Why You Don't Have To Be Sure You Have The Right Motivations

Last night Pastor Bruce shared with us about why you don't have to be sure you have the right motivations. Often times when we are making decisions, we wonder what the driving force is behind the decision. This is often a question for worship leaders like myself. If we are introducing a new song, why? Because I like and I want to do it? Yes. Because it will fit with the set as a whole and make a good illustration for the sermon? Yes. Because God placed this song on my heart for such a time as this? All yes! It's impossible to know for sure why I'm introducing this new song because the Bible speaks of the heart being deceitful above all things. I'm sure I could go around and around with the reasons for why I'm doing this, but ultimately I can't tell because I may be lying to myself. The Bible speaks of not looking so much at my motivations, but if my actions are actually helping my neighbor. To use the example of introducing a new song, if that song helps people understand God truth, if that song helps people worship God, if that song helps people understand the gospel better, then it's a good thing and my motives for why don't really matter. Regardless God worked through that song. Sometimes we will have bad motives. Sometime we will have good. Sometimes both. We have to look at things on the basis of whether it helps another, cares for another, and loves another, not as to why we are doing it. The heart cannot examine itself and is deceitful above all things. Let's make sure we are loving and serving our neighbors and be less concerned with why we are doing it. We are doing it because God first loved us.

Jeff

Setlist

Happy Day - Tim Hughes

The Lord Reigns -Gateway Worship

Overcome - New Life Worship

Just to Be With You - Paul Baloche

Unfailing God - New Life Worship

Why You Don't Have To "Find God's Will For Your Life"

Last night we had our first ever, Lumen Tailgate! It was awesome. If you missed it, that's unfortunate. Don't worry, we will be having more over the summer. Pastor Brad shared with us about the most important topic (it seems) of God's Will for Your Life. We have so many decision to make in life, who to marry, where to go to college, what line of work we should pursue. All of these things are important, and they matter to God. Many of us think that God has a hidden will for our lives. If we could only discover it, then we will be perfectly happy and doing exactly what God has for us. Cary, in his book Good News for Anxious Christians explains that God does not have a "hidden will" for your life, but that He has expressed His will for your life in His word. God desires all men to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Therefore, part of God's will for your life is that you live in a way that brings glory to your Father in heaven (general) and that you tell others about your relationship with God and tell them that God wants to have a relationship with them also (specific). It's not that God doesn't care about who you marry or what you do with your life, but he leaves that up to us. We can make those decision by becoming wise through the scriptures. Wisdom is the key, not a view of God where we need to consult him about what t-shirt we wear or what we should have for breakfast. Let us, as a church, pursue the revealed will of God, that He Himself has revealed in His word. Let us love mercy and justice and walk humble with God. Let us love our neighbors as ourselves. We can do it through the power of the Holy Spirit, but we still need to it! Maybe you are experiencing anxiety about something in your life or maybe even "God's Will for your life". We are always here to talk to you and care for you. We will see you all next week!

Jeff

Setlist

Your Name High - Hillsong

Alive And Running - Kristian Stanfill

Hosanna - Hillsong

The Stand - Hillsong

Why You Don't Have To "Let God Take Control"

Last night Pastor Bruce shared with us from the gospel of Luke, the parable of the minas, or talents. I am sure you have heard this saying before. "You just need to let God take control of your life." We even have hit country songs like "Jesus take the wheel." What does it mean to Let God Take Control? And again, as I mentioned in the last blog post, how do we know

(there is that question again) if we are letting God take control of our lives. In the parable of the talents, Jesus explains that the Master (God) gives each of His servants (us) a talent or minas to invest. A minas is about 20 years salary, so it's quite a bit of money! The Master receives the first two servants because they have used their talents to create more talents, one making 10 times and one making 5 times. The last servant keep his talent and does nothing with it. The Master is very angry and has the servant killed in the end of the parable. Wow, that's harsh! So what does this all mean? This means that God gives each of us work to do once we have received the gift of salvation. Some of this work is specific, our careers, our individual ministries, and some are more general, sharing your faith, giving to the work of the church, etc. But all of this work is done by us, through the grace that God gives us. Even though it is through His grace, it is still our work. We are doing it. Often times we think of God working through us as an Either/Or statement. Either God is doing the work, Or I am. But this is not true. In fact, this is a Both/And statement. When you are working, both God and you are at work. Pastor Bruce makes the point that because God is all powerful, all knowing, King and Lord over everything, you don't LET God do anything. God works and moves, not because we LET Him, but because he is God. Be encouraged that we don't have to let God take control, he already is. We again need to seek wisdom and accomplish the task that God has already revealed to us in his Word. Thank God that he has given us the Holy Spirit and that we able to do the work he has for us through His grace.

Jeff

Setlist

Counting on God - New Life Worship

Break Free - Hillsong

Salvation Is Here - Hillsong

Here For You - Chris Tomlin

Freedom Is Here - Hillong

Why You Don't Have To Believe Your Intuitions Are The Holy Spirit

Last Tuesday Pastor Brad shared with us about how God has given us all the ability to think and act. Sometimes we are confused as to whether this is our own minds, or if these thoughts are the Holy Spirit? This is very similar to the week before when Pastor Bruce shared about God speaking from our hearts. So the question is, what are these thought, and how do we really know if they are the Holy Spirit or not? Cary, in his book, explains that any time we have the question, "How do you know?" LOOK OUT! This is probably what is causing anxiety in our lives and is a part of what he calls the "New Evangelical Theology". The Holy Spirit ministers to us by comforting us and convicting us of sin. Again the Holy Spirit, and God the Father have revealed themselves to us in the Word, and do not speak from within us. They minister to us from the outside, to our hearts, even though when we become Christians, Christ dwells within us. We must strive for wisdom because that helps us to make better decisions in our lives. The Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, shapes our hearts also and helps us to use that wisdom to accomplish the will of the Father, i.e. preaching the gospel, love your neighbor. More to come this week and I'm looking forward to it.

Jeff

Setlist

Your Grace Is Enough - Matt Maher

Great and Glorious - ALM:UK

You Alone Can Rescue - Matt Redman

Maker of Heaven - Desperation Band

How Great Thou Art - Paul Baloche

Why You Don't Have To Hear God's Voice In Your Heart

Last night we started a new series based on the book "Good News for Anxious Christians" by Phillip Cary. The first chapter of the book is entitled Why You Don't Have To Hear God's Voice In Your Heart. Pastor Bruce explained that God does not speak from your heart, but rather the voice or sense that you have from your heart is in fact, yourself. God has spoken and continues to speak from His Word. If you want to hear the voice of God, read the Bible. Often times we want to make sure we are making the right decisions in life, who to marry, what job to take, etc. We can become anxious because we want to follow Christ and His ways, but we also have our own feelings and emotions that tell us all kinds of things. God has given us His Word so that we can know who Jesus is, and also so that we have instructions about what to do with our faith once we receive it from God. An example of this would be "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength", or "Go into all the world and make disciples". When we have questions that are not specifically answered in scripture, we have the freedom in Christ to choose what we want to do. The example Pastor Bruce gave is, "Do you buy a Chevy or a Ford?" God created us with brains to think, and also minds that can make wise decisions. Ultimately God is not concerned about the car you drive or purchase, but there are biblical principles (wisdom) that can go into making a major decision. Stewardship would be a good example of how you would choose to purchase a car, using the money you have to buy the best product possible. It is ok to listen to your heart, but realize that it is yourself that you are listening to. God has spoken and continues to speak in His Word. Let us strive to know Christ more from His Word and let us also seek wisdom in our own lives to bring glory to God!

At the end of the night, we had a Q&A session where we texted in question for Pastor Bruce to answer. This was really cool and gave us a chance to hear how people responded to the message, and also what questions people had about the topic. We will do this again and have some of the questions posted here and we can discuss them. Also, if you ever want to respond or have questions about anything that I write on this blog, please feel free to leave a comment below! We love you guys and have a great week.

Jeff

Set List

The First And The Last - Hillsong

Say Say - Kristian Stanfill

One Way - Hillsong

From The Inside Out - Hillsong

Disciplines:Simplicity

On Tuesday night Pastor Brad shared with us from the sermon on the mount about the discipline of simplicity. The main text for the night was Matthew 5:37 "Let what you say be simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything more than this comes from evil." The context is making Oaths and swearing by God's name, the heavens or your own head. Jesus is instructing them to let your yes or your no be good enough for whatever agreement or argument you are in. By living a life where you are true to your word, it simplifies a lot of the problems we have in our personal lives. Many of the problems we have in life come from broken vows. We make promises we can't keep, but make them anyway in the hope that circumstances will change or situations will be different. Ultimately these promises, when broken, hurt our relationships with others. This is very hard discipline because things are not always black and white, yes or no. This week, ask God for wisdom to make the right decisions, the discipline to live a simple life and for strength to keep the oaths we make to God and to each other.

Jeff

Setlist

Here For You - Chris Tomlin

Happy Day - Tim Hughes

We Will Sing - New Life Worship

The Stand - Hillsong

Came To My Rescue - Hillsong

Disciplines:Committment

Last night we meet in the fireside room because the sanctuary is under construction. It was a great night of simple worship without all loudness of drums and electric guitars. Don't get me wrong, I love drums and electric guitars, but there is just something special about singing music to God with simple instrumentation. Pastor Bruce shared again from the sermon on the mount in Matthew about Lust and Divorce. In the passage Jesus makes some startling statements about gorging out your eyes and cutting off your hands. These are meant as exaggerations and not literal actions. But Jesus' great point is that the smaller sins, lust and anger, lead to greater sins such as murder and divorce. Jesus wants us to avoid every kind of sin so that we can maintain our faith in Him, and also so that we don't have to live with the consequences of that sin. When I think about my own life, I am so thankful that I am in a committed relationship with my wife. I am very secure in that relationship because we have vowed to stay together. We are committed to each other. If two humans can be so committed to each other that they vow to stay together regardless of feelings and actions, how much great must God be committed to us, to sacrifice His only Son so that we can have a relationship with Him. Be encouraged, God is for us, he is committed to us, and He loves us with an everlasting love! Have a great week and hopefully next week we will be back in the sanctuary.

Jeff

Setlist

How Great Is Our God - Chris Tomlin

Glorified - Jared Anderson

Blessed Be Your Name - Matt Redman

Healer - Hillsong

Just To Be With You - Paul Baloche