Meeting the Risen Savior

Jesus teachings are truth and by following His principles for life, our lives will be changed.

But as we learned this morning at RCC, when we experience Christ's resurrection in a personal way, that is where real life change happens.

Sometimes we are afraid of talking about our spiritual lives in terms of "experience." It seems mystical and non-logical. And from some spiritual persuasions, it can be seen as heresy.

However, when you look at the early church leaders, their passion and their message was based on their experience with the risen Christ. It was not "Jesus taught this..." and "You should live this way...". It was..."have you heard about Jesus, the one who rose from the dead!!!"

Until we experience the risen Savior, His principles are simply "life improvement." But the only way to experience life transformation as His disciples did is to EXPERIENCE him as MY RISEN SAVIOR.

When I have experienced the risen Christ, my passion and message will be contagious just like the early disciples in the book of Acts. And once I have experienced that, His teachings can be applied to my life much easier.

Have you? And if so, how is that EXPERIENCE showing in your life and impacting those around you?

The most important part...

Last night, I had to call Verizon to correct a charge that had been put on my bill. I was paying bills, and noticed there was an extra charge put on my bill. Needless to say, I was not happy about this. After searching their website to try to find out how I could change that charge, I finally called them. The first words out of the person's mouth was, "Thank you for calling Verizon. The most important part of our company is you, the customer."

He sounded sincere, but I thought, "Okay, he has been trained to say this." Once I told him my problem, he began researching the problem. Instead of putting me on hold while he checked it out, he asked about my day--and seemed really interested. He then asked what I do for a living, and we talked about that. He resolved my problem and then asked if there was anything else he could help me with. He ended the conversation by saying warmly, "The most important part of Verizon is you, our customer." By that time, I was convinced that he truly believed that--it was not just something he was trained to do.

So I began to wonder, when I talk to people every day, do they feel like the most important part of RCC? I am not talking about a tagline to make people feel good or come back. No, do they really feel valued and accepted. Because the church is not a building, a campus, a set of beliefs, a church staff. The church is PEOPLE.

Jesus did that. Everywhere he went, he valued and accepted people. No destination or task was more important than the people right in his path.

People matter. The most important part of the church is people.

CHANGING A CULTURE

One week from today, we celebrate one of the most important holidays in our nation—a celebration of the Declaration of Independence from rule of England. It is usually a very fun occasion, marked by food, friends, and fireworks, of course. But it was very different for the men and women who made this day possible.

There was a lot of hard work, many courageous decisions and sleepless nights, blood, sweat, and tears that made this possible. They did some crazy things. These daring visionaries were not looking at their own comfort and ease, they cared about freedom for their children and grandchildren. Many of them sacrificed family, friends, and even their own lives. And today, we are the beneficiaries of that.

To change the course of a nation takes hard work and determination. The same is true of any attempt to change a culture. Today, we live in a culture that is suspicious of the church. They see the church as always asking, hypocritical, judgmental. And some of that is well deserved.

At RCC, what we are attempting to pull off this next Friday is crazy. It is a lot of hard work. Many people misunderstand, some say it is too much work or too much money. But what we are attempting to do is change a culture—and that will be misunderstood. We want people to see the church reflecting the very nature of God—generosity. We want to love the people of our communities so that they want to come to know the God we serve.

And is it working? Yes it is!!! Just look around you. Many of the people who are coming to RiverTown are doing so because they saw a church behaving differently. They saw people who cared and were willing to roll up their sleeves and give—without asking for anything in return.

So this next week, we all come together because of our love for God and our love for the lost. We will joyfully serve shoulder to shoulder, sweating it out together, knowing that together we can make a difference. We can work to change a culture, one person at a time.

This past week I heard from some friends who used to live in Blountstown. They were asking if we were doing the fireworks show again, because they would like to drive up from Orlando, where they now live, to be a part of it. They came to our first Community Independence Day Celebration 4 years ago. They were so amazed that a church would do this, that they attended church at RCC the next Sunday. And they kept coming back. They both made commitments to Christ, and were baptized. They were married here at RCC. And it is obvious that they still look back on the fireworks event as a pivotal point in their life—when their view of church was changed. And when their view of church was changed -- their relationship with God could be changed.

I challenge you to call each of your group this next week, and remind them of the great time we will have serving together, side by side. And remember, on our summer calendar, we have encouraged groups not to meet, so that everyone can come together and serve on Friday.

See you there.

Empower Others

2009 SUMMER SEMESTER

WEEK 2

Leader Challenge: Empower others to serve

God has gifted each person in the body of Christ to serve. We find that in I Corinthians 12, as well as in other places. I believe one of the best places to serve is in the context of a small group. A small group is really a highly relational microcosm of the body of Christ.

So your job as a leader is not to do everything to make the group happen. Did you hear me? The best leaders discover what each individual is gifted to do, and then EMPOWERS them to do it in the context of a small group.

Look at I Peter 4:8-11 with me:

⁸Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. ⁹Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. ¹⁰Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. ¹¹If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.

Notice that when gifts are exercised in relationships (love), the end result is that Jesus is PRAISED!

Look for things those in your group are gifted at, and then encourage and empower them to use them.

• Empower someone gifted in communication to handle that for the group.
• Empower someone gifted in hospitality to plan your food/snacks.
• Empower someone gifted in mercy to encourage someone who is hurting.
• Empower someone gifted in “partying” to plan a party.
• Empower someone who is organized to coordinate the calendar.
• Empower someone gifted in prayer to keep track of prayer requests and answers.

They will experience joy in the process, and your burden will be lighter.

If I were in coma

Today I visited a man who after a car accident, is not able to communicate. As I talked and prayed with he and his mother, I wanted to cry.

• I saw a mother who desperately wanted to know that her son understood what she and I were telling him.
• I watched a young man who is normally very active have to lie there with tubes and wires hooked up to him.
• I realized how scared this man must be--trapped in a body that in injured inside and out.

My mind moved to the thought: If I were in a hospital bed--unable to communicate, what would I wish I had said?

• Would my last words to my wife have communicated my love for her?
• How would my children remember my last words to them? With kindness and strength, or criticism?
  
• Will I have spoken truth that needed to be said to a friend, even though the words may hurt?

Or what have I said that I wish I could take back?


And then a more sobering thought--one day will be my last, and then my loved ones left behind will remember me by my last words.

What will those words be?

Afraid

A few weeks ago, Paul preached a sermon on Trust vs. Control, and the memory verse that we were challenged to memorize was Psalm 56:3 "When I am afraid, I will trust in you."

Now, I don't consider myself a fearful person. I am not afraid:

• of the dark,
• of spiders,
• of frogs,
• of snakes (when I have a gun).
• of speaking in public.

As a guy, at least I know not to show fear in front of others.

So I am amazed how many times in the last two weeks, that verse has come to my memory. Actually, how many times God has brought it to my mind. I am realizing how many times I am afraid of:

• what others think
• conflict
• making the tough call
• having the hard conversation
• making a mistake
• offending someone

You know, fear paralyzes. Whether it is fear of the dark, of snakes, of mom. Or whether it is fear of others, of failure, or of conflict. Fear causes us to hold back from saying what we need to or taking an action that is necessary.

My prayer to God is "when I am afraid, I will trust in you!!!"

Passion Week

This week, I was reflecting on the events and people in Passion Week. Also on my mind was Paul’s talk this past Sunday on the core attitude of trust vs. control.

At the beginning of Passion Week, the crowd definitely seemed to trust Jesus. They were laying down palm branches and even their own coats for Jesus and his colt to ride on. That was definitely an act of trust. And you know, it seemed easy to trust Jesus when he was their triumphant king leading them to victory.

It is easy to trust when following a triumphant King.

But later on in the week, it seemed another attitude was predominant—one of fear and trying to control.

Our trust, or lack thereof, is revealed not when things are going good,
but when they seem out of control.

• The religious leaders, out of fear of losing their influence, plotted to kill Jesus.
• Judas tried to control his financial destiny by betraying Jesus.
• Peter cut off the high priest’s servant’s ear, in an attempt to control with the sword.
• The rest of the disciples fled, for fear of their own lives.
• Pilate dodged responsibility (stuck his head in the sand) for fear of making the religious leaders mad.
• Peter, out of fear, denied Jesus three times.

If you look at Jesus attitude, it remained one of trust. In the Garden, when He seemed to be battling the cross, he said, “Father, not my will, but yours be done”. He trusted His Father.

Then Jesus showed us the supreme example of trust—HE GAVE HIS OWN LIFE. Even his posture on the cross shows his trust. His arms stretched wide. He did not try to control. HE TRUSTED.

Today, we know the end of the book. We know that the Jesus we follow is victorious. The battle has been won—just read Revelation. So go back to my statement at the beginning:

It is easy to trust when following a triumphant King.