Grace Crossing - A Community Church of Christ

Holy Spirit

2010-01-14T13:53:00.000-06:00

There are many things that could and should be said about the Holy Spirit. All I know is I need Him. I need His indwelling. I need His power. I want to share what A. W. Tozer had to say about the Holy Spirit.

"We who pride our selves on our orthodoxy...have in recent years committed a costly blunder...Our blunder (or shall we say frankly our sin?) has been to neglect the doctrine of the Spirit to the point where we vertually deny Him His place in the God Head.

This denial has not been by open doctrinal statement, for we have clung closely enough to the biblical position wherever our creedal pronouncements are concerned. Our formal creed is sound; the breakdown is in our working creed.

This is not a trifling distinction. A doctrine had practical value only as far as it it prominent in our thoughts and makes a difference in our lives.

Truth consists not in correct doctrine, but in correct doctrine plus the inward enlightenment of the Holy Spirit...Deity indwelling men!...No man has experienced rightly the power of Christian belief until he has known this for himself as a living reality."

Have you experienced the "power of Christian belief"? How has the Holy Spirit revealed Himself as a "living reality" to you?

Top Books of 2009

2009-12-24T12:38:00.001-06:00

Ok here are my top 5 books that I read in 2009. I will put them in order from most influential to least.

1. Crazy Love by Frances Chan. This book made me look at my spiritual life and how "in love with Jesus" I am or not, and how my life does or doesn't reflect that love.

2. The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. Some times we miss how God reveals himself in the everyday moments of life that we often see as mundane. This is a great reminder that his presence is always with us.

3. The Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson. The Wild Goose is what Celtic Christians called the Holy Spirit. When it comes to following Christ we must chase after the Holy Spirit, whom doesn't usually reveal Himself in a easy to swallow manner.

4. The Dangerous Act of Worship by Mark Labberton. I expected this book to be about how we worship. Which it is, but as expressed in the second command (which is like the first) to love your neighbor as yourself. When we offer ourselves, our time, our money, our stuff to God and others this is worship.

5. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. This is not a "Christian book" but a spiritual one that really encourages one to follow his dreams. It is a little gem that could easily be looked at as a parable. We must listen to the Holy Spirit's promptings and follow them. The more we listen the more He seems to speak.

Hope you enjoy and happy reading!

Hands and Feet

2009-12-10T09:46:00.000-06:00

It's funny as my life group continues to press in to our relationship with God and being passionately involved in relationship with Him...it has begun to bring a by-product. Our group can't seem to get enough of going and serving people.

Last week before the cold hit one had the idea to go and take coats and blankets to the homeless: 8 people brought personal items to give. This week 7 or so of us were serving at the Mobil Food Pantry at Woodloch last night. On the 20th they are bringing food to church and plan to go after class time to pass out a holiday dinner to any homeless that they come across.

What's great is that this is not so that they can feel good about doing something...its so that they can be the hands and feet of Christ to the less fortunate, understanding that God has blessed us with so much. Last night numerous times I overheard people at the food bank asking if we worked for the food bank. Over and over again people said...no we go to church together and wanted to help. Then they would ask what church.

Amazing opportunities to share Christ come from us drawing deeper with him and sharing our blessing with the world around us.

RELEVANT Magazine - It's the Final Countdown

2009-12-02T12:26:00.003-06:00

RELEVANT Magazine - It's the Final Countdown

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RELEVANT Magazine - It's the Final Countdown

2009-12-02T12:26:00.001-06:00

RELEVANT Magazine - It's the Final Countdown

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the gospel

2009-11-16T13:08:00.001-06:00

Check out this message by Matt Chandler. We are a foolish people following a holy God.

Wild Goose Chase

2009-11-09T16:26:00.001-06:00

[http://chasethegoose.com/]
I'm going to attempt to catch up on some much needed blogging. I feel like I have gone through a time of great learning and refreshing over the last few months. I have been soaking up so much that the Holy Spirit has been trying to teach me. I think now it's time to begin sharing some of what I feel I have been taught and some what I feel I have caught along the way.

It's amazing that the further down the journey you are with God the more you realize how little you know and the more you know that it is not just what you know, it's who you know.

I believe that the single greatest reason that Christians struggle to be all that God has called them to be is because we have left out the single most important aspect of being a Christian. We can not do this Christianity thing on our own. We weren't created to do this on our own. We have a longing with in us to have a companion on the journey: The Holy Spirit.

You see I believe that we serve a God that is expressed as a trinity. Yes, yes I know that term isn't in the Bible. But if you go to Genesis...God is doing the creating, the Spirit is hoovering over the waters and John says in the beginning was "the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." So our God is set up as a relationship between the Father (God), Son (Jesus), and Holy Spirit. I won't even begin to understand in my little finite mind how this works, because I can't understand the infinite reaches of the Almighty God. But I do know that Genesis tells us that we are created in his image. We have the need to be in relationship as well. I believe we crave two distinct relationships: with God, & with people.

In the Old Testament people tried over and over again to be in relationship with God. Always falling short of that great divide because we are so far from being perfect (as every created being is imperfect- perfection can only come in the form of that which has not been created: God). So God had to send his Son down here to die for us...in our place, as the ultimate sacrifice. And before he does he make some bold statements about who would be coming after him.

John 14
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth.

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

John 15
When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.

John 16
Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' 6Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. 7But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt[a] in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; 10in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

12"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

Go back and reread these important chapters. Let them soak in. Ask God to speak to your spirit. Ask Him to reveal himself to you in a new way through the Holy Spirit.

The Wild Goose as the Celtic Christians called the Holy Spirit long and groans for you to open your self up to this great gift that Jesus promised would come after him. Are you ready for the Spirit of Truth to speak?

Articles :: Avoiding Discussion Pitfalls by Spence Shelton

2009-07-29T10:01:00.001-05:00

Articles :: Avoiding Discussion Pitfalls by Spence Shelton

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The Misfits

2009-07-13T10:41:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago I embarked on a great journey to the mid-west. The guys in my band, one our best friends & I traveled to the much anticipated Cornerstone Festival in Illinois. Cornerstone is a very unique festival that has helped to usher in the rock side of Christian music for a couple decades. This years headliners were: Reliant K, Family Force 5, Red, Emery, Brian "Head" Welch, Anberlin, The Devil Wears Prada, & UnderOath...just to name a few.

There are many many...too many stages at Cornerstone. You can't even begin to consume all of the music surrounding you sometime berating you from 11 am to 1 am the next morning. But as the week wore on and we played shows and enjoyed more music...I began to realize there was much more to Cornerstone than meets the eye.

Here at this 500 acre farm in the middle of nowhere was one of the most unique collections of the Body of Christ I had ever witnessed. There were as many tattoo's & piercings as most biker rallies. There were people there to worship God in many different forms and through many different "styles" of worship. There were some there that were not Christians, and they were being wrapped up by the music and drawn into the presence of God even when that was not their intent.

I was reading the Gospel of Luke a couple of days ago and this scripture reminded me of my experience up in the cornfields of Cornerstone: "Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." Luke 14:12-14

So who are you spending your time with? Those who people would expect you to...or those who need to be shown the love of Christ, the socially unacceptable, the far from God, the misfits?

The Big Picture

2009-06-11T15:26:00.000-05:00

My daughter (almost 2 & 1/2) has a new fascination...she loves movies. We have to limit her to 1 per day right now...only one Enchanted, Mary Poppins, Bolt, Baby Einstein or what ever the favorite of the week is. She rarely if ever makes it all the way through one but she loves to sit in her little car with her name stitched in it and watch a movie. Her idea of a movie is one on the 13 inch TV that is in her room.

So a couple of weeks ago with the release of the new animated movie "Up", Megan and I decided to take here to here first movie theater experience. We told her that we were going to go see a big movie. She kept saying "big movie?", and we'd have to reiterate...yes we're going to see a big movie. So we got to movie theater bought our tickets then went to go get some dinner. When we came back we gave our ticket and started heading in. I asked her if she wanted to hold her ticket, she said yes and took it into her hand.

We walked around the corner and her head and eyes began to look up and up and up at the big screen. She just stared at it. We found some seats and we put her between us in her own seat...it quickly started to fold up on her 23lb petite frame, so I went & found a booster seat. Megan offered her a cookie, which she held in one hand ticket still grasped in the other staring at the previews on the big screen.

Then the previews started and she was glued. "Up" has a short film at the beginning that had thunder and lightning...she jumped a couple of times but was still glued to the big screen. She sat and watched the entire movie, switching seats a couple of times between Megan's lap, her seat, and my lap. It was awesome!

Something interesting happens at the end of Luke:

²⁸As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. ²⁹But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them.

³⁰When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. ³¹Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. ³²They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"(Luke 24:28-32)

These disciples had been with Jesus over 3 years. They knew him better than anyone, and yet they didn't recognize him until they communed with him and their eyes were open. I think we are much this way. Sometimes this happens with our view of God. We see God and we know that he is wonderful and we enjoy him. We sit in our nice comfortable chair with our name on it (or maybe pew) and watch the movie. We enjoy it and we come back for more but that is about the extent of it.

At some point we traded in the awe and majesty of our Lord for something that falls far short of who he is. We know that he is a big God...but somehow we see him in the box that we are used to. So what does God need to open your eyes to? What have you allowed the Holy Spirit to reveal to you lately. How has Jesus' words so penetrated your hear that you were moved to action?

Is your view of God big...or has it been reduced to what you know?

Journey Together with Prayer

2009-05-19T10:04:00.001-05:00

Last week at our area-wide Youth Ministers Meeting, we were blessed to hear a few words from Robert Oglesby, Jr., the director of the Center of Youth and Family Ministry at Abilene Christian University.

What he shared with us youth ministers was nothing new. It was something of old, yet still something that unfortunately has been discarded and dismissed by many youth ministry programs.

It is the involvement of the teenagers’ parents, specifically parents and not simply adults.

I’m not talking about merely chaperoning. Rather, it’s inviting parents along in the faith journey their own children are on. It’s challenging parents to share their spiritual walk with their teens in the same way we challenge the teens to share. It’s nudging parents to stretch in the same way we nudge our teens to stretch. It’s emphasizing the “and” in “Youth and Family Ministry.” A revisit of Deuteronomy 6 reminds us that this isn’t new. It is God’s design that parents share God’s story with their children.

While we try to intentionally involve our teens’ parents within our youth ministry programming, one way parents can easily join and guide their children in faith in a simple yet astoundingly impactful way is by praying with them.

I know by heart the only prayer I have ever heard my dad say:

“Dear Heavenly Father, We thank thee so much for this day, and we thank thee for this food. Please bless it to the nourishment and health of our bodies. And thank thee for sending Jesus Christ, Your Son, to die for the forgiveness of our sins. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.”

That prayer was said before every dinner we ate together at home. The very fact that I know it by heart makes me realize a couple things. First, my dad praying before every dinner obviously had a profound impact on my life if I remember that prayer word for word. Secondly, it makes me acutely aware of how much I wish there had been more.

“Prayer is needed for children. Whatever religion we are, we must pray together. Children need to learn to pray, and they need to have their parents pray with them. If we don’t do this, it will become difficult to become holy, to carry on, to strengthen ourselves in faith.”

-- Mother Teresa

The "Nudge"

2009-05-13T15:14:00.000-05:00

You know sometimes you just feel a nudge. Not God speaking audibly to you...but just a nudge from the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we listen, sometimes we make excuses, and sometimes we ignore.

This morning I decided to listen this morning after dropping my daughter and mother-in-law off at school. I went to Starbucks! I know what you're thinking...yes I go there often why was this any different than normal. I had choices: Dosey Doe Coffee, Brooklyn Bagel Cafe, or Starbucks. I just had the nudge for some burnt coffee.

So I'm there for about an hour reading, eating a muffin, and drinking coffee. I pack up and begin to walk out when I notice a "business guy" reading his Bible. I can't help myself so I comment "good way to start the day" and point to the Bible. He responds "I try to start this way everyday". I said me to...and he starts to ask me questions. I end up sitting down with Eric as he asks me questions about reaching out to people who need God. He even tells me about growing up in a religious legalistic home and the baggage he carries, but tries not to pass on to his kids.

Well once again God put me in the right spot at the right time. I often expect to talk to an unbeliever in a situation like that. But sometimes we're called to encourage those who are in Christ as well.

So have you felt the "nudge" lately? How did you respond?

Limitless

2009-04-07T16:20:00.002-05:00

Recently, many members in my home congregation in Richardson, TX, have been diagnosed with cancer. One of these is a dear friend of my parents, a woman with adenocarcinoma, which for the uninformed means bad news.

In order to give her, and the rest of the church, a little hope in the face of daunting odds, my dad felt compelled (I believe by the Spirit) to share a story with everyone.

The story of Tate Martin, a 15-year old with cancer one minute and a benign mass the next. As my dad, a doctor, so bluntly put it, "15 year olds don't grow masses in their backs without reason. And those masses don't end up benign without a bigger reason. God heard their prayers and turned that cancer to dust."

I'm not sure which aspect of Tate's story continues to amaze me the most; is it the undeniably God-influenced medical report, or the fact that a congregation in Richardson that sorely needed some hope got it from a teenager they've never met? There was hardly a dry eye in the room afterwards as we were all reminded of a God beyond human understanding, human reason, and most importantly, human limits.

We serve a God that uses one body's suffering to give another body hope, just as he used Jesus to give us hope for eternity. We might not have done it that way, but when it all comes together and we can see the big picture, its beautiful. Who is to say that God didn't lead my sister, Jenna, here to GC4 last summer so that I would be here now so that my parents could hear about Tate's remarkable story so that Richardson East could be blessed by it.

God works outside our "boxes." So sit back and enjoy the love.

"Praise the LORD.
How good it is to sing praises to our God,
how pleasant and fitting to praise him!

The LORD builds up Jerusalem;
he gathers the exiles of Israel.

He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.

He determines the number of the stars
and calls them each by name.

Great is our Lord and mighty in power;
his understanding has no limit." Psalm 147:1-5

Jesus in the unexpected

2009-03-11T10:58:00.003-05:00

I just started the Gospel of Mark. After reading 1 Chronicles for the last few weeks this is very refreshing and has a whole different pace. Mark opens up and hits the ground running pretty hard and in your face right from the start. A few verses really struck me.

"Then they entered Capernaum. When the Sabbath arrived, Jesus lost no time in getting to the meeting place. He spent the day there teaching. They were surprised at his teaching—so forthright, so confident—not quibbling and quoting like the religion scholars." 1:21-22

"They brought a paraplegic to him, carried by four men. When they weren't able to get in because of the crowd, they removed part of the roof and lowered the paraplegic on his stretcher. Impressed by their bold belief, Jesus said to the paraplegic, "Son, I forgive your sins." Some religion scholars sitting there started whispering among themselves, "He can't talk that way! That's blasphemy! God and only God can forgive sins." 2:4-7

"Later Jesus and his disciples were at home having supper with a collection of disreputable guests. Unlikely as it seems, more than a few of them had become followers. The religion scholars and Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company and lit into his disciples: "What kind of example is this, acting cozy with the riffraff?" Jesus, overhearing, shot back, "Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I'm here inviting the sin-sick, not the spiritually-fit."2:15-17

"One Sabbath day he was walking through a field of ripe grain. As his disciples made a path, they pulled off heads of grain. The Pharisees told on them to Jesus: "Look, your disciples are breaking Sabbath rules!"Jesus said, "Really? Haven't you ever read what David did when he was hungry, along with those who were with him? How he entered the sanctuary and ate fresh bread off the altar, with the Chief Priest Abiathar right there watching—holy bread that no one but priests were allowed to eat—and handed it out to his companions?" Then Jesus said, "The Sabbath was made to serve us; we weren't made to serve the Sabbath. The Son of Man is no lackey to the Sabbath. He's in charge!" 2:24-28

It seems that some times those who were religious got so caught up in what was supposed to happen. What they expected to happen. Caught in what their rules told them should happen...that they missed the miracle of what was going on right in front of their eyes.

I know this happens to me to. I show up on Sunday to worship, or Wednesday to my Life Group...or to some other church event...and I have so much in my head, so many responsibilities, so much to do, that I miss the miracle going on right in front of me.

This miracle is that God would allow us to come into his presence. He asks for it. He opens the door for it. He promises his presence when we gather in his name. But we get so caught up in what should happen next, what we think a song should sound like, where a lesson goes or doesn't that we miss the point: Jesus.

Jesus is the point, and he often interrupts the expected and shows up in the unexpected.

New view of worship

2009-02-26T13:50:00.000-06:00

This a quote from Annie Dillard. I have seen this before, but this time it appeared in a book called, "The Dangerous Act of Worship."

"On the whole, I do find Christians, outside of the catacombs sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does not one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, making up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies' hats and straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return."

Oh Lord, creator of the heavens and the earth "draw us out to where we can never return" as we worship You.

Heretic

2009-02-09T15:46:00.001-06:00

In the book Tribes that I just finished reading the author had an interesting definition for "heretic". I have always thought of this term in an extremely negative connotation. But the way he described one...it might just describe me!

Here is what he had to say,
"Religion and faith are often confused. Someone who opposes faith is called an atheist and widely reviled. But we don' t have a common word for someone who opposes a particular religion.
Heretic will have to do.
If faith is the foundation of a believe system, then religion is the facade and the landscaping. It's easy to get caught up in the foibles of a corporate culture and the systems that have been built over time, but have nothing at all to do with the faith that built the system in the first place."

Father forgive us for the times we get caught up in the facade and landscaping. Forgive us for the times that we let the system out weigh the relationship. Help us to focus on the foundation of our faith: Jesus Christ. Help us to clearly see the religiosity that keeps us from expressing and living by the Spirit. Help us to be heretics to religion and faithful in our commitment to knowing you.

Leadership

2009-01-29T15:21:00.001-06:00

"Leadership is scarce because few people are willing to go through the discomfort required to lead. This scarcity makes leadership valuable. If everyone tries to lead all the time, not much happens. It's discomfort that creates the leverage that makes leadership worthwhile.

In other words, if everyone could do it, they would, and it wouldn't be worth much.
It's uncomfortable to stand up in front of strangers.
It's uncomfortable to propose an idea that might fail.
It's uncomfortable to challenge the status quo.
It's uncomfortable to resist the urge to settle.

When you identify the discomfort, you've found the place where a leader is needed."
by Seth Godin from the book "Tribes".

Is that why I like to be uncomfortable and help others into a place of discomfort...?

Prifile of the Lukewarm

2009-01-13T13:23:00.001-06:00

"Lukewarm people attend church fairly regularly. It is expected of them, what they believe 'good Christians' do, so they go."

"Lukewarm people give money to charity and to the church...as long as it doesn't impinge on their standard of living. If they have a little extra and it is easy and safe to give, they do so. After all, God loves a cheerful giver, right?"

"Lukewarm people tend to choose what is popular over what is right when they are in conflict. They desire to fit in both at church and outside of church; they care more about what people think of their actions (like church attendance and giving) than what God thinks of their hearts and lives."

"Lukewarm people don't really want to be saved from their sin; they want only to be saved from the penalty of their sin. They don't genuinely hate sin and aren't truly sorry for it; they're merely sorry because God is going to punish them. Lukewarm people don't really believe that this new life Jesus offers is better than the old sinful one."

These are all excerpts from the book Crazy Love by Frances Chan. Here is what scripture has to say.

"I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead." Revelation 3:1

"The Lord says:
"These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is made up only of rules taught by men."
Isaiah 29:13

"What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" Romans 6:1-2

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10

Advent: Peace

2008-12-08T14:01:00.000-06:00

I think that ultimately we all believe that we want to be comfortable. "If I could just have enough money...If I could just get the perfect job...If my family would just...If...then..." It's like our only goal is to find a comfortable spot to curl up in and never come out of. Sometimes our idea of peace comes out of our feelings of wanting to be comfortable and we interchange these two ideas.

Comfortable: providing or experiencing physical well-being or relief.
Peace: harmonious relations; freedom from disputes.

You see comfort is a physical experience that promotes well-being. Not a bad thing. But I'm not sure that is really what we are ultimately looking for in life. Peace on the other hand is talking about relationship. I believe most (maybe it could even be said all) of life comes down to relationship. If relationships were properly dealt with, think of all of the terrible things in this world that would cease to exist: war, divorce, legal matters, genocide, hunger, and I could keep going.

I think that everything with in us longs for peace. But it longs for a peace or a minding of relationship with the One from whom we can draw true peace. Jesus made it very clear that he was going to send peace after he left, "I am leaving you with a gift- peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn't like the peace the world gives. So don't be troubled or afraid..." (John 14: 27 NLT). He came to correct our relationship with Him. We all have that nagging that there is something wrong in us or that needs to be corrected. We can't fill that void until we're in relationship with Him.

He came to give us peace. He came to be our peace. He came to reconcile us to Him. With out that reconciliation of relationship with Him, we can never truly know peace. Do you have that kind of peace? Do you have that kind of relationship with Him?

Advent: Hope

2008-12-02T14:17:00.000-06:00

The term advent is one that not everyone is familiar with today. For me I think of the little calendar that had hidden doors and chocolate or candy for the person who got to open it that day. But the concept of advent is much greater than a candy strewn calendar count down to Christmas.

Advent is a time that celebrates the coming of Jesus Christ our Savior. It is the period of four weeks prior to Christmas Day. For each of those weeks there is a theme to help us focus on the expectancy of our Lord coming as a small baby in a manger. The four weekly themes are: Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.

This past week we looked at the hope we have in Jesus as only understood through grace. Romans 5:1-2 paints this picture beautifully: "Therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith in to this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the HOPE of the glory of God."

Without this hope in Christ which allows us or grants us reconciliation with him...all we have left to hope in is this world and the things of this world. I don't know about you but as I look at this world it does not promote much hope. However as I trust my life, my very soul to the one who created it and died for it... there is much hope!

So where does your hope lie? Or better yet in whom? I pray that your hope is based on the rock of our salvation: Jesus Christ!

Thankgiving

2008-11-26T14:01:00.002-06:00

I'm sure any of you that happen upon this blog will be expecting something nice and pretty about how important the holiday of Thanksgiving is to me. But that's not exactly what I had in mind as I sat down to write this today.

I'm thankful for my church family and their willingness to reach out to our community and try to live a Life on Loan (if you don't know what I'm talking about then go check out Grace Crossing: Sermon Series ). To come out of church last week and see the cars lining up to go and take food all over the county was unbelievable! I know that it was not a perfect day, most of the time when we are serving God things don't go perfectly, but I know that everyone's hearts were in the right place: on serving others.

I'm thankful to be a part of a servant filled church like ours!

Life on Loan-2: All I Want

2008-10-29T16:26:00.001-05:00

"All I want, All I want, All I want...
Is for You to have my heart for ever...
You are all that I could need."
-by Future of Forestry

As I sit wrapping up a work day filled with meetings, email, reading, more email...a song comes on my computer. The refrain hits me like a ton of bricks: "All I want...is for you to have my heart forever...you are all that I could need." I sit and soak that in for a while.

We are in the middle of a series called "Life on Loan", and it is so easy to get distracted in our day to day mundane places and forget that our life is on loan from God. That sobering place is if we are living in that place of relationship with our Creator, we can't help but to live a life that is seeking him in every activity. In the small things like how we greet and talk to people, and the bigger things like how we will spend the evening or if we will take the time to go shopping (like giving a Thanksgiving meal) for someone else.

You see I want my God to have my heart: eternally. Not just when it's convenient for me. Not just when I happen to think about it. Not just when I'm at church or a Bible study...every moment.

So again read the words to this simple yet profound song:
"All I want, All I want, All I want...
Is for You to have my heart for ever...
You are all that I could need."

Life on Loan-1

2008-10-15T16:46:00.001-05:00

"He handed out gifts above and below, filled heaven with his gifts, filled earth with his gifts. He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christ's followers in skilled servant work, working within Christ's body, the church, until we're all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God's Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ." (Ephesians 4:11-13)

My life is not my own. I gave it up many years ago when I decided to follow Christ. There was a tough at my heart...I can't explain it any other way. What I had experienced, in my young life, of God transforming peoples lives, rang so true that my only response was to submit. Not submit a part of me: but all.

Jesus payed the price, and what he wants is all of us. Not just a part of us but all. "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me"(Galatians 2:20). So it's not my life anymore. My life is on loan from God and all of the gifts talents and even my time are His too.

So it's time for us to act on our potential. It's time for us as a church body to use our gifts and talents to show grace to those we might encounter along the way. It's time to be Grace Crossing, a Community Church of Christ to a lost and dying world. Will you join us in this, the greatest of all adventures, living our very lives for Christ?

Stories after Ike

2008-10-02T13:56:00.003-05:00

I have heard many stories of how people have helped each other out after hurricane Ike. Some of our members have told me that they got to know their neighbors because everyone was spending more time outside on their street. Streets were having meals together so that no one would go with out food. Others were helping each other with trees or other yard work.

Do you have stories like this? Were you helped by someone or did you get to help someone else? This is where we had the opportunity to be the church outside the walls of our building. The stories that are told now will be passed on to generations about how we helped each other out through the aftermath of the storm.

Please comment on this blog with your story. Or you can email your story to me at: eddie.boyer@gc-4.net We'd love to hear from you!

Life After Ike

2008-09-24T13:49:00.002-05:00

Well, you always wonder how people will react after a major catastrophe...for that matter you wonder how you will react!

As I sit here working on a few brochures for an upcoming ministry fair, I received a phone call that puts things back in perspective. A former youth of mine called about a co-worker who lives about 20 minutes from our building. They live in a trailer that was all but destroyed by Ike. FEMA gave them a measly $4,800 to repair.

I know that won't even cover the cost of the roof, let alone the holes and other damage sustained by this individual. This former youth of mine described this individual as someone who is always giving to others, but has a hard time asking for help for herself.

Thank goodness there are some folks that donated on Sunday to help out in these situations. I know that her story will not be the only one, maybe not even the most tragic...but I pray that we respond to them with the grace and peace that God responds with to us even in our darkest hour.