing as a non-practicing Christian.  There is no such thing as radical or non-radical Christians.  If you are a Christian, if you have a relationship with the true living God of the universe, you are called to live a radical life. Jesus tells us in Matthew 24:9 “you will be hated by all nations because of me.”  That doesn’t sound like an option. He states plainly that if we follow Him, if we truly surrender to God, we will be hated by people who follow the ways of the world.

The verse that follows is what scares me the most. Matthew 24:10 says “At that time many will turn away from the faith..”  If we say we are truly a Christian, if we say we believe Jesus died for our sins so that we may have eternal life, if we say we believe the bible is the Word of God and the world doesn’t hate us because we follow its ways, we need to ask ourselves.. Did I miss something? Has my life been radically changed for God’s purpose? Do I struggle as Paul did when he wrote Colossians 1:28-29?

I believe it’s time to stop living in this American Christianity. It is time for our people to see the hand of God work in our lives.  I believe God wants to start right here in us.. but first we must completely surrender our lives to Him. I know many of us will walk away, but my prayer is that many more of us will pick up our cross and follow Him.

Thank God for the truth of Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Check out the Crazy Love book.  Also click here to look at the Crazy Love website.

Summer in the Scripture

I can’t wait to begin Summer in the Scripture. We will be listening through the New Testament together as a church this summer. In the past when I have listened through the Scriptures, God has showed me things, and I have learned things that I may not have learned through only reading them. It’s a new and fresh way to meditate on the scriptures and I encourage your whole family to do this together.

You can purchase or pre-order your audio New Testament from the HeartMarket or from the website for as little as $20, and they even have children’s dramatized versions for the kids. We will be starting June 6th and will listen to one disk per week for 15 weeks. You can listen during your commute, or while you’re at home. It’s a great new way to get into the Bible this summer.

One staff member will be blogging each day about their mediations on that weeks listening, so this will be great devotional tool to keep you in the Scripture as you go through your summer. For more info, or to pre-order your cds go to our website or read about it at our blog.

Snapshots Volume 2

We are starting a new series this week that I am very excited about. It will be a continuation of the biographical series that we started in September of 2009 called “Snapshots.” The steps of Jesus carried Him to the needs of so many struggling in life.  The Bible says that Jesus went about doing good. In this volume, we will look at four more snapshots of the Master delivering people from the inadequacies that life had left them with. Here are the dates of the series and the message descriptions:

May 23 – Come See a Man (Jesus meets with a woman confused about life)

May 30 – Come Down (Jesus meets with one which power and success has left empty)

June 6 – Come Back (Jesus opens the eyes of a blind man crying out in the crowd)

June 13 – Come With Me – (Jesus privately heals a man in two steps)

Download the series via our Podcast or listen to streaming online audio as they become available.

Our Past, Our Present, Our Future

As believers we have an amazing past.  As I say that, most of you are probably thinking about every stupid or horrible mistake you have ever made, all the regrets and guilt, and you are thinking, “I don’t know who how he lives his life, but I have a messy background.”  Now it is true; there is a lot of shameful garbage that we don’t want to remember, and there are many things we don’t want anyone else to know, but there is also a glorious transformation we have undergone by the Holy Spirit.  “We were dead in our trespasses and sins…but God, being rich in mercy made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:1-4).  What a past!  We were completely dead.  We were enemies of the living God.  Everything we did was in rebellion against the One who made us for Himself.  There was no hope.  We were in a war with God!  Then the word “but” stepped in.  Christ took our sin on the cross.  He bore the wrath that was ours.  He took our punishment for our rebellion.  “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).  Everyday God reminds me of what He has done for me.  Everyday I remember how He lifted me from the pit, from death, and from sin.  I see the depth of my sin, but I also see the greater grace of my Savior.

As amazing as the past is, there is an even more glorious reality right now and still to come.  What God has done is only the beginning.  His real goal in the gospel was not to save us and then leave us alone.  The cross was only the beginning for what God wants for us.  Sin is atoned for.  Death is defeated.  We are sealed and filled with the Holy Spirit.  God’s goal for our lives now is that we would be completely His in every action, in every moment in this life and in eternity.  Romans 8:32 says, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Because of the cross we know that God has an intense desire to make our lives about Him and to give us pleasure like we have never experienced in Him.  There is nothing that means more to the Father than His Son, Jesus.  So if the Father crucified the Son, He has done the most unlikely thing imaginable.  If God crucified Jesus, why would He not provide every other thing that we need to be wholly His and satisfied in Him.  He broke down the prison we locked ourselves in.  He freed us.  Now it’s time to learn how to live like the free people of God.  Our glorious future is God Himself.  I wish I could find the words to express what my heart feels, but all language is far to weak to even attempt.  My challenge to everyone, myself included, is to remember daily what God has done for us.  Remember the cross.  Remember what it means for us to have been purchased and redeemed, but don’t stop there.  God is not finished.  We are only beginning.  God purchased us for a reason.  His Son died and rose again so that we might experience Him as all in all.  There is none higher.  There is none better.  Our Father is intimately involved with every aspect of our lives.  Don’t compartmentalize yourself.  Don’t be the person that says “hi” to God like He is some next door neighbor that helps you out from time to time.  Passionately devote yourself to making His name known.  Passionately devote yourself to worshiping the King of kings in everything you say, think, and do.  Make God the center of your entire existence, and my promise, which is actually God’s promise, is that you will never regret it.

-Chris