Salvation

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Psalm 147:3 "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."

There is definitely a misconception about the word “salvation” in Christian circles. Many times Christians (this would include me) feel or think or believe that Jesus came to just save our soul. And the truth is that YES He did come to save our soul, but He also came to do more than that … He came to SAVE us from all our brokenness.

The word “save” in Jesus day had a lot more meaning then just “saving souls”, Jesus came to rescue us from all our brokenness.

Let’s be honest, I know a lot of people who are “saved” but they are broken. They have broken marriages, broken emotions, broken friendships, broken hearts, broken lives … and I believe that Jesus can help to put the pieces of our broken lives back together again.

It starts with being honest with ourselves and with others about our brokenness … and giving the broken pieces of our lives over to Christ to do His work.

Church in a School

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We’ve been doing church in a school for 6 years now and though there are obvious challenges to not having our own place to worship ... there are many positives as well.

1) We have no large “facility mortgage payment”, that can strain a young congregation. (Not just young in age of the people attending, but young in years the church has been around).

2) There is a clear message communicated that “the church” isn’t a “building”, it’s the people. (If you have a building with a steeple but have no people, what do you have? A building with a spear looking thing-e sticking out of it … but it’s not a church … it’s a building.)

Mathew 16:18b Jesus said, “…I will build my church…”

Jesus wasn’t referring to piling bricks on top of each other; He was referring to building people!

Lastly,
3) People who are coming to Mercy Church are not coming because of a cool building (obviously), which would be a shallow reason to attend church if you ask me. (Now this statement shouldn’t surprise you since we don’t have a “cool” building that is attracting people and someday we will (God willing) but until then what we have to attract people is the unadulterated message of hope through Jesus Christ.)

This blog is for all the people who attend “churches without a building” … don’t get hung up on “a building”, Jesus didn’t, the disciples didn’t, the early church didn’t … focus on the church … which is the people who gather together to worship and grow in their faith!

Shalom!

Trust vs. Suspicion

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In my 20 years of ministry I have learned many valuable lessons and one of the big ones is that I have 2 choices when it comes to my attitude towards leadership with whom I serve; I either trust them, or I am suspicious of them.

Isn’t this true even at your job? You can either trust your boss or be suspicious of her. You can either support her, or undermine her with your words to others in the company.

I was told a story about a woman a few years ago that gave me a certain “perception” of her. I was told she cheated on her husband; she stole money and so on. So when I met her face to face I looked at her and felt toward her a certain way UNTIL I heard her side of the story … then my eyes were open to the truth, not just a perception (which was a distortion of the truth) that had been formulated in my mind by the words of others. This is exactly what Satan did to Eve in the Garden when he said… “did God say …” he was planting doubt in her mind … to get her to be suspicious of God … to crack at her trust in God … and look where that got her and Adam.

All that said I encourage you who work with many people to be a person who fully trusts co-workers and or your boss until you are given a factual reason to be suspicious. And by “factual” I mean you have heard it from the horses mouth or have seen it with your own eyes … not a he said she said type deal … that is called gossip! And gossip is very very dangerous to relationships!

And let’s be real here … if you are suspicious of someone at work, go talk to them directly and tell them your concerns (this would be the Biblical approach) and see if your perception doesn’t completely change.

Good day!

Is God Here, There or Anywhere?

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Have you ever felt like God was gone on vacation? Or just not alive; like He may have tripped over a cloud and fell and hit His head on a mountain and perished?

If you are human (and honest) you probably have. If not then you might want to stop reading my blog and find the blog called “little Christian perfect people” … it’s in the same section of blogs where you’ll find stories of sightings of unicorns. I digress!

Before you think it’s blasphemy to think any negative thought of God you might want to read the Psalms … David is often spewing things that are a bitter complaint of God’s seeming absence from life. Saying things like, “my God my God why have you forsaken me?” (Ps. 22:1) which is a shockingly honest confession of the experience of godlessness and godforsakenness in a suffering world.

Yet even in David’s songs (Psalms) you read (after he has given full vent to his frustrations, anger and pain of the seeming silence, absence and hiddenness of God in his experience) he remember what God had done in his own past. Like when he says, “I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord; I will remember your wonders of old.” (Ps.77:5,11)

David remembering the times God was a very present help in a time of trouble, and when He did answer prayers, and He did act to help and save.

Remembering the past victories gives us a hope for the future.

Let’s face it - this world is still broken, we are still broken and full of all kinds of evil … we are motivated by fear, guilt and shame… we need Jesus to give us hope (something to strive for… something to pursue and imitate … to save us from ourselves)…

To answer the question in the title – YES HE IS!

Twilight

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The Twilight book series by Stephenie Meyer is crazy popular right now. I have not read the books, nor have I seen the movie ... but I am okay with that since I am a 40 year guy and the book seems to be reaching a female audience ages 13 and up .

Trust me, this is no book review … but I find it intriguing because what I have heard from readers (most every female I know) about Twilight makes total sense WHY it’s so popular; it has within its pages what every human desires down deep; Love (true love that is … love that doesn’t just got for what it desires or hungers for, in Edwards case – human blood … but a love that thinks of the other person … a self-less love … a love that is so completely opposite from what we see in our current culture. Love with restraint. Crazy passionate deep heart-pounding love … the kind of love that gives you goose bumps all over! It’s lacking in the world today!)

From what little I know the book Twilight is basically the story of Edward and Bella’s romance. Edward is a Vampire, but has chosen to only feed on the blood of animals. Of course Bella is a human … anyway if you like a good romance novel this is a must-read series from what I have heard. Check it out!

1 Cor. 13