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Pastor's Points July 2016

Dear Church Family,

I am very excited to share with you this month the end result of months of prayer and seeking God’s face as it relates to our future as a church family.  Last November I shared two messages with you that God impressed upon me.  I knew at that time that we needed to grow believers spiritually that could stand in their faith in the middle of an unbelieving culture, and that we needed to provide biblical counseling resources that would help prepare us to engage the ever changing issues and culture around us.  We believe that God has given us a tool to help our church family grow in their faith and equip us to make more disciples as we minister together.  The tool is called the “faith cycle”.  I asked Pastor Nick to write an explanation of it that I want to share with you all in my article.

The “faith cycle’s” purpose is to see people grow in spiritual maturity for the purpose of edifying and replicating disciples.  In this way, it is a catalyst that will hopefully lead our church to be people who are more reliant and dependent on the Word of God, who are able to defend why they believe what they believe, and who are able to take this truth and give it away to others through intentional evangelism and discipleship.  This process is built on the assumption that it is essential for one to invest in himself spiritually so that he is more equipped to in turn invest in others. 

Truth

We believe Scripture is the only consistent source of truth for all of humanity.  The Christian worldview is established in faith and supported by further examination and meditation on the contents of God’s Word.  Because of this, it is necessary that the Christian be continually growing in his understanding and application of the Bible’s contents.  The Bible itself is clear, necessary, and sufficient for the purposes of living a life glorifying to God.

Story

As we progress in our understanding of Truth, we begin to see the thread of redemption that runs through the length of the Bible’s pages – The Story.  From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is about God establishing a kingdom for himself in which Christ redeems, returns for, and reigns over.  The New Testament informs the Old Testament and makes clear in the New what was hidden or “mysterious” in the Old.  The concept of the Messiah is one that was promised in Gen. 3, inaugurated at the crucifixion and resurrection, and will be consummated at the return of Christ.  Understanding concepts like these help make sense of the content of Scripture and provide encouragement and motivation for the believer to share the Good News and make disciples for the purpose of God’s glory. 

Beliefs

Our understanding of Truth also informs the Beliefs that we have about who God is and how he interacts within his Creation.  Everyone’s worldview will lead them to provide answers to questions like: “Who is God?”, “How did we get here?”, “What’s wrong with the world?”, “What’s the solution?”,  “What happens after death?”.  The Bible serves as the foundation by which we can stand firmly and boldly and declare and know the Truth.  These beliefs are essentially summaries of the conglomerated knowledge gained from Scripture.  It is important that Scripture always inform theology first, rather than theology informing our understanding of Scripture. 

Action

The purpose behind the Truth, the Story, and the Beliefs of Christianity is the Action.  Christianity is a practical faith in the sense that we are called to do something in response to the Truth.  The Story and Beliefs are not the end goal, but they are a means by which Action can be taken to evangelize and disciple.  God is absolutely glorified in our understanding of the Story and Beliefs, but his task for believers is not merely an intellectually ascent.  It is a practical outworking of this knowledge for the purpose of seeing people begin the faith cycle for themselves. 

Please be in our worship services in July as I unpack each of these areas separately.  I am so excited for our future together!!  I love you and love being your pastor!!!

Spare Change July 2016

The Saul in All of Us

Our 2:42 group has been going through 1 Samuel for the past few weeks.  We are studying King Saul now, who is a very tragic figure in Israel’s story.  He often gets looked down upon while King David is exalted.  The reality is, there is a Saul in all of us.  We all struggle the same way that he did.  What was his struggle?  It was one of faithlessness and pride that led him astray.

Saul was just a humble farm boy from a humble tribe in Israel.  Granted, he was a very handsome and tall young man, but other than that he was quite ordinary-- that is, until God chose him to be the first king of Israel.  This is indeed a very tall order; this meant he was to unite the twelve tribes that, up until now, had mostly governed themselves except for some oversight by the various judges.  This was an intimidating task to say the least, Saul was naturally scared and even hid during his coronation.

Fast forward a few years and in 1 Samuel 13 and we find an impatient Saul that is too faithless to wait for Samuel.  Before a battle Samuel would usually offer a sacrifice to God.  The purpose was to help turn the hearts of the people back to God, to depend on Him for the victory.  It had been interpreted by Saul that the ritual would automatically ensure God’s favor.  This was a false assumption, but this thinking drove him to offer the sacrifice himself when Samuel was delayed.  This act alone caused him to lose his future in the monarchy.  God said He would remove the line of Saul and raise up another king in his place.

We might think that what Saul did was not that big of a deal; however, as we study more of the Bible we understand that God is very particular with the way in which we are to worship, specifically with things that are sacred or holy, like making this offering.  The anger of God was understandable, but was the punishment just?

To fully understand that, we need to understand Saul’s reaction when confronted by Samuel.  Saul made excuse after excuse-- blaming Samuel, the people, even insinuating that it was God’s fault.  Saul did everything, but the right thing--repent.  You see David had his sins, and boy, were they big ones, but David repented.  He sought forgiveness from God and was restored.  Saul never truly repented and for the rest of his kingship he was angry, prideful, and faithless.

This is where we are all similar to King Saul.  What is the first thing we do when sin is revealed?  Are we truly sorrowful?  Do we run back to God asking for forgiveness?  Or do we shift the blame and make excuses?  We have to be honest about our sinful condition-- we can’t rationalize it, we can’t bargain with God, or make it someone’s fault.  We need to accept that we are sinful and we need a savior.  We need to repent of our sin and trust Jesus to save us.  Christians especially need to practice on-going repentance.  As we work out our faith God will reveal sin in our heart and in that moment we have a choice.  The way of Saul or the way of David; defensive or repentant.  I pray we let our guard down and come to God with bowed heads and open hands seeking His forgiveness and help.

“Repentance means turning from as much as you know of your sin to give as much as you know of yourself to as much as you know of your God, and as our knowledge grows at these three points so our practice of repentance has to be enlarged.” J. I. Packer