How much is a human being responsibile for when it comes to choices? What would you think from God’s perspective on this? Is a human being responsible for the choice of sin that they may act upon? Where does the responsibility for man’s choice lay? On man’s side of the equation or God’s? I would love to know your thoughts. Of course there are implications then for any answer given. Processing…
“God is alive and well and he desires those who would call themselves followers to hear His voice. Think about it. How can we say we follow anyone unless we are hearing their voice, experiencing their leading? Doesn’t it go hand in hand that if one is to follow another that they must see, hear, experience them at some level un comprehension? Christians call themselves by that name because they have come to a place in their heart that they recognize that Jesus is who He said He was. He came to set the captives free, release those in prison, heal the sick, the lame, the deaf, the blind…all this to say “Bring God’s Kingdom” here into our experience, our world. He died on the cross to revealing how much he loves us and by that death on the cross we stand forgiven. We are now able to stand before God without the separation that sin creates. As Jesus is now our forgiver he also is our leader. We remember as children the phrase…”I’m following the leader, the leader, the leader.” But to follow the leader we have to have our eyes on him and our ears focused in on his voice.
What is God saying to the people of ONE Community Church today? What is He saying to us about the next step in our evolution as a people? What are the critical next steps in our journey of becoming the people God desires us to be? We are growing in our destiny as a people and a church. We are asking God to speak to us about the next few steps for us. Will you ask with us that he fill our hearts and minds with creative thoughts about the future of your church? Ask him for dreams, visions. Ask God to speak to you about your church and then soak in His presence and wait for him to speak. Then come back to this blog and put your thoughts down. No idea is a bad one. We believe that God will speak to us corporately as we develop our strategic plan to reach Summit County with God’s love.”
Now here’s a question…What do you do when you feel God does not come
through the way you expect him too? If your like me even a little bit there
are times when I have a certain expectation of God and what I feel he wants
to do or do something with me and then BAM…it doesn’t happen the way I
expect it too. It just happened to me yesterday. I had a meeting with some
friends fully intending to talk about something that I had felt that God
laid on my heart to talk with them about and when I got there…had the
opportunity…I felt God said “Wait.” Has that ever happened to you before?
How about when you pray and you really need God to come through on something
for you? You need God to come through on something that you understood Him
to say. But it doesn’t work out the way you thought. What do you do when
your expectation of God doesn’t line up with your experience of God? This
is a huge question that we must answer. Because if we do not answer this
well, something begins to form in us that is destructive to the very nature
of what God is wanting to do in us and in the world we live. A “spirit of
offense” arises in us. Here is the danger of offense. Offense leads to
Unbelief. The scripture calls unbelief, the sin of unbelief. What we do
with “offense” determines our ability to walk in trust God for who He is and
what He is doing. One of the greatest illustrations of this is in Matthew
11 where there is an interaction between Jesus and John the Baptist. John
raised questions to Jesus out of his need. But Jesus did not meet John’s
expectation and then said to John, “blessed is he who is not offended on
account of me.” Wow! What was Jesus getting at? Could it be that Jesus
was saying to John keep your focus on what I am doing John not what I am not
doing? That is a lesson for us all. Where do we keep our focus?
Where oh where are you? Where can I go? Is there a safe place? Is there a place that I can go to just express my pain without the fear of what people may think; where I will just feel loved and comforted? Yes there is. One person said, “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” His name was Jesus and He was talking about Himself. There is a unique thing about the church. The church also is called “the body of Christ”. And so the church too, the community of those who call themselves Christ followers, is to be a place where the weary and those carrying heavy loads can come and find rest. The problem that I have found is that the church is filled with people who are “in process”. The process of transformation from a broken place to a whole place is a necessary process for humans growing into their destiny that God has for them. This process is at times ugly and hurtful. While the church must become a safe place it often feels like it’s unsafe. And so one of the very things that is needed to grow the church into it’s rightful place of rest is kept from it. That thing is transparency and vulnerability. How can this change? What is the hope of the church becoming a place of rest to the hurting and the broken? It is a must. It is an absolute that the church become a place that extends the love of God to people. People are longing to encounter the Living God. How can the church gain the component of love and valuing of people that is necessary for transparency and vulnerability to be alive in its midst? I think someone has to take the risk. Is there one or two you can talk openly with? Do you have a small group of people that can hear your heart without leaving you feeling condemned? Are you loved by any in the church to the point of confession, transparency and vulnerability? They are there. They are right beside you. But it will require you to reach out to them and take the risk. God’s dream for us is community and the community that Jesus died to create is this dream place. The church is to be a place where dreams come true and through; God’s dreams. I have a group of guys that were this for me this week. Thanks guys! You were Jesus to me!
Brent
Hi All!
My apologies to everyone who was trying to download the weekly podcast for the last two weeks. There was a problem with the feed that we were unaware with and we finally after much looking around the Internet were able to get the problem fixed.
Everything looks good now and if you come across any problems please email us and let us know.
Thanks!
One Tech Support
We all worship something. Here is a question to ponder. Can you worship something without being intentional? I mean can worship happen in a static environment? There was nothing static about our worship experience last Sunday. For those of you who were there, you know. But for those of you who were unable to be there…well…you missed out. Sunday we had an opportunity to worship the God who created us and breathes life into us every moment of every day. Josh Caldwell, a guest worship leader, came to help us worship God in a dynamic and wonderful way. What a powerful time together. Josh’s heart for God and ability to lead a people into the worship experience was made apparent as he led 40 minutes of song and interaction with God. My heart was warmed by the presence of God in the room and the sensitivity that Josh communicated of His relationship with God. I know that worship is for God but every time I worship God, it ends up benefiting me. I believe that we were made for worship. You and I were made to worship our maker. But there is a part where by my being alive, because I suck air, I reflect my maker. So in that way…worship is in there somewhere. But when I make my worship intentional; when I focus my thoughts, my mind, spirit, emotions, body on my Father in Heaven, my Jesus who redeemed my life, the Holy Spirit who indwells me and gives me power to live life to the full, something happens that is divine. All the right in me connects with God and all the wrong in me looses ground. There is a purifying that takes place when we get close to maker. We come draw close to him the polarity of our life begins to shift to the magnetism of who He is. His character becomes more clear. His heart and desires become more acute. We begin to reflect His glory through us. When that happens we come into our own. We get a better glimpse of our glory as we reflect His glory.
Thanks Josh for helping us to reflect…
Have a great week everyone,
Brent
I am amazed these days at the simplicity but yet complexity of connection. Think about it. Everyone longs for connection to something, don’t they? Connection to things; causes; relationships. In fact, I would say that people want healthy connections over unhealthy ones. But what makes a healthy connection over a bad one? We all know how a healthy connection feels; warm, loved, accepted, valued, invested in. We also know what an unhealthy connection feels like, used, abused, devalued, time consuming, draining. I would go so far as to say as people we are made for relationships; healthy relationship that is…healthy connections. If that is true for you and I then it would make sense that it would be true of everyone.
So there is the question of the day. What people do you know that are longing for healthy connections and what are you going to do about it? If you are longing for a healthy connection and they are longing for a healthy connection then why not connect?
How about this one…If God is looking for a healthy connection with the people He made and you are one of those people looking for healthy connection then maybe it is about time for you to two to connect. That would be an awesome thing for the created to become connected to the creator.
Connection? Is it worth it? As one who has been connected to His creator I say a resounding yes. It is well worth the effort. He is waiting for it.
Brent
