Sirens for the City

My new city & home, Springfield, has had a pretty rough six months in regards to the weather. A couple tornaoes ripped through parts of the city last March, and then about six weeks ago got nailed again with the hurricane-type storms that hit the midwest.

One thing that happened during the first tornadoes was that a lot of the warning sirens were destroyed, and the city is now in the middle of putting up new, louder, and significantly more sirens in the city. The article can be read here: http://www.sj-r.com/Sections/News/Stories/94523.asp

So it got me thinking about my new church plant. In a sense, we're like the new sirens that are going up. We have a vision of permeating throughout the city to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We want to be loud about it. We want to reach new areas and people. We want people to be saved from eternal destruction.

Sadly, there are some churches that are like the old sirens. Their ability to proclaim the Gospel has been reduced to a whisper. They have trouble keeping up with changing culture around them. One big storm could come along and take them out.

I have a vision for these older, godly churches. My vision for them is about investing their remaining life, energy, and resources into newer, younger churches with fresh vision and energy to reach Springfield for Jesus. It includes the godly saints in these churches providing much needed direction and mentoring for the younger saints (like Titus 2 encourages churches to do). What better way for chuches with a rich history of winning souls for Jesus to continue their legacy?

What this will take is the younger churches to not be so cocky & arrogant, and to see the value in the saints that have gone before us. This will take the older saints to not be so resistant to change and to just hold onto what they've had for so long, but to be open to new methods of reaching people who need Jesus. It's about being inter-dependant on each other, and not making silly "generational" wars over things like music and engaging non-believers on their own turf.

So, I would like to encourage you younger saints to find an older saint and get to know them and see the tremendous value they could be in your life. I also encourage the older saints to seek out younger saints and look past the outward generational differences and see their hearts who want to love people like Jesus did. And I encourage all us to meditate on Titus 2 this week as well.

Grace & peace,

Ryan

Sheep and Goats and the Least of These

A funny thing happened when I was at the fair...

I know, that sounds like a bad intro to an even worse joke, but I really did go to the Illinois State Fair this past Monday, and something funny struck me. Ha.

My family and I were leaving the 'Conservation Corner' and were heading toward the animal barns. Then it hit me. The goat barns were on my left and the sheep barns were on my right. Spooky religious imagery going on. Anyway, it got me thinking about sheep, goats, and what Jesus had to say about them. When I looked up the passage, I was struck with conviction about my life. Here's the passage out of Matthew 25:

31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' 37Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' 40And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,[f] you did it to me.'

41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' 44Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' 45Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' 46And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Living out the Gospel isn't about "sharing your faith" verbally all the time. It really, really is about showing extreme kindness and hospitality, even to people you don't know (because as scripture says, you can entertain angels unaware). My wife and I were out on a date last week and were walking around downtown Springfield. We both noticed a homeless woman lying on a bench by the library and wondered aloud if that was "her bench". But that's it. We didn't go buy her a sandwich or a cup of coffee. We kept our distance.

I feel like a goat. I acted like a goat. I didn't live out the Gospel and love my Savior.

I pray that you and I both take advantage of serving the poor and needy as the opportunity arises; heck, we can even create the opportunities. And as we do that, we live out what the Lord's brother, James, wrote of having "true religion" (James 1:27)...really living out the Gospel.

May we all be more sheep-like.

Ryan

Jesus, with Thy Church Abide

Thomas Pollock (1836-1896) was a hymnist in England who wrote a number of hymns during his life. Ironically, he was a committee member for "Hymns Ancient and Modern" (remember, this was mid-1800's! wasn't everything ancient? I guess not for them.). At our Core Team Meeting this past week, our worship leader Phil lead us with one of Pollock's hymns that struck such a deep chord in me. The hymn is a prayer of suplication to Jesus to be the true Senior Pastor of the Church and that the church would fully live out her mission. I encourage you to reflect deeply on these words:

Jesus with Thy Church Abide

Jesus, with Thy church abide;
Be her savior, Lord, and Guide,
While on earth her faith is tried:
We beseech Thee, hear us, We beseech Thee, hear us.

Keep her life and doctrine pure;
Grant her patience to endure,
Trusting in Thy promise sure: We beseech Thee, hear us,
We beseech Thee, hear us.

May she one in doctrine be,
One in truth and charity,
Winning all to faith in Thee:
We beseech Thee, hear us, We beseech Thee, hear us.

May she guide the poor and blind, S
eek the lost until she find
And the brokenhearted bind:
We beseech Thee, hear us, We beseech Thee, hear us.

Amen.

Pummeled for Jesus

How sinful are you? How much faith and trust in God do you really have?

I know those are big, difficult, scary questions, but if you haven't really dealt with those yet and you really want to 100% surrender your life Jesus, those questions will be answered.

I'm in the midst of answering them right now. That may seem odd, me being a pastor (and church planter); but this time in my life is having really wrestle with those questions. I think I have tons of faith. I mean, I quit my steady job in Michigan where I made decent money, had a house, and lead a couple ministries that were really getting some good feet on the ground. Then God calls me to this church planting thing, and I quit my job, move my family, and exercise a big amount of faith in God to take care of us. But we're in a place where our house hasn't sold in Michigan, I can't seem to find good work to support my family, and funds in our new church plant are getting dangerously low. Then there's the stress of moving, doing round trips to Michigan three times in two weeks, and trying to maintain a healthy marriage and family life, while trying to assimilate into a new community.

So as I've been exercising a lot of faith on the outside, inside I've been pretty ticked off with God...wondering when in the world he'll do his part and sell the house and have at least 1 company from 25 call back of the resume's I've sent out.

But then I heard someone teaching some scripture that pretty much shook me back to reality. Check this out from 2 Corinthians 4:

7But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

Yeah, I hard-pressed, feeling struck down, perplexed...all those things. But I'm still here. I'm not crushed or abandoned or destroyed. I thought I was at a point of total surrender, but I'm not. God is lovingly pressing on me, pressing sin out of me. God is growing me through pain...it just has to happen that way sometimes. Even though it feels like death is at work in me, Jesus' life is really what's working itself out in me.

If you really want to grow and become more like Jesus, it will hurt. A lot. Being a Christ-follower is the most difficult thing in the world, because you have to face yourself and all the depravity of your sin. But remember that God thinks the world of me and you...we are his masterpieces...he loves us despite of our sin. And he will bring us through extremely difficult times so we change and look more like his Son, who did in fact suffer death for us.

May you grasp not only the depth of your sin, but hold tightly to the height, the depth, the breadth, and the width of God's gracious love for you. May you have endurance for the journey and may you have an unchartable amount of faith in the One who loves you.

Grace & peace,

Ryan